章節 35: Chapter 35 Lost Children
Shortly after Harry's party came to a conclusion, Harry was called to Xavier's office with Rogue and Logan. The moment he entered the door, he got a notification.
*Ping*
[New Quest: Rogue Powers
Assist Ann Marie with gaining control over her powers.]
Harry was going to do it anyways but the quest notification still made him smile. The Ancient One had already concluded that any completed quest would do good for the world which meant Rogue gaining control over her powers would be a great thing. Harry's trust in the quest prompts was one of the reasons he had rationalized giving Danger so much freedom and he was quite proud of his accomplishment.
After entering Xavier's office, Rogue removed a glove and they confirmed through some simple tests that Rogue's power had not changed, it simply didn't affect Harry.
Xavier stated, "Rogue's powers have, to this point, been uncontrollable in nature. I feel this discovery may perhaps be a clue to unraveling a means to provide that control."
Harry had heard a number of things about her power from a few of the students, especially Bobby. Children gossip after all, it was in their nature. However he still wanted to hear answers from the source. Harry answered Xavier, "Maybe, but I'd like a few more details to work with." He turned to Rogue and asked, "Can you describe your power? Give me as many details as you can please."
The look of both hope and pain in her eyes seemed to be fighting each other but after a moment of silence she let out a sigh and answered in a southern belle accent. "Well, when I touch someone, I feel like I become that person, just for a lil' while. The longer I touch 'em, the more that person I become and the longer the effects gonna last. When I do it to a mutant, I get their powers too."
Harry mulled over that for a moment and asked, "What's it like to become someone else?"
She shook her head, "I don't know, it's like, I go away just a bit and someone else steps in. I'm them. I get some of their memories and sometimes I forget I'm me."
Logan added, "Even after the power or memories wear off, she'll sometimes gain personality traits of those she touches. Those wear off too, but the length of time's not always the same."
Harry felt a few dots connecting to a conclusion he'd never have thought of. Harry looked up to Logan and asked with an educated guess, "Did your personality traits last longer in her than other people?"
Logan remained motionless for a moment before giving a curt nod.
Harry added, "Do you trust her and trust her with your power?"
Xavier picked up on the direction he was going and asked, "You think the length of the effect is determined by the donor's connection to Rogue?"
Rogue's eyes widened for a bit and said, "That would explain Mystique. Still got a bit of her in here somewhere," she said while pointing at her head.
Harry figured that meant she'd copied the shapeshifter at some point and they weren't strangers. He turned to Xavier and said, "In any case, the reason she can't get anything from me is simple, my power trumps hers."
She turned to Harry with a partially offended look which forced Harry to quickly explain himself to avoid a misunderstanding, "I mean I can absorb things as well. She can't absorb from another absorber, it cancels out."
Harry was pretty sure they'd buy his excuse since it was close enough to the truth. His mutant power was keeping the energy infused Obscurus particles that made up his body together in the shape of a human. If Rogue could absorb the energy contained within his Obscurus particles, it would likely cause his form to break down. So his power was directly resisting her power. Not that he knew his power would win out over hers. He was quite worried when he first touched her because the worst case scenario was that she could permanently absorb all the energy of his particles leading to a permanent death.
Rogue's posture visibly slumped at Harry's answer but Xavier said, "But it seems you have a few ideas Mr. Potter?"
Harry nodded, "Dealing with magic is basically just dealing with different types of energies. Rogue's ability to absorb and use energies is not impossible to duplicate with magic. Therefore there are means of training that could prove useful to her."
Logan asked, "There are normal guys who can train to do that?"
Harry nodded and explained, "They require a great deal of talent, but in essence, yes. I know of one guy who can permanently drain all the energy out of a person by touching them. Not that he has done so. That is simply an application of what he can do, not the purpose he trains for."
Rogue asked, "Why not? Is there a reason he doesn't?
Harry figured she wanted to know if there were consequences to doing so she didn't know about. After considering it for a moment he said, "I'll tell you later. It is relevant to you, but there is no need for others to know his business," Harry answered while gesturing to Xavier and Logan.
Neither found it offensive such information was not shared with them as long as he would give it freely to Rogue. It was obvious they both cared about her.
Harry and Rogue were excused and Harry took Rogue's ungloved hand and dragged her over to an empty study.
He felt the presence of a certain flame as well as the recently caved-in space that accompanied the arrival of a certain blue prankster behind the open door. Harry didn't mind, he just didn't want Xavier to be analyzing the pair as he gave her the info.
Harry sat Rogue down and said, "You want to know the consequences of absorbing the energy of someone else? Well, the main issue is the taint. The only person you should be is you. When you are someone else, the real you becomes lost. If that guy I know goes around permanently absorbing the energy of everyone he could, he'd certainly become more powerful, but he would permanently lose himself to the taint gained from others and at the end of the day, the one standing in his shoes would not be him, but someone else. A stranger with his memories."
Rogue looked frustrated and tried to say without yelling, "But they keep tellin' me I need to practice my powers which means usin' 'em as much as I can. You're sayin' the more I use 'em, the less me I become?"
Harry considered it and said, "Yes, but I don't think it should be that way. Those pieces of others who affect your personality can be considered taint. But this is your power, it shouldn't bring you harm if you're using it right. There should be a way to use it without absorbing taint and remaining yourself."
Rogue got up and said, "Don't you think I've been tryin'! It's all or nothin' every time I touch anyone. I can't, I," she lost her energy and fell back into the couch with a depressed slump.
Harry sat down and said, "I don't think it's your fault. You may have accumulated too much taint already. There should be a part of your mind you can use to control your power, but it's so gunked up that it's numb to you, preventing you from feeling it out."
Rogue sat in silence for a few moments before saying, "When my powers first kicked in, I was kissin' a boyfriend. It was my first kiss. I didn't know what kisses were supposed to feel like, I just thought it was a hell of a kiss." After a moment of silence she added, "He's still in a coma."
Harry let out a sigh and said, "That's probably what numbed you then."
"So that's it for me?" she asked quietly.
Harry shook his head, "No. We need to remove the taint and get you back to a clean slate."
"Professor already tried that," she listlessly replied.
Harry continued, "He could likely remove the mental aspects, but not the energy, connection, and life force aspects. Taint is not so easily removed. It's supposed to be a consequence of taking what shouldn't be taken. You just got the short end of the straw."
"Story of my life," she replied smoothly.
Harry took her hand again and said, "Hey, I'm pretty creative alright. Don't give up hope. If nothing else, I promise that if you ever need a hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on, I'll be available, ok?"
Rogue turned to Harry with glistening eyes and said, "Can I, can I have a hug?"
Harry smiled and pulled her into a hug. She felt her first touch of human warmth in who knows how long and a moment later she started sobbing. Harry patted her back and held her tight until she let it out.
Outside the room Harry could tell that Jean was using subtle suggestions to the kids walking around to avoid the room and Kurt was threatening terrifying pranks to those who looked like they were approaching. They were both making sure no one disturbed Rogue's moment. Harry really smiled at that. This whole place treated even the outcasts like family.
When Rogue was done, she apologized to Harry who said there was nothing to apologize for. She thanked him and after taking a few moments to dry her eyes, she left.
Harry moved his hand to the side just as Kurt teleported in and flicked his forehead 'reflexively' as he appeared. Jean had hitched a ride teleporting in as well after first teleporting out of the hallway to prevent Rogue from seeing the peepers.
Jean cried out, "We're not peepers."
Harry smiled and said, "I didn't say anything." Though he did think it.
Jean rolled her eyes and after letting out a sigh said, "Thanks for helping Rogue. A lot of us really know how bad it is to have no control over their powers and she's always been one of the worst cases."
Kurt rubbed his forehead and said, "Ya, I have it pretty bad because of how I look, but at least I can be touched. Chicks dig the blue fuzz too." He smiled confidently and nodded while Jean seemed to be questioning her choices in acquaintances.
Harry turned to Kurt and said, "Forge and I came up with a few neat breakthroughs with Hard-Light and Hologram tech while upgrading the Danger Room. I'll see what can be done about a Hard-Light hologram disguise for you."
Kurt didn't hide his surprise and asked, "You can do that?"
Harry gave it a moment to roll the idea through his head and allowed a few points to click together and said, "I can try. If it works though, the Hard-Light will press your tail against you, preventing it from swinging around like an extra layer of clothes over everything. It might be uncomfortable."
Kurt did a back flip and said, "No problem. Going outside nowadays needs like five layers already just to hide my features. I'd love an alternative."
Harry nodded and said, "Might take a few months though. Not for the fabrication, but for the program that writes over your appearance. Writing the whole thing myself would take too long, but I set up the program to write itself after preparing a few things. Danger might be able to help so I'll head down later to ask her."
Kurt's smile was infectious and he practically cried out, "Oh thank you Harry! I can't wait!" He then teleported out. Probably to tell others.
Jean said, "For someone who considers helping people just a hobby, you certainly put a lot of effort into it."
Harry smiled and said, "Ah, have you finally gone through the books on my life and my head?"
Jean turned away for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I, I did look at some memories of your childhood. I saw, I saw those awful people."
Harry sighed and said, "My life before the age of ten wasn't exactly something that you'd find in a children's story." He hoped she'd pick something more interesting than that. Now however she felt guilty for looking at something so painful. When it comes to pain, there are usually two types of people. There are those who show off their pain to others hoping to garner sympathy for attention or an advantage. And there are those who hide their pain from others because they feel it makes them look weak. Harry obviously wasn't the former, which usually by default would make him the latter. Had it not been for his hundreds of years enjoying a family in the afterlife, he figured he probably would be.
Jean asked, "So things got better?"
Harry hesitated on answering. After a moment he said, "Look it up yourself. You wouldn't believe me if I told you what happened, but yes. Things got better."
Deciding to change subjects, Jean started going over her progress in Occlumency, Imagery practice, and mental discipline. She was slowly, brick by brick, building up a solid foundation of a mind.
While thinking about how much work one normally had to go to build things inside the mind, Harry went over the new feature he got from his last quest. Mindscape Copy. It basically took all the work he used to have to do and put it to shame. Harry already had started up a primitive mindscape as a form of mental discipline and knew that to make it worth something, he'd have to put months and years of work into it, even using his various cheats. Mindscape Copy however literally let him copy something directly into his mindscape. He could already do something similar with items in his inventory, but now he could do so with things that could not be placed inside his inventory.
As long as Harry had enough details on something, he could place a copy of nearly anything into his mindscape. While trying it out, he already created a perfect copy of the Tutorial Village and the surrounding areas, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, Kamar-Taj, and almost the whole of London. They weren't empty either. They had copies of people walking around like NPCs. He could even copy places the Ancient One showed him while exploring the Astral Plane.
Harry even found he could copy things like the Basilisk, Voldemort's Death Eaters, and the monsters he fought in the Astral Plane and during Battle Mediation. Of course, they did not yield Experience when defeated, but it was useful as practice for fighting. That being said, he couldn't copy Voldemort since it was Goose who beat him and he couldn't copy the Mandarin since Harry never beat him. The most useful aspect was that he could grind his Paths through combat with the copies, though fighting something you already defeated yielded very little to Path Rank advancement but it did give Harry a practice ground for different strategies.
Of course, not everything could be copied. His copy of Hogwarts didn't have a working Room of Requirements and if he copied the X-Mansion, it wouldn't have a working Danger Room.
Once Jean had given him her progress report, Harry gave her a new exercise to practice, the art of folding and unfolding sections of the mind. Harry's scan of Xavier showed him how he folded and unfolded sections of his own mind to lock things away. Although he never intended Jean to lock parts of herself away, she needed to learn to unfold her mind using Xavier's method to unlock the Phoenix trapped within. Harry explained the dangers of folding the mind permanently and said this was just an exercise that would help her.
The following days returned to routine. School would start in another two weeks so it wouldn't be long before more students would be returning to the mansion. Harry finally had near unlimited access to Forge's lab so he could use the tools to make his own gizmos now and there were too many things he wanted to make.
Harry knew of course that he didn't really need toys. He didn't need Sorcery either. As long as the opponent wasn't magically stronger than he was, there wasn't a single opponent Harry couldn't beat with Wizard Magic. He didn't even need to be fancy. Voldemort and the Triwizard Tournament Cup proved how easy it was to weaponize Portkeys. Harry could set a Portkey's destination to the middle of the ocean and just throw it at a target. If they couldn't resist the magic, it was instant defeat. Harry could even make a heavy duty magic cage and set that as the destination. It wouldn't even be hard.
If an opponent couldn't resist magic, Harry could stun them, shrink them, turn them into a frog, or remove all their memories. And that was just using the legal spells he had.
There were three reasons Harry did not. The first was that anyone who did not have magic resistance would be a small fry to begin with. Magic resistance just means the body possesses energy that would resist changes caused by exotic energy. That speedster, Peitro, had Time energy in his body. It wasn't a lot, but he would likely be able to resist some magics so even if he touched a Portkey, he'd likely be able to resist long enough to release the object and not get sent to the North Pole. Harry also heard about the Brotherhood's Leader, Magneto. That guy sounded like a Sorcerer highly proficient in Electromagnetic Energy. He could definitely resist most magics. Not that such people were immune. The ability to resist magic just means that a Stunner wouldn't put them down 100% of the time and a cutting curse wouldn't cut as deeply. Strong magic resistance just means it would be a fair fight compared to an easy victory.
The second reason was the outward effect. Wizard Magic still fried electronics and getting around that was a giant pain. Even Danger wasn't a perfect attempt. The Wizard Magic he gave to her to use would be buried under layers of other things but if any electronics stayed in the Danger Room for too long, it would likely have corrupted Data. Danger and Forge however felt this was acceptable as it would prevent someone from leaving undetectable foreign hardware within.
And the final reason was that he wanted it to be a trump card, or better yet, a prank. Why do things the easy way when he can do it the fun way? Why turn your foe into a frog when you can project a hologram around them making it look like their gender changed and they're in a pink dress? Why teleport someone into a cage when you can traumatize them with pranks into turning themselves in?
Of course, that was just for fun. Harry still had a few hundred Portkey Galleons with a destination of the North Pole in his inventory. He made them before losing his ability to make portals to be used if needed. If lives were on the line, there would be no shenanigans and no mercy. Until then he was going to continue having fun.
Harry's current project was just what he told Kurt. Exterior Hard-Light Holograms. He wanted to make a floating sphere he could throw that would track and follow those he threw it at. If the Hologram he had in mind worked out, the sphere would be overlaid with an image of the head of the person he threw it at. It would also be on fire and screaming, though he needed to work on the audio. Harry imagined someone acting like a big, tough, bad guy, and suddenly Harry throws their own flaming head at them which stares them in the eye while flying at them while screaming in horror in their own voice.
Spurred on by imaging how traumatizing that would be for others was great motivation and Harry got to work right away.
Unfortunately, Harry was interrupted three days into his project with a phone call. Only Hermione, Sirius, and the Ancient One had his number, and Hermione called a few days ago and Sirius still hadn't figured out how to use a phone.
Harry answered it and unsurprisingly, it was the Ancient One.
Through the phone she said, "Hello Harry, Kamar-Taj has a mission for you."
"Oh, what's going on?"
"Well, some of the Acolytes brought a matter to my attention that was discovered through the forum of that website you made. Some investigations were being done using the website and from the pictures posted on the are signs there is a demon kidnapping children from an orphanage in a small town in Pennsylvania."
Harry was already putting away the equipment in the lab as he asked, "You know I'm not going to refuse to help, but why ask me?"
The Ancient One answered, "From what I can tell, the children at the orphanage consists almost entirely of mutant children. Due to this fact, rather than sending backup, it would be advisable to inform your new acquaintances and have them assist you instead."
*Ping*
[New Quest: Rescue the Orphan Mutants from N'astirh.
Protect and Rescue the captured orphans before they are sacrificed by N'astirh.
Rescue the remaining orphaned mutants from Nanny and Orphan Maker.]
"Ah, I got a quest," Harry commented before reading off the details over the phone.
The Ancient One said, "Well, that confirms a few theories I had. You cannot get a quest to something that is unrelated to you or something you have no knowledge about."
Harry wasn't angry but he still had to ask, "That was a test?"
"Of course it was. Knowledge about your circumstances will prove vital to using your abilities wisely in the future."
Harry answered, "True. Have you heard of N'astirh?"
Harry had memorized the Grand Grimoire but although that made him an expert of the 72 demons Solomon commanded and a number of others, that didn't mean he knew them all. There were probably more demons than there were humans if you actually did the numbers. Demons existed on many planes after all.
The Ancient One answered, "It is not a name I am familiar with in the past or future. That means this is the first time I've encountered it."
Harry didn't let that disappoint him and asked, "Is the forum for that post still up?"
The Ancient One confirmed it was and hung up. Harry pulled up access to the internet and went into the site before reading the details and printing them out.
At the site of the disappearance were some strange symbols and one of the more clever officers at the town searched for similar symbols on the internet which lead them to a match on Harry's website which lead the officer to the forum Harry made sure was followed by some of the more tech savvy acolytes in Kamar-Taj.
The officer who posted in the forum also gave some details on some things he saw at the orphanage. They were passed off as something else, but the Ancient One recognized it as signs that the children were mutants. The Quest pop up even proved it.
Harry prints out the relevant information and heads over to Xavier's office. As the head of the school so close to reopening, he was quite busy and was currently going through a pile of paperwork on his desk.
Seeing this, Harry paused and went over his options. He remembered that most of the X-Men and teachers had actually been out as they were currently being sent to the homes of the students to escort them back to the Institute. This was done to ensure the safety of the students and to prevent incidents, but it also meant that the bulk of the veteran X-Men were currently out.
Logan remained because he was not a people person and was partially charged with security for the institute. However him heading out as well would leave the remaining children vulnerable.
Harry unpaused and asked Xavier, "When is Storm, Colossus, or Domino returning?" In Harry's opinion, of the first Gen X-Men who remained at the school as teachers, those three were the best to bring because they were strong and good with children. Beast couldn't act in public until the Hard-Light disguise was working and the less said about Forge and children the better. The man was brilliant and knew how to teach, but he wasn't exactly the sympathetic ear a kidnapped orphan would need.
Xavier didn't miss the urgency in his voice and answered, "Ms. Munroe should be returning in three days while Mr. Rasputin and Ms. Thurman will not be returning until next Monday. What is the matter?"
Harry sighed and put the papers he'd printed out on Xavier's desk and summarized, "There seems to be an orphanage in Pennsylvania that has a lot of mutant kids and someone or something capable of using darker magics have been kidnapping them. My teacher called me and let me know and asked if I would handle it since the victims were mutants."
Xavier looked pensive as he read through the papers and commented, "I was not aware of any such gathering of mutant children." However Harry's documents were easy to review and the prevalent points about the orphanage and the signs within certainly seemed to indicate the presence of perhaps multiple mutants. But an orphanage of mutants? That was hard to believe as even the act of gathering mutants was not so simple. He should know.
Xavier's chair rolled out from his desk and he said, "Let's visit Cerebro have this looked into. I'll have Logan meet us on the way."
Harry followed him out of the office and shortly after Logan showed and was handed the papers Harry had given the Professor. Down three flights of stairs they encountered a massive door that was unlocked by Xavier's biometrics. A synthesized voice echoed out, 'Welcome Professor,' upon the door's opening which made no sense to Harry. There was no such voice or automated AI system in any other part of the Institute's systems besides Danger. Harry sighed and figured it was for atmosphere.
Cerebro was a massive hollowed out sphere with a platform in the center and a single walkway extending to it from the entrance. The platform had a control system in the center and a metal helmet. The trio headed in as the door closed behind them while Logan continued reading. The occasional growls he released while going through the information clearly gave his stance on such matters. A warrior like him had an innate protective instinct for children afterall.
Xavier put on the helmet and said, "This is your first time in Cerebro, please remain still while it is active."
Harry gave a bare nod as the room came alive with images. The images themselves were not holograms or electronic displays. They were mental projections of Xavier's senses, enhanced many times over through the massive amplifier and displayed in the empty space for observers to see.
Xavier concentrated on the coordinates of the orphanage in Pennsylvania but once he did, the images around them began to distort.
Logan asked, "What's going on Charles?" It was apparent he had not seen something like this before.
Xavier frowned and said, "Something is dulling my senses through Cerebro. I need a moment to compensate."
The images became clearer then fuzzier then clearer again as he seemed to try different tricks to get around the interference. Moments later the images returned to perfect clarity.
"Ah, there we go. Now let us see what has been hidden."
The images zoomed in and the outline of a building became clear as well as the outline of two dozen children, all glowing orange. In the same building in the basement there appeared to be a blue glow and another orange glow, though the shapes of both were distorted. From what Harry could tell, humans glowed blue and mutants glowed orange on this display.
Harry asked, "Can you find any groups of mutants nearby?"
The building zoomed out and the map grew to display more area but other than the individual orange dots scattered about, there were no other groups.
After another moment of searching, the Professor sighed and the images cut as he removed his helmet.
Logan asked, "What was that about?"
Xavier answered, "There is something in that town which shrouds my senses. Had it blocked my senses completely, it would be more noticeable, but as it only numbed it, I could not notice the mutants within had I not specifically been looking for them in that small area."
Logan didn't look surprised, "So someone figured out how to hide from you?" The tone of his voice made it seem like he'd been expecting it to happen at some point.
Xavier nodded and said, "Indeed, though I cannot be certain if the one they are hiding from is myself or perhaps another. In any case, I was unable to get a reading on the minds of anyone in that town. To gather more information, we'll need a closer look."
Logan glanced back at the papers and said, "I got a bad feeling about this Chuck. I don't think waiting for the others is a good call. It might be too late by then."
Xavier frowned pensively. He knew this was not going to be easy.
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