章節 46: Chapter 46 The Threat of Hellfire
"You want to set me up on a date?"
Unsurprisingly, Scott was looking at Harry as if he had grown a second head which started singing Opera. Perhaps not the strangest request he had ever been asked, but Harry was certain it at least made his top five.
Harry confirmed, "Yep. Miss Frost asked me for a date but as you know, I'm already dating Jean. So I told her I'd get her a date so my options are you, Kurt, or Bobby. We're going to a fancy restaurant so Kurt is out of the question and although he hasn't said anything, I'm ninety percent sure that Bobby has zero interest in girls, if you catch my meaning."
Scott shrugged. That was something of an open secret that no one really cared about. Still trying to get out of perhaps the most awkward conversation of his life he asked, "Why would you agree at all?"
"Two reasons. First, being the daughter of a CEO, it is unlikely she has any friends that are not trying, in some shape or form, to take advantage of her." That made Scott frown. He had some serious protective instincts. Harry continued, "And two, she happens to be a mutant and I doubt she has any friends who are also mutants."
"Wait, really? What's her power?"
"Sorry Scott, I'm not sharing a girl's secrets behind her back. If she decides to tell you, she will. And if you agree to this, I'll give you a watch."
Scott was about to refuse before he remembered some Christmas presents. "What kind of watch?"
"I actually just finished it. It will assist you with turning your powers off and on."
Scott froze at that. Harry figured he was being just a bit too dramatic. He had problems but his life was in no way worse than a dozen others in the Institute before Harry's arrival. ForgetMeNot literally had nothing and no one and yet he still moved forward. Harry truly admired the guy. Rogue feared growing up without being able to touch another human being yet she still trained every day to control her power. Wanda had problems caused by a megalomaniacal father and an Elder Demon God of Chaos but she didn't ask for pity. And then there are those like Kurt who couldn't show their face in public without being screamed at and yet he always maintained an upbeat attitude and tried to make others smile with his pranks, not frown at his misfortunes.
After holding the question back for a few moments he asked, "How does that work?"
"Well, as you know, I am familiar with magic, among other things. Certain forms of magic I am familiar with channel energy through your body to use its power. There are forms of Anti-Magic which can prevent a person's body from channeling that energy. The watch is a project I worked on with Forge and a certain Wizard I know to inscribe it with an Anti-Magic seal that can be enabled and disabled."
What Harry wouldn't tell him as he would rather the drama king figure it out himself, was that the watch was basically a set of training wheels. If Scott could feel his power getting enabled and disabled, he could replicate that sensation to control his power on his own. If Harry just wanted to turn Scott's power off, he had some anti-magic manacles when he arrived that would probably work just fine. Instead, he wanted something that Scott could use to train himself. Harry considered himself a teacher, not a babysitter.
After asking to test it first, Scott agreed to the double date.
The fallout from Christmas and Scott walking around without sunglasses was a large amount of laughter and smiles. Even Xavier was shocked that Harry had made something for Scott as blocking a mutant's power was very different from making a disguise. There was a possibility for misuse. Forge of course informed the Professor that Scott's watch only worked for Scott and anyone trying to analyze it would get nothing for their troubles. Harry had asked Forge to check his work as he was fully aware of what could happen if such technology fell into the wrong hands.
On the 30th, Harry took Wanda, Rogue, and Jean out to New York for clothes shopping. Twelve hours later Harry was able to convince the girls their respective closets were not big enough to hold more and they would likely outgrow anything else before they wore half of what they purchased. Having been defeated by the evil that was logic, the girls grumpily decided to call it a day.
The following evening Harry wore a tuxedo that looked both simple yet classy. Jean wore a green dress with gold highlights she'd gotten the day before and Scott wore a slightly snazzier tuxedo Harry bought him to look good for his date. Harry told him he should keep the habit of wearing his sunglasses outside but could take them off indoors now.
Emma apparently was neither the type of person who was late or early. She walked up to the entrance right at the second and easily spotted Harry. Just as easily she spotted the redhead in his arms and the guy standing next to them gapping at her beauty. Harry said, "Ms. Frost, I'm glad you could make it. Here is the date I promised you. His name is Scott. And this is my girlfriend, Jean."
Jean smiled and extended a hand. Emma paused only for a moment before she took it and gave a friendly shake. The smile that appeared on Jean's face and the shock that flashed across Emma's eyes clearly showed Harry that the blonde telepath had attempted to access Jean's mind and had likely been politely told off.
Once she realized things were not as they seemed, Emma gave an impish smirk and said, "Thank you Harry. I have been looking forward to this. You didn't tell me he was such a dreamboat."
Jean reached over to Scott's chin and closed his gaping mouth and said, "Scott, aren't you going to take your date's arm?"
Scott blushed but composed himself rather quickly and presented his arm. "Ms. Frost, would you do me the honor of accompanying me as my date this evening?"
Harry and Jean shared a smirk. Scott had met Deadpool before so although he could be rattled, he could still pull himself together.
Emma seemed to raise an eyebrow. Not at the display of chivalry, but likely because of what she was seeing in Scott's mind. She now knew that Harry had told Scott she was a mutant but had not told him her power. The lack of surprise from Jean at her mental intrusion told her that Jean was certainly a telepath and knew that she was as well. Scott was a mutant but had no great defenses against psychic intrusion meaning she could get everything she wanted to know about the group from Scott's mind, and Jean and Harry appeared to be inviting her to do so.
Not one to turn down such an invitation, she took Scott's arm and Harry walked the group up to the reservation desk and moments later the group was escorted over to a table for four adjacent to the window overlooking Times Square where the ball would be dropping in a few hours.
Emma hid her surprise well but knew this table should not have been possible to get with just a couple of day's notice.
Jean, acting the part of the sister enjoying watching her brother squirm, said, "So Scott, get the ball rolling and tell Ms. Frost a little about yourself."
Emma said, "Please call me Emma. I don't believe I've ever been on a blind date before so I think I'll start. I like art museums, moonless nights, and rock music."
Scott responded with, "Well, you are clearly more cultured than I am. I do like walking through parks though. Dogs are also good. Who do you listen to?"
Harry could tell that Emma was going through Scott's head. At some point she tried once more to enter into Harry's mind. The last time she was there, she was completely taken aback at the level of organization. She was tempted to take one of the books from the shelves but her instincts told her not to. This time when she entered, she found that a representation of both Harry and Jean were there, waiting for her.
Within Harry's mind she asked, "So Mr. Potter. What exactly is this? A recruitment for Xavier's cub scouts?" She had already learned much from Scott's head.
Harry shook his metaphysical head and said, "Nope. More like an offer of friendship. If you actually are interested in me you'll have to get Jean's permission. And Rogue's. And Wanda's."
"A Harem? Really?" she asked with amusement.
Jean answered, "For reasons I don't want to go into at the moment, I am ridiculously empathic and need a healthy dose of love to keep sane. And grounded. On earth anyways. I fell in love with Harry, but so did two others. Both however have had isolations issues in the past so both are comfortable having more people to love than less as they don't want to be alone. They love me and for that I love both of them. It is all very warm and fuzzy."
Emma frowned at that. Problems with isolation and the need for people to care for you were things that hit just a little too close to home. That being said she was selfish and didn't intend to change. She said, "Thank you for the offer of Harem membership but I'm not the type who shares."
Jean shrugged and said, "It wasn't so much an offer as a warning of what you'd be in for. But declining is fine too. Also note that I'll be able to tell if you try anything to Scott and so would the Professor. Harry hasn't told him or anyone else in the institute about you though so you won't get his attention as long as you don't try anything funny."
Emma tried not to roll her eyes. Scott didn't need the slightest bit of manipulation. A naïve boy scout with a hero complex who only felt valued when he was being useful to someone else. She had noticed he was sincere too. He didn't know that Emma was a telepath, but likely due to his experience working with telepaths, even his thoughts were polite and well mannered. Very different from men her age she was used to dealing with.
Deciding to change the subject, Harry asked, "So what did you tell Mr. Frost about me?"
"Nothing I doubt you didn't want him to know. Exceptionally well organized mind and heavily resistant to outside influence. Large plans for your company in the future. Oh, and the fact that you found his intimidation tactics cute." She smiled at that last one. Likely reveling in the memory of whatever expression her father made upon hearing that.
Harry shook his head and said, "I wasn't lying about my Board of Directors."
Jean rolled her eyes and said, "They are a bad influence on you." She knew Harry's company was run by Goblins even though Harry hadn't told her and any viewed memories of them didn't show that. However someone who had read Harry's memories from start to finish could put two and two together and figure the rest out without breaking the contract.
The waiter came and the group ordered some appetizers and drinks to munch on until their main order was ready.
Scott was somewhat hanging on in the outward conversation as Harry and Jean both brought up various things about the X-Men and their training so Scott figured it was ok to talk about those things. The only problem was that Scott was just a little too enthusiastic about one particular subject.
Within Harry's mind Emma blatantly asked, "Does Scott have a hard on for Xavier or something?"
Jean rolled her eyes and Harry chuckled. He answered, "Xavier has sacrificed a number of things to put himself into a position where he can help as many people as possible, including Scott himself. Scott admires him more than anyone else. In my opinion though, the Professor gave up things he should not have and the man is ignorant of the fact that he can be a hypocrite at times."
Jean shook her head and said, "Yeah. Sometimes he'll discourage us from getting our hands dirty because he wants us to have a normal childhood and other times when we are enjoying ourselves doing something childish, he reprimands us for our childish behavior."
Harry turned to her and said, "You're just upset he doesn't allow food fights."
"Food fights are awesome," she countered.
"As long as I didn't cook it, that's fine."
"Of course not, that would be sacrilege." Jean turned to Emma who was quite amused by the conversation and said, "Harry is a very skilled chef."
Harry said, "There are better. This restaurant has chefs better than I am."
Emma couldn't keep a smile from forming on her lips. She could not remember the last time she took part or even listened to such a warm hearted conversation.
Emma was a very skilled multitasker so it was possible to converse with Jean and Harry in Harry's mind while talking part in the conversation at the table while also looking through Scott's mind. She found it interesting that Scott had been infatuated with Jean for some time but seemed to have completely given up on her, though he still cared for her greatly.
All in all, she could not find any deception. She knew from Scott's memories that Harry was a very powerful mutant that could use Telepathy, magic, and other skills. He was also ruthless to those he felt didn't deserve a chance but he was very logical as well. Emma had gone over Scott's memory of that mission to rescue the Orphans several times. She also knew Harry was a genius scientist who had unlocked the mass production of hard-light technology. It didn't take a genius to figure out the direction Harry's company would go in the future and that he didn't need anyone's help.
In other words, this evening really was just an invitation for friendship with Harry along with an introduction to someone who would likely become the leader of the X-Men in the future. Emma was entirely unused to dealing with people who offered help and information so freely.
On the table part of the conversation Emma did eventually speak more of her own life. She had an older brother who she cared for but he didn't care enough for himself. She had an older sister who cared for no one and seemed to have caused several staff members to vanish. Then there was her youngest sister who was in her rebellious phase, though with a father who cared only for his legacy and a mother who used alcohol to escape from the reality that was her life, calling her younger sister rebellious didn't seem entirely accurate.
Emma's older sister worried everyone on the table but no one asked further on her as it would be improper to ask for more than what was given. Especially as the subject was likely not appropriate for dinner conversation and the waiters had delivered their orders by that time.
Emma had much to discuss with Jean both at the table and inside Harry's head. She was the first and only mutant telepath her own age she had ever met and though they lived different lives they had much in common. Emma did show interest in the Occlumency practices Harry had created for Jean and Harry offered to let her copy the material into her own head which Emma was happy to accept.
Within Harry's head and around the time they approached the end of the meal, Emma said, "You know my father will want to know what we spoke of. He seemed to be under the impression I would have you wrapped around my finger by the end of the date. He even gave me a copy of the papers you'd need to sign to sell your company."
Jean laughed at that and added, "Harry's business partners cannot legally operate a business due to laws you'll never hear about. Harry owns everything on paper, but even if he signed away his ownership, nothing would come of it."
Harry nodded and continued, "You can tell your father that Brilliance Incorporated will be expanding soon which is why I cannot be persuaded to sell. You can also hint that I seem to possess technology that grants resistance to mental manipulations."
Emma asked, "Do you have technology that grants resistance to mental manipulations?"
Harry considered it and said, "I can probably put something together."
"Is there a way around it?"
"Hmm. Subtly I suppose. Brute force could technically work but would alert the user. You seem pretty good at subtle though."
She gave a smile that was not a smile at that and said, "Years of practice."
Jean frowned and said, "If you do need help with something, don't hesitate to ask." She didn't like that someone like her was forced into a position to use her powers.
Emma understood that Jean was being genuine but decided not to answer. She hadn't made up her mind at this point.
Dinner had finished and no one cared for dessert or staying to watch the gathering crowd admire the ball drop. Harry was fifteen, and Scott, Jean, and Emma were all sixteen so they did not order any wine though the restaurant was known for it.
Other than offering assistance, they didn't ask anything of Emma and she had long since figured out why. They were basically trying to save her. You didn't need foresight to see what someone with powers like her would grow up to be in an environment like hers without assistance or friends. They were offering her a way out of that future she seemed destined to be in from the day she was born.
When they parted, Harry gave Emma a rectangular compact mirror that was actually a disguised touchscreen cell phone and a wireless charger she could set it in. The contact list Harry programmed it with included Harry's, Jean's, and Scott's phone number though the latter didn't know Harry would be giving him a phone later that night. The phone could not be bugged, tracked, or monitored, but he did recommend not using it to call others her father knew of if she didn't want her father learning of her possession of such a thing.
Harry showed the use of a Diamond to make a portal back to the institute where they had set up their own fireworks and were waiting until midnight to set them off. Harry explained to Scott how the cellphone worked and that it was a prototype his own company would be producing one day.
Overall, Jean and Harry agreed it was an enjoyable date, though Jean did feel a little bad about Harry's trick against Emma. The watch Scott used set a ward inside his own brain that would prevent intruders from thinking of doing bad things to Scott while under the ward. So the entire time Emma was inside his head, she was being conditioned not to feel any urge to do anything that could harm Scott using the information she was learning from him. Harry countered that such a trick was the only reason he allowed Emma into Scott's head in the first place and all he did was prevent her from thinking of ways to use him as a tool. He didn't do anything to make her think more of him so anything she felt about him would be real.
The fact that both Harry and Jean knew that the energy Scott produced was attractive to psionics was left unsaid. Harry didn't consider it cheating in the same way he didn't consider how attractive many found his eyes to be cheating.
Unsurprisingly, Forge went all out on the fireworks and at midnight the sky above the institute could probably have been seen from the space station in orbit.
With that the year 2008 started and for a while everything returned to routine. For the spring semester Harry was released from his position as Teacher's aid in all classes but Forge's and Dr. McCoy's. However, Harry had successfully installed a Hard-Light platform in Forge's class and granted remote access to that system for DANGER. Forge and DANGER were able to make Hard-Light demonstrations that showed off more than he ever could before and DANGER acted as assistant as she had nothing better to do during class period. Dr. Kinney likewise acted as Dr. McCoy's assistant in class meaning Harry was suddenly left with a large amount of free time, and that was without counting the Time Turner.
Eventually Harry decided to act on his girl's advice and with a camera and his own Hard-Light platform, Harry started making Teaching videos. Due to the autocorrect of his Scholar Path, Harry was perhaps one of the best Teachers on the planet so he was told to expand his audience.
After several brainstorming sessions Harry decided to make another website. Unlike the server for his magic website housed in Kamar-Taj, this server would be housed underground with the Goblins. He'd make a fake server room and put it somewhere in one of his companies but for the real one he would use the same tricks Forge taught him when making DANGER's CPU.
Over the course of two months, closer to four if you count the Time Turner usage, Harry had created over a thousand videos on various math and science subjects. The main line of videos however went over Harry's new branch of science, Metaphysics. You couldn't understand a thing if you just watched the last video but if you watched them all sequentially you'd gain a surface level understanding of what it was and how it worked.
Of course no one could truly learn a subject from a video, no matter how interesting. So each video also came with a little twenty question quiz at the end you could use to test yourself. If you got a question wrong, the site would tell you how to get it right and the system generated problems randomly so taking it repeatedly was actually a decent study method.
Just for kicks, Harry wore a larger version of his Hogwarts robes and used a wand looking stick when pointing at things and would use his Hard-Light holograms to cast 'magic-like' effects using the stick. The videos included disclaimers of course. Since he wore a collared shirt and tie beneath the robes it actually looked very Professor~ish so he doubted anyone would give a negative remark. Other than the standard, 'Aren't you fifteen?' comments.
Harry had already invented his own magic keyboard that could type pure programming code far, far faster than a normal keyboard so the longest and hardest part of setting up the site was the videos.
In addition to his own videos, the site also allowed others to upload their own videos for others to watch. Another similar site, youtube, had popped up a little over two years prior and Harry wanted to replace it. When evidence that would reveal the magical world appeared, it was likely a video sharing site like youtube would be the source so if Harry controlled such sites, he'd be able to buy more time. Google bought youtube not long after it came out but Harry's servers would be far faster and more secure than youtube's would. The only catch was that unless he built his own internet, he wouldn't be able to control the default search engine directing everyone to his competitor.
Thankfully a number of Goblins were getting very good at not just using computers for hacking, but making them as well. Once there were enough Goblins capable of crafting his magic servers, Harry intended to spread their use around the world and become the hub of centralized internet usage.
*Ping*
[Business Path has risen to Rank 28]
Harry smiled. That one was rising pretty fast these days.
On March 5th, Harry launched the site, submitted his findings in Metaphysics as a dissertation to a Doctoral committee with McCoy's, Xavier's, and Forge's recommendation, and had some publishers he paid release his textbooks which some stores and his website sold.
Other than his Scholar Path raising by 1, nothing happened. This wasn't surprising. Even with world famous geniuses like Dr. Hank McCoy, Charles Xavier, and Johnathan Silvercloud backing his paper, it would take weeks and months for others to check his findings and once they determined he was not talking out of his ass, he'd be asked to defend his dissertation in person and only then would his dissertation get published. The fact that McCoy and Silvercloud basically signed off on Master's degrees for him through their own accreditation a week prior would probably cause a few heads to turn, but Harry looked forward to the faces everyone would make.
For now he would wait. Harry didn't advertise his website so unless someone searched for something and the website was relevant, no one would randomly get directed there.
Two week later however, someone did notice. While Harry was in his study group with Jean, his own cell phone went off and he excused himself to answer it. The caller ID had a picture of Emma on it.
Harry casually answered, "Evening Emma."
"Same to you I suppose. Interesting website by the way. I'm surprised 'video share .com' wasn't already taken as a domain name."
"It was. I bought it. Made a random dude very happy. Watch any?"
"Your lesson on variable probability was certainly more interesting than my private tutor's. In any case, that is not why I'm calling."
"Something wrong?"
"Most likely. I am not sure if it has any relation with your site or something else, but my father asked me to contact you and get you to come out somewhere. He didn't say it directly and I cannot read his mind, but it sounds like in some way, shape or form, you won't be coming back from where I am to invite you to."
"Ah. I suppose the fact that I haven't left the Institute in three straight months would make any would be kidnappers or assassins quite irritable."
"Indeed. However my father is a member of a group called the Hellfire Club. They have muscle that is not easy to go against and I believe there is a mutant within the club my father is asking assistance from."
Harry Paused and went over a few worst case scenarios. Winston would not know he was a mutant but would know he had tech that could defend against telepaths. Xavier did a surprisingly good job of covering for his Institute and it was not anywhere close to public knowledge his school was for mutants. Emma had told them she was almost certain her father wasn't aware of them. Worst case scenario should be a team sent to injure him in a show of force or a team to kidnap him for his tech. Worst case for that was that they were all mutants. However they shouldn't be too powerful. Mutants at Sinister's or even the first X-Men team's level would not be grunts.
Harry was tempted to go in alone but he knew he would never be forgiven for that, even if he was immortal, and he knew he would not be able to talk his girls out of coming. Ah, that's right. There was someone else he could take who could provide assistance if everything went horribly wrong.
Harry unpaused and asked, "You'll call me back on a line you know he is listening to right?"
"Of course. Can't let him know I have a private way to contact you now can I?"
"Alright. Invite me to go clothes shopping. I'll refuse citing that I am too busy but you'll counter that you'll buy several swimsuits for the summer and want my opinion on the best one. I'll agree of course and pick you up from where-ever and you won't tell me where we're going until I get there. Then your father can tell whoever, they'll give you a destination and we'll be attacked either at the location or on route."
"Wait, what do you mean pick me up? You can't drive."
"Well, I know how to drive and do have my learner's permit, but I don't have a car. I'm sure you remember that Scott is seventeen though since you spent all of his birthday a few weeks ago 'together,' so he'll be driving. You'll need to call him and tell him to invite me, Rogue, Jean, and Wanda as well. Six is too much for a car so that will get him to take the van we have which happens to be armored."
"Hmm. That sounds like a plan. What about the fallout from what my father learns his attempt was rebuffed by mutants you are associated with? He won't be pleased with me once he discovers I was unaware of that information."
"Hmm. Tell him that everyone who I invited had a telepathy blocker as well so you couldn't tell they were mutants."
She sighed over the call and said, "Alright, I can work with that."
A few minutes later Harry got another call redirected to him from his 'work' line and Emma invited him to go swimsuit shopping. Harry said he had a few other girls he wanted to invite and Emma playfully asked if she was not enough for him. Harry said they were people he liked too much to leave the house without and he wanted to see them in swimsuits as well.
If one listened to the call in hindsight it would seem that Harry had special bodyguards he paid to keep him safe, but that would only be obvious after everything happened.
Harry told his girls and Emma called Scott though he wasn't given the details of the trap. Harry found the last person he wanted to recruit for this possible ambush lounging in the garden.
"Hey Goose. I'm going to get ambushed tomorrow by parties unknown and likely kidnapped. Want to come?"
The orange tabby cat shaped Flerken lazily looked over to Harry and conveyed, 'Might as well. I have been getting bored lately.'
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