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Lance Alvers stared through the reinforced glass wall separating the girl that had been brought in by Agent Danvers. The machines that were now the only things keeping her alive beeped incessantly, yet couldn't break Lance out of his morbid thoughts.
That could've been me, if they had found me after I split from the Brotherhood. If Xavier hadn't somehow kept the high school as a no go zone, or if Potter hadn't taught me so much about thinking ahead, if Mystique hadn't shown me how to hide… and it was another mutant that did this, someone who, according to the reports, thinks like Magneto does, that mutants should be on top of the pile. But they're willing to do this to one of their followers… The world ain't as black and white as I liked ta think allthose months ago.
The young man snorted, but there was no humor in the sound. Lance had taken a long, hard look at the world, not just in America but beyond, and saw a lot of problems, far more than just the 'Mutant Question', though that was beginning to grab a lot of headlines. Still, I can't lie to myself anymore that we mutants are all on the side of the angels. Magneto's methods might've been questionable, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice one of his followers like this. Least, I don't think he would willingly.
"The docs say she might wake up eventually, but the damage to her chest means she'll never be able to live without that artificial pump. Her heart's gone, blown apart." Clint turned slightly to see Agent Danvers and Clint standing beside him, not having their approach. Clint cocked an eyebrow at Lance. "If you've got any idea who's behind this, you'd tell us right?"
Lance shrugged. "I told you all I knew. These guys dress the same as the ones we tangled with in Bayville, the ones who were hunting me. Maybe their recruitment team was busy somewhere else, because they sure as hell didn't try to go for the soft sell with me."
His eyes narrowed as he looked at Danvers. "Trust me, if I knew anything I thought could help us find whoever is behind this, I'd tell you. I want these bastards as much as you do."
Carol looked at him searchingly for a moment, then nodded, changing the subject slightly. "I think Potter and his crew let us take her too easily, I think they also knew who is behind it." That was just a gut feeling on her part, but Carol had learned to trust her gut on such things. "Any idea why they wouldn't share it with us?"
Scratching at his chin, which he had only recently begun to have to shave, Lance frowned in thought before answering. He still wasn't going to tell them anything he knew about Potters plans, very little really, or his powers, but a bit about how he thought wouldn't hurt, especially since Potter and SHIELD seemed to be on somewhat amicable terms right now.
"I think Potter's got a major problem with working with government types, he mentioned a time or two problems he had in that area in the past. It could be he doesn't trust you to deal with the problem like he thinks it should be dealt with, or it could be he just didn't want you to think he was pointing you at whoever is behind this, make you all do the legwork yourselves. Not certain, Potter's a deep one, so if he didn't come out and tell you his suspicions there was a reason for it."
Carol nodded thoughtfully. "Could be, and he could be right too. I just hope when Potter does move against whoever is behind these Hellions, that he doesn't make more enemies."
The two men shrugged their shoulders at that and, after a moment, Carol sighed faintly before leaving observation room. She had paperwork to do, she always had paperwork to do, one of many reasons why she was thinking of going to work for Mr. Potter when he moved into space as he said he would.
Clint and Lance followed her out silently, until they came to the room assigned to Hawkeye when he was on the helicarrier. When the door closed, Clint looked at the teen he had taken under his wing, one eyebrow raised. "Well, have you decided to sign up?"
Two weeks back he had offered to sponsor Avalanche to be a SHIELD agent. Lance could enter it despite being only sixteen thanks to his powers, a double standard true, but one with a solid reason behind it. Fury desperately wanted to get some mutant representation into SHIELD, but hadn't had much luck save for Lance. He could become a junior agent under Clint if he passed through the training program. But that would preclude him going back to high school this coming year.
"Yeah I have. I… you were right, there's more to the world, more going wrong, than just the 'Mutant Question'. If I can use my powers to help SHIELD solve some of those problems, while also being a representative for what mutants can do for the rest of the world, I'll do it. But before that, I have to go back to Bayville first."
OOOOOOO
Looking up from her book, Kitty waved her arm in the air to grab her boyfriend's attention as he entered the mom-and-pop pizza place on the outskirts of Bayville they had specified for this meeting, before looking back down at the textbook for her coming year's math class. Kitty had only a month and a bit to go before the summer ended, so she had to really push it now if she wanted her plan to work. She had even cut into the time she spent at Hogwarts working for Harry to concentrate on this, since, in the long run, this would help her to start working with him full time sooner.
"Hey Kitty, how're you doing?" Lance asked, as he sat down across from her. "You up to eating your share of a full pizza or do you want something else?"
"Typical teen male, first thing you ask about is food." Kitty laughed. "Sure, a full pizza is fine, anything we don't eat I can take home to Kurt. You know how he puts it away. Makes me sort of jealous really."
Lance nodded and they ordered a large pizza with the works, with fries on the side. After they returned to their booth they made small talk until the food arrived. As the meal was ending, Lance asked. "Er, so, what's been going on with you?"
That was one of those questions that often led the two of them to awkward silences these days. Kitty wasn't about to share anything about what she was doing for Harry with Lance, despite their relationship. And Lance in turn couldn't tell her much about the things he had seen since taking up with Clint Barton. At the moment however, that was sort of the way Lance wanted their conversation to go.
Kitty frowned a little then shrugged. "Well, don't tell anyone, my parents don't even know yet, but I'm studying hard to see if I can skip a grade and graduate this coming year. I want to work with Mr. Wizard fulltime as soon as I can. I can't tell you much, but the things he's to me working on, they are really amazing, and a lot of fun too!"
Lance smiled rather wanly. "Heh, if there's anyone who can pull that off, it would be you." His smile went away quickly and he gulped before going on. "Um, I won't be returning to Bayville, which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Listen, I, I'm not good at feelings or anything. I've really enjoyed going out with you, but, well, lately, we've only been able to see one another once every few days, at best for a hour or so each time. Mostly we've just been talking on the phone and even there its only for a short time. And that's not counting our, well, our loyalties I guess. It's not as bad as it would've been if I stayed with the Brotherhood, but its still there, between us you know? I, what I'm saying is that it's been fun, but I think we should, we should break up."
To his surprise, and faint disappointment, Kitty surprisingly took this in stride. She calmly finished her bite of pizza and nodded. "I've thought along the same lines a few times myself honestly. I like you Lance, I really do, but I don't love you or anything like that, and I don't think you feel that toward me either. I've had a lot of fun being with you, I can't argue with any of your other points, so yeah..."
Lance nodded in relief, grateful she wasn't going to go all weepy on him. That would have been out of character, but hell, this was the first time he had to break up with a girl, so he had no idea how she would react. Because, you know, Kitty was his first girlfriend. "Yeah, that's true. So, still friends?"
"Definitely!" Kitty laughed. "It's always nice to have friends in high places, Mr. wannabe-secret-agent!" She frowned a little. "Have you given any thought do what you'll do if you ever have to face the X-men or Mr. Wizard in an official capacity, shall we say?"
"I have, and I think it'll depend on what the hell's going on at the time." Lance shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I'm really not happy with the idea, but I can't say it'll never happen, just that I hope it won't."
"Gotcha. Oh for the days of moral certainty!" Kitty laughed again, though there was grim edge to it that was distinctly out of character for her. "These days, it always seems to be the ones who are certain of themselves that are making problems."
Lance nodded wordless agreement to that. At unspoken agreement the conversation steered away from dangerous topics for a time. They left together, with Lance walking Kitty ack to the mansion. Even if they were no longer a couple it seemed the right thing to do.
As they walked out the pizza joint, Kitty almost banged into a middle-aged man wearing a hat who was almost albino he was so white, a stark contrast to what could be seen of his black hair. "Your pardon young lady," he murmured, moving out of her way, brushing slightly against Lance for a moment when he moved away from Kitty. Kitty smiled back at him, waving one hand to indicate it had been her fault as well, and the two teens went on their way.
Behind them, the middle-aged man frowned. The girl's mind was protected by barriers, though I could not tell where they came from with that faint probe. They were powerful, but certainly not native to her mind, so my information on Miss Pryde's powers are accurate at least.
Kitty hadn't yet figured out a permanent way to protect her mind, but the defenses Jean put around it every day were nothing to sneeze at. Eventually she would be learning occlumency as the first stage of her magical education, but that was a few weeks in the future. Until then, Jean's barriers would have to do, as they had on this occasion.
Still, the other youth was open at least. I think I will follow him when he leaves the area around the mansion, discreetly of course. Young Alvers has some interesting information about this SHIELD agency in his head that could prove important in the future. Pity though, neither youth knew anything about my true reason for coming here. Hmm… so I am left with the choice of either drawing Jean Grey out in some fashion, or staking out the other X-men to see if they know where she and this Guardian are based.
I need to find out as much as I can about him, what I've been able to glean is enough to tell me that much. It might prove to be wise to obtain a sample of his DNA as well. Even if I go with my second option where it comes to Summers and Grey, it would be wise to know if I need to be on the watch for another, possibly better option.
OOOOOOO
True to his word, Reed called the day after the meeting at the Baxter Building, informing Harry that the first of the scientist's space-based detection equipment was ready to be installed and that he was anxious to see this orbital laboratory Harry had promised him. Harry responded that he would be there in an hour. Hanging up the phone, Harry sent messages via Patronus to Jean and Ororo elsewhere in the castle.
In the library, Ororo came out of the meditation she had been in communing with Gaia. Holding one hand out, she watched a small magic shield flicker into being around her hand for a moment before smiling and standing up, the spell flying apart. Her studies were going incredibly quickly, thanks in part to the fact that in the mental world, time flowed as Gaia willed it. While only a few hours passed in the real world for every session, in actuality each session lasted a full day, start to finish. Even so it would be several weeks before Ororo was ready to use her magical abilities in combat. But Harry's initial impression of her power level was proving accurate; Ororo would be a very powerful sorceress indeed.
In the room assigned to Dani, Jean frowned, looking from where the Patronus had just galloped off to Dani. After a moment's reflection she sighed. This was important, not only to their cause but to her in person, her dream was to go into outer space after all, and it still hadn't gone away despite all the things she had done out there with Harry. She wanted to go to other planets, other solar systems, to explore!
Looking at the younger girl Jean shook her head. "I have to go, which means we have a choice. You've made some progress in learning to control your powers, but after only a day of it, I don't think you can pull it back under control if it surges again. So, you can come with me and learn a bit more about our operation, or you can stay here and keep reading that book on organizing your mind. But if you stay here, that door stays shut! If ask for food or anything aloud, a house-elf will hear you. But you might run into the kids outside, and if that happens." Jean shrugged.
Dani nodded, and said simply. "I'd like to stay here please. Even after only using it for a day, this book is really helping. I enjoyed the meditation skills that my grandfather taught me to help, but this is on a whole other level."
"Yep it is, I'm just glad that the most basic level of occlumency carries over to non-magical's." Jean replied, briefly patting the younger girl on the shoulder before leaving Dani in her room and heading to the main Hall where she found Ororo and Harry speaking quietly about the latter's lessons.
The other-dimensional wizard was still of two minds about the fact that Ororo was taking lessons from Gaia rather than him, but he couldn't argue with the results so far. It just seemed odd to him that Gaia, one of the most aloof goddesses at least judging by history and mythology, would go out of her way to aid them. There was something she wasn't telling them, some threat she could see down the road. Harry privately wondered if it had anything to do with the beings Death had called Celestials, or some other cosmic threat. He also trusted Ororo's opinion, and if she trusted Gaia, that was enough for him. It just irritated him not to be teaching her himself.
The trio swiftly teleported out, never seeing Amara and Paige coming up from the basement. They both were smiling, but there didn't seem to be much humor in them, a sign of the odd tension between the two teenage girls. Nikolai and Piotr had both felt it, though did not understand where it was coming from, and had opted to head out to the lake to swim rather than get their afternoon lessons done as the two girls were doing.
This tension wasn't new, it had begun the moment Amara had moved into the castle, and was created by many things. Paige resented the fact that Amara was ahead of her in several areas of their training, more particularly in nearly every aspect of their combat training. She didn't like the fact she was older, and had already been promised she could join the still unnamed team because of that, while Paige still had to convince her mother to let her. And Paige hated the fact that Amara was so exotically attractive making her feel like the common image of a small town hick.
Amara didn't like the fact that Paige was picking up how to best regulate her powers so much faster than she was. Amara was having trouble controlling her powers, she couldn't get the power of her attacks down to a less than total destruction level, and had been ordered not to use it outside the RoR, which allowed Paige to flaunt her powers a little around the castle. She resented the fact Paige was so outgoing, able to make friends so much more easily than Amara, who was only truly friends with Jean and Piotr. And she hated that Paige was blond haired and busty, making her feel unattractive and mannish in comparison.
Paige stretched languidly, thrusting out her chest as she rubbed at her back. "Well I'm heading off for a shower, training always bothers my back for some reason, though of course you wouldn't know anything about that would you, Amara? I suppose you're off to study or something equally exciting?"
"Unfortunately unlike you I like to exercise my mind, it isn't just that I need to learn how to speak and write English without the translation spell helping me. Still, it's nice to see that you know to put your best assets forward, you could have a lovely career ahead of you. After all, even if your mother doesn't let you on the team, you can still practice being a stripper er, I mean practice your powers with us." Amara smiled faux sweetly at Paige.
The Kentucky native scowled angrily, seeing only too clearly the connection there. Her powers weren't exactly the most aesthetically pleasing, and more than once she had transformed back to her human skin to find she hadn't brought her costume with her. Thankfully Ororo had foreseen that possibility and always ordered the boys out first after a session to give her some privacy. "At least I've got a body worth showing off, and can control my powers outside the RoR. Unlike certain natural disasters just waiting to go off."
That wiped Amara's smile off her face and she glared at Paige. "I didn't need my geothermal powers to beat you in that last spar, now did I? Or perhaps you'd like to become acquainted with the stone floor rather than the mats of the training arena?"
Paige might have taken her up on that challenge if they hadn't been interrupted by the sound of someone chuckling. They both turned a glare in the direction of the sound to see Sir Dennis having come in from outside, where he had been enjoying his daily walk around the lake. "Oh don't mind me ladies, its been positively ages since I've seen a good catfight."
The two girls glared at him, then at one another before as one turning away with a huff. Behind them Dennis smirked, looking back over his shoulder. "You can come out now you two."
Nikolai and Piotr both stepped out of the entranceway, looking a little sheepish. "How did you do that sir?" Nikolai asked. "Those two looked ready to rip each other's eyes out."
"Ahh, never underestimate the vanity of the female mind. Ladies will ever so politely rip strips off one another with words and even physically, but if they are caught in the act in the latter's case, they will almost always back down. Silly really, but there you are."
The two younger men looked thoughtful and he smiled. "Simply interrupt their arguments by saying how much you look forward to it, or how interesting it is, and they won't be able to handle being on display." With that, Dennis continued on his way, chuckling all the while, yet also shaking his head. It really had been a long time since he'd seen a good catfight after all.
OOOOOOO
Harry and his ladies teleported into the room Reed had set aside for teleportation arrivals in the FF's suites in the Baxter Building. They found Reed waiting for them, so Harry asked a question he had been wondering about. "Out of curiosity, what exactly would happen if we teleported into one of the other rooms here?"
Reed smirked a little. "I believe the description 'bouncy ball' would be appropriate. There are certain types of energy… you see, what magic users or even other types of teleportation does when you teleport is you create a sort of hyper cavitation wave front through the atmosphere in front of you. It isn't actually visible like one would be in the physical sense, but there is a sort of energy wave there, which my devices can detect and bounce away. The more power in the initial teleport, the further you bounce. I'm working on a way to capture the resultant bounce in a separate, specially prepared pocket dimension, one like the one you had in your luggage I believe, along with a number of other surprises for individuals who warrant it."
The two of them continued to talk about the intersection of science and magic for a few fascinating moments as they walked through Reed's various labs to meet up with the other member of the Fantastic family. All of them were ready to go. Jean and Ororo took a few moments to say hello to Madame Harkness and Franklin, who would not be coming with them. Given his erratic powers, Reed had decided that he didn't want him anywhere near an environment like space.
"Before we go," Harry said after they all said hello and Jean and Ororo were fussing over the toddler. "There is something you all need to hear: Harry Potter owns the asteroid base called High Note." Ben cocked a rocky eyebrow, and Harry chuckled. "Part of the most powerful security spell on High Note stops people from even realizing it is there at all. Unlike notice me not wards, people can't even sense a place they can't see, if that makes any sense. It's an extremely disconcerting feeling being in a place that all your senses are telling you doesn't exist."
Reed looked a little green at the very thought, while the others simply nodded. With that done, Harry motioned them to gather round, joining hands. "Everybody ready? I will warn you that this is a disconcerting experience."
When they appeared in the apparition room up in the asteroid however, none of the foursome showed any sign of discomfort, which was surprising to Harry, but he decided it was because they had been subjected to so many other types of teleportation that their bodies had become used to it. "Welcome to High Note." Harry said, smiling in welcome and waving around.
The teleportation room in the asteroid was set beside the hanger bay, which was at this point unused, but Harry had plans there. For the moment however, this first room didn't really show anything truly amazing.
Reed looked around closely and nodded. "This seems to be some kind of rocky formation, are we in an asteroid of some kind?"
"We are indeed, come on, I'll show you all the observation room first, then we'll see where I want to set your personal lab, you can set it up however you like it's simply a blank room at the moment. Though I'll warn all of you that there are some rooms in here that I don't want anyone to enter except for me, they are simply too dangerous."
"And myself." Ororo interjected smiling a little faintly, while taking his hand in hers. Harry nodded equably, squeezing her hand back while she leaned her shoulder against his for a moment. Harry was still not used to the fact that she was going to be… was… a witch, and could very well learn to use Fiendfyre eventually. He was in no tearing hurry to teach her that however, but Ororo could already probably help him in using the runic arrays in the room set aside for creating Orihalcum scales once the smelting process was over.
The Fantastic Four's reaction to the observation lounge was everything Harry could hope for. They stopped and stared in awe at the vista outside the windows that covered three of the four walls, as well as a bit of the ceiling and floor. "Amazing, Harry." Reed said slowly, moving forward to touch the glass and look through it out into the stars. "Truly amazing."
Harry smiled and nodded as well, while Jean simply went over to join Reed in staring out into space. Ororo however was staring down at Earth, thinking how beautiful it was, how amazing this little marble in space where they all had evolved truly was.
Johnny, Ben and Susan moved from one side of the room to the other, lost in wonder like they had been three years ago when they went into space with Reed on that doomed mission. Despite all their adventures since, moments like this still had the power to take their breath away.
After a while however Reed came back to himself and nodded. "Let's go see that laboratory Harry, and then you can show us where we're not supposed to go, as well as where you want me to set up some kind of teleportation device for us. If I am allowed access to this place, I would prefer not to have to rely on you for my transportation."
"The room we appeared in is the one place on this rock that allows teleportation, though I would like your help to put in scientific methods of defense just in case. I'm confident in my magical defenses to stop anyone, but I would feel better if there were also scientific methods in place if science comes up with a method magic doesn't recognize."
The two of them walked off, delving into a discussion on energy and wave forms while Ororo conducted remaining trio on a tour of the rest of the asteroid, showing them the hydroponics area with the house-elves working inside though, she didn't allow any of them inside. None of them had the protective gear on after all, and would have been subjected to the time dilation.
Susan liked the master bedroom that looked out over the little jungle. She laughed quietly but warmly at how Ororo described Harry and Melody when she spotted the little bedroom area down in the jungle, shaking her head internally at the innate humanity Harry showed at times. Johnny and Ben liked the jungle too, but Johnny and Jean liked the hanger bay more since it allowed them to fly around. Johnny alas could not use his powers in space, at least not without scientific or magical aid. Their game of tag in the hanger bay however was a lot of fun.
With Ben's help, Reed and Harry headed back down to the Baxter Building to grab several hundred pounds worth of devices, including what looked like the world's most bizarre, not to mention largest, piece of new age sculpture. Reed assured Harry however that it was a gravitonic differential array. There was another device that had what seemed like dozens of tiny radar dishes spread out over dozens of small bands of metal bracers, connected by large spools of wire one to another. This, Reed said, was his warp energy target array. With these two sensors, they would be able to detect any ship coming out of warp or any new space-borne objector object that seemed to be moving under someone's control.
"These will cover everything that the asteroid can see from here, so it isn't precisely the 360° defense we want." Reed cautioned, speaking into a radio. He was currently standing in the observation room, watching a screen while Johnny, Jean, and Harry put the outer sections of the arrays in place along the asteroid's stone surface. "To get a full defense in place you'll need to have several emitters set equidistant around the earth, but this is a start at least."
"Truly." Harry said. "But given the amount of input these devices bring in, and the sheer diversity of it, we might also need to figure out how to read it. The information you described to me nearly went over my head Reed, and that was only your description not an actual read out."
"Correct, but that would take a lot of time to write up. And this isn't an exact science, for this kind of thing a computer like Tony Stark's Jarvis would be best, a limited function AI that can make intuitive connections between disparate data points."
"I knew that thing wasn't bloody AI the moment I heard about it!" Harry crowed.
"Oh yes, I've seen a bit of the coding, it was impressive to say the least. Say what you will about Tony's personality, his skill in programming is superlative." The phrase 'not as good as I am' hovered in the air for a moment unspoken and Harry chuckled. Reed however went on more seriously. "But writing up something like that would take me months of devoted work. While I am a very good programmer, I am not a fast one."
Harry hummed thoughtfully, and the subject turned back to their current task. While the work continued apace, Harry wondered at the problem at the back of his mind, thinking how he could come up with a limited AI program like that, determining that he might have to set up a meeting soon between his Weatherby persona and Stark, or barring that Pepper Potts. She seemed to be the stabilizing force in that company right now.
Soon enough they had the device sending in its readings. When the workers came back inside, Reed explained what it did in broad terms. "While there is a certain amount of background gravitational changes occurring to the solar system at all times, they are minute, and can eventually be filtered out. Think of space as a rubber sheet, with the sun a massive bowling ball weighing it down. On the slope that the sun has created each planet is positioned, set in its orbit and creating its own tiny differential to the gravitational well of the system. This device measures changes in the area that the Earth and the moon create, thus with this and the energy detection array we will be able to spot if someone warps in or out in that sphere."
"What if it's an FTL drive?" Harry asked.
"I did say these were only two of many scanning devices I'd figured out Harry. Furthermore, from what we know of them the Skrull and the Kree basically use the same ship drives, both of which are warp-based rather than FTL. FTL would have its own issues of course. The energy detection array would be able to find the splash of any ship dropping in or out of warp in that area, and FTL would show up on the gravitonic array."
Harry nodded, and the two of them moved on to discuss what other devices sensors would be added to their growing array up here, while Reed installed the program that would run the two arrays. "A light refraction system would take over long, to get any useful information back to us." Reed said as he finished. "But it would be the most certain. Regardless of any kind of cloak or anything else, a ship would be discernible by what it is occluding behind it."
"Sure enough, though eventually we might want to think about something like that, a vast sort of mine field of devices perhaps?"
"A crude concept, and given the sheer size of the solar system impracticable, but it might be the only approach that actually works, unless we come up with a power source many times that of even an advanced arc reactor." Reed frowned as he noticed how the computers of the asteroid, which were rather advanced, were having trouble with his program. Something to watch out for in the future, he thought, then changed the subject. "On another topic, I decided to prioritize finding this missing friend of yours over analyzing that blood sample. Luckily my computers were able to do most of that work by themselves while I was busy finishing the construction of this scanning equipment, and I have already pinpointed where she was taken. As I thought, it was a dimensional portal, but at the same time it had a spacial component..."
Reed stopped speaking as he felt a stir in the air of the observation room. He turned to see Harry still working setting up a new screen on the wall to display the array's information, but there was tenseness, a crackling sort of readiness about the younger man that hadn't been there before.
Despite the way they had been acting, Harry, Jean and Ororo were very worried about Betsy. While Harry wasn't close to her or anything like that, he did feel guilty about what might be happening to her given his promise to aid Betsy in regaining her eyesight. That didn't even consider the way Ororo and Jean were taking it. Despite the fact that they were all keeping busy with various projects, the fate of Betsy had been at the back of their minds.
Harry was also not used to running into problems that he couldn't solve. Having to hand this one off to Reed, despite his trust in Mr. Richards, had irked him tremendously. Still, Harry let out a deep calming breath. Read watched in fascination as the tension left Harry's body, but there was a sense of readiness about the younger man that Reed equated to some of the martial artists he had known his life. "And have you discovered where this portal went?"
"I have, I've also sent through a small probe to tell us more about the other side. I should have some more for you tomorrow."
Harry's eyes narrowed a little. While he was all for rushing in quickly, knowledge, particularly in combat situations, could be the difference between life and death. That will also allow me to create some of the things for our battle Kitty and Jean came up with last night. One or two anyway, but still that'll have to do. Who knows what could happen to Betsy if we waste any more time than we have to. "That will have to do then." Harry said. "Thank you again for this Reed."
"After all you have done to aid my family and I, it was the least we could do. In fact, I speak for all four of us when I volunteer our services if necessary to get your friend back."
Humming thoughtfully Harry finished connecting the screen to the computer output. "Thank you for that, we'll see what you come up with tomorrow. I think that's done, now, let's see if this works."
Harry called Jean in and the three of them eagerly looked at the display, which at this moment was only a single screen set into the side of the observation room, under which the main server for the asteroid's computer resided. Harry had plans to set up a full-scale radar room later, but it wasn't high on their priorities at present.
Much like the actual installing process for the program, it took a while for the computers of the asteroid to process the information coming in and then display it, but after a moment a globe of the area around the asteroid appeared showed up. Slowly that globe began to expand as the radar brought in more and more information. "Fascinating." Reed murmured once the moon showed up, along with several highlights of information which he looked at avidly. "So it does show up after all, good to know just in case."
"In case what?" Harry asked quickly, looking over at him.
"Not my secrets to share and I'm afraid." Reed shook his head, smiling very slightly. "I might not be in favor of their isolationist policy, but they are allies of a sort so I won't betray that secret."
Harry snorted as did Jean standing next to him, having heard enough information there to understand who Reed was actually talking about. "I see," Harry murmured in a droll tone. "How far out will this go again?"
"With the power we've been able to divert to it from the rest of the asteroid…" Reed frowned calculating in his head something that would take most people several hours and a computer to work out. "I would say roughly another two moon orbits worth. In that sphere it will be real-time information, in fact the slowest part of this will be the system interpreting and updating rather than the sensor actually seeing the information. But the further out it goes the more time displacement there will be, so we will need to figure out something else, as we've already discussed."
"That will depend upon what kind of defense we can put in place. Close, distant, automated, lots of questions to still be answered." Jean said. "Personally, I would like to have your energy array set up for distance. I can't imagine that anything coming out of warp or even FTL wouldn't create a splash no matter where in the system the pop out."
"While your terminology isn't the most accurate, there is nothing wrong with that thought process." Reed said shaking his head as the scanned stopped pretty much where he had expected it to. "Unfortunately that system is the most energy intensive of the two we have now."
"This system, would any of the aliens you've run into have the equipment to be able to detect if they were being scanned with it, regardless of their inability to detect from where?" Harry asked.
"Your certain that this, what did you call it, fidelity spell will hold up?"
"Oh yes!" Harry laughed quietly. "They couldn't even look in the correct direction or even think about how they can't without my okay. The Fidelius spell is one of the most intrinsically powerful and adaptable spells that I know of. That doesn't even consider the number of other defensive spells on this place. There's no chance of anyone finding High Note unless I let them."
"Really? Then in answer to your question, possibly, I don't have as good a handle on the Kree and Skrull technology as I could want. I haven't had the opportunity to study any of their equipment."
"Ooooh…" Jean murmured rubbing her hands. "What I wouldn't give to do that!"
Reed chuckled a little in amusement at her enthusiasm, though he wasn't as much in favor of reverse engineering. He preferred to pave his own way, but he understood the importance of reverse engineering to their current endeavors. "That's about all we can see with this I believe. The system will continue to paint what will be the base line for the next few hours."
Harry nodded. "Will you and the others join us for an early dinner? We can talk about setting up times to bring up any of the other equipment you need for this, as well as the laboratory I'll be setting up here for you. I would prefer to put in the tech based anti-teleportation defenses first before letting you put in your own system there."
Mr. Fantastic nodded, both at that being a good idea and in favor of an early dinner, and the three of them left find the others.
OOOOOOO
At the same time Reed and Harry were working on their projects up in High Note, other scientists were pouring over the data from scanners that were already in place, though these scanners, much though a certain blonde agent would have preferred, did not have anything to do with space. These scanners and these scientists both worked for SHIELD, and the fact that two of the scientists were running around like chickens with their heads cut off did not please the third who was calm and collected. He simply moved over and hit a special scramjet button, which linked him immediately to director Fury while at the same time, locking out any other outgoing radio signal. "Sir it looks as if we've got another rift opening up. Same general location is the last ones."
In his office Fury frowned thoughtfully, but not in any great surprise. Given the report on Thor's attitude, he had expected the hammer wielder would be back. Checking on a map his frown deepened, cross-referencing that with a list of agents he would trust to be able to handle himself if this wasn't Thor. None of them were near enough to get there unless the individual coming through simply waited around, which probably wouldn't happen.
"Good job doctor, notify me if anything else occurs." Nick said then flipped to another channel, contacting the men on duty at the communication station of the bridge. "Contact the agents we have watching subject Foster and Dr Selvig. Tell them to be on the lookout for the alien Thor. Then get in touch with Hawkeye. Tell him I might have a job for him and his protégé sometime soon."
Luckily Hawkeye had been spending more time with Lance training him up of late, thanks to not having any real target for his abilities at present. There were several issues on the horizon that Hawkeye would be perfect to handle but Clint wasn't diplomatic enough, and was known in black circles too much to be a good spy really, so was going through a lull mission-wise at present.
Unfortunately for the scientists, that wasn't the last disruption to their day.
OOOOOOO
Balder frowned as he left his liege's throne room, shaking his head at his half-brother Thor's headstrong attitude. Hah, in that at least he and Loki are the same, though neither would enjoy the comparison! Still, my orders are, at least on the surface, simple. Find this new power rising on Midgard, discern its purpose and goals, and if it was a threat to Asgard. If it was not a threat, he was to introduce himself as an emissary of Odin Borson and Asgard, to hopefully gain them a new ally.
He tapped the hilt of his sword thoughtfully. Mayhaps the best way to go about this would be to have the Rainbow Bridge set me down near the land where this power has been the most active, and attempt to find him from there. Surely the nobles of that realm will know who or what this new power is, if they are not connected to it themselves. And if I am to be an emissary, I must present myself as such.
Balder might be one of the more diplomatic individuals in Asgard, but that wasn't really saying much. Still, with Harry and his people at least, being straightforward and honest would be the way to go, even if at the moment Balder didn't know it.
He soon came to the Rainbow Bridge and its guardian, the ever watchful Heimdall. Without even turning from his vigil the man said. "I know why you have come, and why you are going. Yet I cannot pinpoint this power rising, something is hiding him from my sight."
Balder laughed quietly. It was sort of a running joke with all Asgard that the All-Seeing Eyes of Heimdall were not exactly all seeing beyond the borders of their realm. There were many things that could block his sight, distance being the easiest of course. "If you can put me within two days travel by foot of the land where this force has been in action the most, that will be all I ask of you."
Frowning thoughtfully, Heimdall turned slightly to look at Balder out of the corner of his eye. Like all Asgard, he held Balder in high esteem, and knew he would perform this task to the best of his abilities, but Heimdall knew Balder didn't have much knowledge of the world of men as it was today. "I can put you down near one of the cities of the humans where his power has been shown, a place on Briton, the isle where the Celts and Saxons fought each other and our worshippers, when we had such. I'll try to put you down where no one will see your arrival, but after that you will be on your own."
Heimdall had seen some of the fight in London at the time, but had not thought much about it seeing it as two mere mortal magic users fighting one another. Most Asgardians were scornful of those who used magic with the exception of those who used their own runic language to construct powerful weapons and armor. It was one of the reasons Loki never truly fit in, though his own attitude and ambition did not help. And it was only Odin who had connected that fight with what he later felt, the near death of an Elder God, and the true death of Mephisto.
"That will have to do." Balder shrugged. "Thank you my friend."
"One thing more you should know. Lord Odin has asked Queen Karnilla's apprentice, the Enchantress, to go to Earth to find Thor and make him return. And, if she believes it necessary, he has granted her leave to… remove the object of his affection. Though thou did not hear that last bit from me. She has already left, through her own magical means."
Balder blanched slightly, looking around wildly in case speaking of her caused Karnilla to suddenly appear. Karnilla's infatuation for him was as well-known as it was mildly disturbing. It isn't as if Karnilla were ugly, he thought now, while Heimdall let lose a crack of laughter at his friend's moment of panic. But she is nearly old enough to be my mother. I know that it truly should not matter, as long lived as we Asgardians are, but I prefer less… worldly women. Even in his own head Balder tried to be diplomatic when talking about a woman whose magic was nearly on par with Odin, in scope if not in raw power.
After a moment he recovered enough to respond to the rest of what Heimdall had said. "Our Lord is ruthless, but has a point. A match with a mortal woman, it can never end well for either, even putting aside the fact that Thor's enemies would be quick to strike at him through her. Dalliance is one thing, but more, nay. Though I cannot condone the idea of removing her, it is best to nip their relationship in the bud. Still, if that it all, I will be off now. My thanks Heimdall."
The two men clasped hands, and a moment later the Rainbow Bridge appeared, heading out into it what looked like nothingness for a moment. Rechecking his blade and his horned helmet and armor Balder sighed then stepped forward. Moments later, between one step and the next he found himself in an entirely different place. Where before Balder had been standing on a bridge over nothingness with the city of Asgard looming behind him, Balder now found himself in a forest surrounded by trees.
He sighed rubbing at the left horn of his helmet for a moment. "Methinks I should've asked Heimdall which direction from mine starting point this city where this magic battle occurred was. Ahh well…" Balder sighed, looking around and randomly chose a direction heading off through the woods.
OOOOOOO
"Sir, we might have had another one, only this time… going by the longitude and latitude it looks as if it happened somewhere in the United Kingdom." It had taken the team of scientists several hours to figure that out actually.
Fury groaned, rubbing his eye patch furiously wondering what the hell was going on. On the other hand, he thought to himself with a sudden smirk as an idea came to him. This one at least I don't have jurisdiction over! If the lot in the UK is happy with keeping SHIELD at arm's length and not giving us access to their territory to deal with such things, then they can deal with this on their own.
That this would be another test for Potter possibly occurred to him, but that was simply an added bonus. The UK Intelligence Budget Committee had decided to not keep trying to get a voice on SHIELD's oversight committee, which in a way was bad, since that left only Canada and America still paying for SHIELD, and none of the other first tier powers in the world were even close to joining up.
The Brits were willing to work with SHIELD agents, but not to fund them. Nor were they willing to turn over to SHIELD the jurisdiction to deal with the sort of issues SHIELD was built to face in their nation, not until SHIELD stopped dealing with a lot of other crap first. Fury was worried about it, and what it could mean for the future but right now, he had other fish to fry.
With that in mind, he turned back, marking down on a map of the world. He and his senior analysts working on this, filling the map with red, yellow and green markers to mark where possible terrorist or criminal activity tied into what they were now calling the Big Three occurred. Nick was trying to find a pattern, or some kind of central node, anything that he could use to find where AIM, the Red Skull, or this HYDRA group was operating from. In comparison to that, Thor and the issues he caused would be flashier, but in Nick's opinion the terrorist groups were far more important.
OOOOOOO
Jean smiled as she dodged around the gaggle of youngsters racing down the hallway, exchanging good morning hugs with Melody and Illyana, who had joined her friend in handing such out at every opportunity. The gaggle now included the two youngest Guthrie children, Jeb and Joelle. Both of them were preteens, aged eleven and ten respectively. They got along well with the other pe-teens, and had dealt with suddenly leaving home remarkably well. Their mother, Lucinda, had confided in Ms. Brown that they were only two of seven youngsters in their small town, which had been bleeding people since before she married as the coal mine dried up.
Illyana was in the lead as always. She was certainly the leader of the bunch, a little princess in truth despite her rustic upbringing. She was an imperious little thing at times, which amused Jean greatly. The blonde girl seemed in some fashion to be emulating Ororo, who certainly could come off like that at first glance. That Illyana was also intelligent, and seemed to love learning and playing with equal ferocity helped.
The redhead nodded to Ms. Brown when she saw the teacher, who was running to keep up with the kids smirking all the while. "What's on the agenda today?"
"Today we're going on a nature walk. Melody is going to show us what she's found in the area, and then they're going to pair off and write up stories set in the woods. I want to get the non-English kids used to writing in English, and fiction writing is an excellent way to do that."
"Make sense." Jean nodded. "Sorry we're going to be busy all day, or I'd love to go with you. I actually haven't explored the woods around here much myself. Still, the house-elves will respond to any calls for help."
"To say you've been busy would be an understatement my dear. What little I know about what you lot and Mr. Potter and the others are up to tells me that. It wouldn't surprise me that you all are working 22 hour days, how any of you three in particular get any sleep is beyond me."
"Something like that anyway." Jean replied drolly shaking her head. Harry had never come to bed the night before, having stayed up all night to work on finishing up the armor for the team. Both Jean and Ororo understood the necessity, but they could have wished he would have told them about it first. Still, we can't argue with the results anyway.
She found Harry in the entrance hall, having just finished hugging Melody goodbye. He smiled at her as she came down the steps after the hurrying Ms. Brown who barely nodded in Harry's direction before rushing outside after the kids. "We might wish to think of getting her some help soon."
"I don't think so." Jean replied smiling as she saw Ororo walking up from the basement area. Ororo smiled back, looping her arms around Jean and Harry's waist as the trio took a precious moment alone together. "At the moment she and Ororo have the older teens set up with their own learning packets, and Ms. Brown is handling the youngsters well enough. Outside of lessons, the house-elves handle a lot of the daily work that comes up, and if we take any of the work away from them we might have a mutiny on our hands. Ororo told me they are ecstatic over the enlarged workload."
That was an understatement really, Harry thought, smiling as he removed one arm around Ororo to pat the banister of the staircase almost like it was a pet. The house-elves, indeed, the entire castle, though Jean lacked the ability to tell, was jubilant to have so many children to take care of. Nearly to an elf house-elves loved children and taking care of them was one of their major joys, even those who specialized in other work.
And Hogwarts had been steeped in magic for its entire existence, and it knew, somewhere down in its stone bones, that it was meant to be a school. Even if the students were not magical, this was the purpose it had been built to fulfill, and it loved Harry and the others for bringing in so many children for it to care for. The castle was in no way sentient, but there was an awareness there that filled the air with happiness.
Harry was brought back to the here and now when Jean asked. "Are we going over to Reed's right away?"
"In just a moment." Harry nodded. "We've got about twenty minutes before the time he said he wanted to meet us, but I want to go and grab Captain Britain first. Since this is about his sister he should probably hear all the information Mr. Fantastic was able to glean with his inter-dimensional probes."
"There is something truly wrong about the way you just said probes." Ororo murmured as she came up to stand with him. "Do you want to meet us there? While I like Brian, he does owe allegiance to the UK's government. We might be allies with them at present, but that doesn't equate to them knowing everything we're up to."
"That's a good idea, but please remember to call ahead." Harry said emphatically. "I really don't think we want to, as Reed put it the other day, find out what happens when you 'bounce'. I truly doubt it would be as survivable as it was when I tried to apparate into Hogwarts the first time. You set that up, then call the rest of the team together, and I'll meet you there."
Given that this was about his sister Capt. Britain was ready within minutes, dressed in the suit that gave him his power and ready to go. Fifteen minutes after he left the castle, Harry teleported them directly from his house to the Baxter Building, finding the others from Hogwarts having popped in on their heels thanks to Cory, who popped out just as quickly, looking rather uncomfortable.
Reed and the others were all there to welcome them, and looked quizzically at the newcomers particularly Vanguard. The shield on his back looked familiar to both men, though neither had actually seen it in person. Harry noticed the looks, and smirked. "All right, introductions all around. Considering that we're probably going to fight together at some point in the future even if we don't do so on this current adventure, I think it is smart for all of us to know one another's abilities."
The more experienced adventurers laughed, since it was almost certain that this would be the case. This was especially true since both Harry and Reed were determined to remain allies with one another. Even if Harry wasn't about to tell Reed about his dealings with Dr. Doom. "This is Captain Britain, given his attire I really don't think we need to comment on anything more there." Harry smirked.
"I say again, I didn't pick this uniform." Brian murmured in the tones of long suffering, looking down at himself.
"It is rather distinctive." Susan murmured shaking her head with a laugh.
"The two Russians are Vanguard and Colossus, Colossus is the one all in steel at present." Ben nodded to Colossus who nodded back, recognizing the fact they were their team's strongmen, then looked at Vanguard, wondering what kind of story was behind him having the Red Guardian's shield.
"Welcome one and all. Please, follow me." Reed said. "I'll show you where I've set up for a presentational this. I will say, that I don't like being rushed like this though I can understand the necessity, but I am afraid the information I have gleaned may point to the need to wait and gather more."
"I Thank you for your help sir." Brian murmured, though he was looking slightly more worried thanks to the second part of that statement.
One of the labs had been set up as a conference room, and they all pulled up chairs at the table while Reed moved to the front of the room. Then he assumed a stance that was almost like a male equivalent of professor McGonagall. The effect was so bizarre that despite the seriousness of the task at hand Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing aloud.
Thankfully Reed didn't know that Harry was currently picturing him in a male equivalent of his former professor's stern schoolmarm outfit. Once everyone was in seat, he began, his word's grabbing the wizard's attention swiftly. "Before I cover the information I have gleaned about the target world, I would like to first go over some things I have discovered through other means. Firstly, I would not have been able to find the correct world for this, if not for several factors."
"This was not in fact the first time this other world, which at present is called Mojoworld, has opened up a portal to our own. Once I had a reading on them, the residual energies of the numerous portals allowed me to better triangulate its position." Of course Reed was dumbing down what he had actually accomplished quite a bit there, triangulation really stopped working when you were talking about both inter-dimensional as well as interstellar distances.
"Then I ran into further problems when attempting to send my probes…" he paused as Ben and Johnny both laughed and Harry sat with a seemingly innocent smile on his face while the girls, even his own wife, smirked. Even Captain Britain was holding back a smile.
"My drones rather," he said glaring at Ben and Johnny with a note of censure in his voice. "This world is actually quite advanced, on the main more advanced than our own, though not up to the level of my own equipment." That had been a near run thing, which rather irritated the super genius, but he had been able to overcome the problem and figure out a way to hide his drones appropriately after having lost four of them in a row.
What his drones did was cloak themselves not just from sight but from any kind of detection by creating a temporal dislocation field around them. It was as if they were moving in an entirely different time, a second ahead or behind real time, which allowed them to see out and record what they could see or take in under his directions, without anything outside that field actually be able to discern them in turn. It was based off Kang's time travelling technology, though Reed had to work at it for several hours to get it right.
"How advanced exactly?" Harry said sitting forward now, all business. Reed smiled as he could feel the intensity of the younger man's appraisal. It was times like this that reminded him that there was a very deadly leader and warrior underneath Harry's normal laid-back attitude. "Wait a moment and we'll get to that Harry."
He paused, frowning and then looking them all in the eyes one after another while behind him a large number of equations disappeared from the screen, replaced with nothing for the moment. "There is a theory that states that the more technology is available the less the physical abilities of individuals in that society will come to matter. Call it the couch potato theory, and I use that terminology with feeling in this case. What we have here is a race that is utterly composed of couch potatoes."
Behind him a picture popped up showing what looked like a bulbous almost leechlike creature, with extremely spindly arms with very long fingers, but a body that seemed to almost be blob-like in nature. There were no legs to be seen, and the thing was moving around on some kind of hover bed.
"That's basically all they do, sit in these things and have all their wants and desires catered to by their admittedly vast technological base. They literally watch TV 24 hours a day, eat, sleep in these beds. Part of that is because they do not seem to have evolved spines, but the majority seems to simply be the preference of their race."
Reed digressed at this point for nearly an, going into the evolutionary problems a race would face without a spine, explaining that he felt this was where all of their technology had begun, as well as what it meant for their society. "Their attention span however, seems atrociously low, like a teenager on some kind hallucinogenic drug, so TV is the center of their lives."
"I'm not going to like this am I?" Captain Britain murmured shaking his head. "What exactly are these shows they watch?"
"Anything and everything, just like in our world except that the majority of TV programs use slave actors." Reed answered grimly. At the word 'slave' everyone sat forward now, glaring at the image. Reed obligingly changed the image to show several humans acting out parts in what looked like some kind of Roman era war drama. "One of my drones got close enough to a cremation site on the outskirts of what appears to be the only real city on the planet, and it took several samples from one of the dead before it was cremated. The lack of genetic drift points the majority of these humanoids being genetically grown and engineered to perform in these shows for their creators."
He spent the next hour going over how exactly he had determined the fact most of the humans shown were genetically created, though most of it went over his listeners' heads.
"From what I can discern using my drones, this race determines who leads it through viewer ratings. One individual has led the planet for the last 30+ of our years, because he uses their technology to send out troops to kidnap actors and bring them back to act out in different shows, the most prominent of which is a sort of gladiatorial arena. I'm very much afraid Captain that this is what has happened to your sister."
Captain Britain's hands clenched so hard on his armrests the plastic and metal began to crack under the pressure. "I see…" Across from him Jean's fingers curled into claws, and a haze of telekinetic power began to form around them, while Ororo's eyes began to change to the opaque white they were when she called upon her power.
Harry however kept his mind on business despite his own anger at the idea. "Were your drones able to get any images of this leader?"
"Quite a lot yes." Reed replied drolly shaking his head. "He does the majority of the infomercials for his programs himself, and he always introduces the next program of the gladiatorial arena as well as running some kind of talk show with himself as the host on a daily basis."
Reed toggled the picture again, showing another 'couch potato'. This one was larger and seemingly fatter than all the others, but had much more powerfully built arms to go with it. There was actual muscle on them and his fingers were just as long and dexterous seeming as the others of his race. But instead of a hover craft lifting him up he used what looked like some kind of metal walker with large spider legs. He also had a smattering of what looked like circuitry built into his face. Some kind of wiring was also embedded in the back of his head going down his back into the walker.
"He goes by the name Mojo, and other than his control of their planet and the technology that gives him, I can't discern anything more about his fighting ability from what my drones have been able to discern. We can however discern that he is at least intelligent and somewhat organized considering that there has not been a viable slave rebellion, despite the obvious physical disparity between the slaves and the slavers in this case."
"A chip embedded in the brains to prevent such thoughts from entering their heads, or exploding when they do?" Harry mused, his eyes hard.
"I… I would have to assume something like that until proven otherwise, yes." Reed shook his head sadly. "I think given enough time I could come up with a way to block any such mechanical type of switch, but not if it is something in their very genetics. I cannot say with one hundred percent certainty that a genetically created being wouldn't have something that would stop them from rebelling, or an advanced biological kill switch of some kind." He described several types of said he could think of, as well as ways to possibly fight against them, but all of them would take time to prepare, and if they got it wrong, the results would be disastrous.
Jean frowned while everyone else around her, scowled angrily, but she was wondering something. "These actors, are they just humans?"
"I have noted six other alien species, most of which I am not familiar with on the planet, so I would say that is a no. Humans do however appear to be the majority."
Captain Britain however had his mind on the task at hand. "Could this kind of control chip that you and Harry both agree they are probably using already be in my sister?"
"Possibly." Reed answered shaking his head. "But as I said, such things can be blocked, give me a few days and I'll come up with something to cover the entire city. Other methods would be more difficult to block of course."
Harry nodded. "That'll give me time to finish the battle rattle for my team, as well as a suit for Wyatt if he's serious about joining up."
"A few more days with my sister in this world?" Brian said it calmly, but there was nothing calm about his eyes as he glared at Mr. Fantastic and Potter in turn. Jean and Ororo both reached out to place a hand on his own where they lay on the table and he breathed in deeply then nodded, showing he was in control once more.
"If you could give me a physical description of her, I'll have one of my drones watching her twenty-four-seven." Reed answered shaking his head. "But this is the kind of environment we can't go in blindly, trust me, I speak from painful experience. What if Mojo realized we were after your sister and used her as a hostage? Worse yet, what if he decided to use all the slaves as a hostage thinking our shared heritage with the humans among them would stop us from doing anything? I also haven't been able to discern anything about his forces one way or the other yet beyond the fact they rely heavily on robotics. I think it's also obvious that a few of the slaves at least follow him willingly, including one woman with six arms that appears at Mojo's side at times."
"There's another question here." Ororo answered shaking her head, causing everyone else to turn to her. "If we simply go in and rescue Betsy, what's to stop this Mojo person from continuing to steal away others?"
Harry squeezed his weather goddess' hand under the table smiling at her insight. "Storm's right, we must solve the problem not just its symptom. That would mean heading in and freeing the slaves at the very least, and removing any of the 'couch potatoes' ability to bring in more at a minimum."
Captain Britain frowned but eventually was forced to nod acquiescence to that idea. "I will agree to that, especially considering this Mojo may or may not try to take my sister away again. After all we do not know what attracted him to Betsy in the first place."
"True." Harry murmured shaking his head, then began to count on his fingers. "So basically this mission to rescue Betsy now has three goals. One, remove Mojo from power in any way possible so long as its permanent. Two, change the balance of power, do away with the slavery aspect of this world at the very least, the degree of which will be possible is to be determined. After all, if the slaves don't have any knowledge of how to govern themselves without this system of ratings based popularity, we'll need to figure out a way to teach them that. We also need to know more about why they haven't rebelled yet."
And, I need to think of how to arm them too. After all, there's no way that the couch potatoes are stupid enough to let their slaves have access to anything like weapons, and I bet they have something like attack droids beyond the humans and others who serve Mojo willingly. Hmm… it might be time to talk to Ms. Potts, on many levels.
"And three, make damn certain that these people can't come back again, smashing anything that can be used to create the technology to jump dimensions. Were you able to find any other targets for us?"
"Not a lot," Reed admitted. "As I said, give me more time then I might have some more information for you all." With that the meeting broke up, with the group from the UK leaving with heavy hearts.