Capítulo 58: Chapter 58 A Dragon’s Chi
*Author's Explosion.*
I accidentally added an extra year while writing which is why Harry is 17 when it is only Sept of 2009 and he was born Jul of 1993. So yeah.. Had to fix that. Rewrote the dates and timeline and some details of the last fifteen or so chapters. Only big difference is that Harry, Jean, Rogue, Wanda, and Jade are all sixteen. Jean's 17th B-day in this AU is in Oct, making her 9 months older than Harry and still younger than Hermione.
On a lighter note,
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Chapter 58 A Dragon's Chi
Harry was not surprised that at the end of September the only two groups that submitted prototype Lightsabers were Reed's and Doom. There were three other groups that submitted designs and Harry would return them with detailed feedback, but only two groups had something ready for a demonstration.
Of course, as these objects could be considered weapons, they could not be brought and demonstrated in class. Thankfully NYU had some testing rooms which did permit such things and Harry, as a Faculty member, had access to them.
Richard's team included himself and Susan along with Susan's brother Johnny and another student Ben. All four came to the demonstration of course along with Doom who worked alone.
Harry brought his briefcase and said, "Alright Mr. Richards, you're up first."
Reed smiled with a bit of excitement and Ben and Johnny carried over a large metal trunk. Reed opened it and pulled out a long cylinder.
The room already had four wooden posts set up with cinder blocks standing upright situated on each. The parameters of the design were that it had to be usable by a normal adult, could be held and carried, could retract and extend without harming the area, and could cut through two cinder blocks, one after the other.
Richard started to focus and pressed a switch on the side of the cylinder. A thin rod started extending out. The end of the rod was bent out and had a string which was kept taught by the extending rod. It reminded Harry of an extendable fishing rod.
Once fully extended, Richards pressed another switch. Harry could tell that Susan, Johnny, and Ben all held their breath for a moment.
The string started glowing and after a moment became incredibly bright.
Harry smiled. It was relatively simple but a good idea. The string heated up to a ridiculous level when electricity was put through it and the extra long handle was mostly a very heavy battery.
Reed held the rod out with the string side facing the block and swiped it through with a mighty swing. The string successfully vaporized the side of the block on contact and the block fell off the post in two halves.
Susan and Johnny jumped up and shouted, "Yes!" Ben simply showed a satisfied smile.
Harry said, "One down."
Reed held back his own excitement and walked over the second block and swung it the same way.
The wire snapped and recoiled back towards Richard's face.
And was blocked by the barrier which immediately appeared and completely contained the rod and wire.
Reed's team gasped when the wire snapped but were just as startled when the barrier appeared.
Doom calmly asked, "Did you install a Hard-light system in this room as well?"
Harry shook his head. "There is no installation. Those canisters in the class are filled with coffee maker parts for anyone who thinks they are bright enough to steal from me."
Harry tapped his suitcase and said, "This contains the system. Did you notice I've never opened it? Anyways, good work Reed."
Ben said, "But it broke."
Harry shrugged. "Anyone who has never been maimed by one of their own experiments has no right to call themselves a scientist."
Susan, Ben, and Johnny all looked at Reed with the same motion and gave him a knowing smile while the man himself could only laugh awkwardly.
Harry said, "Dr. Doom, you are up next." Harry was not oblivious to the fact that Victor Von Doom only took a single class this semester with the rest of his time being under independent study. He obviously didn't need to be taught the material from a teacher but Harry was the exception. Still, out of professional courtesy from one doctorate to another Harry would use his title unless the man started otherwise.
Doom brought out a handle that was far smaller and sleeker than Reeds. He flicked a switch and a thin metal bar extended out. The bar then flipped over and unfolded itself like origami until it was the length of a standard sword. Doom swung the blade twice and then flicked a switch which caused it to fold back up. The pair of blocks fell down into two pieces each.
Reed and the rest watched with stunned expressions. He made it look so simple.
Harry smiled again. A folding sword with a near monomolecular edge. Harry asked, "May I see it?"
Doom handed it over and Harry inspected it. With a smile and a shake of his hand Harry said, "Sorry, but this blade is disqualified."
Doom paused for a moment and asked, "For what reason?" in a cold, hard voice.
Harry answered, "It does not fall within the set parameters. Tell me Dr. Doom. If Reed here were to take this in hand and swing it against a block, it would likely cut the first one. But if Reed used it, would it cut the second? The third? One of the parameters was that the tool could be used by a normal person. A normal person does not have the energy resources you carry on your person to power the system you've built in which preserves the edge of the blade. Without that system this could, at best, cut a single block."
Harry tossed the handle back to Doom who nearly missed the catch because he was caught off guard by what Harry said. Harry didn't say it directly, but he basically implied that he knew that Doom used magic runes inscribed on the weapon which were powered by his own sorcery.
Harry said, "If you had included an internal power source you certainly would have won." Although Harry said that he knew it was not so easy to store magic.
Doom calmly stated. "I am not convinced. Even if my design could only cut a single block, it still matches Reed's and mine did not harm me."
Harry nodded, "Yes, but my grade is determined by completeness and potential. If all the flaws in yours were removed it would lose to Reed's should all the flaws in his be removed. But if you're still not convinced, I'll give you a chance."
Harry pulled out a elegant silver handle from his pocket and showed it to everyone. He then flicked a switch on it and a glowing line of light shot out from the top of the handle and stopped at the standard distance one would keep a sword. Harry adjusted his wrist so the dimensions could be seen, it was glowing pure white and seemed to be a flat blade of light.
Harry said, "This meets all the parameters I gave you and has a battery life of about ten minutes which isn't too bad for its size. Extend your blade once more and let it meet mine. If your blade cuts my own, I'll show you how mine works."
Doom narrowed his eyes but pulled out and extended the blade. Harry took a standard sword posture and was mirrored by Doom. Without a signal they swung their blades with a flash of light.
Reed and the others watched this exchange with bright eyes and shallow breath. Although swung, both blades remained the same length.
Doom muttered, "Dammit."
The top half of his folding sword fell off the remainder of his blade. Doom collected before leaving without a word.
Once he was out of the room Ben and Johnny shouted, "Woah!" Johnny said, "That was awesome!" Ben added, "It's good to see him taken down a peg."
Harry shrugged and said, "Alright, time for review. First, use capacitors instead of batteries next time. They take longer to charge but they are so much lighter and I was worried your arm was going to fall off holding that thing."
Johnny and Ben laughed and Harry could swear he heard an 'I told you,' from Susan.
Harry continued, "Next, instead of using a single exothermic metamaterial string, you could cord a band of them around something stronger. As long as the exterior of the band heated up, it wouldn't matter what the interior was made of so you could put something strong that wouldn't break. Banding it would also make the surface area for burning larger which would make it cut far more easily."
The four geniuses stared blankly at Harry with Reed's expression being the most bewildered. Susan and the others caught Reed's jaw dropped face and all burst out laughing.
After a few moments Ben wiped the tears from his eyes and patted Harry's back. "I've never seen him so dumbfounded. I'm tempted to take your class next semester."
Johnny added, "Yeah, I heard you play pranks on the class. That sounds so awesome."
Reed eventually recovered and said, "Thank you Professor. You've given me a lot to think about."
Harry nodded and waved a hand above his briefcase. A hologram appeared which showed Harry's silver handle. Harry waved his hand again and it disassembled. "And now to the victor goes the spoils." Harry pointed at a roll of metal near the head of the handle, "This metal roll is the blade itself. It is composed of three different Memory Metals and a fourth metal used for induction. When the metal is cool, the memory metal plated onto the left side remembers the metal must be in the form of a coil. When the induction metal has a current run through, it rapidly heats up and the memory metal on on the right side remembers it needs to be straight. So the blade is just a roll of metal that straightens and rolls back up when a current is put through and when the current stops."
Harry demonstrated each aspect of this in the hologram
"The third memory metal is actually similar to what Dr. Doom did. When heated, a very, very, very thin roll of metal at the edge unrolls out and is thin to a point close to a monomolecular edge. What makes this different from Doom's though is that the edge isn't damaged when it cuts, it simply rolls back up a little and unrolls again once the cut is over for the next cut. This feature actually preserves the edge of the blade."
Harry then went into lecture mode about how he processed the materials to achieve these properties and how it was assembled.
The faces of wonder in the group made Harry's inner Teacher feel satisfied.
At the end of the lecture, Susan said, "Professor Potter, I'm sorry to say but we are going to miss the classes held on the last week of October."
Harry thought about it and asked, "Does that have anything to do with the fancy rocket the Storm Foundation is building?"
Richard blurted out, "How did you know about that?"
Harry returned a smirk which told Reed and the rest he didn't 'know' for certain but Reed had just confirmed it.
Susan, Johnny, and Ben sighed and Reed palmed his face in embarrassment.
Harry laughs at their antics and says, "I know a lot. What I don't know is why the rush and why all the hush hush around the project."
The Goblins liked to keep track of certain resources and by following their movements Harry guessed they were building a manned rocket. However it seemed like they were burning a lot of their money to do so.
Susan sighed and said, "Please don't spread it around."
Harry said, "I can assure you I have secrets that are far more exciting than a space rocket so there isn't an issue keeping it to myself."
Susan said, "Thank you Professor. As long as you don't spread it around, I don't mind telling you. Perhaps we'll ask for your help when we get back. Do you remember when the sky turned purple?"
Harry nodded. He could see where this was going. Harry said, "Let me guess, going to investigate?"
Reed answered, "The origin of the event was discovered, but the details are classified so we can't say anything. The government and a few other groups are funding a mission into space ASAP to gather as much information as possible."
Harry nodded and went over to a workstation in the lab. He pulled his phone into it and after a few moments, plugged in a cheap memory card into the computer. After another moment he unplugged everything and handed Susan the memory card. "This is not patented so I'd be grateful if you did not let this get out. It is a shielding array and configuration that should keep your shuttle safe from whatever random energies you find up there."
Susan hesitated and said, "Why? Are you sure?"
Harry insisted and said, "If anything happened to you guys then I would be out two of my favorite students and left alone with Doom. Don't do that to me." He then pressed the card into her hands theatrically as if it was a matter of life and death.
Ben said, "He's got a point Sue."
Susan eventually relented and agreed. As for how to get then excused from class, Harry had an idea.
The main reason Harry gave them those designs was because he had some idea what was waiting for them. That big pyramid was still floating in the sky. It still had five thousand years worth of energy stored and had been messed with by Harry's wizard magic saturated Obscurus particles. He didn't want them taking a chance so even if those plans got out, it was fine as long as they weren't harmed.
Back at the house, Jade was impatiently waiting for her first lesson in Sorcery. The door knocking thing had not been going well and no matter how much she pushed herself in the Danger Room there weren't any results.
There were times when she just took the Talismans into the Danger Room and had hordes of monsters charge out just so Jade could use the Talismans to violently destroy them all. She found it therapeutic.
Harry walked over to the study jade was waiting at and brought over an ancient, heavy book and opened it up. Harry said, "This is your first lesson in Sorcery. Read this."
Jade opened the book excitedly and froze the moment she saw the first page.
"Harry?"
"Yes Jade?"
"What Language is this?"
"Sanskrit."
"I see. Is there an english or mandarin version?"
"No. The concepts Sorcery is built from do not translate very well into either language. It would be like trying to describe a forest using barn animal noises. The Upanishads can only be properly understood if read in Sanskrit. The concepts gained from the Upanishads are the foundation of Sorcery."
Jade growled and jump-tackled Harry to the ground. Harry rolled and pinned her. She tried to twist her pegs out but they were pinned and when she tried to punch him Harry grabbed her wrists.
Jade struggled but Harry was stronger. Without an outlet for her anger, tears started forming at the edges of her eyes.
Harry knew why. Jade had become incredibly frustrated from the Door thing. This was supposed to be an alternative, but now it turned out to be even worse than the door thing!
Harry looked into Jade's deep, watery eyes. He wanted to comfort her. He leaned down and kissed her. Jade froze for just a moment before relaxing into it and kissing him back. Harry released her hands and wrapped his arms around her head and held her close.
From the door Jean and Rogue whistled and whooped.
Harry and Jade broke the kiss and looked over with a sigh.
Harry honestly felt awkward. He had never intended on pursuing Jade when he invited her over, despite all the teasing. But when he looked into her eyes, he simply felt that he had to take her.
At this thought Harry frowned. Jade and Jean noticed it first. Harry said, "Something's up. Follow me."
Harry went to the basement and took out a few items from his inventory. Jade was mystified at the scene of Harry pulling items from no where but she decided it probably didn't matter.
Harry used the tools he'd brought out and set up a formation. Harry directed, "Jade, stand there."
Jade nodded and walked into the formation without question.
The formation started glowing, and after a few moments, the roar of a dragon could be heard.
Harry ended the spell formation and dropped his head in what could only be described as shame.
Jean asked, "What's wrong?"
Harry took a few breaths to steady his voice and said, "Most diagnostic systems use a process of elimination. Basically you can't find out if something has something unless you know to look for it. I wasn't looking before, but now it's obvious what's going on. There is a reason Jade feels comfortable in the presence of the Talismans, a reason why she can't go without them. They have been affecting her and she is basically addicted to them."
Jade was the first to state, "What? What do you mean?"
Harry elaborated, "Like a person who smokes and can't go a day without smoking lest they feel incredibly uncomfortable, your chi has been stained by the presence of the Talismans and you are addicted to them. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you probably feel very uncomfortable when you have been away from them for a while right?"
Jade denied, "But wait, plenty of people have been close to Talismans way longer than I have!"
Harry shook his head, "I bet they were all older than you. Magic can stain a child far more easily than it can an adult."
Wanda said, "Ok, so she's addicted. Plenty of cigarette smokers live normal lives. Is this going to cause a problem?"
Harry said, "Depends on your definition of problem. In a normal human child, prolonged exposure would probably have a lot of negative effects. Jade however with her massive locked chi reserves is being affected differently. Instead of being polluted, her Chi has been slowly being stained and its attribute is changing away from human chi to something else."
Jade asked with horror, "I'm going to become a demon?!"
Harry shook his head, "No. That guy's reincarnator is way too pure to become a demon, regardless of how evil Shendu's Dragon Chi is. At best you'd go from White to neutral. However, although the Dragon Chi is not turning your chi into the chi of an evil demon, it's stain is granting your chi the characteristics of a dragon. That's the reason you like the Talismans. If a dragon keeps the Talismans with them, their Dragon Chi would strengthen. If you keep them with you, the stain becomes deeper. A part of your mind has already been affected by the Dragon stained Chi and like a dragon, it wants to become stronger. Your chi affects your physical body which is why you feel the need to be near the Talismans."
Rogue asked, "It doesn't sound that bad."
Jean asked, "Wait, she's becoming like a dragon?"
Harry nodded.
Wanda said, "Oh."
Then Rogue realized what was happening and froze for a moment before looking back and forth between Harry and Jade.
Jade asked, "What's going on?"
Jean answered, "Harry killed an immortal dragon in the seventh century and got its chi. So Harry also has dragon Chi."
Jade said, "Ok. And?"
Wanda continued, "Your body has the attributes of a dragon Jade and so does Harry's. What does a female dragon do when in the presence of a powerful, handsome, male dragon?"
Jade's eyes went wide at the implication. "Oh." Up to this point, she hadn't really questioned why she often behaved uncharacteristically submissive in Harry's presence. She wasn't going to pretend she wasn't falling in love with him but she didn't know that the impulses she had been feeling were because of her tainted Chi.
Harry said, "I didn't notice this because your chi is still locked behind that door and what leaks out is still normal human chi. I only found it now because I was looking for it. I'm sorry Jade. There are only two things I can think of to protect you from this. The first is sealing your Chi completely. This will remove any influence it has on you. It might take a few years but I'd be willing to teach you Sanskrit and how to read the Upanishads tombs and become a sorcerer."
Jade asked with a hollow tone, "And the other?"
Harry looked her in the eye and said, "You'd have to leave. To return to San Francisco. There is no way to stop yourself from being influenced by the taint of your dragon Chi. Eventually after leaving you'll lose your feelings for me."
Jade couldn't stop the tears from falling.
Jean said, "Ok, that's bullshit. There is a third option and you know it. You could just let nature take its course. You don't know there would not have been any feelings if she didn't have Dragon chi. You can't just assume the feelings aren't natural."
Harry gave a weak smile but remained silent for a moment. He eventually said, "This choice is yours Jade."
Jade got up and said, "I need to think about this," and got up to go to her room.
Harry took in a few breaths and went upstairs to be as well. He may not have been physically tired but he was emotionally exhausted.
The door opened and Jean walked in before climbing into the bed in her nightie.
"It's not your fault Harry."
"If I noticed sooner I could have filtered my own Dragon Chi. Mine is far stronger than her's and though I'm affected it's only barely. She on the other hand never stood a chance. Even if I start now it's already too late. Her inner dragon recognizes mine and there is nothing she can do about those feelings she has for me. I feel like one of those sick bastards who uses love potions."
"It's different and you know it. I could tell from the moment I saw her you two had a red string. You don't think I'd spend all that time teasing her if I didn't know she had an interest did you? I teased her to ease her into the idea that we were comfortable with her pursuing a relationship with you."
Harry mostly knew this of course. There was something of a constant connection between him and Jean though he often ignored parts of it so that Jean's thoughts and ideas would be private to her.
Harry turned over and set his hand on her face and looked his love in the eyes. He asked, "How long until you leave?"
Jean visibly sunk down but pressed her face gently into Harry's hand. "I can make it to the end of the semester. If I push it, I can hold on until Christmas. But then I have to go."
Harry understood. When Jean accessed the Phoenix's power, she gained the Phoenix's knowledge. Even when she stopped using it, she remembered what she learned and felt what the Phoenix felt. She felt the compulsion that the Phoenix Force felt to enact the Judgement of the Phoenix to burn away that which does not work.
When she fought against the Apocalypse empowered Xavier, she tried to use as little power as possible, but it was still enough to understand the nature of some of the planets which needed burning. Jean felt many of them could in fact be ignored for now, the impulse was strong, but she felt there would be no great difference for some of them if they were burned now or a hundred years from now.
There were other planets where this was not true however. There were planets where Jean could not justify their continued existence for a second longer and she had to use every ounce of willpower she could and all the love in her heart to stop herself from flying off into space to enact Judgement!
Harry could feel it too. It was not as strong of course, but the Phoenix perk did give Harry a glimpse of what Jean was feeling.
Harry said, "I might have a way to get you home faster."
Jean looked at him suspiciously, "How?"
"What if I built a Phoenix Fire bomb that could burn the planets for you?"
"What?! No! Absolutely not! This is my burden!"
Harry smiled and wrapped his arms around her before pulling her close.
"You remember that the Phoenix gave me permission to act in her name right? I am your partner and you are mine. Your burdens are my burdens just as mine are yours. I have just as much responsibility for this matter as you do."
Jean hated it when Harry used logic. It was the divine enemy of passion.
She asked, "How would that even help me?"
"Well, from what I've calculated, the longest part of your trip will be the recovery period. The energy it takes to burn a world is likely more than your body can sustain. Probably enough to kill you. After burning a world, you'll have to take a period to revive and recover. If you use my bomb, you won't need to burn out your body to act. You just charge the bomb, throw it, watch the show, go the next world, and repeat. There are what, five worlds you can't ignore?"
Jean nodded. At the moment the total amount of worlds that Jean felt the irresistible compulsion to burn was only five. Once they were burned, Jean could return to earth.
Jean said, "Let me sleep on it."
Harry smiled and kissed her neck. "You think you can come in here," and kissed her again, "wearing that," and once more, "and sleep?" He gently kissed her again and again, lower and lower, letting her feel a trail of kisses down her body.
Jean moaned as sparks of heat lit up her body. Neither knew when she was going to return, so they both wanted to make the most of all their time together until then.
The next morning Jade had left early for school. She sent a text message saying she'd get breakfast at school. It was obvious she needed more time.
Harry and the girls ate breakfast in a quiet depression. It was only when she was missing that they realized how lively they had been when Jade was around. After breakfast Harry went to his office at the university even though there wasn't much he could do there that he couldn't do at home. Some part of his just didn't want to be home at the moment.
No one in Harry's Energy Physics class would have been able to point out exactly how Harry had been different that day but many of the students felt Harry was a lot duller than usual.
Once class was over and Harry was halfway to his office, he got a text message from Jade's phone. The content made him freeze. In the next moment the phone started ringing.
*Ping*
[Quest: Enter the Dragon
Rescue Jade from the Hand
Bonus: Defeat the Hand using Dragon Chi
Bonus: Fool witnesses.]
Harry's eyes twitched. Some people obviously didn't understand how good it was to be alive.
*Author's Note*
Yes, cliche, but this is Marvel after all.
I'll have another chapter out tomorrow.
I've decided to include passion scenes but no actual smut. It will be implied of course so that the feelings between the characters can be displayed, but nothing actually smutty will be included.
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