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Hela was still chuckling as she allowed Garm to help her towards her bed chambers shaking her head as she stared down at the communication mirror. "What a day, what a battle! What a party! I have not had so much action or so much fun in millennia!"
I wonder though, when would be the right time to call? I am most certainly going to, but calling him up every day, no that would how me as being too needy. Once a week perhaps, or once every four days? And best to keep it somewhat professional at first, inform him about what I have found out about those Draugr, tell Ororo about the souls of the children and their temporary home. Then start flirting, that was rather fun I must say, though I will no doubt be appalled later when the drink wears off. 'how good are you with your sword?' indeed!
The attack came without warning. Both Hela and Garm stiffened as their bodies were suddenly assailed, the shadows of her hall becoming deeper, grabbing at them physically as a mental augur shattered Hela's mental defenses both from within and without, diving deep before she could rally herself.
Hela lashed out with a roar. As a goddess she had some powers that could be used on the mental plane of course. But her attack hit nothing. She could not keep the attackers out of her mind, because they were already there within her mind and within Garm's. Hela was not weak by any means, indeed she was one of the most powerful of the Asgardians since she partook of the power of her mistress as well.
But Hela could not direct that power, could not hit whatever was attacking her, whatever was already in her mind unseen, lurking within her thoughts as if, she thought suddenly sick as if they were always there, as if they had been there for millennia. Her powers simply couldn't fight them off effectively undermined as they were from within and she screamed. Hela's attempts at shielding her thoughts, her memory went slightly better, slowing their assault for a few seconds, but not enough. She felt them reach into her mind shouting at her in a tongue she could understand though why was beyond her. "You have done what you cannot be allowed to do, you must be reset, returned to your mold."
The darkness closing in on Hela's thoughts felt vile, ripping, seeping her mind and soul in tar, almost like the feeling she had gotten when she first sensed the Draugr horde but not quite because it was happening to her mind, her very mind, not her powers, not just her connection to those powers and her realm but her very essence, her soul and mind. The taint however gave her a clue. These were the ones who had set the Draugr loose!
That thought galvanized Hela for her to fight back for another few precious seconds that stretched like days in her mind. But she couldn't stop it didn't stop the tide, and her memories began to shatter, occluded by the rising shadows. "No! Do not! It's not right!" she howled in her own mind. "I was happy, for once in millennia I was. I had friends, companionship! I, no, I don't want to be alone again!"
She thought ever the fiercer as her memories began to erode, but eventually she had exhausted herself, and Hela's memories disappeared from her mind. The last thought she had as the darkness finally snuffed her waking thought was of Harry and the dance they had shared. Harry, I'm sorry.
Beside her Garm only had a moment to catch the mirror in his mouth as it fell out of his mistress' hand before he too succumbed. Nowhere near as powerful as his mistress he couldn't even fight the mental attack.
Within one second in the material plane and the next it was done, and Hela found herself with an aching hangover, dreams and images of Balder and the memory of having drunk herself into a stupor over him, pining away like a love lost maiden for the Shining One. "Oh Balder, what must I do to gain thy attentions, thou most magnificent of Vanir?"
But as a wolf, Garm did not think like gods and humans, despite his intelligence. The Shadows didn't realize this, simply crushing his memories and erasing them as quickly as possible before concentrating on Hela. No, Garm remembered scents, and had a far wider range of such than the Shadows could grasp.
Thus the memories of those senses and those tastes lingered, and he shook his head as his mistress began to moan about Balder. This is not right, my memory seems not to match for some reason. I can smell other people on us both. What has happened here? And what is this little mirror thing? It definitely does not match my mistress' normal style. There is magic, odd magic on it, and the scents of several men and women on us both. It is as if we were at a feast of some kind.
And why do I have the most wretched burps in existence! It feels as if I ate some foul souls, but that's impossible. I would remember if any tried to escape from their rightful places in the fields of Hel.
Listening to his mistress moaning about Balder now Garm decided to keep his own counsel rather than speak. Moving away from his mistress he left Niflheim moving out into the planes of Hel. He had a job to do after all, but he was going to keep this bizarre occurrence in the back of his mind, and the mirror too just in case.
OOOOOOO
In his personal quarters in Valhalla Odin felt the shifting in the Shadow's attention. As the Skyfather of his pantheon, Odin alone could always feel them pressing down on him, he always felt it was a sign they understood how dangerous he was, and they were right to fear him. Every moment's inattention away from him was one Odin could useto strike at them, and though they could not know, indeed he had erased the memories of it from his own mind before they could find them, he had.
Even his wife Frigga couldn't feel them, not often and never with enough warning to take advantage of it. But Odin was the God of wisdom and foresight for a reason.
Thus it was that he felt their growing unease, their fury at something going on elsewhere. Then they crushed down into his mind with all the subtlety of a hammed, and Odin snarled lightly as the foul touch filled his mind. The order came sharp and clear in his mind as if he had thought it himself, but he knew he hadn't, they had planted it there. Thor has vastly overstated his time on earth. He must return, contact with Earth must be cut, else more trouble find my people here.
That thought pressed into his mind for several hours, the Shadows trying to impress it on him, trying to make Odin believe the thought had been his own, but they couldn't, not quite. They had never been able to truly do that for all their power, Odin's mind was still his own deep down, they hadn't crushed his spirit wholly, not yet.
Then Odin felt there attention shift once again, moving towards Niflheim out past Asgard. Now Odin knew what had sparked that moment of fury. She might be the most free of us to act, and must have done so somehow. Stay strong my niece, for even in ignorance you aid our people. They will pay!
In that moment of freedom he acted again. Following the Shadow's orders on the surface he created several new constructs, sending an order for the two he'd already sent to Middle Earth to self-destruct. These new constructs would carry his orders to both Amora and his wayward son to return or else a much stronger party would be sent to drag them both back.
But at the same time, Odin had used that bit of magic to hide a greater working, creating a simulacrum of himself hiding it within the larger splash of the construct's magic. He sent it to Middle Earth as well, though he was unable to target where it would appear. It would however have enough intelligence to act on its own, and Odin allowed himself a small wintry smile. The wanderer was always one of my favorite aspects to employ, it should be interesting once that bit of myself reemerges with me to see what it has done. I certainly hope it has more fun than I will.
He distantly felt the violation of his niece and he scowled angrily, unseen by any hear in his quarters. She might have been the most free of us to act, and yet she is also the most violated in many way. At least the rest of my people cannot sense what is going on. But she will have recompense for this, I swear it.
OOOOOOO
Hedwig stared as the two ravens which had been bothering her on and off for days, her eyes narrowing as they suddenly disappeared, shattering into parchment of all things. She waited for a few seconds then hopped over to where they had been, staring down at the papers. They weren't in a language she'd ever seen before, but Hedwig could still somehow understand them. They read 'those in chains may yet break free'.
With a sigh that was purely avian in nature Hedwig shook her head then reached forward with Claude to pick up papers, deciding that her Harry probably needed to look at these. He did, but at the moment, Harry simply couldn't devote any more time to the Asgardian problem. Resources however, he could.
Because of this Dr. Vorlus received quite a bit of aid the next few days. Two dedicated house elves were sent to their master's new conquest, keeping an eye on things for Harry, and Harry also sent a construction droid down with enough material to help make the small port somewhat more usable. Piotr and the others brought in computers, dictation devices, and a dedicated communication system for the small but growing site. This was after they had dealt with their hangovers via potions from the house elves of course, something which had the college students nearly swearing over their souls to Harry.
But that was all the time Harry had time to devote to the project.
OOOOOOO
While Dr. Vorlus sank his teeth into the murals in the hidden hall, the belt and what they could tell him, the Custodes continued their training. They also spent two hours every night going over the number of people from the Acolytes and Brotherhood they had been able to identify from the information Emma had gotten them. A lot of the Acolytes had long rap sheets with various police forces the world over, several of them even had Interpol files which the Custodes had access to courtesy of Banshee and the agreement Harry had reached with his former boss. They would not be going into this operation blind.
The information about the Brotherhood members was much sketchier since most of them were teenagers, some of them younger even than most of the X-Men had been when they first joined up. But even there, thanks to Wendy and Emma they had a pretty decent layout of the members. There were a few question marks among the Acolytes, as well as the Brotherhood though in very different ways. One of Magneto's lieutenants for example was a veritable unknown save for one police report that had capture his face and the name Wendy had given the man: Exodus.
Their total numbers however were worrisome, coupled with the news about the mutates which even if they didn't really have a lot of intelligence or skill had numbers and strength going for them. The humans, or seeming humans anyway, working with Magneto and his own intelligence would give him a decent tech base too.
The second day after the set-to with the undead Piotr decided to broach that subject with Harry. "Even if we call in the X-Men tovarishch we're still going to be facing a lot more troops than we can safely handle Harry, even with your spells."
"I think my spells will be able to offset their numbers advantage, but I've also been talking to the Fantastic Four about them joining in. Kitty's also volunteered as has Nikolai's sister. Kitty's getting in touch with Lance which at least will add to our numbers, and you know Wanda is going to join the X-men, heck even Lorna and Alex might. But you're right, we'll have to rely on Shi Jundai and shock value to make up our numbers."
Harry knew this would be a tough fight, but he felt it was one they could win so long as they had initial surprise on their side and worked on their in-combat teamwork. This was why he worked with the team, concentrating on retaining control of the battlefield, the 'combat bubble' as he had once heard it called, getting used to ordering the team around in as large a combat setting as possible, which at first did not go very well. Even in the largest battle of the war against the Dark Lord Harry had only led his small group against twenty or thirty of the enemy. In this they'd probably be dealing with several hundred. However he learned quickly, and the small coms they all wore helped tremendously.
Indeed, save for a working dinner every other day Harry, Jean and Ororo all turned their attention entirely to gearing up for this confrontation. Jean worked on the team's weapons, while Kitty and Ororo stepped up the younger girl's magical training, inventing uses for her runic pebbles and teaching her several combat spells until she could use them without even thinking about them.
At the same time Ororo worked with Kitty and Dennis to create a sort of promotional video to be used in the future to educate the Brotherhood and Acolyte members they took prisoner. After all, not all of them would be hateful murderers or power mad maniacs.
Kitty and Ororo also worked closely with Harry to go over everyone's suits, both Custodes and X-men, creating emergency portkey runic arrays tied into a heath monitoring array Harry had seen in Madam Pomfrey's office. This array would become a necessity on any suit of the growing Custodes alliance, with even the FF's suits getting them. Other than that, Harry manufactured enough Orihalcum scales to add them to most of the suits too.
Most of those suits were not as all-encompassing as they should be. Evan's in particular left large patches bare on his arms, legs and even his body to allow him to grow out his bone weapons and armor at need. Nightcrawler couldn't have much in the way of added weight, or it would impact how far he could teleport. Laura and Wanda, both of whom were being tested rigorously by Scott to see if they would be able to work with a team without causing issues, had flatly refused the first few suit designs. But eventually they had reached a compromise.
Besides that, Harry deconstructed his Magia Erebea spell in order to find out what was going wrong with it, figuring it out two days after the fight. It turned out that some of his basic arithmetic formula had been wrong, creating a recursive curve rather than a straight up equalization. Each time Harry activated the spell he got a more limited return for it, forcing him to push more power into the spell for less and less return. That was why even at 90% he'd only had three times as much strength as the Draugr, which in turn were weaker than the Thing, and far weaker than Thanos or an enraged Hulk.
If the spell had deteriorated to that point against Thanos… Harry shuddered. The big purple bastard would've torn me apart and Hermione would smack me upside the head for this so hard it's not even funny. 'What do you mean you never went back and revised your work when you had time Harry James Potter?!'
Harry paused suddenly, feeling a faint nostalgic smile in his face and realized that was the first time he'd been able to think of Hermione without pain. There was regret, but not the searing sort of regret he normally felt when he remembered her and indeed it was more of a sentimental feeling than anything else. Well I took your advice Hermione, I have lived and I have loved and will continue to love.
"Speaking of which," he said aloud, gesturing to one wall of his work room, which was right next to Jean's even though it had a very different layout. "Memo to self," he said and the words appeared in fire in the air, before flowing onto a large chalkboard on the far wall. "Look into the magical solution for Melody's mind not aging as it should."
He could have used another term, but even alone Harry refused to be derogatory toward his daughter. "Some of the books in the library are about mental disciplines, and Doctor Strange mentioned a few similar works. Something that could maybe redirect her mutant power, or negate its effect on her mind?"
"If you can find the time, damn it, priorities, priorities." With a sigh Harry left that there, returning to his work on the Magia Erebea technique.
Despite his concentration on the coming conflict Harry couldn't devote all of his time to it, even beyond the working dinners which cut into his time with the kids something, he loathed given how much time he spent away from them.
First he once again created a new business enterprise: Potter Mining Internationalwould be the front for the mining being done on the Ravenspires. This allowed his hiring teams, of which there were hundreds already, to greatly expand their work. Where hundreds had been signing up for now there were thousands, mostly in America and other First World countries, but that was only because his hiring teams had barely begun to get up to speed themselves. Not all of them knew about what they were hiring people for of course, a state of affairs that wouldn't change in the near future, but they were still hiring lots and lots of people.
And what was even better, the first batch had almost finished training, a group of 150 workers, miners, welders and electricians. They had all been flown to Florida to one of the training centers there, and put through a rigorous few days of testing to put the final touches on their ability to work in partial and true zero-G. Then they were introduced to the big boss.
"Greetings ladies and gentlemen," Harry said, moving through the doorway, and sitting down on the desk at the front of the lecture hall which was being used for this discussion. Everyone there recognized him from TV of course, and there was more than one who gasped as they suddenly realized they were working for Magical Minds and the mysterious Harry Potter.
"My name is Harry Potter, and you all will hopefully soon be working for me. I know all of you are here because you are close to finishing it your training at the various underwater and zero-G training centers, and you probably think you're going to be put to work undersea somewhere. Your instructors certainly went out of their way to make it seem like that, even if a lot of the training didn't quite match up with that idea. I have to tell you now however, that that was deliberately misleading."
There were some mutters about that, and Harry let them go on for a moment before continuing. "What you're really going to be doing is working in space. I have a means of getting people up into orbit far faster and far easier than NASA or anyone else can, and I have begun to create defense 'platforms' in space. Why you may ask? Does anyone remember that light show that happened a few weeks ago?"
There were more than one nods, and more than one man there and two of the women all suddenly became grim as they connected that with Harry's outspoken belief that humanity had to stand together against extraterrestrial threats.
"Some of you fellows already got it, lovely. That was an attack on Earth by the Kree. The Fantastic Four could tell you more about them than I could," Harry lied slightly. "But that was one of their main military forces, not a special op team or anything of that nature, but spaceships sent to kill this planet. Without some defenses the Fantastic Four and I threw together, it would've succeeded. We would be morning millions or billions of lives and dozens of cities at the very least if they hadn't worked.'
Harry held up a hand as the muttering began to grow. "Before you ask, yes, many of the world's militaries know about the attack, and I have it on good authority that some of them are beginning to pressure the higher-ups to do something about it. But I don't have to tell you what politicians think of that kind of thing."
"They won't want to pay for it," one man muttered. "Especially if they can't get up into space as easily as you seem to say you can Mr. Potter."
"Exactly. My way is rather unique it must be said, based more upon where I came from and what I learned there than anything this world has an analog of." Several people there nodded though a few frowned before their fellows leaned over to remind them that Harry had admitted to being from another dimension in his first public interview.
"So you're saying, we're going to be working on these defense platforms?" inquired a man holding up a hand.
"That's correct. A lot of the works already been done, but not the fiddly bits. The wiring, a lot of the interior mining and construction, some other stuff like that. Eventually we're going to expand, we're going to start building our own ships rather than simply hollowing out asteroids like we are now." Harry ignored the shocked looks he got at that idea, and continued on. "And eventually we'll be adding to the workforce we've already begun to hire. But you're gonna be the first."
"Is that why we were told that we'd see our contracts only after our training was finished?" asked one man. They had been paid to go to this school of course, which was generous enough, and told they'd be getting full medical coverage for the duration, though of course not everyone had made it through the training. About five in 20 dropped out at one point or another because of personal issues, inability to work well with others, deck chair lawyers, and of course simple physical problems.
"Where the hell do I sign up?" asked one man as Harry nodded to the previous question, his voice a Southern California drawl. "I got family in San Francisco, and better believe it'd be a target what with the Baxter Building being there."
A lot of the other people there nodded. This was both a job and a cause they could all sink their teeth into. Many of them would have preferred if it was an American operation, but Magical Minds had done so much good for so many people already they couldn't really object to this.
Harry nodded, and after punching a few buttons several screens around the room lit up with copies of a contract. "Look it over gentlemen, you'll find the written forms up here. Compare the two if you want, but by this time tomorrow I want you all working understand?" Harry was answered with a hundreds of people talking enthusiastically.
OOOOOOO
There were of course other meetings, one of which tied up both Ororo and Harry on a day they would have much preferred to devote to themselves. And another one which Jean had to deal with: not because she knew a lot about the topic, but because she could link to Emma, who couldn't get away to do it herself.
OOOOOOO
Harry and Ororo exited his Huayra in the personal parking lot of Magical Mind's headquarters, nodding politely at the security guard who had let them in, waving his hand in amusement at the large crowd of paparazzi and real reporters out past the entrance. "I still find it amusing how voracious the paps are for pictures of us. You my dear are amazingly photogenic, but even so…"
Ororo chuckled, leaning her head against Harry's shoulder for a moment, waving her hand toward the crowd, her panja ring gleaming in the sunlight for a moment. Even from here she could hear the sound of cameras clicking. "You're a mysterious multi-billionaire who's made a massive effort to get behind a heretofore losing social stance. Of course they want pictures of you, above and beyond your various public statements."
Shaking his head, Harry was forced to accede the point as they continued, remembering the surprisingly positive response he'd gotten from his vocal stance on Moses Magnum getting the death penalty for his act of terrorism. While a lot of bleeding hearts the world over had protested, and some mutant gangs had immediately begun to call for his head, the rest of the world saw it as a step in the right direction that though a mutant, Magnum would be tried and punished for his terrorist acts just like any unpowered individual.
"For all the money you spent on that car, we seriously don't use it often enough Harry," Ororo murmured, interrupting his thoughts. "It's magnificent don't get me wrong but…"
"With expansion charms my Huayra can hold as many people as a bus, eventually. Besides, everyone needs some little thing to call their own. Jean's already here, right?" The three of them plans to head over to Emma's mansion in New York to have dinner with her.
Emma had decided it was time to sit her little sister down and tell her what was going on because the girl had been nosing about for weeks now trying to figure out where Emma disappeared to. She wasn't going to tell Cordelia everything, but Emma wanted the others there for that discussion.
"That's right," Ororo nodded. "Stephen wanted one of us involved in picking a new spokesman for Magical Minds. He's narrowed it down to four people, and six interns who would be studying under the actual spokesman to step into the position later. Given how many of your companies might need a dedicated spokesman, both the manager and Sage thought that was a good idea as did Emma."
Harry nodded, concealing a small smile. The idea of a dedicated spokesperson had actually been one of his, but organizing it had fallen to Emma and Ororo. He knew for a fact that both women had leaned heavily on Paris for her expertise, and that every person they interviewed had previously been suggested to them by her.
Paris might not be completely on board with everything, but she was certainly a business ally and possibly a social one as well. Which doesn't even consider the fact that she and Doctor Doom might be opening up… communications if what Dennis passed on about that is true. Weird, but who am I too judge.
That thought brought to mind another issue that had plagued his mind and that of Ororo, Jean, and even Emma who hadn't even met her: Hela's silence. They had called her occasionally, but had received no reply. Worse, she hadn't contacted them.
Despite not having met her Emma was convinced there was something going on there, likening it to her own situation before Harry had come into her life. And she really did want to meet Hela, she'd talked extensively with Jean and Ororo about the girl, but was against her and Harry even courting, let alone Hela possibly joining them. She was willing to befriend the Asgardian goddess, but with all of their disparate duties, the four of them had little enough time together, adding a fifth was not something she wanted to occur. She understood Hela had impressed her lovers, but that wasn't enough for Emma.
And with their plan to hopefully deal with Magneto coming up, they just couldn't become embroiled in anything else just yet. A refrain that was beginning to wear rather thin in Harry's mind.
"I still wish we knew why a representative from Wakanda wants to meet with you, Ororo, before allowing Magical Minds products through their borders." Harry muttered shaking his head and concentrating back on the matter at hand.
"Your guess as good as mine," Ororo said shrugging her shoulders. She was dressed today in a normal business woman's outfit, almost blasé in comparison to what she normally wore but in Harry's completely unbiased opinion she was still one of the most beautiful women he could ever hope to meet.
Harry too war a business suit, a good Armani that Emma had bought him. How Emma had gotten his measurements without him knowing Harry still didn't know, she just looked smug whenever he asked.
Entering the main building the two of them passed through the various security stations before heading up to the meeting room set aside for this. A moment spend arranging themselves, pulling out folders on the various goods Magical Minds and Harry's other companies offered, and then Harry called down to the secretary, telling her to send the Wakandan representative.
Not five minutes later the man joined them. The man in question was a tall black man, with wide shouldered but not overly so with a fit trim athletic form, a handsome chiseled face and close cropped hair. He wore a suit as well, with a sash from one shoulder down to his waist in the colors of Wakanda, yellow, black and deep blue.
He stepped into the room as if he owned it, moving quickly to the table where Harry and Ororo waited, having stood up politely as he entered. He nodded at Harry, but his eyes never strayed from Ororo, holding her hand. "Goddess of the Storms, I greet you," he said inEgyptian nodding his head.
"Do you remember me?" he asked hesitantly. "We met when we were younger, I was 17 and on a walkabout. I stayed with you and your tribe for many weeks before moving on, rather reluctantly I must say."
Ororo paused, retrieving her hand quickly so that the man couldn't kiss the back of it. There was something in his eyes, something that she had seen before, and the line of his jaw looked familiar but she couldn't place it. "Your face looks vaguely familiar sir, but I'm sorry I can't place it. What is your name?"
"I am T'Challa, King of Wakanda," he said bowing stiffly but his eyes had flashed with something like grief for a moment there then resolve. He smiled charmingly then, white teeth flashing his black face for a moment. "I was overjoyed to hear from one of my people that you'd been spotted, though it took quite a bit of digging to figure out that you were no longer allied with the X-Men but were with this new group, the Custodes Mundi? You have done a lot of good for the world Windrider, and I hope that someday you get the recognition you deserve."
"I do not do anything for recognition save perhaps teaching," Ororo said stepping back slightly and moving to sit next to Harry who had been watching this, his eyes watchful yet seemingly amused for some reason. Yet when she sat down, he immediately took control of one of her hands in one of his. She let him of course, smiling internally.
"Please take a seat T'Challa," Harry said, acting as if he hobnobbed with kings every day, which wasn't exactly far off. "I would also take it as a personal favor if you did not share the fact that the Custodes Mundi is associated with Magical Minds with anyone else. Exactly how did you come to that conclusion might I ask?"
"Simple logic," T'Challa said shrugging as he took a seat across from them, his eyes glancing down to their joined hands and up to Harry's face and his smile became challenging for a moment before he could control it. "So many new medical advancements coming out near the same time the Custodes Mundi suddenly appear on the stage, seems strange to me. The fact that no one can connect Ororo Munroe with Storm of the Custodes Mundi is interesting. But I knew the weather goddess' powers, and it was easy enough to make that leap."
"A leap between Guardian and yourself was much harder to make, but not really necessary when I could connect Ororo to the Custodes Mundi and from there to Magical Minds. Whatever has changed, Ororo would be no one's pawn or tool, so obviously she would need to be involved in the highest echelons of the company."
"Ororo is a queen among women that's true," Harry said, his voice softening he raised Ororo's hands to his lip kissing it gently. Both of them noticed the man stiffen slightly then seemed to deflate somewhat as Ororo made no protest before his smile became challenging once more.
With a raised eyebrow Harry asked Ororo what the heck was going on here, but Ororo was completely at a loss as well. A childhood crush perhaps? "Why exactly did you want to meet me?" Ororo asked bluntly.
"I wanted to meet with you of course, to renew our friendship. While you might have forgotten it, that friendship was important to me at the time. How you dealt with your duties as a goddess was one of the reasons why I returned from my walkabout to claim my kingship." T'Challa said smoothly.
"I would like it if you would also be the go between Magical Minds, its subsidiaries and my nation. With you, we can provide a spokeswoman that the rest of Africa will fall in love with. It can be a wedge we can thus use not only for your products Mr. Potter, but social and educational reforms, which I know is close to your heart Ororo. After all, there is nothing like a beautiful, well-educated woman from the old country making it good to inspire others to push for the same opportunities."
The meeting continued from therewith T'Challa taking every opportunity to praise Ororo, coming off just below the line where Harry could have objected. Instead, Harry joined in, embarrassing Ororo immensely but also making her laugh, which seemed to stop the man, especially when she mentioned that Harry and she were in a relationship and hoping to start planning their wedding in the future.
About two hours later they had a plan for the agreement between Wakanda and Magical Minds hammered out, and the two of them walked T'Challa out of the building. He met two men in sharp suits there which fit them about as well as they would a gorilla, obviously bodyguards. Though Harry thought that was bit like setting two hyenas to guard a lion in this case, the way T'Challa moved told Harry that the man was every bit as fit, and possibly dangerous, as Nikolai or any of the others.
T'Challa wasn't inside his limo for more than a second before he picked up a special, untraceable phone. "It's Ororo, but she doesn't remember me, which is frankly impossible given what we shared. I am uncertain if it is fact or brainwashing. See what you can do to get some men in place in Magical Minds. If not, we can see about separating Windrider for a time from her supposed paramour for a time when she comes to give a speech in Wakanda a month from now. See to a team's training for that."
Back in the Magical Minds building, Ororo shook her head, following Harry back into the elevator. "Well that was odd and rather uncomfortable. I think he and I only stayed together for about two or three weeks. I'm uncertain how he can go from three weeks spent while we were 16 or 17 at the most into a seeming infatuation. I hope he gets over it."
"Yes but he gave up on it quickly enough when you dropped how serious our relationship is. I think it was more that he was in love with the idea of you. A woman coming out of the skies with the power of the storms behind her and spend time with him? That kind of thing would leave an impression now matter his heritage."
"Still, I'm happy with the deal we made," Harry went on, looking down at their copy of the trade agreement. "Very happy indeed. With Wakanda as a base of operations, Magical Minds and our equality message can start spreading beyond it. It'll take months to set up a presence in Wakanda alone but even so he was right about how much of an impression you can make down in Africa."
Ororo nodded, though she was still shaking her head at T'Challa's overall reaction. "I wonder how the meeting with Jean is going? I hope she at least isn't getting hit on."
OOOOOOO
Mary Jane Watson didn't really know what to expect from this job. It was supposed to be an internship in her new major, which she had switched into nearly a year ago from acting into communications. Some of the classes were the same, so it had been an easy choice to make. She had been inspired by the example of Paris Lourdes, who had made the jump from being a runway star into a business and then built an empire from it. MJ wasn't that ambitious of course, but still hoped to really make something of herself rather than simply, as her mother had once put it, 'strut her stuff and just get by'.
Not, she thought as she primped her hair one last time, that strutting my stuff has ever done me much damage or isn't fun. She looked around at the other interns applying for this job, three other women, four men. The men had initially begun to flirt with her and the others, but Mary Jane wasn't here for that kind of thing. Oh, if her looks helped her get the job, fine, but MJ sure wasn't interested in doing anything more than looking pretty. If someone pushed for that 'more' she had a brown belt in judo and wasn't afraid to use it. I'm more than just a pretty face damn it.
The idea of using her looks at all went out the door almost immediately the moment the door to the interview room opened. A young redhead stepped in, younger then Mary Jane, but if anything possibly more beautiful. Her hair was a slightly darker red then Mary Jane's own, as equally long, and her body was built along the same lines if somewhat trimmer and more athletic from what could be seen in her suit. Heh, nope, no chance of using my looks here.
The redhead's eyes swept the room, stopping at Mary Jane and widening slightly, then she laughed. "Always nice to meet a fellow redhead." she said holding up a hand in greeting to Mary Jane, who smirked and nodded her head. They were indeed a rare breed, since most redheads were really just orange in color. The other interns stared between the two women, then shrugged their shoulders putting it down as just an oddity though they were wondering who this young girl was. Another intern here to show them to where they he interviewed one-on-one perhaps?
Mary Jane however had kept abreast of the Magical Minds in Britain, as well as their subsidiaries and knew this woman. "You'd be Jean Grey correct?" she said stepping out from the group of interns and holding out her hand. "Chief engineer for Arc Technologies?"
"That's one of my jobs yes," Jean said holding out her hand and shaking Mary's firmly.
One of the other interns was foolish enough to shake his head and said "Seriously? Who did you sleep…"
That was as far as the man got before he felt himself pinned in place by a jade stare that drilled into his very soul. "I got my job by being damn good at it. Good day sir, we have no need of you're services." Jean said firmly. She retained her glare on the young man until he got up, rather shamefacedly and exited the room.
As he left her eyes swept over the other women there shaking her head. "I might not have the college credits, but I have the book knowledge and the real life knowledge. The Arc generators my company sells is my design from the ground up, even if Tony Stark, who I've also met I might add, thought up the initial idea."
"Now, we've already interviewed for the main spokesman's job, but the intern position here isn't going to be a sinecure by any means. Do a good job here at Magical Minds, and we might transfer you to one of Mister Potter's other holdings. Who here knows about them?"
Mary Jane and three others raised their hands, while the remainder winced realizing only now that doing a little more research into the other companies that Potter owned might've been a good idea. As they did Jean sat down at the front of the table, before gesturing the interns into their seats, shaking her head. They were all older than her, but frankly they felt younger, an odd sort of juxtaposition. "Tell me what you think about them Mister Lairborn?"
Over the next few minutes the four people who had knowledge of the other companies gave their opinions and ideas about how to advertise the various goods Harry's companies sold, what they felt would appeal to the public, what the main problems facing the other companies were in the public's, as well as how to address them publicly. A few of the others stepped in with their own ideas after time, which Jean made a note of and replied to. It was very much a freewheeling sort of discussion, but Mary Jane could tell it was also working as an interview.
Eventually Jean cut the group down first by showing two of them the door quickly, then offering another young man a job over at Saab because he had an engineering background as well as a communications major. He was a real find even Mary Jane could see, who could talk intelligently about engineering as well as make it interesting. He'd do very well there.
Two more, a young man and a woman were quickly hired for the Arc Technologies while three more let go for various reasons, ranging from a lack of knowledge, to a certain type of arrogance or closemindedness. This left Mary Jane and another young man, and Jean questioned them closely on recent events.
Eventually after a final round of questioning Jean nodded to the young man. "I'm sorry, I just don't think you're quite right for this job. Leave your name and number with the front office, Harry is constantly expanding his businesses, and maybe there'll be an opening up a new company soon in the medical region. When he does, you might be one of the first we reach out to the position."
The man nodded, somewhat mollified but a little irritated nonetheless stood up quickly and left. That left the two redhead staring at one another. Jean finally smiled, awakening an answering smile and Mary Jane. "I don't have to tell you you're hired right?"
Mary let out of breath that became a whoop before she could stop it, throwing her hands into the air quickly. Jean laughed, holding out her hand to the other woman shaking it again. "Do you want to go over the agreement now, or later?"
"Now is good Ms. Grey," said Mary said laughing again. "When do I start?"
"We'd like you to start this coming Monday if that's possible. Where willing to pay for any travel expense for the first two weeks, though we hope that you settle down here in the United Kingdom soon enough. Any further travel expenses afterwards that are job-related will be covered of course," Jean said then began to rattle off a few of the important facts from the contract, pushing over a copy for Mary to look at.
She did so quickly then changed copies with Jean for a moment to go over it again. Not an hour later, Mary Jane Watson was leaving Magical Minds it's new public relations intern, and with several apartment complexes nearby named and with her name already mentioned to their landlords. Face it tiger, she thought to herself, you just hit the jackpot!
OOOOOOO
Of course not all the meetings had to do with the business portion of Harry's rapidly growing enterprises. The first versions of Reed's two experimental weapons systems had been installed on one of the Kree Heavy Fists, or battlecruisers. The installation team had been working night and day on it after Reed had actually designed and built the two weapons systems from scratch within 24 hours of the meeting within Harry and Doctor Doom.
Now the ship, dubbed the Peacemaker had a crew of all of the interested parties, including Doctor Doom, much to the irritation of Reed. This had to deal with the space based defense of Earth and Harry felt he could not honorably keep Doom from attending without giving him the opportunity to get stroppy about it.
Something which Harry could not afford at this point. That might change in the future, after Magneto was dealt with, Harry was hearing rumors about the Ukraine he didn't like, though if Doom or the Red Skull was behind them he didn't know. But he had enough fires in the smelter for an army already, so he wasn't going to add to them unless he had to. However, Harry, Doom and Reed had agreed not to use anything he learned from this exhibition on Earth, a coup which cost Harry a few magical books he luckily had several copies of.
Putting such thoughts aside, Harry once again turned his attention to the ship's bridge, watching the work going on. Around them the ship continued sailing into the Oort Cloud, where some innocent asteroids were about to die for the good of science. That thought made him nearly grin, but Harry kept it off his face with difficulty. Next to him Jean made no such effort, and he lopped an arm around her waist as she did the same to him.
Carol was at the controls of the ship of course, with Marvel at one of the radar stations, and Nikolai at the weapons station. "Coming up on maximum range for the positron cannon," Marvel murmured.
"The targeting computer is having some trouble locking up the asteroids," Nikolai said, shaking his head. "I suppose they're not used to shooting unpowered objects like that. Still, needs must. Line of sight is on, and I have visual confirmation. Ready to fire on your orders."
Carol looked over at Harry who nodded and she breathed in fiercely before grinning. "Peacemaker, open fire!"
The positron cannon, which had replaced three of the ship's original weapons created a beam of purple and varicolored yellow which shot through the intervening space between the ship and its target. Smashing into the target it swiftly changed the very atoms in of the target into small atomic bombs. A split second later the asteroid exploded, the pieces, very tiny pieces Harry noted, spinning off into space.
"Holy buggering shite." Harry said in a monotone, while around him the others looked on in either pleasure or surprise. He glanced over at the radar frowning slightly. "It's short range, but I don't think there's any kind of armor that can stop that."
"Considering that it actually works of the premises of breaking down atom bonds, no." Reed said dryly. "The heavier the armor, the more devastating the result would be."
"Reed, if you are girl I'd seriously kiss you. Well that and Jean would probably break me in half." Harry said, shaking his head causing Jean to laugh.
"My wife would help her," Reed said drolly. "Besides, we're out here to test two weapons systems. Nikolai, can you power up the graviton beam?"
"Have to give the systems a few minutes Sir," Nikolai shrugged, staring form his control system over to another system. "The power outages of that weapon are about 20% or so more than our computers projected them to be."
"Curious…" Reed frowned thoughtfully. "A problem in the interface system, my calculations, or the design? Something to think about."
"This is all a work in progress anyway," Harry said with a shrug. The group waited silently for the generator to be back to full power, before the Peacemaker moved towards the next target. This one was a slightly larger asteroid, but it wasn't as dense as the first one, so it made for a similar targeting experience.
Once again Nikolai lined up the line of sight programming, and Carol ordered the graviton gun, situated on the other side of the ship, to fire. The graviton beam was blue in color for some reason, and Harry idly wondered what made the two beams different colors, or even any color at all frankly. The beam once again impacted, slowly shaking the asteroid pieces.
"Please note it took 53 seconds to shatter that lump of rock." Harry said shaking his head. "Sorry Reed but that is a millennia in battle. If it can't do more damage against shields then the present weapons we've got from the Kree, I'm going to have to scrub that idea."
Read nodded equitably, and the ship moved to the another asteroid. Here Harry and Jean went EVA, putting down a small shield generator taken from another battlecruiser on the asteroid in question. It wouldn't last for long, but it would the asteroid, which was smaller than the ship it came from, in the equivalent of a battleship's shields.
When they came back in Doctor Doom was standing at one side of the room and Reed was in the other, smirking slightly as their hands clenched at their sides. "Did we miss something?"
Carol blinked, as if she had just come out of a coma. "I think I just had failed san-check. We were talking about math for a moment and it got so high end, all I heard was gibberish, urrgh."
Nikolai nodded firmly. "They were talking about quantum physics and something called upper grade String Theory? I think Reed sort of won a point I'm not certain how."
Looking at the two scientists Harry shook his head. "Play nice," he said mildly. "Or I'll pitch you both off the ship and you'll get to figure out how to get back to Earth on your own."
Doom chuckled as Reed winced since it was a much greater threat to Reed than Doctor Doom in his suit. It would take time, but he would be able to call his own battlecruiser to pick him up, while Reed would not. "if you're weapon performs well enough against shields, then I will consider this one a victory on your part Richards." he said in a somewhat conciliatory tone.
Reed nodded, and the tests continued. It turned out that yes the graviton beam did a lot of damage against shielding, smashing through it in a very small area quickly. The positron beam however, as Reed had predicted did nothing against shields, the energy form the shields simply not giving the positron beam anything to effect, simply dissipating it.
"So what we should do is to switch off weapon the weapons systems, graviton to bring the shields down, positron to do the killing." Jean mused, with Carol nodding agreement.
"The power requirements are of bitch and a half 'scuse use my language ladies," Nikolai cut in, shaking his head. "If you're going to have even a single platform of either of these weapons of the size we have now might have to install a dedicated arc reactor for them. The idea of an entire bank of these things is amazing but the power requirements…"
"I don't think we want entire bank," Harry said shaking his head. "Simply up the size of the beams between ship classes instead of adding more actual weapons. That'll be a problem for our design teams however. Speaking of, Your majesty our half for the hyperspace trap system is nearly finished, all we have to do is install the arc reactors. Will you have your half ready by next weekend?"
"I will do so," Doom said nodding his armored head. "I will also look into these weapons of yours Reed, there must be some way of lowering the power requirements, some mistakes you made in those mathematic formulae."
To those words Reed puffed himself out angrily and the two once again fell into an argument.
Harry rolled his eyes moving between the two scientists just in case. "Let's find out what will happen if we emergency fire this systems when a reactor isn't fully powered Nikolai," he said calmly. "And then I think we'll need to put the weapons through their paces in every other way we can think of."
OOOOOOO
Of course, there were other scientific endeavors that did not go as planned. The first Ravenspire at this point had become both a training center and was the farthest along construction-wise. The miners had started work in helping the robots hollowing the asteroid, with about forty electricians and others types of construction moving through the asteroid going along with them, adding the interior devices as they went. Weapons installations, hangar bays and other internal sections or systems would take a lot more effort of course, but even there progress was being made in holloing the first two hangar bays out.
Currently Carol was showing Harry, Ororo, and Jean around one evening, making a point to stop and show them the construction center for the first Ravens, a mix between a hangar bay, garage, and physics lab. Harry stopped and stared at the design taking shape shaking his head. "If I'm reading some of this right, that isn't a fighter plane, it looks more like I want to say a small PT-boat maybe? Or at least the space going equivalent?"
The design in question was a large diamond shape longer on one side than the other, sort of, except the point of this diamond was flat with what looked like a cannon of some sort poking out of it. There were some other things sticking out of that diamond shape, ventral and maneuvering thrusters, and a few other things Harry didn't recognize offhand.
"That's pretty much what it is," Carol admitted. "We simply can't shrink down any of the weapons we've taken from the Kree enough to put them on a single pilot fighter platform, not even one of them at a time. But this design will let us put in shielding, a single offensive weapon, a major electronic warfare suite, and also those emergency teleport chairs of yours."
"The emergency portkey system yes," Harry said with a nod. "I'm glad that you're putting that into the design from the get-go."
He would be adding more runic arrays to the Ravenspire later, mostly to connect it via a runic doorway into the ocean somewhere to help with heat dissipation. With that, they would be able to put at least two times the amount of weapons a structure this size could contain. Heat dissipation and control was a major factor in any kind of space platform. This was important, as Harry now knew that no one could completely control the range of the battle.
Jean looked the design over closely, bringing up a small cell phone to take pictures of it for herself for later. "Who worked on this? It looks quite good, but also really time intensive to build in the first place."
"It will be," Carol admitted. "At least the first few. Once we get the first one built and work out all the kinks, I think it'll be much simpler and we can turn it over to an assembly line somewhere. The Forge could certainly work on it at the very least, though we'd of course have to have humans involved at various points in the construction for quality control and programming issues."
"Good." Harry said with a nod, still looking over the Raven in its newest iteration with both pride and a certain amount of sardonic humor, directed at himself though Carol couldn't tell that. "Tell the design team excellent work for me will you Carol? And add a bonus to their pay from me."
Many of the nearby scientists smiled at that, as did Carol before gesturing the others to follow her once more. For the next few moments, Carol led them through the Ravenspire, showing where the interior was being reinforced with concrete and steel, where lights had been rigged throughout the massive asteroid and one area which had already been completed.
The first living quarters had been hollowed out and furbished, and several internal airlocks installed already to allow it to have some atmosphere. It was still cold of course, but with the amount of thermal bedding each bunk had it was actually a nice, comfortable area for now. That would change as more workers moved in of course, this station was being built as a fortress, not a civilian station.
"The exterior locks are being finished today, and the robots are almost halfway through mining out what's supposed to be the control center, heck we've even got a few of the weapons bays prepped for further work. Though of course it'll be weeks maybe more than a month before we have the wiring and everything else done thanks to you switching half of the construction droids over to your joint project with Doom, Harry. Still, I've got actual people working on a lot of stuff at this point thanks to you okaying the first class of miners and welders."
"Have you extended the hydroponic section yet?" Ororo asked. "And how goes the actual air ventilation system? I notice that we actually do have air where we are now," she finished dryly.
At first Harry and Jean had collaborated to protect the four of them as they moved through the outer area of the Ravenspire, but they were deep inside its interior now past several airlocks and had been since before reaching the hangar bay where the Raven itself was being worked on.
"Going well so far as you, yes, can feel. We relied on Kree systems for that of course, but their air circulation systems actually aren't that far advanced of our own, the materials are, and the output is a little because of that, but the basic layout is much the same. Some things I think you just can't-!"
Carol was interrupted just then by a distant sound of an explosion echoing down the corridors, and the lights strung out along the ceiling began to flicker. Air too began to be sucked past them before Ororo put a stop to it, the air simply reversing itself as she bent her will upon it until Jean threw up a TK bubble around the far end of the corridor. As the tow of them did that, Carol whirled away, holding up her mic to her mouth "Control, what the hell just happened!?"
"Explosive decompression!" said the communications specialist on the other sid,e one of a group of five who controlled and directed the work going on around the Ravenspire. "We had a team installing an external airlock, but it just blew! We've lost contact with the team installing it and mining team 2!"
Harry, Jean, and Ororo didn't wait to hear the rest of that, racing through the corridors, quickly exiting the bubble Jean had created and moving on, with Ororo nodding thankfully at Harry for having taught her the bubblehead charm, which she had just cast on herself. Thanks to their various powers they raced along the corridors fast than a man could run, blasting through another airlock and reforming it behind them, but even so by the time they arrived it was almost too late.
Using her telepathy, Jean found the minds of the men who had been out on the surface of the asteroid. Blown off the surface thanks to the explosion, their security lines cut, the four men had become Flying Dutchman, spinning away into space. If they had been wearing the old Nasa space suits they might well have died, but the Kree influenced space suits they all used were much more durable and self-sustaining.
But without Jean finding them that just meant they might have had time to enter atmosphere and burn up rather than die due to air loss. More than one of them sobbed with relief as their momentum was suddenly arrested, and then they began to be pulled back towards the Ravenspire.
At the same time hit Ororo brought forth the air she had been keeping back, while Harry quickly transfigured the ruins of the door into two sheets of metal, clanging them closed and warping them into one the instant Jean returned with her charges. With that done, air began to once again circulate and Harry turned, levitating the rubble off the side of the wall, revealing the broken, battered shapes of several miners.
By the time the emergency response team arrived, Ororo and Harry had already begun to heal them and learn what had happened. The exterior team had been emplacing the outer airlock door, when one of them had accidentally smashed the controls, which apparently were right over the small emergency battery that all the outer airlock doors had so that they could respond to external controls in the event of a loss of power.
It was a fault in the design, which Carol promised to correct later, but the battery's explosion had blown half the door off, catching in turn some of the miners equipment as well, which started a cascade. If that hadn't happened the explosion would have been much weaker, which in turn was a mistake in their operating procedures.
At Harry's glare, Carol threw her hands up. "Harry, were making this up as we go! There's bound to be some hiccups like this. Jesus, check out the injury reports on some of the first battleships or subs when they were being built!"
"We've had one hiccup already, the Kree attack." Ororo said, shaking her head as she helped one of the miners, a rather small but extremely fit young man to his feet. He'd had a bad gash on his arm under a suit puncture from some of the shrapnel. He was now looking down at both his suit, which had tightened around the joint to keep the rest of his air from escaping, and her healing of his arm with astonishment. "I don't want any more."
"Exactly." Harry shook his head "I don't want any more people to die on me like that. Not when it can be prevented by a little forethought."
"Do you want us to suspend operations until we get some kind of standard operating procedure in place?" Carol asked wincing slightly. If Harry was responding like that to an accident here on the Ravenspire she wasn't going to mention some of the close calls they'd had with zero-G environment accidents looking over the derelict fleet.
"As much as I want us to, sir," said one of the miners, holding up his hands. "We know this job was risky. Hell, you think mining on Earth ain't risky?" He barked a harsh laugh.
"Ask those poor fools over in Africa, mining out those red diamonds or whatever they're called." Said another, moving as if to spit to one side before stopping himself as his glance took in the three women present. "At least here we get a damn good healthcare, and these suits are freaking phenomenal! Our tools and even our living quarters aren't bad either."
"All right," Harry said slowly looking at them all. "I won't shut down the operation then. However, I am going to ask all of you on your days off to write up some suggestions on how to prevent something like this from occurring again. This time it was a faulty design, and I will be chewing out the team who designed it for that. Heck was this a Kree design or one of our own?""
"One of our own," Carol replied glumly. "It's supposedly more robust than the Kree design but I guess that isn't actually the case."
"And you okayed it?" Harry asked, his tone becoming slightly grim.
Carol stiffened her shoulders, but nodded firmly. "Yes sir. I have to say that I didn't realize the dangers Sir."
Harry held her gaze for a moment, then flicked his eyes over the people around them his message clear and she nodded, both accepting that message and that it would have been her fault. "We're all learning as we go," he said at last, "and there are bound to be mistakes. Goddess knows I've made enough in my life."
His eyes locked on hers once more. "Don't make this one again."
He looked around at the men all around them, then smiled. "How about instead of putting off those suggestions, you take the rest of the day off and do it now gents? I'll be interested to see what you come up with."
They all nodded, staring at him then at the two women who had come with him in awe before looking at the wall of metal that had replaced the outer airlock. Having passed most of the security to get this far, all the workers had guessed Harry had some kind of power, but until now hadn't seen it confirmed. More importantly to them however was his stance on their own safety.
"Yes sir!" said the foreman, actually saluting for a moment. Harry returned the gesture, smiling faintly but doing so seriously, watching as the man turned, leading the two crews off.
Harry heard one of them said, "Huh, so the big boss may be a mutant or something. Meh, he sure as hell cares more for us than the last bunch of bastards I work for."
"I knew that the moment I saw my paycheck from last week." said be one of the others tartly. "And stow that mutant talk, who the hell cares? We're all in this together, all humanity goin' through space on a single, fragile ship called Earth. Keep that in mind."
There were more nods at that and the men continued on their way while behind them Jean and Ororo exchanged a smile with Harry and Carol.