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Harry let her control the kiss for a time but then slowly, inexorably started to take control of the kiss. His tongue flicked around and under Emma's tongue in first his mouth, then hers as he sat up, one hand going down her back and to her rear, where he squeezed. His other hand though was soon busy with her breasts between their bodies. Emma didn't have as much up top as Ororo or Jean since her pregnancy had entered its second stage, but her nipples were just as sensitive as either of them. And Harry knew precisely how to touch her, flicking, rubbing, then tugging just hard enough to cause Emma to hiss into the kiss.
Eventually, Emma had to break away to breathe. As she did so Harry did not let up his attack. Instead, he brought his mouth down her collarbone elicited a moan from Emma, who was very responsive there. He didn't stop there as Emma rather blearily though he might. He then leaned down to her left nipple and began to suck and nibble on it.
Deciding she'd regained her breath enough and never a passive lover, Emma lifted her now completely drenched pussy then, reaching down, slid herself down onto Harry's shaft. She let loose a whimper as she did, always enjoying that feeling, and after all the foreplay Emma was close to the edge right now.
That journey ended when Harry decided to cheat a bit. With his mouth still around one of Emma's nipples, he began to use his Parseltongue ability. All he hissed was her name, "Emma, Emma," over and over, but even so the vibrations his tongue and mouth created did it's work, as always.
Emma screamed, her orgasm abruptly washing over her with a thunderous fury that caused her to arch her spine as her eyelids fluttered closed. She then slumped against Harry, and he chuckled, twisting them around so that he was on top. "Darn you, Harry!" She murmured, slowly regaining her senses. "That was unfair!"
"All's fair in love and war, wife of mine," Harry murmured into her skin, before biting at her neck.
He continued to do so for a time as Emma recovered, leaving a series of marks. For some primal reason, he wanted to leave a mark on this amazing woman now more than ever. Then when she began to hump up back into him, his hands moved from where they had been on either side of her face down her body, grasping her breasts firmly for a second, his fingers playing with her nipples once more. He spent a few seconds there, moving in and out of Emma with excruciating slowness. Then he moved his hands down to her hips. There he began to hold her side as he sped up his strokes.
Emma lifted her hips up, humping back into Harry trying to make him speed up. Both of them were once more lost in this oldest of dances until it reached its inevitable conclusion. Emma was moaning almost continuously now, as Harry grunted twisting his hips this way and that to add even more stimuli. Emma replied to this by biting and licking at Harry's ear and neck in places she knew he was sensitive, including his ear. But while that was pushing Harry toward her own peak, Emma's was once more looming.
Soon enough Emma gave out an orgasmic cry, raising her legs to lock them around Harry, her insides undulating and gripping him all the harder. Harry had a brief second to thank Cory for reminding him of the contraceptive spell before dinner, then he came with a grunt, spilling his deep inside of her.
He then collapsed to the side of Emma, rolling so that she was on top a moment, rather than buried under his weight as before. She murmured appreciation of this, nuzzled into the side of his head, taking her own turn now to mark territory by sucking at his neck. She frowned after a few minutes, unable to actually leave a mark, and murmured to herself, "Right, his durability has shot through the roof since that whole draining the Dire Wraith thing, even when he isn't trying."
Pouting, she then gasped as she felt Harry shift within her, hardening again after softening for a few minutes.
She then moved lifted herself up so that she was in the cowgirl position, her hands splayed on Harry's tone chest. "I think now it's my turn to do the work" she murmured, lifting her hips up and then down again.
Harry chuckled, shaking his head as he raised his hands to play with both her breasts, smiling in simple delight as she cooed at his ministrations. "I think you and I have very different definitions of the word 'work'…"
End Lemon
OOOOOOO
Harry and Emma were woken up the next morning by the kids, the lock on the door once more having been removed either by Illyana, or Hela. Hela did occasionally help the youngsters in their pranks and believed that not only was it fun, but that pranks could teach Illyana more about magic and when or when not to use it.
The kids shrieked and shouted as they barged into the headmaster's quarters, their battle cries "Wake up, wake up!" or "Get them!"
Emma was not a morning person and one bloodshot eye opened glaring at the far wall with all the power of a thousand suns as she gathered her power to melt the little brats' brains. Sensing this Harry quickly cast a few spells, halting their momentum in the air, then tossing them gently back towards their fellows as he conjured up balloons filled with paint. He hopped out of bed, kissed Emma on the forehead and then left her there, to chivvy the kids out. He spent breakfast with the kids as he had every morning since the break it begun. He didn't want to stop that routine just yet, having sort of neglected his teaching duties to Illyana for several weeks before their break.
Reconnecting with her and with the other children even Melody to a lesser extent although Melody had never really allowed anything to truly get in the way of her at least seeing Harry every day, had been fun. Further, Illyana's training it was a true delight to Harry. Her magical control was coming on in leaps and bounds, the age-old adage of 'if you make it fun they will learn', came into stark relief in terms of magic. Even Illyana's mental control and abilities were coming along quite nicely in Harry's opinion. And on a more personal level, not only was teaching something that he shared with Ororo but to have this bit of normality before he had to concentrate on what else he had to do, was a fantastic idea.
However, that time could not last, and he had far too many things to see to. First Harry had to deal with his meeting with Kirov in Magical minds headquarters.
As Harry had expected, he found Kirov already there, waiting in one of the waiting rooms to be left in by Harry's secretary. The young woman who had replaced Mary Jane at that more menial task let in the man, and Harry waved him into his seat. "Sit down Minister Kirov, would you like some coffee, drink?" When the man declined, sitting across from Harry and steeping his fingers, staring at Harry through his wire-rimmed glasses, Harry nodded. "Right to business then. What is so important that you decided to come here personally, and then wait around?
The man looks to one side at the older gentleman wearing a priest's cassock, when I broke working. Harry smiled thinly, and said, "Ah, yes. You haven't been introduced yet. This is Father Garnoff. A countryman of yours even if he hasn't been living in Russia for more than half a year now."
"Blind Faith? That was your codename I believe when you were running the Mutant Underground Railroad?" Kirov asked, searching the man's face for what Harry didn't know, before turning back to Harry. "And why is he part of this discussion? I am presuming of course that you have a greater purpose for his presence other than throwing me off balance?"
"Is it even possible to throw you off balance?" Harry quipped. "And yes, he does have a purpose here. If this conversation is going to go where I believe it is."
For a moment, Kirov was silent, staring at the two men, tapping his index fingers together. "Very well. I wish, Russia, that is the Russian government wishes to purchase your hover technology plans. We wish to purchase technology. I fully understand why you are dead set against the propagation of space-based military technology and industry, I endorse it too. The last thing humanity needs to do is to bring our divisions out into space with us. But the fact of the matter is, that hover technology could mean a tremendous deal to my people. You might not realize this, but Russia still has a lot of infrastructure issues, our roads are not the best, where we have them, and where we don't…" He shrugged. "When that spell of winter and snapped your troops pushed saw what happens when the floods come."
"There is more to you and your desire for the hover technology from that Harry said, his tone deadpanned. Explain."
Despite the peremptory note Harry's voice, Kirov was happy. He hadn't been shot down right away. That meant there was room to deal here. Even if he did have to replace all his cards on the table. He been told by his fellows not to do that, but Kirov had frankly been prepared to ignore those directions from the start. "Various. Military aspects. While we agreed to the force reduction, reluctant of course, that has caused further issues. The fact of the matter is that our military just isn't mobile enough to cover the territory we need to cover with smaller numbers. Hover technology could go some way to correcting that weakness. And if we have it, we won't be getting so much blowback from the fact that we are downsizing our military the first place"
Harry glanced at Garnoff, who slowly nodded. "The military is a bulwark of the state it is true, but it is also a symbol of our strength and unity of purpose as Russians. There would be a lot of grumbling about our downside is as was agreed, and I've seen some of that in the news of late. I believe him there. Although, but I've also noticed in the news is a severe lack of any discussion on pro-mutant protection under the laws and demands for a social change on that score."
" Such things take time, you cannot expect miracles," Kirov said shaking his head. "We have begun the two create those laws, but after creating them, they must be ratified and then enforced. All of which would take time."
"Not as much time if you reached out to the church," Garnoff riposted. "You have not done so. The church needs to make a decision on this point, choose a direction, and take a leading role in changing the Russian populace his outlook on mutantkind. They are not we are not demons, or throwbacks or any such thing!" Garnoff shouted some, slamming his hand down on the desk, his palm making cracking noise as he did. "We are humans just like you."
"I agree Kirov said calmly, his professorial air not taking the least bit of hits from the other man's sudden bluster. "I also fully believe that mutants could contribute to society as a whole. However, as you said the church needs to take that stance as well, and despite what you might think, we have made overtures towards them, a united front on this point could go a long way to starting the ball rolling on changing our society. But we have not gotten a response."
Garnoff stood seeming to loom over the sitting Duma representative. He wasn't actually all that tall, but he could exude a sternness that was somewhat intimidating on the drop of a hat. "Then they must be in like kind. I must return, and I must spread my message of equality. With government aid."
Looking back at Harry, Kirov cocked his head. "And is that to be your price for the hover technology?"
"Not quite. Your aid in funding Garnoff's mission in Russia, assigning him protection, and all that is my price to continue allowing your wounded military personnel access to my medical technology and potions. You haven't done enough on this score yet to pay for that, which was as part of our initial agreement if you recall."
Kirov seemed to still for a moment, but Harry went on. "However, don't let it be said that I am entirely unmoved by the fact that societies change slowly. I will not sell you hover technology. However, I will fully fund and pay for factories to be created in Russia to build it. At positions of your choice. I will then sell the products of those factories to Russia. 75% will go to the military, 25% to go to the civilian sector, at 90% of the cost. How fast those factories go into production will depend on how fast they are created in the first place. I'll warn you though, that all have no safety regulations bent on the actual construction of the factories. And it will take a few months for those factories to be built. If there has been no progress on the social side made by that point, this deal is off."
That, Kirov thought was an excellent deal, and was, in essence, the kind of deal that he had thought he would be able to make. Garnoff being here was a wrench works, and the demand on that score was going to take quite a bit of smooth-talking, and various porters to get through, but it could be done.
Harry wasn't done, however. "Furthermore, after those factories are complete, and if started to churn out hover technology for you all, I will go one step further if you have already met your end of the bargain in terms of societal change and downsizing of the military. I will provide anti-air weaponry, nothing too dangerous, of course, but the kind of things that can defend large swaths of land from aerial attacks and can be mobile at the same time."
At that, Kirov's eyes widened. With the complete and utter demolishing of most of their Air Force, Russia was far too vulnerable to air attack, and it would remain that way for years given the destruction of most of their surplus weaponry as well and the demands of the allies after the war had ended. That kind of weapon system would go a long way to offset that weakness. "That I can agree to right away," Kirov said eagerly, leaning forward. "I will even offer my own carrots. We have finished demolishing much of the logistical structure of the Super Soldier program. The survivors of the current program will be ready in a few days' time to be transferred to the earth defense force, led by Sputnik. There are only a few of those survivors of course. Kirov's voice turned into a sort of verbal grimace. You and your Custodes did quite a number on after all."
Harry made no move to apologize for that and smiled. "In that case, I think we have a deal. However, I have to ask, are you free later today?" When Kirov nodded cautiously, Harry smiled grimly. In that case, would you be willing to join a little briefing that I'm going to be running? We had another incident in space recently."
Those words caused Kirov to grimace. "We didn't see anything of that nature." The fact that most of the earth's governments had no way of really detecting anything of what was going on in outer space beyond telescopes, which could barely cover a fraction of the space around earth, was a sore point with him and with many other politicians the world over. Their scanners were okay, but they just weren't powerful enough and there just weren't enough of them. Damn all penny counters anyway.
"I didn't think you have," Harry said solicitously, before shaking his head. "It was quite an incident although it ended rather abruptly thanks to Custodes Mundi intervention. You'll learn more at the meeting."
Kirov nodded, and stood up. It was almost out the door when Garnoff called out to him. "I will be ready to head to Russia with you tomorrow morning, please don't try to leave without me."
The Duma representative snorted, and then went on his way happy that his mission had been accomplished even if it hadn't gone quite as well as he had hoped.
Harry spent a brief hour talking to Sage about the meeting, about everything else I was going on in terms of magical minds, getting caught up there, and then talking to Mary Jane about the public side of things before heading to New York via the teleportation arrays, then driving down from the mansion to one of Emma's former property is what she gave to Harry in order for him to turn it into the front of his Magical Minds business in America. The building wasn't ready to be used in that capacity just yet, but that was all right, it would serve as a meeting place for who all Harry was there to see. And it served as a way to separate Charles from the rest of Harry's business.
About forty-five minutes later, Paris arrived looking a little annoyed. She smiled at Harry, then gestured out to the parking. The reporters you recommended I find should be arriving shortly. All warn you though, that a lot of them aren't my own personal choices. I have no doubt a few of them will be very good indeed but a few are not actual reporters, but newscasters, and one of them… Well one of them is just a pellock to use a British euphemism. One attempted to be condescending to me. It should be interesting to see how you deal with him. Although I wouldn't recommend tossing out his entire party."
Harry shrugged, making no promises, and conjured up a chair for her, to one side. The two of them went over the profiles of the various reporters, and then had time to go over the agreement that Harry would be forcing them all to sign to be part of this discussion before the reporters began to arrive. When they did, Harry reached out through Jean, asking her to pass on to Emma that he would like her help in this. Having had a leisurely morning of it, Emma was perfectly willing to ride Harry's mind for a little bit.
Eventually, all the reporters were shown it, and Harry smiled at them all. "Greetings gentlemen, my name is Harry Potter, as you have no doubt been told by the lady sitting next to me. I have met and worked with Ms. Lourdes on several projects before this, and I trust her acumen when it comes to who can be trusted to report the news without giving it any particular slant. Note I said any particular slant. I want the truth to be reported, not just the truth that would paint me in the most positive light. However, due to the nature of the event, you will be taking part in there are a few rules that you all have to agree to."
One of the reporters was a rather older man, a little too old frankly to be a beat any kind, he had a cigar unlit in one hand, and a crew cut, which showed his hair growing gray in streaks. And when he spoke, he did so in a brusque, almost condescending tone. "And what is this event? Why are you so eager to have reporters on hand? It's not going to just be another press conference, I can tell you that right off. Not with all this."
Harry didn't reply to the tone at all, responding calmly. "Recently, a third alien race made itself known to us. It attacked EDF ships and would have attacked the earth is planning in that direction. You all are going to observe a briefing on this matter. As to why we are doing it this way, President Northton and others have told me that they wish to see more coverage in terms of the EDF in the news. This is an experiment to see if such a thing is possible."
"Harry, that's not a reporter. That's the editor-in-chief for the daily planet, J. Jonah Jameson. He's a jackass in many ways, and if you think he's not going to put a slant on whatever gets reported in his paper you should think again. That man doesn't know the meaning of the word honest reporting. Anything that goes over his desk will be changed, especially something like this if he sees it personally," Emma warned it despite the seriousness of the words, there was almost a giggle in her mental voice.
"Do you think I should kick him out then? And why do you sound as if her laughing?" Harry sent back even as he began to go through his spiel about what the reporters would be allowed and not allowed to do. They would be allowed to take any video recording material they want, so long as they only powered it up during the briefing. They would be able to ask questions before the breathing began, but not dirt. They would be given all the information currently available to Harry after the meeting broke up, but those would be copies, digital copies that could not be changed or added to anyway. "And if you play your cards right, you may gain access for yourselves and for your newspapers to further EDF based storylines."
A question interrupted Emma's reply, as one of the reporters held up a finger. I understand the long-term ramifications you can deal out if we don't as you put it report the truth. But how exactly are you going to keep assignments, and what's to stop us from trying to ask our questions during the briefing? As part and parcel of reporting!"
"I will be silencing you magically," Harry said bluntly. "You're there as observers. Nothing more. If you think you have a pertinent question that is on topic, you are free to write it down, and we can answer it after the briefing is over. But not only might will my own high command be there, but representatives of various nations will be, and it is they who will be asking questions."
The first response caused all of the reporters to shout objections, but as Harry went on, some of those objections went away. Many of them didn't however, with the older man leading the charge shouting out that this was all a conspiracy of the powers that be, that the EDF didn't actually exist and that anything they were being told in such circumstances would probably not even be able to stand up to real questions. That all of it was going to be staged. Harry blinked, then turned to Paris incredulously at that, his head cocked in a pose of pure confusion. "Is he for real?"
"Alas yes, Jameson has never been able to see the difference between his own view of the world and reality," Paris snarked.
Shaking his head, Harry turned back but was interrupted by an hour finally replying to his last question. "Don't kick them both out! That other young man with him, I think that's Spiderman."
"How can you tell?" Harry asked confused.
He didn't have nearly as good a memory for voices as Emma did, which she commented on now. "Besides, I'd be horrified if I forgot to the voice of a voyeur. That was rather a memorable meeting, if you recall."
With that in mind, Harry changed what he was going to say. "Mr. Jamieson, if you wish to leave, you may do so. This agreement is nonnegotiable, we have too much going on for you and your questions to slow this briefing down any further than the questions from various governemen representatives will. And if you really think that the EDF is some kind of sham, perhaps I should be looking to getting you some professional help."
His tone conveyed what kind of professional help he thought the older man needed, and Jameson reared up angrily, but Paris shouted him down. "Enough Jonah! I allowed you to try to pass yourself off as a reporter because I had hoped that you would comport yourself as a professional. This is not the venue for you to spout your ridiculous theories, crackpot concepts, and paranoid delusions. If you wish to become involved in this, to stick your toe into what eventually could be access to the EDF, you will exceed two Mr. Potter's demands as I have, and as all of you will have to."
Jameson scowled, then without a word stalked off, pointing one finger at Peter as he left. "You better get some damn good pictures! And take some damn good notes, will see if your EDF can really stand up to some honest questioning in the future."
Walking out like that meant that Jameson was not subject to the agreement that the others would have to sign and he knew it. A few of the other reporters knew this too and seemed to be thinking about joining him, but only two of them went so far as to do so. Peter Parker, as the man's name tag read, made no move to follow his boss, simply sighing and rubbing his face with both hands.
Paris smirked at the younger man as they all were handed pens and papers to sign the magically binding contracts, which resembled the contracts that Harry had previously used to bind military representatives and so forth to secrecy before he came out into the open with the Custodes and the EDF. "I have tried to hire you away from him, you have only yourself to blame Mr. Parker."
"You also wanted me to move to Florida Ms. Loudes. And I told you I can't move away from my Aunt May," Peter said with a sigh.
After everyone had signed the agreement, Harry teleported them all up to High Note, where he had them all wait in the gardens allowed to take pictures of everything they could want to in those two areas. A few did so, awed by the picture of the earth above them, the exterior of the gardens not having been changed back after Harry had spelled it to resemble glass before the peace conference.
However, Harry had a little mystery he wanted to solve. Using a subtle Notice-Me-Not, Harry separated Peter from his fellows. Before the young man could realize what was going on, Harry was beside him and they were far enough away from the other reporters not to be overheard. "So Spiderman, is this what you do with your spare time?"
To his credit Peter didn't even blink. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Pull the other one kid," Harry said with a laugh, pushing at Peter's shoulder before repeating Emma's words and takign credit for her memory. "Our meeting was kind of eventful and I have a decent memory for voices. Or are you telling me you can't remember the night where…"
"Right fine," Peter said, blushing and looking away. He stood there like the socially awkward teen he looked.
Harry smiled, giving his shoulder a light squeeze before releasing him. "I'm not going to tell anyone, I'm just wondering why you're a reporter. Surely you should be in college right?"
"Just starting actually, and well, I couldn't hold down a regular job because of the whole Spiderman thing, I can make my own hours as a photographer for the Daily Bugle, and I can even use it to my advantage, to get pictures of myself in action." Peter frowned. "You know, saying that aloud makes it sound a lot more egotistical than it should be."
"So being Spiderman doesn't pay? Harry chuckled. "Tell me, your powers. Super-strength, spider-like abilities? Do they include those web-shooters of yours? And I know you have several different varieties of webbing."
"Well, I'm sort of following a chemistry angle in school, and well, yeah I made it myself," Peter stammered. "It's not all that impressive."
"It could be, or it could be a sign of much better things. But you need a side job? Would it surprise you to know that I pay the Custodes Mundi? They might've been brought to my side by their belief in my cause, or causes rather," he added with a faint laugh, "and stay because they believe in my methods. But they are definitely also being paid for it."
Despite his social awkwardness, there was nothing wrong with Peter's brain. Far from it, in point of fact. "Are you offering me a job?" He asked incredulously.
"Perhaps in time. For now, I would be willing to fund your continued hero-work. After that, who knows. I wouldn't want to pull you out of New York though. For some odd reason, that city seems to be a hotbed of super-powered criminality. You have your own group of villains, don't you?"
"Not so many any longer after they attempted to take Emma Frost of the Frost conglomerate hostage a few months back," Peter replied dryly. "Her security force dealt with most of them permanently. And then there was the bombing that killed Kingpin. I'm still wondering who was behind that since none of his competitors have stepped up to the plate to take over his businesses but I've got no leads, and neither do the police."
Danielle does good work, Harry reflected, his face giving nothing away. He sensed somehow, without Emma or Jean's help, that Peter was even more of a Boy Scout then Steve. Steve knew that there came a time when you had to take lives, and he didn't hesitate in the doing. Peter though, he was still very much the young, somewhat innocent man his years and face suggested. "Regardless I think having a more solidified line of contact would be good for both of us."
"… I'll think about it," Peter said with a shrug. "I gotta admit, working with Jameson is beginning to grate on my nerves. He's gotten a hell of a lot worse since the EDF came out. There's something personal there, but I don't know the man well enough to speculate on what. But I won't make any decision rashly."
"Good for you," Harry applauded, before gesturing with his head back over to the rest of the reporters. "Now come on, let's get you all set up."
The briefing occurred in the same conference room Harry had used during the initial start of their offense in the Eurasian War, although now it was filled with what Harry wanted to call the Terran Space Council along with the reporters instead of just his own men and women. Not that most of them have any actual power to impact events in space but still the thought is there. The raised levels were still there, but chairs had been replaced by plush chairs each individual having their own chair.
With the raised rows everyone could see the front of the room where Emma, in her Diamond persona, and the others were standing at the moment. This included Dum Dum Duggan, who had been brought in by Sir Dennis to add to Harry's still-unnamed espionage service. He had worked closely with Carol and E on the computer side of things while Reed and his friend Andrew Lefton had led the examination of the dead and the living prisoners.
Jean was lounging next to Harry curled up into his side, one hand resting on her stomach as was routine these days. She seemed to have gotten over her jitters about becoming a mother, but Harry had heard something about her not being happy how she would look in the wedding dress that they were trying out for her. When he inquired about that at breakfast that morning and told her she'd look lovely in a paper bag it had backfired, so Harry had backed off rapidly. The mood swing had passed by this point though, which Harry was thankful for, and he let one hand rest on the back of her neck, fingers working through her hair.
Ororo sat Harry's other side, her eyes closed as she listened. There was a frown there, but like Jean and Harry, Emma had already told her the bare bones of what she and Betsy had found in Galactus' mind. But unlike Emma, she knew Harry was going to do something about that information that had little to do with anything but his people saving thing. On the back of her chair, Hedwig sat for some reason tugging contentedly at Harry's hair.
Dr. Doom sat to one side, with the president of America, pulled from some kind of low-key meeting that he had been actually quite ecstatic to get out of, and one of his own the advisors, a middle-aged man with an impressive scar on one hand who stood like an ex-military man on the other hand. Harry hadn't been introduced to him, but Harry had basically told Samuel to bring someone he trusted, so Harry, with the help of the security array over the teleportation doorways, would trust that the man knew what he was doing.
William was not there, but Duncan was, his arms crossed as he looked down at the front of the room from behind Harry with General Demontebanks sitting next to him. Reed, Scott, Steve, and Ben were also all there, along with Amora, and Danielle up. Behind them sat Peter Parker, Paris and the others.
Once everyone was sitting comfortably and the reporters appropriately silenced via his magic, the meeting began quickly enough with a small bombshell from Emma. One that had everyone who knew about the attack staring at her in shock and chagrin.
"What do you mean they were here to ask for our help?" Ben said shaking his head. "I know Gladiator said something about being here to talk to the big brain here," he waved at Reed beside him. "But that was if that is how they ask for help, then…"
"Then this Majestor needs to go back to school and learn some manners," Ororo quipped.
"Indeed, I have dealt with arrogant souls literally for times uncounted, and Gladiator's would fit in quite well with those who are sent to that most special part of Niflheim reserved for those who died due to their arrogance."
"Heh, won't start shit, won't be shit," Sam murmured to Steve, his Bronx brogue in full display, causing Steve to chuckle in turn.
"*Sigh*. It seems as if some of us here are not dealing with the complete playbook. Before we get to what they need our, or rather the Fantastic Four's help with, can someone explain to me what the Shi'ar Empire is?" President Northton said, shaking his head. He was still somewhat getting up to speed on all this space-based stuff. Thankfully judging from the nods of a few of the others in the room, those who were here in an attempt by Harry to be open about what went on in space, he wasn't the only one who didn't know anything about the Shi'ar. "I am fully up to speed on the Kree and the Skrull, I even read what you all passed on about the Badoon, but the Shi'ar is new to me."
Duggan laughed, fighting back the urge to salute his former Commander-in-chief. "Heh, you weren't the only one. I spent the last week basically buried in reports about everything going on in space and behind the scenes. But before we continue, I have to say thank you to Mr. Richards for helping us decrypt the files on these computers. While their technology isn't all that far advanced in comparison to the bits of Kree and Skrull tech that I have seen, their programming is actually quite incredibly advanced."
Harry held up a hand, looking over at Reed who spoke up in response. "There were a few interesting programming fillips that they have come up with, but nothing that we could not overcome easily enough security-wise. Their programming is highly advanced with some indications pointing to many of their computers coming close to limited AI status. But their physical computer technology is quite crude in comparison to what we have been able to come up with. That could be deliberate, to keep that same level of responsiveness without allowing for the growth of an actual AI that could then evolve beyond its programming."
Harry nodded slowly, and then looked over at Duggan again. "Continue."
"The Shi'ar Empire is an empire in truth, far more so than the Kree or the Skrull. Both of those call themselves empires, but the Kree really isn't an empire as we understand the term, they're more of a military dictatorship. The Skrull might have a royal family, but all the power resides in the Sector Governors and ruling magnates. But the Shi'ar Empire rules over more than two hundred other space-faring races that they have conquered. After conquest, the Shi'ar Empire's society basically takes over what the running of the planets they've conquered, while slowly eroding the existing social structures through simply being more organized and just plain more efficient. Within a few generations, there's little to nothing left of the original societies. I honestly can't figure what to compare it to in human history, except possibly the Sassanid Empire perhaps"
Duggan once more took over. "And when we say the Shi'ar are an Empire, we mean it. There is the Majestor, and then there is his house and court. They are the final arbiters, the power in the Empire. Everything goes through them, and I mean everything. Sector governors, planetary officials, as far down as planetary-scale decisions everything goes through them."
Conquered races aren't allowed to build their own spaceships for two hundred years of the equivalent so that there is no one alive who has any personal idea of what it is like to be born without the Shi'ar being over them. Any sign of rebellion is crushed entirely, up to and including orbital bombardments. They're actually quite proud of it, that's why we know about all this. The captain was quite happy to tell me all about such activities, saying that we would be facing that soon enough, if we did not release them immediately."
"Which we won't be," Harry said coldly. "If Gladiator is any location, they have nothing that can stop magic, and we didn't let them get any word out, correct?"
When Admiral Powers nodded at that, Duggan began to input a series of controls, and a moment later, a massive hologram appeared in front of them all. It was the same planet intergalactic map which Harry and his fellows were used to seeing at first, then a few seconds later it grew again, showing the Shi'ar Empire. It was not nearly as densely developed as the Kree, but it was much larger than the Kree, if not quite as large as the Skrull and several sectors were massively developed in comparison to the rest. "Those are the Shi'ar themselves. They apparently spread out quite quickly, after achieving their first spaceflight and their planets are so massively industrialized, I had to look up a science fiction term for what they are: Ecumenopolis."
"I know that one, planets on which cities have completely taken over the surface," Harry explained for the non-sci-fi fans. Ororo shuddered next to him, looking almost ill at the very idea, and Harry could sympathize while Hedwig precked at their back.
"Right. But as you can see, their empire's nowhere near us. Any moves in this area of space have to be on a small scale, or with ships prepared to operate well beyond their normal limits. And frankly, there's no reason they should try. No, Gladiator and the crew of the Pinion, that's the name of their ship, were sent well and hell into the boonies from the Shi'ar's perspective."
Dum Dum paused, then looked over to the group of scientists who had performed autopsies of the dead. This was a new group of doctors that Carol and Reed had rounded up for the purpose. "At this point, I think it might be a good idea to turn the presentation over to the doctors here because they found out some things that were kind of startling.
The spokesman for this group, whom Carol had hired in Harry's name, was named Dr. Rupert Frankholme. He came from Austria and had been recommended by the former Air Force officer because she'd met him a few times in the past. He was an excellent surgeon and forensics doctor, although he had, in Carol's words, the social graces of a walnut. "Erm, um, w, well that is…" The man began to stammer feeling all their eyes on him.
But when one of his fellows switched the hologram to one of the Shi'ar prisoners standing against a bulkhead he straightened his shoulders and then began again. Now there was no awe or fear in his tone, only aloof professionalism. "Thanks to the number of bodies we were supplied with and the ability to also question the living, we were able to find out quite a few interesting things from the side of evolution and science.
despite how alike to humans they actually look, the Shi'ar people are not in point of fact birds, as the derogatory name for them the Kree told us about months back imply. Or rather they are not warm-blooded birds. They are cold-blooded, which is quite odd considering the physiology, but it isn't something we haven't run into before with the dissections of the Badoon bodies we recovered, so it is clearly possible."
"Dissections?" President Northton asked quietly.
"There were a lot of dead bodies after that last attack," Harry murmured back. "I wanted to find out some things about them. I wanted a report like this is the time, but it took Carol and I a while to put the various scientists together, and then the scientists themselves began to dither and argue rather than just tell us their findings. Carol and Reed had to sit on them rather hard to get them to prepare for this meeting at all on such short notice."
He nodded to the doctor to continue, and he did, looking a little huffy at the interruption. "At any rate, they have other things in common with winged dinosaurs. For one thing, they lay eggs, which is altogether interesting, considering everything else is much more mammalian, up to and including the mammary glands and their species being sexually active year-round as humans are."
Rupert frowned, or rather scowled, his whole face wrinkling up in a look of confusion. "However, despite the fact they are the oldest space faring race we have yet come in contact with, there has not been the level of evolutionary drift that we might have suspected, changes to their basic genetics and bodies as we might have thought. For one thing, their bodies are still built to allow for flight with hollow bones and other similar signs, despite the fact they no longer seem to routinely grow feathers anywhere save on their heads. They would normally have less physical strength than a human but given their level of scientific knowledge they seem to have overcome that."
"Yes, I'd say so. Most of the crew we tangled with were stronger than most humans, even most soldiers. I'd have said they were physically as strong as Kree, although they couldn't take as much damage. Maybe this hollow bone thing is why," Steve interjected.
"More than likely yes," Rupert replied. "However, the most interesting thing about the Shi'ar is in their brain and what that means on the mental and social level. At this point, I will turn this over to Dr. Ajira Sing."
Ajira, a middle-aged woman from Kerala in India with five doctorates in various medical and social fields, stepped forward. She had been on Harry's science staff for a long while after his first round of recruitment on the whole 'wizard longevity question. She had however changed jobs soon after Mar'vel and Una was captured and had since examined the Kree, Badoon and now Shi'ar prisoners. And when she spoke, her voice was soothing after Rupert's loud, high-pitched tone. "Thank you, Rupert. And as for what we found, I believe that comparison is needed."
With a few taps on the podium's controls an image popped up to one side, and she pointed to it. "This is the human brain. I've labeled all the disparate parts, in order to better help you understand the various areas we are most interested in. And this is the Shi'ar brain." A second round of button-pushing caused a second image to appear. Both images moved off the flatscreen on the wall and became 3-D like the previous galactic map. "Instantly several important facts popped out to us, so important we had to question the prisoners quite closely, something I must thank Diamond and Professor Xavier for their help with."
Xavier wasn't there. He had essentially taken over Emma's job of dealing with Bruce Banner a few weeks back, a move Harry hadn't been informed of but had agreed to after the fact. He met with Bruce at least once every two days and had gotten the man to the point where he was able to at least acknowledge the fact the Hulk wasn't a monster that could be removed from his body and leave him whole. He had also basically helped Bruce put his mind in order so that he was no longer in danger of becoming schizophrenic.
"I can tell bits are missing but I have no idea about their importance," Ororo said, tapping her lips thoughtfully.
"There is no pons segment to the brain, here." Ajira paused as if waiting for shocked exclamations, but she only got two hisses of indrawn breath from Reed and the rather terrifying man in armor.
"That's… are you saying they are all like that?" Dr. Doom said finally leaning forward, almost glaring through his mask at the brain surgeon. "An entire race without a pons segment of the brain. And, if that brain's map is accurate their parietal lobe is odd too."
Ajira gulped but replied gamely. "W, we examined every one of the dead, and then we asked the prisoners about it with Diamond and Professor X's help. This is accurate. Indeed, it isn't a new thing. As Rupert said the Shi'ar have remarkably not changed very much on the evolutionary level since achieving a high level of technology. This is something they have had as far back as they remember."
"Alright, what is the pons segment of the brain used for? I take it is something important?" Kirov asked.
"The pons region of the brain interprets the unconscious nerve signals that an individual's mind creates when asleep. Essentially, the pons is the area of the brain that allows us to have dreams."
"Okay, I can see why that would be important on the psychological level, isn't it through dreams that we, like, process the day or whatever?" Ben asked.
"Something of the sort, yes. Without dreams, humans do not learn or cannot retain as much knowledge of a day's passing as they would otherwise. However, that is but a minor point. Without dreams, without the pawns portion of the mind, they have no imagination. They have no art. Indeed, they find imagination and art as signs of insanity. Individuals who confess to dreams are often euthanized the moment they are discovered. Several of the prisoners I talked to knew stories on that score, although none had met anyone who had been part of such a drama." Ajira shook her head. "It's incredible."
"You're telling me," Harry breathed, somewhat reeling by the implications. "How, I mean, how can they have science without imagination?"
"I don't know. The Shi'ar have a larger occipital lobe. Their cognitive ability for languages, form and pattern recognition is incredible. But they do not dream. They do not create art, they might, and I hesitate here because this goes into the realm of possibilities, but they might be able to recognize art. But I honestly cannot tell you whether or not that is indeed the case," Ajira explained with a shrug.
She paused to let all that sink in, then went on. "I would say in terms of social interaction they will be smart, extremely so. Very good at languages as I said, very good hitting it off with other people, at acting out roles. But they will also have the ability to be very cruel."
"Could you please explain that," Jean said, frowning as she looked at the two images. "I might be a telepath, but I've never made that much of a study of the physical aspects of the brain. I don't see a connection between their ability to be cruel to the rest you've explained."
"Once more this topic ties into how their brains are designed: their mentality is that of herd-based predators. Highly social predators, but still predators, on every level, socially, personally, and in terms of diet. The Shi'ar are as a race believe that every other race in their empire exists to serve them in whatever way they desire. That is the lens through which they see the world."
"Una and Mar'vel passed on a rumor that the Shi'ar had essentially committed genocide by eating another sentient race into nonexistence. With what you found out of their brains and in questioning them, is that something you could see them doing?" Harry asked slowly, knowing this was going to be a bombshell.
"Excuse me!?" Samuel Northton said, sharply, looking over at Harry. The rest of the room had either fallen silent in shock or were also shouting questions, including the members of the Fifth Estate at the back. Luckily they'd all been silenced before this.
But even so, it was several minutes before Harry could demand silence once more. "It is just a rumor, I am just wondering if there is evidence that the Shi'ar are so impulsive and lacking in empathy as to do so."
"Erm, actually yes," Ajira said, after looking around at the others. "More than one wondered if we would taste good, and another mentioned a race called the Mephitisoids and wondering if humans would go the same way."
Dum Dum spoke up in support while the rest of the room muttered in shock, whispering about space cannibals. "That part we think was just an attempt to intimidate us. The Shi'ar don't routinely eat other races. But it did happen once in their history, and they aren't exactly secretive about it. The Mephitisoids had a very advanced, extremely pacifistic culture, and the Shi'ar conquered them early on in their own spacefaring history. Then over a thousand years or so, they somehow did…start to eat the entire race. The computer on the ship had a blurb about it, but other than saying they were intensely tasty to the Shi'ar palate didn't tell us anymore on how that occurred. But it is definite that it did."
"Mary mother of God," the president muttered, raising one suddenly shaky hand to his face. "Are there any aliens out there that we could possibly make allies of? Could we possibly even treat with these Shi'ar and assume they would honor any deal we'd make?"
That's just it," Harry said with a laugh that was about as cold as a glacier turning in his chair to glare almost at Northton, the silent Kirov and the other world governemnt representatives. "We're not equals. We're nowhere near close. It will be centuries before we're equal in industrial capacity and millennia before we're equal in the size of our population. Which presupposes that they'll actually allow us to get to that size. Now do you see why I have been so hard on the mutant supremacy/anti-mutant factions? When you come right down to it, there are enemies out there that are far, far too dangerous for us to continue to stand against divided."
"A house divided cannot stand," Northton quoted, then smiled thinly. "All right, you've made your point Harry. But I'd still like an answer to my question from your experts. Are these Shi'ar a species we could possibly make deals with, and expect them to be honored, even if they do not see us as their equals?"
All of them looked at one another, whispering hastily as a rather fearsome argument sprang up. "Well… that depends," one of the ones standing by Rupert quibbled, and Harry leaned forward, staring at the man hard while Reed shook his head, and Doom growled.
Even the president laughed. "Gentlemen, we're not interested in depends. We want your honest opinions, yes or no will these Shi'ar honor a deal they make with a lesser power?"
"No," one man, a Chinese said finally while the others seemed to firm up their opinion nodding or shaking their heads. "Most of us are of the opinion that they won't. We don't have access to their history, but from what we've learned so far, from what we discern while watching or questioning the prisoners, they would not see us as equals even if they need something from us. We can possibly scare them, threaten the Emperor himself perhaps. But our best defense is the fact we dealt with Gladiator and our distance from their Empire."
"How important is Gladiator? How did the crew of that ship react to our defeating him?" Hela asked.
"At first they didn't believe it," Diamond said, speaking up for the first time since the doctors had begun their presentations. "But when he didn't immediately come to their rescue they began to believe, and at that point, their bravado shifted from 'Gladiator will see you all dead' to 'the Empire will not forgive this'. They are in deep shock at it I think, with only a few able to see past the immediate implications."
"Would you be able to guess how this Emperor of theirs will react when word reaches him?"
"That would depend, I think, on everything else going on at the time. Specifically, the original reason why they were sent to Earth," Diamond drawled, in a get on with it kind of tone.
Nodding thoughtfully, Harry looked around at his allies and his people. "I think that's enough background. Unless anyone has specific questions?"
There were several who did, Carol foremost among them as she hadn't heard about the whole not dreaming thing. She was followed by Dr. Doom, leaned forward arrogantly, glaring almost through his mask at Duggan as he asked a few specific questions about what he had been able to figure out of the Shi'ar Empire's military, the numbers of its citizens who were not Shi'ar, and so forth.
Harry listened intently, glancing occasionally at Doom, one eyebrow rising as he wondered where the not-so-good Dr. was going with all this. He had an idea but… No. I'm not going to go there just yet. If that's his plan, well, more power to him I suppose. Although I wouldn't have thought he'd leave Latveria behind.
When the questions began to peter off, Harry looked back at Diamond and Duggan. "All right, I think at this point we can get on to the meat of the matter. Why was the Shi'ar Empire going to demand our aid a la Black Ships demanding the Japanese open their ports?"
Diamond twitched her eyes over to where Ben and Reed sat. Ben was enjoying a beer with Steve, while the doctor was talking quietly to Ben's girlfriend, still trying to explain some of the historical examples that had been used earlier. He didn't look to be having much luck there, but he looked up as Duggan said a single word. "Galactus."
Ben coughed on his beer, setting it aside as Reed gasped, staring in shock at this spy while more than one of the representatives cursed in shock. Indeed everyone, even Peter and the rest of the media people showed disbelief at the use of that name.
All save for Steve, Thundra, and Amora. The three of them looked at one another then everyone else's faces then Steve raised a hand. "It looks as if we're kind of out of the loop here, but who is Galactus? And why did his name, make all of your faces go pale?" All except Harry and his ladies at least. But they must have known about this beforehand.
"Galactus is what I would term a Super-being, a creature whose very existence is several dimensional levels beyond our own,", Reed said, his tone calm even if his words were not. "Physically he is a massive being, his body almost the size of the moon, and for whatever reason, he has a most horrible eating habit which led us into conflict with him and with his herald, the Silver Surfer."
"What do you mean a 'most horrible eating habit'? And why did that sent a shiver down my spine when you said it?" Thundra asked.
"Because it was meant to Thundra baby," Ben said touching his forehead with one craggy hand. "Are we sure? I mean are we sure about this? They need help against that, that…"
Words seemed to fail him, and Reed took up the tale. He explained that Galactus ate planets, sucking them dry of life, killing the individuals on the planet, as well as the trees, animals, even the tectonic energy. Anything that could be termed life or necessary to create it fed Galactus, leaving behind a husk that inevitably shattered. "He creates this device you see, which transfers the energy to him. It takes a while but once it's in place, there's nothing that can stop it."
"But there are a few ways to deal with him right?" Harry asked. "One is to make a deal with him, right?"
"Not exactly," Reed muttered, "I forget that you actually weren't here for that episode Harry. You only have my own files to go on."
"Yeah, your files say that you beat him off, somehow. Made an agreement that meant he would never return to earth. So how did you do it, and do you think we can pass it on to the Shi'ar?" Harry asked. "I doubt that would be enough now, not after we captured Gladiator and their ship, but it's a thought."
Reed twitched, looking around them, and Harry rolled his eyes. "A simpler question, was it something you created, or something you stole off him?"
Seeing Mr. Fantastic looking still a little leery, Harry made a decision. "Right. I think at this point we've talked about everything we want the general public to know at this point. The rest is going to be how we deal with this, and that means it's time for the ladies and gentlemen of the Fifth estate to leave. Along with the representatives of the Earth-based powers that be."
He overrode the shouted objections, gesturing and opening the doors into the conference room with a spell. "Everyone out. Miss Lourdes, please corral your fellow newsies, Mr. President, if you please? At this point, none of you can really contribute to the ongoing discussion. We will make a formal announcement of our plans to deal with this issue but at this point, if Reed doesn't want to share, I am afraid he's the expert and I will bow to his decision." He then paused, looking inquisitive, "Unless any of you are willing to have the information we will be discussing locked into your mind afterward magically?"
There were some flinches at that, although Harry was amused to note that Peter looked as if he wanted to take Harry up on his offer for a moment. Despite that all of them left willingly. Northton and the others actually looked relieved, happy someone else was taking the burden of what to do about this thorny issue off their shoulders. It took a bit longer to make certain they all returned to their respective countries than to convince them to leave in the first place. And most of this was taken up by a brief conversation Harry had with President Northton.
"By the way, I think we've found a scientist that you might want to hire. His name's Forge." The older man paused, sending a smirk at Harry's surprised, then thoughtful expression. "I understand that you've been wanting to hire him for a while now?" At Harry's nod, he handed over a folder his aide handed to him in turn. "I'll have him dropped off at Professor Xavier's mansion shall I?"
Harry could only nod again at that. But he replied with his own comment. "If you or anyone from your government wants to observe, the funeral for the dead EDF personnel is going to be tomorrow afternoon in Fortress Mars."
"We will be there," Northton replied with a nod.
Returning from this side mission, Harry glanced at Reed and then around at the rest of the room. "Well?"
"Five bugs, three from the reporters, one of which was actually quite advanced, not something you could buy on the street. I might wish to follow up on that when this present issue has run its course," Reed replied. "The other two were from our illustrious politicians, although from where I found them perhaps the advisors instead of the leaders. Regardless I also asked Pinoptes to activate the room's Faraday Cage just in case."
Get in line Reed, Harry thought, intrigued at the thought of what the friendly neighborhood Spider-boy was going to eventually choose to do. setting that to the side, he looked at Reed. "And now that we are alone…" he trailed off leadingly.
Reed sent a look to Doom, who had not moved since the exodus of the unwanted observers had begun, but after hesitating for a brief second began to speak. "…The being known as Galactus travels in kind of ship which itself is a marvel of technology, existing on several dimensional planes at one time. We snuck aboard the ship during the construction phase when he creates the device he needs to use to take in energy from his current victim and found a device. A device called the Ultimate Nullifier. With it, we were able to basically threaten Galactus to retreat."
"But the agreement was that he would leave earth alone so long as we did not use the Nullifier on him. If we try to threaten him with it again, he might find that agreement is null and void. For another…" Reed winced, once more looking over at Doom, glumly anticipating the response to his next statement, "I have no idea what it does."
Doom's incredulous laughter burst out, hollow-sounding, but he was leaning back and slapping one hand down on his metal-clad thigh as he laughed. "Reed Richards, genius extraordinaire, doesn't know what something does? And this happened several years ago too!"
Fighting the urge to enlarge his fist and try to crush Doom like a tin can, Reed began to pace at the front of the room as he explained. "The device is about as large as my hand. It has no internal energy source that can be detected, no internal machinery as far as I can tell at all, bar the one button on its surface. It is metallic in origin, or so it looks, but no amount of x-rays or any kind of sensor that I have tried to use tells me anything at all. The surface is completely impenetrable to my scanners and I have tried every single scanner I could devise on it, including some I created after investigating the Negative Zone. Furthermore, if it is a device that even Galactus would fear, how am I supposed to have tested it to find out its effects?"
Evidently this was something of a sore point for him. Which was causing Doom, and Harry admittedly no end of amusement.
"Toss it into the Negative Zone attached to a timed control device," Doom shot back.
"And how would I find it again? What would the effect of it be? Creation of a black hole? Not powerful enough. A solar flare? Galactus would survive it. I have no idea what it does, but testing to destruction was clearly not something I could do, as anyone with an IQ of ninety should be able to tell…"
"Gentlemen," Harry said, magnifying his voice just slightly enough to get their attention having twitched slightly at the black hole creation comment. "While watching the two of you have one of your pissing contests is always amusing, let's move on. Where is Galactus now, did they know?"
"They did, and that's part of the problem from their respective," Dum Dum said. He worked the controls on the podium again, and the hologram began to change as he very slowly inputted of series of commands into the control grid he'd been given. Several of the planets in the Shi'ar Empire disappeared, replaced by black marks. Others glowed red, and a concentric circle moving towards the capital city, deep into Shi'ar territory.
"And correct if I'm wrong, but all those planets are well-populated?" Hela asked.
"Heavily populated," Dum Dum said, with Emma nodding her head.
She then pointed to one in particular. "Just as the Pinion jumped entirely out of the Empire, they received word that this planet had gone silent. Several of the crewmen have family there. The numbers on that planet alone is twelve point seven billion Shi'ar."
That number caused everyone there to gasped in horror save Dr. Doom, who leaned forward, crossing his hands in front of his masked face. "And so? I have several questions. First and foremost, what is in it for us to accede to their demand that we help them against Galactus?"
"They asked for the Fantastic Four," Reed said looking over to Emma who once more nodded, and Reed shrugged his shoulders. "In that case, I think it rather falls to me to make that decision doesn't it?"
"It would if I did not know that this one," Doom said, pointing to Harry, "was not also thinking about it. You are, are you not? You're thinking of leaving our Earth, to help this empire, which is a clear and present danger to Earth. This is so illogical, so impractical, that I cannot even believe it. But you have done illogical and impractical things before, you're 'saving people thing' you call it."
Harry looked back at Doom, then very slowly, raised a single finger while using his other hand to play with Jean's hair, calming her down. Ororo, on the other hand, was just glaring at Doom, knowing that in many ways Doom had gotten his mother back from the dead (or close enough) because of Harry's heroism. "That was one question." He then raised a second finger. "What was your next one?"
Doom snorted, then looked over at Charles and Dum Dum. "This Imperial Guard. Mar'vel said it was a formidable group, full of various super powered individuals. What are they doing at this point in time? Is the Shi'ar Empire willing to defend itself, or was their first inclination to find sacrificial pawns which may or may not have been able to help them?"
"Dr. Doom's got a point," Emma said with a sigh, moving over to flop against a chair left empty by Hela, her posture now relaxed but her eyes grim as she gazed at Harry. "And even if they are fighting for themselves, even if you're only going on as an advisory role or something Harry, I don't think you personally can be part of this mission. Too much is riding on you with the moment."
"And we don't want you to die damnit!" Jean sent. This was a sentiment that Emma agreed with wholeheartedly. They'd had portions of this argument several times throughout the day, but now with everything that had been shared during the meeting it had come back to them.
"I know loves, but think about it, there are more reasons than one that we need to fight Galactus for the Shi'ar. And before you ask, yes, my people saving thing has been activated by all this. Whatever else, the common man on the streets in the Shi'ar empire don't deserve to die because their leaders have forgotten everything but shotgun diplomacy."
As the two telepaths sent him the mental equivalent of scowls, Harry addressed Emma's spoken points. "Not as much as you think. The Earth Defense Force is clicking along nicely, the training centers are all up and running for now. The logistical aspects too could be better, but that will always be the case, and I've done enough on that end for it to keep running without me around for a time."
He held up a hand when Ororo made to speak. And then looked over at Dr. Doom, then back to Ororo. "Were you finished, Dr.?" He asked politely.
Again Doom snorted, then looked over to Reed Richards. "If we are so terrified of using the Ultimate Nullifier what does that leave us? Have you figured out any other way of fighting this being?"
Reed sighed. "I have found several different means of possibly combating him, but I don't know if any of them will work. None are the kind of thing you'd be able to test after all," he repeated the same point he'd made about the Ultimate Nullifier.
Harry waited a moment to see if Dr. Doom had more questions then looked over to Emma and the others. "Well, are they fighting him?"
"Apparently, whole fleets of been destroyed, the Imperial Guard lost their equivalent of three regiments. Their third and fourth in command are both dead, their second-in-command, the one who leads them with when Gladiator is away on a mission like this is badly injured."
"Worry about all that does not excuse his attempts to attack us," Hela growled. "His actions were well beyond the pale."
"I agree. Gladiator showed us the real face of this Shi'ar Empire. Which means," Ororo said twitching her eyes over to Dr. Doom. "You're not thinking strategically."
Doom stared back, then ever so slightly, and nodded his head. "I see. You are correct," he growled, biting the words off. "I had not considered that aspect."
The others all looked confused except for Ororo, and Harry.
Ororo explained. "Gladiator's their main champion. If they sent him out here on what amounted to a wild goat goose chase not only does that mean that they know that they don't have much of a chance against Galactus without the Fantastic Four's device, and they know where he went. If he never returns, then will they keep trying to send bad money down the drain against Galactus, or come here in force to see what happened? Earth could possibly see off a full Imperial battle group, but I don't know how many actual humans would be left alive on Earth when we were done do any of you?"
"So were damned if we do and damned if we don't," Sam muttered, cursing. This time however his Harlem accident wasn't showing up, and he nodded over to Steve then back to Harry. "What's the play, boss?"
"Well first, I have something else that I think we've overlooked. All of those scanners and sensors you used, when was the last time you tried to scan it?"
"Several months before my son was born. I haven't made any breakthrough in sensors since then for various reasons. Why?"
Harry smirked. "Did it ever occur to a task Madame Harkness about your Ultimate Nullifier?"
Reed was a very, very bright man, and he got it almost immediately. "You think it's a magical device?"
Harry nodded. "Of course, there's the whole idea of any sufficiently advanced science is indiscernible for magic, but, I have the feeling that it is just pure magic. And if it is, Hela, Ororo and I might be able to figure something out about it, either by draining it, or using our magical senses to probe it."
"So you are determined to go then? I still find that illogical. There is a lot riding on you right now Harry Potter?" Doom growled. Which was about as close to saying he was worried about his ally than he would ever get.
"True. Which is why I won't be leaving right away. We will take four days to tool up, for me to examine this Ultimate Nullifier, for Reed to share everything he's figured out, or attempted to create that can possibly take on Galactus, and for us to put it into production. Furthermore, I will choose a team. It will not be the full Custodes Mundi. Against this enemy, striking power and survivability is more important than anything else, and I'm sorry to stay Steve, with there's really not much you or Sam or even Piotr can do against this kind of enemy. Although with that said, I will be taking Emma with me. A telepath can be useful for this mission on multiple levels."
"What about me?" Amora said, thrusting her head forward pugnaciously. "If this thing eats planets, I bet I could give it one hell of a case of indigestion."
"That's a point," Harry said with a nod.
"And me too," Danielle said, "If Galactus has got a brain, maybe I can somehow figure out a way to bring out his nightmares."
"I will make the decisions of who to go and who's to stay later after consulting with Reed, but I am making one decision right now. Carol, Sage, and Steve will form a triumvirate of our high command for as long as I'm gone. The EDF, the lawyers, Magical Minds and Custodes, everyone will obey their orders as they would me," Harry intoned, looking at Jean then Steve. "I'm sorry Jean, but with your pregnancy, I don't want to pile more work on your shoulders."
"DAMN IT!" Jean growled, thumping her hand into his side in annoyance. 'I should be going with you, I'm your second biggest gun and Galactus is on an order of magnitude beyond anything we've faced. Even that purple-skinned freak you fought on Mars isn't as strong."
Resentment and anger flared in her mind and down their link, but Harry met it with simple love and regret, putting his arms around the redhead and pulling her into his lap. The anger faded instantly under his touch, while the resentment remained. However it didn't leak out toward the two young, forming minds within her, she kept it under control. She was now willing to admit that she had it within her to become a mother, to bring life into the world. It was just that the timing could have been far, far better because every time they turned around there seemed to be a new crisis on the horizon. Darn you Phoenix Force, if I could find it I would wring your fiery neck!
"I know my love," Harry whispered into her hair. "I know. But there's nothing we can do about it. No matter what kind of protection I can offer you, there's a limit to what magic could do. Especially against Galactus, even if he himself is vulnerable to it." Using magic on pregnant women beyond a certain level was not a good idea. Harry had asked Steve about that at one point, and he and Hela both agreed, there was a limit to how much magic could be used on Jean at this point without effecting her children in unusual and unpredictable ways. "I won't take risks with our children like that, or you."
Jean sniffled, cursing the impact her pregnancy had on her emotions even as she reined in her thoughts, feeling Ororo's hand on her back, moving in circles there while Emma took a page from Harry's book and send a telepathic burst of affection and love her way. Even Hela, who was not a fan of public displays of affection, reached over to grasp a shoulder having no other means to convey her support.
Steve and most of the others looked away, while Captain America grimaced. He didn't honestly have a problem with his being part of the Triumvirate, but he didn't think it would really work out that way. Rather each of the named individuals would probably just concentrate on their own areas of expertise. While most things were at the stage they could just keep working, there were some things that Harry, Emma, Ororo, and Hela had to see to personally. Still, we can handle it for a while at least. With Sage around anyway.
When Jean seemed to recover from her momentary loss of control, Doom spoke up as if the previous emotional moment hadn't happened."What of the empire? They are sure to become our enemies in time, especially with how we dealt with their messenger." Not acknowledging this moment of weakness was actually his way of showing respect for those involved, but he still received quite a few glares from those who didn't realize that.
Harry though, who Doom felt at times had a somewhat disturbing understanding of his, Doom's, foibles, smirked. "We'll be dealing with a problem that they aren't able to and will be bringing along our heaviest hitters, and people who can get away quickly too. We'll show them that we're not to be trifled with, and with Earth so far beyond their borders, I don't think they'll bother with us after that. Of course, I'm not going to just take on Galactus for them. Their leaving us alone is part of the price for that."
"And Gladiator?"
Harry's smile turned wintry. "He attacked humans, killed more than five hundred EDF personnel and threatened Earth itself. He will not be returning to the Shi'ar with us. Not all of him anyway."
That caused Doom to laugh once more, while the others there, even Steve, simply nodded understanding. Soon after, the rest of the meeting broke up, with Steve and Reed leading the way out of the room, followed by Doom, who was still chuckling at Harry's little quip.
Sensing somehow that Jean was still out of sorts, Emma kissed Harry on the lips then stood up to follow the others out of the conference room. Hela paused for a moment staring between the departing Emma and the others, then leaned over Jean. At first, the redhead thought Hela was going to kiss her, which would have surprised her as Hela wasn't all that affectionate towards her or Emma outside of hugs. But instead, she placed her mouth by the redhead's ear and said quietly, "Do not let your concerns for Harry blind you to the fact this choice is part and parcel of what made us all fall for him in the first place."
Jean pouted but nodded at that, then smiled as Ororo kissed her cheek gently before following the others out the door.
That left Harry and Jean alone in the meeting room. Harry sat down again, next to her, putting his arms around her, whispering "There's a chance love that Galactus will have the same lack of magical resistance as Gladiator did. If that's the case, this could be a much more even fight for me than it would be for anyone else."
"You don't believe that," Jean groused, even as she let herself lean against him, a small, infinitely soft smile appearing on her face as she felt Harry's hand rest on her rounded stomach gently. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"Well, first thing, I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to cross the Titan divide," Harry said grimly.
She looked at him quizzically, then nodded, remembering. "Ah yes, getting across that whole power line thing without becoming a god." She frowned thinking. "Though I wonder why I haven't slammed into that line?"
"Probably because your physical body actually isn't all that durable unless you're consciously reinforcing it. And your soul is still that of a normal human," Harry said gently. "You can telekinetically slow down everything in your vicinity to the point where you can survive being hit, but it's your mind that is a super-evolved beast of destruction, not your soul or body." He huffed as Jean's elbow hit him in the stomach while she let loose a giggle. "And despite all the power inside you, you retain a connection to the Phoenix Force as it's avatar,which keeps you both grounded as a human and empowers you at the same time. In my case, it's my magical core, which is a spiritual part of my soul and body, that needs to either change or evolve somehow."
"Hmm…" At that point, Jean had an idea. It was a barely formed one, but it might help her overcome her current issues if she could figure out a way to do it. For now, though another thought took center stage. "You know who you should also be taking with you? If magic is going to be our ace in the hole?"
"Dr. Strange," Harry agreed with a nod. "I had already thought about actually. I think that would be a good idea. He's finally started to act as a member of our community, these past few weeks."
"Good. You just remember Harry Potter that at this point, no matter what you might think, you really are not expendable! You are not replaceable, and you are not going to die on me! If you think Hela Ororo and I could keep this going use seriously have another think coming! We could probably keep the mutant rights we could even keep the various projects going, but all of it tied together? Hammering the rest of the world into a single unified force to face the threats out there? We don't have the clout to do that, not without you. And by God as my witness Harry, our children will know their father! Is that understood?"
Knowing words couldn't convey the depth of his emotion just then, Harry simply held Jean against him for a time, letting her feel the emotions, the love, understanding and everything else in his mind, a wordless promise that yes, he would be coming back. He would continue his work. And their unborn children would have a father. Come hell or high water, whatever the future puts in front of us, we will face it together, we five.
The moment was simply too emotional to last, and eventually, the two of them pulled away from one another. Trying to move on and ignore the fact that her shot-to-hell self-control once more meant that she was crying, Jean asked, "So, what do we do now?"
Harry smiled wanly, then shrugged his shoulders. "We prepare."