Capítulo 47: Chapter 47 Showing Hell to the Hellions
The following weekend Scott took the X-Van out for a road trip. Harry used a bit of magic to hide the big red X on the side to make it look like an ordinary van and along with Wanda, Rogue, Jean, and one flerken, they were driven by Scott to Massachusetts.
Scott did ask Emma why she wanted Rogue and Wanda to come as she had not met them and she simply answered that Jean spoke well of them and she wanted to see them in swimsuits too.
Scott also asked Harry, "Why are you bringing your cat?"
Harry answered, "I haven't taken Goose anywhere in the time I've been in the states and she has been getting bored lately. Don't worry. She isn't a normal cat."
"Is that why I've seen her hanging out with Lockheed?"
Harry smiled but didn't answer.
Eventually the van pulled up to where Emma was meeting them and the blonde heiress hopped in and introduced herself to Rogue and Wanda. She told the group where they were going and gave instructions on how to get there.
Emma informed Harry through telepathy, 'I'm almost certain we'll be attacked on route. I don't suppose this van is armored is it?'
Jean answered back after eavesdropping, 'It is.'
Harry asked, 'Did you find out what the goal is?'
'Kidnapping, yours of course, but I'm not sure if my father asked for it or if you've gotten the attention of another member of the Hellfire Club and they asked him to arrange this.'
Jean confidently said, 'Regardless, we'll be enough to take them.'
Emma asked, 'Is that a cat?'
Harry answered, 'She does look like a cat doesn't she.'
After a few minutes Harry's senses pick up on a few forms of energy. They were directed through a street which appeared to have construction work done and a man in what seemed to be a city worker's uniform and hard hat directed them through.
After driving past, Harry said aloud, "We're going to be attacked within the next couple of seconds. Do brace yourselves."
Scott tensed and said back, "I knew something was up."
From the side a massive burst of green energy slammed into the van tipping it over and putting a decent dent into the frame.
Once the van stopped sliding Harry Paused and confirmed everyone was ok before he unpaused and asked, "Everyone alright?"
Jean sends a telepathic message to the group, 'Emma is fine but unconscious. There are several hostiles outside and they seem to be targeting Harry.' She wasn't but they didn't want Scott to ask why she wasn't participating in the fight.
Harry says aloud, "I'll get some info and draw them out first and then we'll go blitz tactics."
Harry opened the van's side door which was now above them and Paused again. While Paused he hopped out and surveyed the area. He saw three people. Two girls, one with short cut brown hair and the other with shoulder length blue hair. They looked around the same age as Harry's own group and behind them stood an balding older man wearing a red shirt and a lab coat. The futuristic rifle shaped sidearm he was holding looked moderately disconcerting but he wasn't pointing it at the van. Instead he seemed to be directing the girls at his side.
After confirming no one was likely to blow his head off for doing so, Harry unpaused and popped his head from the van and asked, "I don't suppose this is a mugging is it?"
The middle aged guy in the lab coat chuckled and answered back, "Not quite Mr. Potter. Get out of the van and follow me and your friends will not be harmed."
Harry got out and both swiftly and smoothly removed two handguns from behind his back and said, "You're going to need more than that to take me you know." One gun was already pointing at the guy in the lab coat and the other pointing at the teen with the short cut hair Harry sensed was the one who hit the van.
The man in the lab coat smirked and said, "My my, how disrespectful. I'm Dr. Redman. This here is Surge," he said pointing to the girl with the blue hair. "And this is... What were you calling yourself again dear?"
The brown haired girl who hit the van sighed and answered, "Negasonic Teenage Warhead."
"Right. That. And over there we have Cannonball."
From behind the van came a loud smash of who appeared to be the guy in the city worker's uniform. He seemed to have shot himself into the air from where he was and landed just behind the van.
The redshirted villain continued, "And Magma and Firestar."
Two more girls walked out from a nearby abandoned building. Harry felt one of them was filled with thermal energy and the other was actually saturated with microwave energy.
"And finally we have Tarot," he said once more, gesturing to the side to a black haired woman who walked out from behind a car and seemed reluctant to respond.
Harry raised an eyebrow and asked, "All this for little ol' me?" What surprised Harry was that, with the exception of the labcoat wearing Redman, none of them looked old enough to vote with the oldest looking about seventeen and the youngest fifteen.
Dr. Redman answered, "Honestly I was going to meet you alone but my Hellions do need a chance to stretch their legs so I thought this would be a great chance for some fresh air and exercise."
The one called Tarot added from the side, "That and I couldn't predict anything about how this would end and he is a coward."
That earned her a glare she nearly flinched at. Dr. Redman said, "Someone needs more training it seems. Luckily you'll have a training buddy. Now I won't ask again. Surrender-"
Harry fired three shots, two at Dr. Redman's head, one at Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Rubber bullets of course, however they were enchanted with a powerful Stunner which should have knocked the targets out. Harry liked enchanted bullets because they traveled so much faster than cast spells and didn't look like magic from an observer's perspective.
Jean and Wanda simultaneously jumped out of the van and took to the air. They had been in telepathic communication to discuss their plan of action since first contact and already had a formation in mind. Rogue was staying inside to protect Emma and to be used for backup.
Less than a second after Harry fired and the girls jumped out, the aptly named Surge countered with a bolt of lightning which Harry had no time to dodge. What surprised every one of the Hellions was that Harry responded by firing several rubber bullets back at her instead of going down. Harry's magic and energy attack based resistance was determined by his Wisdom which was over forty times more than a normal human. Even a normal human can survive getting struck by lightning, much less Harry who barely flinched.
What surprised Harry though was that the lab coat wearing Redman and Negasonic Teenage Warhead didn't go down from the stun bullets. Harry could understand the latter who seemed to be some kind of mutant Gamma Sorceress if his senses were right as magic was less effective on such people, but Harry didn't sense any type of energy from Redman and he hit that guy twice in the head. Surge wasn't getting back up because Harry got her three times in the head which even without magic would knock her out cold.
Jean used a powerful telepathic wave to launch Cannonball back to the end of the street and she floated through the sky after him. Wanda fired Hexbolts at Firestar and Magma while Scott suppressed them with his optics beams. Watch or not, he never left home without his visor.
Before Harry could unload the rest of his clip into Dr. Redman's temple or groin, three beasts that felt like real illusions materialized and pounced at Harry from the side. Tarot had three cards in her hands which were glowing and seemed linked to the beasts.
Harry shot them but the bullets had no effect forcing Harry himself to have to jump out of the way. He tried shooting Redman again but this time a green energy shield was formed in front of him by the Gamma Sorceress with the excessively convoluted call sign.
Harry Paused to get a closer look at what was happening. He saw that Redman had two syringes next to him implying he had just injected himself with something. If the man already had something in him before Harry shot him, that might explain why he didn't go down with the bullet stunners.
To the side Harry saw Jean was throwing things at Cannonball but the guy seemed to have some kind of barrier over his body that prevented impact damage. That however was a cover as Jean was navigating though the man's head and once she found a weak spot she'd knock him out. Invulnerability doesn't stop telepaths after all.
Magma seemed to be turning the street into.. well, magma. And Firestar was shooting microwave beams at Scott but the X-Man was holding those beams back with his own optics blasts. Magma however was also getting tripped up by Wanda as her Hexbolts made the geo-thermal-kineticist lose control of her powers and Wanda herself was transfiguring various things around the pair to control the fight.
Harry unpaused and Dr. Redman said, "So you didn't come alone. Well you're still outnumbered and your body guards will make an excellent addition to the Hellions once I'm through with them. Take him out girls."
The expensive looking rifle type weapon Redman was carrying turned towards Harry and fired bolts of energy while Negasonic Teenage Warhead fired gamma blasts and Tarot ordered her beasts to attack.
Harry did his best not to smile. These days he wasn't invited with the X-Men when they went to rescue a mutant or fight the Brotherhood so he had accumulated a number of toys with no one to play with. Sure, he could just go all out but where would the fun in that be?
Harry dodged the incoming shots fired and blasts. Unlike lightning which tracks its target and is far more difficult to dodge, Harry could easily dodge guns by pausing and checking the trajectory and unpausing. He could also sense the gamma energy which moved far slower than lightning and wasn't difficult to dodge.
Harry took a metal sphere out of his pocket, pointed it at Redman, and squeezed it. The hard-light tech in the sphere created a hologram around the sphere which matched the exact appearance of Dr. Redman's head, hair, and face. Then it was set on fire. Then, in Dr. Redman's own voice, it started screaming. Harry threw the screaming on fire head at Dr. Redman who foolishly looked into its eyes and saw his own face distorted in pain and horror screaming in his own voice back at him. Dr. Redman jumped to the side to dodge but the head did not fall. Instead it continued to fly and turned around to make another screaming pass at Dr. Redman.
Harry noticed Goose had hopped out of the van and was making her way over to Tarot so Harry started shooting Negasonic Teenage Warhead with more bullets. Her shield was holding up well but she couldn't attack while defending and Dr. Redman was running from his own screaming, on fire head that was chasing him.
Cannonball launched himself at Harry in a bad attempt at a sneak attack. The man's power seemed to generate an explosion at his feet to launch his invulnerable body like a rocket so it was not compatible with subtlety and though he was able to adjust his trajectory while in flight, Harry was still able to move out of the way fast enough to dodge.
Firestar and Magma had started pushing back against Wanda and Scott. Firestar had used her own powers to superheat the asphalt of the street and once it was molten Magma was able to control it.
At that point Scott shouted, "Rogue, now!"
Rogue flew out of the van and used Iceman's ice powers to freeze the molten ground back to solid state and Scott used the chance to take Magma out with a well placed optic blast. Jean started attacking Cannonball's mind as he had actually lowered his guard against her when he targeted Harry and she was not going to let the opportunity pass.
"What the hell is that!?" Tarot of course was now enjoying the company of Goose the Flerken. Goose's unspeakable mass of razor toothed tentacle flesh were shredding Tarot's monster's to pieces.
Negasonic Teenage Warhead unfortunately looked to check what Tarot was screaming at and was appropriately horrified by what she saw. Her shield wavered and Harry's bullets pierced through and Harry got her twice in the temple, knocking her out as cold as her friend.
Scott and Rogue were now suppressing Firestar and Wanda was preparing to capture her using transfiguration.
Cannonball had been knocked unconscious by Jean who started going through the minds of the two Harry knocked out.
Dr. Redman had got a lucky shot and destroyed Harry's toy and shouted, "You bastard! I was going to treat you well but now I promise you that once I've gotten my hands on you that you'll never see the sun again!" The man obviously had not gotten a good look at the state of the rest of his group.
Harry felt some serious mad scientist vibes come off the guy as he took out another needle and moved to inject it into his arm. Harry shot it of course before the man could press the plunger. Though Harry wanted to enjoy playing for a bit, he was not going to let someone else control the battle with a stereotypical last second drug induced powerup. For good measure he also shot the man's gun which seemed pretty high tech.
"You bastard!"
"Help me!"
Dr. Redman looked over to where Tarot was screaming. She was suspended in the air by one of Goose's tentacles and being waved around. Goose liked to play with her food it seemed.
Jean saw this and shouted, "Not her Goose. Him!" She pointed at Redman.
Goose tossed Tarot into a wall and knocked her out before she walked over to Redman, the various mouths at the ends of the grotesque tentacles snapping ominously in his direction.
The lab coat wearing Doctor finally took a moment to assess the scene. Wanda had just transfigured some concrete around Firestar and Scott had knocked her out. Rogue, Scott, Wanda, Jean, and Harry were all walking over to Redman along with the terrifying Flerken.
Instead of surrendering, Redman sneered and said, "Fools. Do anything to me and all the mutants you've just spared will die. Surrender or I'll kill them all right now."
Jean said, "You can't hurt them with anything you have on you and the explosives in their necks won't go off unless they receive a signal from your heart after it stopped. If you aren't around when your heart stops, nothing will happen."
Harry smirked and said, "Goose, lunch time."
The mass of tentacles coming out from the cat's mouth whipped around menacingly and approached Dr. Redman from all sides.
A look of horror formed across the man's face as it dawned on him he wasn't going to survive this.
Scott also seemed to figure out what was going to happen but before he could say anything Jean seemed to send a mental message to him. Scoot gave the soon to be Flerken food a hard look and then looked away, deciding not to interfere.
Redman pointed his gun at the Flerken and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. The magic in Harry's bullets fried whatever sensitive electrical components were within the gun making it an expensive paperweight.
Serrated tentacles wrapped around the man's legs drawing blood as he struggled to pull himself free while shouting that he was lying before, that he was sorry, that he would work for them. No one moved to help as he started screaming hysterically.
Goose then quickly yanked the man into her mouth causing him to shriek like a little girl which was then silenced as the jawed appendage closed and retracted into Goose's mouth.
After a few moments of silence, Scott said, "So.. Definitely not a cat."
Harry smiled. Goose conveyed through their familiar bond, 'Sour. But not in a bad way.'
Jean explained to them what she had learned from their minds. The leader of the Hellions, Sebastian Shaw, used a machine called Multivac to find mutants. Unlike Cerebro which used a telepath, Multivac used a mutant called Cypher who could mathematically predict things together with Tarot who could use Tarot cards to predict things. Multivac amplified their powers to find mutants for them to approach and recruit into the Hellions. Most were not aware of what type of group it was and those who did not want to do bad things were persuaded.
Dr. Redman was a chemist and engineer who used drugs combined with implanted explosives to ensure those who didn't want to stay didn't have a choice.
From Tarot's mind Jean explained that Shaw found that the growth of Harry's company was directly impacting Multivac's prediction capabilities and they couldn't figure out why. The only way to fix the issue was to kill or recruit Harry but they couldn't predict the outcome of any plan involving Harry so they sent every one of their heavy hitters.
Luckily, this entire group also included everyone who wanted to leave but could not due to the explosives. Others who wanted to stay were Empath who was a terrible excuse for a human being and Cypher who didn't mind doing terrible things as long as he got paid.
The explosives seemed somewhat shielded against energy which was why they didn't go off when the Hellions used microwaves, lightning, or gamma radiation. That also seemed to be why they didn't go off from Harry's bullet which made him sweat a bit as if they were not shielded then the teen's heads may have exploded when Harry shot them.
In either case Harry wouldn't use magic to remove them, it was better to take them all to Dr. McCoy.
Emma was only pretending to be unconscious so she would have an alibi so she was still laying in the van in an uncomfortable position waiting for the group to finish up.
After some discussion in their minds Harry decided to call the shopping trip off. He used a portal to take the girls and all the soon to be former Hellions to the Institute and called Xavier and Dr. McCoy. After Wanda used her magic to fix the road and the van, Scott took Emma to the hospital because that was something normal people did after someone was injured.
Harry got a call later from Emma informing him that she called her father right after being dropped off at the hospital and she told her father the 'story.' She met up with Harry's friends who he insisted on bringing and she didn't suspect anything because they were all around the same age, though they did have telepathy blockers as well. She was knocked out when the van was hit and woke up with Scott driving her to the hospital and Scott told her they were attacked but not much else. She pleaded ignorance about anything that happened including the fact that the Hellions were defeated.
After Scott dropped Emma off Harry had made a portal for him to drive the van through to skip driving back to New York. Scott was still under the impression Harry used diamonds to make portals so he didn't question why he didn't use that to get there in the first place though he did grill Harry on what happened.
Dr. McCoy and Dr. Kinney easily removed the explosives from the Hellions and even flushed their system of drugs. Once they were conscious Xavier had agreed to offer them a place at the institute.
From what Jean had told him, Sebastian Shaw's Hellions were under his own banner and were not truly a part of the Hellfire club. Shaw was considered new money but was already in a high position in the Hellfire Club due to his Hellions and his machine that could predict the future. Both of which were taken out as the ripples of Harry's influence on the future would make anything he saw useless and the Hellions were the strongest force under his control.
Shaw himself was a mutant as well and not a weak one. He was strongest when facing energy attacks as he apparently could absorb all forms of energy and use them to make his own attacks. He used this power to assert dominance over his Hellions to make them understand they could never defeat him. Harry wondered if he could absorb Phoenix fire or if the latter would burn his power, his flesh, and his soul away for even trying. Harry could also just pick him up with telekinesis and gently toss him into a portal to the North Pole. Without the ability to fly or teleport, that was a one way trip.
The Hellions woke up surrounded by the X-Men and Xavier who explained the situation. Unsurprisingly, they all started crying. What was surprising was that it was the only guy, Cannonball, who cried the hardest. Apparently he was a softie and couldn't stand hurting people.
Harry felt they were still a bit too trusting and naïve as they all agreed to join the X-Men without checking them out first. Harry figured that was Scott's influence as he was the one who stayed with the group and conveyed to them what the X-Men were.
Jean told Harry to stay out of the infirmary as she didn't want any of the girls to get nightingale syndrome over Harry for saving them though she apparently didn't mind leaving Scott in there for the same fate. Harry figured once they found out Goose was his familiar any chance of that was nil or less but he didn't argue.
Things got exciting for a while with the new arrivals but once more calmed down at the Institute.
On April 1st, Harry's tech company had launched two models of cellphones and cellphone plans for said phones. Both cellphones could be used nearly anywhere. The Goblins were able to mass produce crystal terminals housed in magically hidden spaces in various cities which acted as cell towers with far greater range than standard ones. Each cellphone included an extremely tiny Quartz which had its material physics altered by the knockoff sonic screwdrivers Harry showed the Goblins how to make. The new properties of the crystal massively increased the range and if they wanted, they could have it cover the planet. The only reason they didn't was because if they did they would have nothing to work up to.
The first model was for calling and texting and their plans were reasonably rated while keeping their competitors in mind. The second model however had a rudimentary touch screen with limited data internet browsing capabilities, Wi-Fi capabilities, and a built in link to Videoshare. Future phones would be able to record videos and upload it directly to Videoshare, but that was only after Harry had made a system to scrub the phones and sites of any videos that could endanger the secrets of the world if posted.
Thanks to the existence of companies like Stark Industries, any newcomer to the tech world was thoroughly checked and when the people who knew their stuff realized the physics behind the phone was impossible from their own understanding, things got interesting.
Harry had of course included in the instruction guide links to his videos on Metaphysics and references to his textbooks to explain how the phone's range could be what it was and why the phone was not hampered by being underground or even inside a faraday cage. The fact that his phones seemed to even work while on an airplane really stumped a lot of people and got many talking. What really got people's attention however was that the phone's signal could not be intercepted, tracked, blocked, or monitored without the ability to produce the same type of altered Quartz.
Eventually Harry's dissertations were noticed and in the middle of April, two weeks after Harry released the phones, he was asked to come to MIT to give his dissertation and defend it. The fact that he was already selling products which proved the physics behind his dissertation was left unsaid.
For Harry, the best part was that every branch of Metaphysics was useless without the Sonic Screwdriver. In order to use, measure, or even detect the new energies which Harry had shown existed, a material physics modified gemstone was required and only Harry could make them. This meant only his company could use the magic like technological advancements he was going to display.
Harry fully expected people to buy his products in mass and take the stones to use for their own projects, but Harry had contingencies in place for that as well. He also made it illegal to use his phones for anything other than their intended purpose. That wouldn't stop people from doing so, but it would justify what he could do in response.
Xavier, Forge, Dr. Kinney and Dr. McCoy wearing his disguise watch along with a number of the students went to MIT with Harry so they could watch him defend his dissertation. Harry gifted the teachers a free cellphone with internet access and gifted students with high grades the same under the condition they maintain their grades if they want to keep using the phone.
The Goblins had already mastered the art of the assembly line so assembly lines crafted by Goblins mass produced flawless tech. The only problem that eventually popped up was that they found they would eventually be making more money than they had to pay their employees and Goblins did not accept anything but their own coin and did not work for free. After another boardroom meeting which left several Goblins almost mortally wounded it was agreed that two new forms of currency above the Galleon would be created using Harry's altered Gemstones as a base. The altered Gemstones had great use in magic as the Goblins themselves were delighted to experiment with therefore it was accepted as a form of payment for the thousands of Goblins now working under the banner of Brilliance Incorporated and Potter and Gold Bank and Trust.
Thankfully Goblins were just as interested in technology as mundane humans were and thanks to Harry's servers they could purchase personal computers and cellphones themselves meaning they were spending what they earned instead of hoarding it. Harry would later learn that many of the toxic players on the online video game communities were shamed and disgraced by the Goblins who enjoyed playing online games.
At MIT Harry was met by a committee that wanted to show him around the place and squeeze a few questions in before the dissertation. Forge and McCoy led the students and staff off to show them around and Harry was escorted to meet some VIPs.
Harry didn't mind answering questions, getting to know the various geniuses of their fields, and exchanging numbers with many of the brightest minds in the world including a few fellows sent by the government to ask for military contracts Harry had no problem arranging a date for later discussion with. A number of notable names were not there and Harry was slightly disappointed Tony Stark didn't show. That meant either the man had cracked Harry's tech and didn't feel like asking more questions or he was off in his own little world and didn't even know the existence of Harry's tech. Considering what Harry heard of the man, he figured it was the latter.
Fifteen minutes before Harry was scheduled to go up on stage one of MIT's staff insisted he meet one of the key organizers for the dissertation. That wasn't a problem for Harry but his watch getting a text message was. The message said, 'Bill and Ted BJ Cage, RB MK5. Double KO.'
Harry did his best not to tense at the message and politely followed the staff to an off to the side room the staff member showed him into but did not enter before closing the door.
"Hello Mr. Potter. I've heard a great many things about you."
The woman walking towards him from the shadow of the room was an unmistakable beauty with sleek black hair that went past her shoulders and a sculpted face that was difficult to describe as anything other than perfect. It was a face Harry and seen before in pictures drawn hundreds of years ago and though Harry sensed nothing from the woman that meant little for someone as skilled as she was known to be.
It was Selene Gallio.
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