The next day was Friday and that afternoon found Harry sitting in the living room, working on his laptop while in the background the Star Wars movie played for the fifth time that day. To say that Harry had become a fan would be an understatement, but he didn't want to ruin it by going on to the other movies without the kids around.
He looked up from trying to connect to the Fantastic Four server to have a chat with Reed as the door to the mansion opened. Jean walked in, the sound of her feet hitting the woodwork a staccato rhythm of anger. A moment later she joined him to the sitting room after changing out of her the clothing she had worn to school. The redhead flopped down onto the sofa across from him looking a little irritable.
"Had rough day at school, Red?" Harry asked dryly.
"You might say that," Jean ground out, flopping even further down and almost growling. "Apparently Scott and Taryn might be breaking up, and Taryn seems to think it's my fault for quote 'leading him on' end quote." She made the obligatory quote signs in midair shaking her head in disgust. "I just don't understand why people think his emotional problems are my fault. It's not like he isn't getting better or anything, in fact I think he's almost over me now."
Harry tried not to stare at Jean who wearing very tight, very short cut-off jeans and a loose T-shirt. Kurt had added something to the washing machine yesterday which just so happened to be the Ororo, Jean and Rogue's laundry day. Kitty never washed her clothing with the other girls, she was always a bit depressed how she was the smallest there in every way, and hated seeing the evidence of this lack. Nearly all of their clothing was now dyed various colors of orange or blue, which left Jean with very little to wear. It was either the clothing she had worn to school, a long skirt and blouse that her mother bought for her that she didn't like at all, or the two pairs of exercise clothing she wore on her daily runs around the mansion.
As punishment Kurt had been forced to actually figure out a way to get the dye out or buy their clothing from his allowance. That meant he was going to be without money for possibly as long as two months, but it was his own fault for trying out a prank that inaccurate.
"That's good," Harry said, and then looked away as Jean looked at him in surprise, trying to keep his own thoughts from getting away getting away from him. After all I'm with Ororo now, can't go around looking at other girls. No matter how sexy they are or how amazing their personality is. "I mean hopefully he'll be able to grow emotionally as well as a leader now."
Jean forcefully ignored the thrill she felt at hearing something else in Harry's words there, shaking her head a little. "Hopefully," she agreed, then looked up as Ororo walked in, dressed in much the same clothing as she was. She giggled a little at Harry's groan and the way he hunched up a little looking purposefully at his screen. She shared a grin with her older friend who nodded at the redhead.
Ororo moved to the sofa Jean was laying out on across from Harry and lifted the redheads legs out of her way before sitting down, allowing them to plop back onto her lap. Jean chuckled wiggling her toes at her friend until Ororo jokingly began to tickle her, which caused Jean to try and wriggle away laughing. "Gah, don't do that!"
"OH," Ororo giggled, "Is someone ticklish?"
"I plead the fifth!" Jean shouted then tried to wiggle away from the other woman's fingers.
Harry tried his best to ignore their banter, keeping his eyes on his screen to avoid looking at all the wriggling, barely covered flesh.
He concentrated on connecting to the Fantastic Four's server. After a few minutes he did so, but was surprised when the chat video opened up and there was no one in view of the screen. "Hello?" he said experimentally, "is anyone there? Please don't let this be Madame Harkness's cat pushing buttons he shouldn't."
A voice he hadn't heard before answered him, sounding very hesitant. "Hello, is, is there someone there?"
Harry frowned, that didn't sound like someone who'd broken in or was someplace they shouldn't be. He decided to take the soft approach for now. "I'm Harry Potter, a friend of the Fantastic Four. Who are you?"
`"Oh!" the voice exclaimed a little, as a woman came into view, staring in the direction of the speaker Harry's voice was coming out of with blind eyes. She was a blond woman of normal height and build, maybe a bit thin looking but that seemed to be her body type rather than a sign of ill health. Despite her blind eyes she had smile line around her face which denoted a kind spirit, even if her face was creased in worry now. "You must be, um, I'm Alicia, Ben's girlfriend? He gave me this necklace that he said you made, it, it did something and I appeared here! Oh, I'm so worried, Ben was…"
Harry interrupted her, his voice calm despite his own growing worry. "Calm down Alicia. Can you tell if there's anyone there?" He wasn't going to say 'can you see anyone', because from what he remembered Ben had said his girlfriend was blind. Harry, unlike the idiot blonde, hadn't made any comments about only a blind woman being able to love him, and had simply smiled and said he hoped they were happy together.
Across from him the girls stopped their little game and looked over at him then at one another before Jean scooted out from under Ororo, heading towards her room to grab her uniform and then Storm's from hers. Ororo stayed, looking at Harry quizzically, and making certain he didn't go haring off on his own. Or perhaps that should be Harry-ing she chuckled to herself.
"I,I don't know, I don't know this place well enough to move around very easily, there's too many odd noises. I think there might be someone else here, but they're not answering when I call."
"That would be because I was in the ladies room dear," said an elderly voice that Harry immediately recognized as Agatha's. "Whatever seems to be the matter Alicia?"
"Oh Madame Harkness, I was with Ben, one of the doctors in Europe had said he might be able to repair my eyesight, and we flew to the clinic there, but it was a trap! They wanted to capture Ben and they tried to take me hostage but when they did the thing Harry made for me activated and I was suddenly somehow here!"
At this point Agatha appeared on the screen at last, staring into it. "And why were you calling young Harry? And don't think we won't be talking about setting up a ward that would feed off my ambient energy to power that prank you placed on Reed's lab. That was quite rude, relying on my magic without asking."
"Heh, um didn't think of it that way Madame, um I wanted to get in touch with Reed, but this appears to be a bit more serious don't think?"
"Indeed, do you think you can teleport here to get to the bottom of this?"
"He will," said Ororo, moving into the picture behind Harry and leaning over his head. "And he'll be bringing some allies as well just in case."
Harry looked up at her and she frowned fiercely at him. "Don't even think it. They're your friends, that means if they need help I'll help them as readily as you would. That's how it works."
Harry shook his head, grinning a little. "All right, I won't even try."
"Wow," said Jean sarcastically walking in already dressed in her X-Men uniform. "He can be taught!"
She tossed Storm's to her and the African woman caught it deftly. She swiftly stripped out of her clothing, unmindful of the twitch on Jean's face, or Harry's chuckling.
It was fascinating to Harry how Ororo could sort of manipulate the idea of nudity to suit her. Most of their time she didn't care at all about it, and yet sometimes she just sort of changed her body language just a little and he could tell that she knew she was naked and enjoyed the fact He was looking. It was like changing from merely undressed to naked. This was part of the former times, where nudity didn't matter at all and as such he ignored it. "Has the sitting room there been changed or anything since I was last there Madame Harkness?"
Agatha shook her gray-manned head, still a little bemused by the idea that someone could teleport from one side of America to the other without any kind of construct or build up. While she could do the same thing, it took a lengthy invocation or a runic circle to aid her.
Storm was swiftly ready, and Harry stood up, saying into the computer "I'll be there them a few seconds, just leave the area open for me."
He shut the laptop down, turned and held up his hand, whereupon Hedwig appeared in the air above him landing swiftly. She precked at him, and he shrugged. "Some kind of trouble, with just Ben hopefully, we'll see when we get there."
He stood up, and Jean shook his head her head. "You should really get some kind of uniform you now?"
Harry scoffed, "Uniforms her for you Americans, my crysis suit is underneath this and it protects me way better than those suits of yours do. You won't catch me wearing spandex." Though hopefully soon your suits will give you as much protection as mine does me, but that's for later.
"I don't know" said Ororo thoughtfully trying to lighten the added to the a little further. She didn't like the hard glint in Harry's eyes. "You certainly have the butt for it."
Harry blushed a little at that, but held out his hands to them. "Grab on, and try not to lose your lunch. Side along apparition is among the most irritating things that happen to magic users."
"He's telling the truth," Storm said when Jean looked at her. "It is a very disconcerting experience." Jean shrugged and nodded and the two women reached out to grab his hands.
Harry closed his eyes for a moment concentrating, filling in the image of the fantastic four's sitting room, until he had it firmly in his mind and then without pop all four of them are gone, just as Evan and Kurt walked in the latter coming home from an impromptu basketball game, while the former had been forced home at claw-point to take his medicine for his prank. He was not looking forward to the torture the females called shopping.
The two boys blinked in shock then noticed a piece of paper on the coffee table. Kurt picked it up and red "Off to save the FF or at least one member, may return with autographs, Jean."
The two teens looked at one another then shrugged and Kurt went to the kitchen to raid the fridge for a fortifying snack before his ordeal while Evan calmly made his way up to the boy's bathroom. Just a day in the life around here.
OOOOOOO
The four of them appeared in the sitting room. Jean and Storm staggered, letting go of Harry and rubbing their heads and belly the same time. "That," growled Jean shaking her head "was a most irritating experience."
"Indeed," said Ororo, holding her stomach for a moment before straightening up resolutely. "It does not get better with repetition that much I can tell you."
"Interesting," replied Agatha calmly, looking at the newcomers. "I've never noticed any irritation when I teleport." Beside her sat Alicia, worrying her hands together slightly, but she had composed herself from her earlier panic.
"Yes, yes," said Harry waving a hand airily but now staring at the young woman. "Don't try to rub it in or anything Madame. You must be Alicia, it's nice to put a face to the name, Ben's told me quite a bit about you. He's quite sweet on you, you know?"
Alicia blushed. "I, yes, well, we've been going out for a while. Other people can't seem to get past his appearance, but I now he is a good man no matter what he looks like, he's just Ben to me."
Storm smiled reaching over to gently touch did slightly older woman's hair, then as the young woman looked around grasping her hand and bringing it up gently to touch her face. "That sounds like a good description from all I know of him, I am Storm of the X-Men, this is Phoenix, we're here to help."
Alicia's delicate fingers traced Ororo's face slowly, and she began to smile. Alicia had long ago developed the ability to discern a person's character by touching their faces. Ororo's face spoke of kindness, pride, intelligence and strength.
Agatha had been looking at the women wondering why Harry had brought them along, but hearing that they were part of the group that Potter had been training decided they might be more help than hindrance as she had first expected.
"Where's Franklin?" Harry asked, looking around.
"Taking a nap at present. It is something toddlers do often at that age, though not nearly enough for these old bones," Agatha replied dryly.
"Johnny is out with one of his girls, I can't remember what flavor of the day it is," she went on a little heatedly. Johnny had not been making points with her since having to break up with crystal. He had become somewhat of a manwhore, moving from bed to bed in an effort to make himself forget her. Agatha however simply saw it as a desecration of the memory of what had at the time been one of the sweetest couples she had seen in a long while. And for someone as old as Agatha was a long while was far, well, longer than for most people.
"Reed and Susan are at Reed's class reunion, they're down in Florida at a resort of some kind, though I would probably have called them if you hadn't been on the line Harry."
Harry shrugged "I'd call them up now, but while you're doing that, Alicia," he said turning to the younger woman, "maybe you can give me some more details about what happened?"
Phoenix, Harry and Storm listened while Alicia explained. Recently there had been articles in several papers, and some even translated into brail about a clinic that opened up in Germany just outside of Berlin that had advertised that they had new techniques and surgeries available for curing blindness. Several people had already gone to it and had their blindness cured, and she had been approached by the clinic to be one of their patients. As the girlfriend of the Thing from the Fantastic Four she was a sort of a celebrity, not really famous, but still famous enough to give them some needed publicity.
The two of them had traveled there despite Ben's misgivings about the whole thing being too good to be true, which made Harry nod. Both Ben and Reed had impressed him with their instincts and even Susan had to a lesser degree.
The trip had been going well, and nothing had seemed out of place though Ben remained suspicious. When they arrived at the clinic they found that the doctor that would be performing her surgery had yet to arrive. He'd been caught in traffic apparently, but the nurse escorted her into the room to get her prepped. While there she had been grabbed by someone or something, who had tried to use her to force Ben to surrender
Of course she hadn't seen what it looked like, but the voice had been coarse and harsh, grating on her ears, the arm around her almost as massive as one of Ben's own, slightly rough to the touch, not slimy but not human skin, almost like that of a lizard. The moment whoever it was had tried to take her captive her, the necklace Harry had made sensed her fear and its ill intent and activated, teleporting her away.
Harry leaned over the coffee table, his eyes intent. "Can I look at the necklace for a moment please?" Alicia nodded, and then she felt Harry gently lifting it away from her throat turning it this way and that. She took the opportunity to touch his face the way she had Ororo's moments before, startling Harry far more than Ororo as he had never been around a blind person before. After a moment however he subsided and let her trace the contours of his face as he went back to work.
Alicia smiled a little. The face before her was strong, yet there was humility and kindness written there, as well as a fierce protectiveness and determination which reminded her strongly of Ben, without any of the insecurities that sometimes marred her boyfriend's soul.
Harry didn't know what Alicia was thinking, he simply frowned a little as he explained the charm on the necklace. "It was a one-shot defensive charm with an intent based Portkey, drained now of course. I didn't know at the time what I could do, that normal humans would be able to use, so I went with what I knew worked in my home dimension, transportation and one shot defensive wards, like the kind Kitty has on her pebbles." He turned back to Alicia. "I've learned a lot since then, and if Ben's okay with it I'll make a more comprehensive and permanent ward scheme that'll power itself via your bio-energy. It'll mean that you'll have to eat more, but it will be a major long term deterrent rather than a strong but short-lived one."
Alicia cocked her head wondering what that was about, but Harry didn't respond to her unspoken query simply looking up as Agatha entered the room looking more concerned than she had been a moment ago. "Neither Susan nor Reed are responding, which is very odd. Since the incident with Annihilus Susan's made a point of keeping both a regular cell phone and an emergency communicator on her at all times." Even when she and Reed were, ahem, busy in the bedroom the communicators were nearby.
Harry frowned a little at that. Ben disappearing or at least fighting for his life was one thing, Susan and Reed disappearing at the same time or at least out of communication at the same time so far away from one another meant something much more serious was going on. "Europe," he said to himself looking over at Agatha. "We both know someone over there who isn't exactly fond of the Fantastic Four don't we?"
Harry had made a study of some of the Fantastic Four's previous adventures, though he mostly concentrated on the aliens that they had faced. But there were some names that had cropped up often enough to interest him, and one of them was right at the top of their danger list too.
Agatha nodded grimly. "The thought had occurred to me as well. He certainly has a long enough arm to do this, and is more than intelligent enough to try and pull it off."
"Yes," Harry murmured, "and the use of the class reunion to get to Reed would tickle his fancy I'd assume, since they were part of the same graduating class."
"Who exactly are we talking about here? asked Jean. "Unlike Rogue and Kitty, I don't make a habit of following the fantastic Four's adventures."
"Dr. Doom ,"said Harry thoughtfully. I would rate him at the same threat level as Magneto, possibly a bit more. Magneto still wants to hide from the general public and isn't willing to operate that openly. Dr. Doom can operate openly in Europe, as he's the leader of a country out over there named Latveria. It used to be part of the Russian block until communism collapsed, and since he somehow turned the country around from being a barely industrialized state with medieval level living conditions to a more modern way of life the rest of the Europe looks the other way."
And on top of that, Harry thought to himself a little grimly, none of the other powers in Europe want to a tangle with him. There aren't many superpower groups in the world just yet, and Dr. Doom is dangerous with a capital D. Spying they do, at least I hope, but trying to kick him out of power, that's not going to happen any time soon.
"The question is, which is the most important go after, Reed and Susan or Ben?" Ororo asked, exchanging a look with Jean.
"I don't think we should leave Alicia here, no offense to you Madame Harkness, but without the Fantastic Four here this place is a major target chuck full of tech and other secrets that Doom or anyone else would love to get their hands on." Said Jean looking around. "One of us should stay here, unless their defenses are good enough to repel attacks on their own?"
"They're not, not to that extent anyway. Most of their defenses are based on slowing an enemy down enough to give the FF time to ready a response, and they can't put defenses everywhere, the mayor and the city council won't let them." Agatha answered, having actually overheard discussions along those lines.
"Well I'm going, I'm the teleportation device after all," Harry said sardonically.
Storm and Jean looked at one another, and then moved off to one side to talk about it.
"How are you getting there?" asked Agatha.
Harry looked over at Hedwig, who shrugged her shoulders a little, precked once then leaped off his shoulder. A moment later she returned, appearing again in midair above Harry to land on his shoulder, precking at him and ruffling her fathers. Harry listened and shook his head. "Out of his range huh?"
Hedwig precked irritably, but Harry understood. Hedwig was, despite everything else still a mortal bird, or at least had some of the limitations of a mortal delivery owl. She couldn't fly far enough to find Ben, just like she hadn't been able to fly from New York to London.
Well it wasn't actually flight, but then again it wasn't actually teleporting either. Nor did it seem like Kurt's bamfing ability, since her reappearances didn't come with the smell of brimstone. Harry had vowed several times to look into how exactly Hedwig did what she did, but something always came up that took his mind off it.
"Well," he said now, getting to his feet, "that just means we need to be creative. Have you ladies worked out whose staying?"
Storm nodded, hiding one hand behind her body. "Phoenix has agreed to stay." She didn't want Harry to know that they had decided who would stay or go by playing rock-paper-scissors. A moment of levity had amused them both, but overall it did seem a little out of place.
Harry nodded and reached out to take Ororo's hand, then looked over at the morose redhead. "Agatha can walk you through how to activate this place's defenses, Franklin is in his room which is down that hallway, check in on him if you can, and tell Johnny what's going on if he returns. If he doesn't, I'll think of some way to prank him when we get back. Being out with one of his conquests during a time like this is…" he shook his head sadly. "I'm going to prank him a lot later."
Agatha nodded a little grimly. "That boy does need a stern talking to." In point of fact even with his pranks Harry was far more mature and reliable than Johnny in her mind, at least these days. If he finally got over Crystal and got a real girlfriend rather than this continued train of one night stands he'd be much more stable. She shook that thought off and went on. "I'll get in touch with Wyatt, he's over at the University tonight working on some kind of project I believe, he could hunt up Johnny for us."
Jean frowned a little. She'd heard stories of Johnny Storm, and while Rogue and Kitty seemed to think he was quite handsome and attractive, Jean didn't like his devil may care attitude, or the fact that he was a bit of a manwhore by all accounts. "If he hits on me can I castrate him?"
"Yes," said Storm and Harry automatically, then looked at each other and grinned before nodding at their friend. "We'll see you in a bit, hopefully with Ben at the very least."
The two of them disappeared along with Hedwig without another word. Alicia gaped a little, her sense telling her several of the people who had been there had suddenly disappeared. "What was that popping noise?"
"That was just Harry being Harry," said Jean patting the older woman on the shoulder. "Can I get you anything while we wait?"
OOOOOOO
Harry and Ororo appeared in the still unnamed asteroid in the observation room. Harry swiftly moved over to the controls, and the asteroid's small thrusters fired, shifting its position in orbit from above New York to over Europe in about 45 min. During this time Ororo went to say hello to Melody, and came back just as Harry sent off Hedwig to search for Ben. For some reason distance in height matter not at all to her odd ability, whereas lengthwise distance did.
At that moment the Thing was busy fighting a purple skinned demon that had introduced himself as Darkoth. The demon wasn't quite as strong as Ben, but was just as durable, extremely flexible, and fast. The two had been fighting on and off for a while now, Darkoth retreating and Ben following ever since Darkoth had tried to grab Alicia and use her as a hostage. It was only the demon's own astonishment at her disappearance that convinced Ben it hadn't had something to do with it, and it took him a few minutes to remember that Alicia had Harry's emergency Port-thingy and calm down.
Not that it had saved Darkoth from a clobberin'. The purple demon had escaped his fury for a few minutes, escaping down into the sewers and then through some weird glowing doorway, but Ben had followed him relentlessly. Now they were fighting it out on a metal bridge over an underground crevasse.
A flash of white above him caught Ben's attention and he ducked under a punch from his opponent, returning with an uppercut that sent Darkoth back a few paces. He looked up and blinked in shock seeing Harry's bird of all things in the air above them.
Darkoth thundered back in taking advantage of his momentary distraction to land a blow that slammed into his stomach. Ben grimaced but returned his concentration to the fight, wondering what the heck the bird was doing here.
The bird landed on a beam up above them, seeming to look all around the area, and a moment later disappeared again. A second later Harry appeared out of thin air with Storm, the black woman that had come with Logan and Charles to persuade harry to leave with them, on one arm, both of them flying in midair.
Not wanting to give up the element of surprise Harry swiftly pointed one finger and the purple colored monster Ben had been fighting flew away from his friend to slam into the wall.
Darkoth gaped up at him in astonishment at their sudden appearance and the force that had just invisibly thrown him around so easily, but didn't have any time to question what it happened because Storm immediately hit him with a lightning bolt straight to the head. Darkoth shrieked in pain and ducked to avoid some of it but a moment later a spherical red beam of energy washed over him, and he fell unconscious to the sewer's floor.
With that done Harry landed gently next to his craggy faced friend. "Hey Ben, how're you doing?"
Ben guffawed a little, slapping Harry on the back. To his surprise the younger man didn't even flinch under the blow merely smirking back at him. "Better now Potter! I guess my girl Alicia got away? I really can't thank you enough for that teleportation thing you gave her!"
Harry shrugged. "It's what friends are for mate. In fact I've had a lot of time to perfect some other, better defenses for her. Though that won't actually be a gift, since I want something from Reed in return, I'm afraid to say."
"I'll make sure Stretch gives you whatever you want," said Ben fervently. He'd never forget the look of fear on his girlfriends face as she was grabbed by that purple asshole.
"That is for later, right now we have other things to worry about," Storm said. Harry nodded and explained that Reed and Susan had also disappeared, and Agatha had been unable to contact him, as well as whom Harry believed was probably behind this.
Ben scowled. "So Stretch and Susie disappeared huh? Well, I went through some weird glowing doorway a while back chasing the purple demon. It could have been a teleporter of some kind, definitely up Doom's alley like you said. So they could be around here someplace. Let's get to searchin' and then to clobberin' in that order."
"Demon, that monster isn't a demon." Harry said, looking over at the still form of the monster Ben had been fighting. "Trust me demons have a higher natural immunity to magic than that thing, a demon of that size wouldn't have gone down from a simple Stupefy. Besides," he smirked a little, "I've got a bit of a reputation among demons apparently, it should have recognized me."
Steven had mentioned the reaction the demons he had been fighting had when they sensed Harry's presence on this plane, at it amused him no end. Of course he did have a few dozen spells in his arsenal developed specifically to wipe out demons, one of them was even listed under his BI spells, so it wasn't without cause.
"Then it's probably some weird android or somethin'. Doom's always trotting out weird shit like that." Ben grossed. "Who cares what it is, let's just get going."
Their conversation was interrupted by something crashing through the wall of the tunnel beside them. It looked like a cross between a lizard and a robot, giving credence to Ben's belief. It had green scales a grill for a mouth, and tines for arms between which energy crackled. "I am… the Seeker… the master… has commanded… your death!"
Storm was closest and reacted quickly, slamming another lightning bolt into the beast, but it seemingly absorbed it, firing back at her with her own. She dodged and it charged forward, shooting at Ben next who Yowled in pain at the impact and went to one knee dazed for the moment.
Harry hit the thing with aReducto, blowing off one of the things arms in a welter of electric sparks. The android didn't even notice, turning to blast him in turn when Storm, her hand entirely covered by hurricane force winds, smashed her fist into the back of its head.
It was an idea she had thought up when she was figuring out ways to make herself a better hand to hand combatant. It was difficult to contain the winds to just her arm for an extended period of time, and it took a minute to build up, but after that it was devastating. As a case in point the winds around her arm tore into the android's head like a drill, ripping and tearing it apart.
Storm wrung out her hand wincing, the strain of holding the wind around it showing for a moment, but she tried to make light of it. "What a rude android, just ignoring me like that."
Harry gave her a look and gently took her arm, sending a silent low level healing spell into it, like the Episkey spell only designed for internal strains and bruises. "It was a sign of terminal ignorance on his part my dear."
Storm smiled at him while Ben got to his feet, rolling his eyes a little at their interplay. They're worse than Stretcho and Susie. "Time for flirtin' later you two, let's get a move on and find my friends."
Storm and Harry nodded, and then the trio moved off. Harry took a moment to stupefy Darkoth again, then put him in stasis and stuck him in his now mostly empty trunk, which he carried with him at all times these days, just in case.
About two hours searching found them making their way steadily upward, and soon they found themselves in a castle-like structure.
As they ascended further the noise of combat reached their ears, and Ben grinned. "Shoulda known Stretch and Susie couldn't be held quietly. Lets go!" With that he barreled forward, yelling his fearsome warcry, "It's Clobberin' Time!"
Storm and Harry looked at one another and Harry took a moment to put a notice me not spell on both their faces. They would be seen, but any attempts to recall their exact features would fail. "You heard the man, luv, are you ready to clobber?"
"Indeed, let us clobber," Storm said straight-faced, then giggled and the two flew up the steps after their friend.
OOOOOOO
Jean looked up as Agatha suddenly stood up. "It would appear my charge is awake, come I'll introduce you." She took Alicia's hand, and led the blind woman down the hallway with Jean following after.
When they reached the baby room, the toddler was indeed awake and already trying to escape his cradle. He was reaching up to the top, as if trying to pull himself up and over, but he stopped and stared as the two newcomers entered with the one he knew as 'nanny." The toddlers attention however was grabbed by Jean's hair, the sheer red of it something he had never seen before.
He would have of course if Medusa, another friend of the FF had stopped by recently, but she hadn't been by in several months. Unbeknownst to the FF she and Lockjaw, the massive teleporting pet of the royal family, were searching for her younger sister Crystal, whose teleportation back to the Immortal's city of Attilan had somehow failed. This search would involve the FF and Harry at a later date, but at the moment no one could have predicted this.
"OooHH!" the toddler cooed and held out his chubby little hands as if wanting to grab it. Jean felt something tug on her hair and one eyebrow shot up in surprise but she swiftly blocked whatever it was with her own power and walked forward instead. She bopped the little guy on the nose causing him to giggle, and whatever the power pushing at her was it disappeared. "Aren't you a cute little tyke?"
Franklin grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled making Jean wince a little, but she ignored it easily, and pick him up moving over to the other women. Agatha guided Alicia's hands to the baby's head and the blind woman felt around his face smiling faintly as he let go of Jean's hair and grabbed her hand gurgling happily at the game.
"Such a pretty little baby," she said softly. "I haven't been around children that much, this one seems quite happy doesn't he?"
Agatha smiled watching as the two younger women lost themselves in the pleasure of a baby. There was something about holding a baby that just called to most women, and these two were proving no exception to that rule.
Their play was interrupted however by the ring of the elevator bell announcing an arrival, and the announcement from the hallway of Wyatt dragging Johnny in.
Johnny was drunk that much was obvious to both Jean and Agatha. Even Alicia would have been able to tell if she could have smelled his breath. He hadn't been able to find a girl tonight, and so had drowned his sorrows about Crystal in beer, only for Wyatt to find him and drag him home, at times literally. "I found him," said Wyatt sucks shaking his head at his friend's antics and pushing him onto the sofa in the living area. "But I'm afraid he's not going to be much use."
Jean shook her head in disgust. "This is the guy that Rogue and Kitty think is so hot? I don't see it."
Wyatt chuckled a little. "I'm Wyatt Wingfoot," he said holding out his hand to the costumed redhead, "and you are?"
"Phoenix," said Jean shaking hands. No matter the fact that Wyatt was a friend of Fantastic Four and of Harry, she wasn't about to share her real name with anyone here. She was also little irritated that the confounding ward that Kitty had designed hadn't been installed on her suit yet, but then again she had been thinking of redesigning it anyway. For some reason she was thinking of a suit in green with red highlights.
By this time Johnny had recovered enough to look around him, and spotted the hot redhead. "Heelllloo 'ovely laddddy," he slurred, "I don't suppose I c'ld make y'r dreams come true?"
"I rather doubt it," Phoenix replied, her voice cold. "My dreams have never included a blonde, or a drunken idiot."
"OH, d'n't knock it till ya try it babe," said Johnny smirking a little and trying to get to his feet and failing. "I'm not only hot on the battlefield ya know."
Jean shook her head and gestured, and a telekinetic tendril reached out and grabbed him around the middle. "Wow, kinky!" he said giggling a little.
"Where's the kitchen?" Jean asked.
"Through that doorway over there past the first room with the table in it," Agatha replied.
Jean nodded and gestured, and John floated in the air before her as she moved in that direction.
A moment later the three who had stayed in the living room heard the water running, and then a splash and quite a lot of cursing interspersed with more splashing. The sound made Franklin wriggle about in Alicia's arms, wondering what was going on and if it was fun. She calmly subdued his wriggles however, and began to lightly tickle his stomach, distracting him.
"Are we sober now?" asked the redhead, staring down at the Human Torch, who had just raised his head again from a sink full of water. She then laughed a little and marched away, rejoining the others. Behind her Johnny growled at her retreating backside, but his buzz was gone. Moments later, after Agatha had explained what was going on, his anger had joined it to be replaced by guilt and worry.
OOOOOOO
Ben had charged out into a large dining/dance hall to find Susan and Reed battling several robots styled to look like humans. The two were trying to fight their way to a large door at the far end of the hall, but were having no luck. The robots were coming out of two doors on either side of the hall in an unending tide, and they just couldn't force their way past them.
Ben charged forward, his fist crushing one android to the floor while a backhand smashed another's head clear off. "Haw, thse things aren't nearly as tough as that Seeker or Darkoth was. Hey you two, what's going on?"
Reed smiled in relief and Susan grinned weakly. Doom had fed them some kind of drug that made their bodies weak, and they had been having a very rough time of it after escaping their cells, which they had only done because of the new ways she was able to use her powers. Creating a invisible hand and guiding it through the bars to reach the switch that opened their doors was something she would never have been able to do even as little as two months ago.
Reed however was able to push past their weakened state to fill Ben in. "Dr. Doom has some kind of device that he's going to launch into orbit which he says will make everyone on Earth susceptible to his mind control."
Harry and Storm rushed out to join the assault at this point and Harry shook his head even as he transfigure one robot into a spear and magically hurled it another tow before freezing six others around Susan solid, allowing her to shatter them with ease. "Okay that's just weird, and utterly illogical. Detonating something that could be transferred through the air over a city to two I could see, but the whole world? Hey Reed, Susan, I wanted to talk to you but you weren't answering the computer, so I figured I'd come and see you instead."
Reed shook his head at his young friend's bravura while Susan just looked relived they had some backup. The drug was making this a hell of a lot more difficult than it should have been. "Perhaps, but we can't take the chance that he's wrong about the effects the bomb will achieve. We need to stop its launch somehow, or barring that destroy it before it reaches orbit."
Between the five of them they made short work of the robots around them and moved swiftly toward the doorway. Ben scoffed, removing the carcass of one robot from where he had punched his arm right through it to crush the head of another robot behind it. "Man, I think Doom's been cuttin' corners with these things, they were damn flimsy in comparison to the ones he used the last time we tangled."
"A quantity over quality approach you think?" Harry asked sardonically, as he and Reed pushed the large doors to Doom's control room open.
"Definitely." Ben replied, trudging forward to stand with the others.
Rather than being enraged or looking at all put out by their sudden appearance Doom was sitting calmly on his throne, hands folded in his lap as he stared at the erstwhile intruders.
While they moved toward him Harry took a moment to take in Dr. Doom's appearance and stance. The man was dressed in a steel grey suit of armor made to look somewhat like a knight's full plate, but if it was mere armor Harry was a pureblood. The FF's files had that suit giving Doom the ability to fly, fire devastating laser blasts from his hands, withstand punches from the Thing, and numerous other abilities. His eyes, staring out beyond the mask on his face were sharp, intelligent and calculating. The way he stood on his thrown was arrogant, controlled, as if he had no need to fear them.
After a moment Harry figure out why when he tried to transfigure his armor into glass. The spell didn't take, not like it was being repulsed somehow, but as if his target wasn't there at all. "That's a projection of some kind the real Doom is somewhere else."
The figure on the throne laughed. "Indeed, your unknown friend is correct Richards. I am not here I have never been here in fact." Reed's eyes narrowed while Ben simply strode forward punching out and pouting a little as his fist went right through the projection's head. "Oh do stop that Grimm, it is a very disconcerting experience to try and talk to someone with your arm seemingly stuck through my head."
"Spread out, find where the vibro bomb is," Reed ordered, and the others save Harry nodded. Harry was too busy staring hard at Doom, who was in turn looking at him.
Doom sighed. "Really Reed, we both know the vibro-bomb was a bluff, no one bomb could spread enough vibrations across the globe."
"So what's the real plan then?" Ben asked.
"The real plan was to capture you all while testing out several of my newest android designs on you while I drugged Reed and Susan with the real mind control substance." The figure seemed to scowl. "The Darkoth experiment seems to have worked for a time but as for the Seeker prototype, far too flimsy. And as for the mind control drug, it would appear as if the gamma rays in your body neutralize much of its potency, making it useless for my purposes." He looked at Ben. "Darkoth's idea of taking your significant other hostage was its own. I would not target such as her in such a manner."
Ben frowned, but nodded. Alicia and Doom had actually met once, and the blind woman had somehow affected Doom profoundly at the time. "What about the clinic, and the treatment for her eyes?"
"Real, but put on the market several years too early by one of the doctors who invented it after killing his partner to reap the rewards and fame alone. The operation has only a one in ten chance of working at this stage, but the failures are swept under the rug because the owner of the clinic, which is on land I own, is the brother of the mayor of Berlin and rich besides."
Doom shrugged, his armored shoulders lifting and falling. "It had come to my attention because a citizen of Latveria had gone through the procedure, and been subsequently killed to keep the failure a secret. The doctor's life was forfeit from that point on, the citizens of this country are mine to rule and it is only I who has the power to order their deaths. I did not use him to lure you through Alicia, but simply took advantage of your presence so close to one of my bases."
"But that is unimportant now, what interests me is your new companion. The woman, however magnificent," here Doom bowed to Ororo, who smiled faintly and bowed her head in response, "Is obviously a mutant, with power over the weather judging by her attacks. No, it is the young wizard with the truly odd repertoire of spells that interest me."
Harry waved Ben off, obviously the time for fighting was over. He strode forward to stand in front of the throne, locking his eyes on Doom's once more. "And what about my powers interest you?"
"Your speed or conjuration, the breadth and scope of your spells, the ease with which you transfigure objects to something else, all of these interest me." Doom stated, steepling his gauntlets together. "And the fact you said something my recorders caught, about having a reputation among demons, one that would make them fear you. Perhaps in the future we could do business, if you are not as blinded by your own sense of justice as these three."
Harry stared at the man thinking hard. There was something about Victor Von Doom, something beyond his obvious charisma and power. He did seem to have a sense of honor, at least judging by Ben's acceptance of his not having targeted Alicia. Whatever else he was he wasn't evil as Harry defined the word. He would not rape a child in front of his parents and enjoy it and he would not slaughter the innocent and laugh as they died. While he was not above torturing his opponents and gaining some pleasure in that, he would not take some random civilian off street and do the same. There were limits to him, and there was something else, some concern or worry inside of him that had come out when he mentioned demons.
After a moment Harry nodded slowly. "Perhaps. I have my own plans for the future, but perhaps once I am situated the two of us can talk. Though you'll excuse me if I request that such a talk happen on neutral ground somewhere?"
"In that case I will bid you all adieu," said Doom bowing his head slightly. "The staircase beyond this throne will lead you out of here, from there you may make your own ways home however you wish. I hope the next time we meet my dear," he said looking at Storm and then at Harry. "that we can look beyond bad first impressions."
Harry and Ororo exchanged a look and Harry shrugged a smile on his face. Ororo smiled slightly too. "Very well Dr. Doom, to our mind the slate is wiped clean. Until the next time we meet, let it be under more peaceful surroundings."
Doom nodded his head once more and disappeared.
Harry chuckled and touched one of Ororo's hands. "It would appear as if I'm not the only one who can see your charms luv, good I was afraid all the men on this world needed their heads examined."
Ororo shook her head looping her arm with his. "Alas, metal is not a fetish of mine, and I am already taken."
"Too right," Harry replied, leaning in to kiss her gently on the lips, causing her to chuckle a little at his possessiveness.
Reed and Sue chuckled while Ben grumbled about being the only single guy there. As the group walked towards the exit Doom had pointed out Reed asked, "You said you wanted to talk to me Harry?"
Harry nodded. "I did. Sort of a tech exchange for now, but in the future, well, how'd you like access to your very own space station?"
The group returned to find that nothing had happened back at the Baxter building thankfully. The discussion however would continue for quite some time. Jean however interrupted the discussion at one point to ask for a specific favor.
OOOOOOO
Kitty and Rogue woke up the next morning and saw two small envelopes shoved under their room's door. When they opened them they found a picture of the Fantastic Four standing all together, and the words "to our greatest fans, from the Fantastic Four' and was signed by all four of them. Their gleeful shouts resounded throughout the mansion.
OOOOOOO
The next day was Friday, and Duncan was once again driving Jean home to the mansion while still trying to get her to agree to come out on a date with him Saturday, something he had stopped doing for some reason lately. Jean simply ignored him, not willing to put up with his airs and arrogance today, not after the bit of adventure she had the day before. She almost wished all her days could be that exciting, whisked off to aid their allies and fight with friends by her side. She was still thinking about the fact Harry was already moving forward with his plans to leave, and where her own future might take her.
She also knew Duncan was barely passing his classes, and was unwilling to go out on dates with him until he pulled his grades up. Nor was she willing to do the work for him anymore. If Duncan wanted to be known as a dumb jock that was his problem.
As Duncan drove her up to the mansions front gate in his Dodge Viper the two high school seniors noticed a car parked in front of it. Jean's eyebrows rose in surprise at the sight of the white Ferrari 458 idling there, wondering who would be coming around here with a car like that.
As they watched a statuesque blonde with a magnificent body got out of the car moving to push the intercom button but she stopped as they drove up.
Duncan let out a low whistle of approval and Jean scowled at him and he shut up quickly.
It's not like I really have a problem with him looking it's just must he react like that, and in front of me too? Jean felt that when you were out with your boyfriend or girlfriend your attention should be completely on that person. "You can drop me off here Duncan," she said sternly, and got out of the car. She then turned to the blonde easily ignoring her boyfriend's protests at this easy dismissal. "Can I help you?"
Emma Frost looked at the redhead approvingly. While as a Frost she was not supposed to see anyone else as her equal, this girl radiated power, poise and confidence, all things that Emma approved of, as well as being quite the beauty, causing a bit of interest to rear up in her. Emma had long known she was bisexual, she'd had a few flings with girls in the past and this girl was truly magnificent, and that hair! "I hope you can," she replied, with a faint smile on her "is this where Harry Potter lives?"
Jean cocked her head, looking over the blond in front of her. She was tall, about Jean's own height, with a near or equivalent bust, long legs shown off by her short but not quite scandalous skirt, both it and the top being white. "He does, is he expecting you?"
Emma frowned, her eyes hardening along with the rest of her face. "No, I told him I would try to get in touch with him before showing up, but the business we have with each other has become a bit more urgent than I had first expected." She said this all obliquely without even giving a hint of how important that business was, while at the same time she sent a light telepathic probe towards the other girl.
She stopped however at the first level of defense and actually gaped at the redhead before she broke out into a chuckle. "Interesting defense you have there," she said as the boy turned his car around and left with a huff or irritation. "Rather, what is the Japanese term, ah yes, hentai. Is there something you would like to share?"
"Not with a complete stranger," said Jean smirking a little. She had felt the probe of course and she could tell it was far more refined and controlled than her own telepathic techniques. She usually went for power over finesse, but the girl in front of her, her control reminded her of the professor rather forcefully.
"Hmm, well I'm Emma Frost, and you are?"
"Jean Grey. And do you probe everyone you meet like that?"
Emma gaped at her for a moment before laughing aloud and Jean frowned before she realized what she said and how it could have sounded given what Emma had said a moment before. "Oh you know damn well what I meant!"
Emma giggled a little more but nodded. "Indeed, well no I don't 'probe' everyone I meet, but given my current situation I can't be too careful."
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