It had been a month since the double-date, Harry was busy with some of his personal projects and Natasha was somewhere in Russia on an urgent mission only she could complete to get some information that had been eluding SHIELD for ages. Tony was busy modifying Mark 10 or something and Bruce was still brewing up a storm with what was easy to replenish. Harry had taken him into a new Greenhouse recently and he was excited for the new ingredients to add to his own Greenhouse.
Harry had taken Natasha out on a couple of dates. They were really starting to click and Harry was close to asking her to become his official girlfriend.
Harry had been able to get the enchanted necklace done for Bruce, which would allow him to leave the house whenever he wanted. Bruce had been elated. He also like the stylized werewolf on the necklace. Making it symbolic and also manlier than the flower Harry had threatened.
Harry had completed another surprise or two and one big one for Fury for when he was ready. Currently, though Harry was working on a dark detector. Every time Harry was almost done getting Fury's Foe-Glass completed, it would fail. It was like the enchantments were fighting each other. He'd had to modify it to be blood-bound to the director so that it would work for him and he suspected that that aspect was affecting the other enchantments.
Harry had decided to go for a walk to clear his mind. He was on his way to an ice-cream van, when he felt a powerful presence trying to get into his mind. Looking around he saw nobody, so he decided to follow the source of the mental attack. He concentrated and let his magic free. The connection was from far away, but he felt the origin as somewhere in New York. He knew what that meant. A little distraction might be exactly what the doctor ordered. Smirking, he apparated to the gates of 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center.
Harry stood silently at the gate with a spell in place to obscure his features. He saw children playing outside. Harry had read the reports. Xavier Institute was a school for mutants, though he hated that word. It was too close to 'freak'. He had found the reports to be very interesting. He waited for the mental probe to find him again. He knew it wouldn't be long. He was right. When the mental assault happened again, Harry noted a moment of panic from the other side when it realized where he was, before the attack stopped.
It took about five minutes, before the front doors opened and the gate swung inward. Harry decided to take it as an invitation and walked up the path to the mansion. As he went, he watched the children, noting that they seemed happy. Whatever happened here was obviously done for the children, not to them.
Harry noted there were three people waiting for him. A beautiful dark skinned woman with white hair, a brunette man with red sunglasses and a bald older gentleman in a wheelchair. "Hello," Harry said with mock friendliness, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your assault?"
Suddenly the man, Scott Summers if Harry recalled correctly, took a step forward and his hand went to his sunglasses. "Wait!" came a sharp call from the wheelchair bound man. "This man is beyond you Scott. We're not enemies here." He turned his face to Harry, "And I'm afraid I don't understand. What assault?"
"What do you call it when you attack my mind while I'm simply taking a stroll down to the beach?" Harry asked, still smiling. He knew he could have all three of them knocked out and in a cell in under a minute if he so chose. Protocol X was actually created with Charles Xavier and people like him in mind.
"Telepathy." was the professor's simple answer. "I was simply trying to break through some kind of block to get in contact with you."
"That block, as you call it, is an intentional shield. It protects my mind from mental assault, like the one you attempted. Attacking me is never a good way to make friends." Harry replied, losing the smile. "If you ever try it again, I'll respond in kind." he said lowly.
"You're a telepath as well?" the professor asked, shocked. "We didn't know. We saw telekinetic abilities, energy manipulation of some sort, healing, flight and teleportation. The Ghost of Manhattan has many a gift…" the professor chuckled. "Even now you're somehow hiding your identity. I'm assuming you are not a mutant?"
"First off I'm not telepathic. I just had to deal with some very powerful ones in the past, so I learned to protect myself. Secondly, if that's all you know, I'm assuming you normally don't read unwilling people's minds otherwise you'd have found out who I was by other means." It seemed Xavier had not decided to dig into the mind of the director of SHIELD, which was a good sign and something Fury would love to know. "Thirdly, I only have one ability. It's just… infinitely variable. And lastly, I hate the word mutant. It has a very negative connotation for me. I prefer genetically enhanced, even though I am not one."
The professor's eyes widened. "I'm sorry for attacking your defences, then. Had I known, I would have sent someone instead." he said solemnly.
"As long as you know and don't try it again. My mind is impenetrable, but it annoys me and can hurt after a while. When that happens I have a means of forcefully breaking the connection that might leave you in a coma." Harry warned.
"I will strive to inform my people that you are not to be tested on this, then." he replied. "Could we start over?" he then asked, "My name is Professor Charles Xavier and this is my school. The woman to my right is Ororo Munroe and the man to my left is Scott Summers." Ororo smiled and waved at him. Harry smiled back and nodded. Scott didn't do or say anything, apparently trying to be menacing. Harry smirked at him.
"Professor X, Storm and Cyclops, I believe." Harry said, nodding. "My code name is Ghost as you know and we'll stick with that until I've found out what you wanted to contacted me for." he said.
Xavier looked at him appraisingly. "I'm assuming you know about the X-Men then?" at Harry's nod, he continued, "We had a situation occur last night and when we went to assist, one of our younger members was attacked and injured. They are not responding to our normal means of treatment and I decided to contact you for your healing abilities." Xavier explained.
Harry was suddenly all business. "Lead the way." he said.
"Just like that?" Xavier asked.
"You're telling me a kid is somewhere in there in pain and you want to stand here talking about it?!" Harry exclaimed pointing into the mansion on the verge of anger. He'd seen enough children suffer.
"You are right, of course. Follow me." Xavier said. It seemed this man had similar attitudes to mutants than to regular people. It was rather refreshing, considering he wasn't one of them. As he led the way he asked, "Are you an alien or were you somehow modified?"
"I'm afraid that information is a secret. Only those who know me and I consider my friends are allowed to know." Harry stated following the man as they entered a hidden elevator.
Xavier pressed the button for a basement level and the doors closed. Ororo and Scott went with them. "What do you mean allowed?" Xavier queried.
"I can block knowledge when the situation calls for it. Those who betray me forget they ever knew me. It protects my secrets and my friends." Harry responded. Scott tensed and Ororo frowned.
Xavier frowned as well, "Have any of us ever met you?" he asked, wondering if that was why he seemed to know them. He was worried what he might have brought to his school. If this person decided to attack them, there may be no stopping him. Had the situation not been so severe, he would never have tried to contact him in the first place. He wondered now if it was a wise choice.
"No. We have never met. I know of you because I work closely with a certain agency that wishes to protect this world. Because of certain genetically enhanced hostiles, there is a lot of information about you." Harry said.
"Not that we would know," Scott spoke up for the first time.
"So he's not a mute!" Harry exclaimed and turned to Cyclops. "And no, you wouldn't, but that would be the point wouldn't it? But I promise you, I've only come to your gate once, so that I'd know how to get here should the need ever arise. Had I been in here before I'd have transported myself directly inside for the professor's rather rude attempt to breach my protections. Or I'd have put him in a coma."
"But how would I remember not to do so if you wiped my memory?" Xavier asked with a smirk.
"That would be your problem. Just be glad you know you get one warning." Harry said unrepentantly.
"And that neatly supports your statement of not having come here before." Xavier sighed. "We have no choice but to trust you on this." Xavier had a curious look and asked, "May I ask another question about your powers?" They doors had opened and they were now moving down a hallway.
"You may ask." Harry said noncommittally.
"If you can wipe memories, can you also recover them?" Xavier asked.
"It's possible." Harry answered not seeing a reason not to.
"Then we might have another friend who'd like to speak to you." Xavier said as a door opened and they were allowed into an infirmary.
Inside, there were three people. A beautiful redhead, a wild looking man standing against a wall with a frown, and the patient. A girl in her late teens, by the look of it. She had dark hair with one streak of white at her brow. Harry recognized all of them. Doctor Jean Elaine Grey, Logan (no surname) and Anna Marie (no surname). Or Phoenix, Wolverine and Rogue.
Harry quickly walked up to the patient without invitation and Logan jumped forward, claws extending. Harry just waved a hand and knocked him unconscious. He then held his hands over Marie, as he knew she preferred being called normally, and started detecting what was wrong with her. "I'd prefer not to knock you out and accidentally setting your darker urges free, Doctor," Harry said nonchalantly at Jean who was currently levitating a needle next to his throat. "But if you interrupt me, I can't try to save her."
Jean had been shocked when this man had so easily knocked Logan unconscious. Scott looked stressed and Ororo was frowning. When the man addressed her without looking, she was tempted to push the needle down and sedate him, but the professor shook his head slightly and she relaxed a bit, putting the needle back where it came from. "What do you know about my darker urges?" she was still not happy.
"I can feel it even now. You have a separate, powerful entity living inside you, bolstering your own powers. If it feels you are under threat it might decide to react violently and indiscriminately." Harry said having found something odd. "Please, just give me one more moment, then we can talk." He moved his hand over her wounded abdomen and pulled at what he found. A shard of some sort of metal flew out of her.
It was tiny, little more than a splinter. Harry then healed her wounds. "It seems whatever this is was stopping her from healing." He floated the shard onto the bedside table, where there was a shallow dish with what looked like water. He dropped it in.
Suddenly Marie awoke and shot up, her hand travelling to her side and feeling nothing but unblemished skin. "What happened?" she asked. Then she looked up, "And are you?"
"You were wounded in a fight and I am Ghost. Your professor decided to ask for help when they couldn't heal you." Harry said. "How are you feeling? No headache or soreness?"
"I'm… I'm fine. Thank you." She said softly, instinctively moving her unprotected arms away from the man. She was in a gown and her outfit was in shreds in a bin.
Harry, knowing of her inability to touch, decided to help her for a bit. He sent a wave of protective magic over her, subtly and grabbed her hand. "You don't need to worry about that when I'm around."
She tried pulling back, but when she seemed not to affect him, she took his hand in her other one. "How? How are you doing this?"
Harry just smirked, "It's a gift." He could not imagine life without human contact. "You have about an hour before your abilities start working again. Have fun!"
It was then she noticed Logan on the floor. "What happened!?" she exclaimed jumping out of bed as the others in the room just watched in awe as Marie started shaking Logan, trying to wake him.
"He was a little over-protective, so I had to knock him out." Harry said, slightly apologetic. He waved a hand and Logan stirred before jumping up.
He was about to jump at Harry again, when he noticed Marie was on her feet and looking back to normal. "How long was I out?" he growled.
"Just for a minute. Our new friend here came to heal Marie." the professor said.
"Sorry about knocking you out. I know you were just trying to protect her, but I was already trying to help her and didn't want to injure her further. It was the quickest way to help her." Harry apologised.
"Well, just watch yourself in the future, bub." Logan replied, but relaxed.
"Why do you look familiar to me?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. Maybe we met a couple of years ago?" Logan stated, he still didn't trust this man.
"That's impossible. I've not been around for long. And what do you mean you don't know?" Harry asked.
Logan growled out, "I don't have memories going back too far."
Harry looked at the professor, "This the guy you were talking about?"
"That would be him yes." the professor said looking around the infirmary at the people looking stunned. "I might have just one or two more questions for you... But first, how are you doing that?" He pointed at Marie, who was touching Logan's bicep with a bare finger. Logan was looking at her curiously, wondering if she had lost her powers.
Just then Bobby ran into the infirmary, having heard someone had shown up to help Marie. He ran up to her and stopped just short, "You're okay!" he exclaimed, wanting nothing more than to hold her, but stopping himself. To his shock, she jumped on him and kissed him. After the shock wore off, he held her at arms-length, a smile on his face, "You can control it now?!"
She brushed his hands off and hugged him, their faces making contact more intimately than ever before. "No, but I'm told I have an hour, before they start working again. Let's go!" she dragged him out the door.
Harry chuckled, waving his hand and yelled after them, "Make that two hours!" he heard a muffled "Thank you!" from two voices outside as the door closed automatically. "Ah, young love. So beautiful to behold." Harry said affecting an old man's wise voice, stroking his non-existent beard. "I suggest someone go find them and make sure they are safe." Harry said to the room at large.
Ororo quickly left the room to go ensure the young couple didn't do anything they might later regret. Wolverine looked tempted to go with them, but didn't trust himself. He had started caring for the girl like family. Bobby better not break her heart, or he might find himself with a couple of broken bones…
"You are an interesting man, Ghost. You come here to confront a supposed attacker, only to turn around and help someone you don't even know. I think I may also have underestimated your power too. You may well be omega level, if not a mutant, at least in powers." Xavier said. "May we offer you lunch? It's the least we could do for someone who has been so kind to us."
"Okay." Harry shrugged, "I was on my way for some ice-cream, anyway. Might as well have lunch." Harry said.
"Hold on. Are you sure we can trust him?" Scott asked, looking at the professor.
Jean was also looking at this man with suspicion. He knew too much about her. From the sounds of it, maybe even more than herself.
"I dare say, if he was an enemy, we'd already be dead. He didn't have to help us and from his perspective he would have been within his rights to attack me. He's showing us some trust. Let's see if we can live up to it." Xavier said, with a small smile.
They led Harry to a cafeteria where they each got something to eat and then sat at the main table, watching the children as they ate and socialised. Some of them even played with their powers, pranking each other. Harry smiled. It reminded him of Hogwarts. Children just being children. He saw an odd looking one sitting in a corner. She had two small horns and talons instead of fingers. She was looking at the other children having fun. Harry sent a cheering charm at her, and she suddenly started enjoying her food. When a prank happened, she'd laugh. 'That's better' Harry thought.
"That's strange. Colleen seems to have miraculously started feeling better." The professor said looking at the horned girl. He then looked at Harry, "Anything I should know?"
"Social outcasts tend to isolate themselves, making it more difficult to integrate. I'm assuming she's new?" Harry asked instead of answering.
"Indeed. She arrived here a couple of days ago. When her changes manifested, she changed to look like that. She feels ugly and so has isolated herself. We've attempted to coax her out of her isolation, but I'm afraid we've had no success." the professor said. "That didn't answer my question, though."
"I know." Harry replied. At the professor's continued gaze he said, "I just cheered her up. It's temporary, but now would be a good time for her to make friends. If she stays isolated, when it wears off, she'll have made no progress." Harry half-explained.
The professor had a thoughtful look for a moment and suddenly a group of kids looked up at him. One of them nodded and then they all got up and moved to Colleen's table. They started chatting and soon, Colleen was talking animatedly with another girl. "That worked out rather nicely, I think. Thank you." the professor said with a smile.
"I like helping kids. They are so honest and happiness seems to come naturally given time. I can't help them all, but when I can, I do." Harry said honestly.
"Have you ever worked with children? You seem to know a lot about their mental states." The professor asked.
"I once had a friend that had similar issues, but because he saw himself as a failure it took years before he could build up his confidence. He turned out to be a great man." Harry said lost in thoughts for a moment.
The professor just let him think for a moment, then asked, "Could you explain what you did for Marie?" he asked.
"I knew who she was when I saw her. I just tested a theory by putting a layer of protection over her skin, which would block her ability is all. It's a form of energy, so it should dissipate with time." Harry explained.
"Could it be made permanent?" the professor asked.
"Potentially, but what would be the point? She'd never be able to use her powers." Harry said.
"What if she didn't want the powers?" the professor asked.
"Too bad. She has them for a reason. If she wants to turn them off badly enough, she'll learn everything she can about them and then she'll know how to control them properly." Harry then looked at the professor. "Doesn't your research papers indicate that the powers manifest due to a need?"
"Yes, they do. Do you follow my work?" the professor asked, slightly intrigued.
"One of my friends does. He explained some of your findings to me. I'm not smart enough to follow everything. I'm more of a hands-on, learn by doing, kind of person." Harry said. "The point is, the powers, at least to some degree, should be controllable, if she has enough need, much like when it manifested."
"You are correct to a degree. When the powers manifest, the need is filled in whatever way the makeup of their genome supports. If, however, at the time, the person or persons do not have the correct understanding, the subconscious cannot implement control. So a power is activated and no control is attainable, because none were part of the desire." the professor temporised. "That is my theory anyway. Be as it may, there are people who go their whole lives unable to control their power and very few are capable of changing them to suit their needs after activating them."
"So you're saying, if a person's need was to explode to save someone from an attacking enemy or something, but he didn't know to think of reconstituting and his powers activate he would simply explode and be dead?" Harry scoffed.
"No. The change usually occurs to protect oneself, so in your example, the person would manifest explosive capabilities that doesn't kill them, or they would manifest it in such a way that they could reconstitute. Self-preservation is always part of the change." the professor said.
"So Marie has personal boundary issues?" Harry asked confused.
"It is possible. When her powers manifested, she had been a loner. She had a boyfriend, though, and some part of her psyche must have craved for human contact. When she kissed the boy, the emotions triggered her power and she started involuntarily draining his strength. We do not know how to help her. Your barrier might be the only thing we can do for her." the professor said sadly.
"I don't believe that. It might help though. If she can live a normal life for a while and finds happiness in it, she might be more motivated to reign her powers in, subconsciously at least." Harry said.
"Why is it that you believe so strongly that all power should be controllable?" the professor asked.
"It's the nature of the world. One can't have an on switch without the ability to switch it off as well." Harry stated. "You just have to learn how."
"There is merit in what you say. She might just not subconsciously want to switch it off… I'll think about it. Maybe there is another way to help her." The professor was suddenly deep in thought, thinking about his past experiences, where emotional triggers activated powers only for the opposite trigger to reign them in again. Interesting.
"What were you doing that got Marie so injured?" Harry asked as he finished his food.
"There was a situation that involved a mercenary mutant. We went to stop him from destroying a research lab. We only found out afterward they were conducting experiments on people. The mercenary took the job because of a vendetta he has against them." The professor sighed. "We attacked him before we knew and he defended himself. Somewhere along the line he cut Marie with a katana, I suspect it is made of a certain alloy that affects mutant healing factors, Carbonadium. I doubt he was aiming to kill her, though. He usually doesn't kill women or children."
"Do you know this mercenary's name?" Harry asked.
"Yes. It's Deadpool." the professor answered.
"Well, lunch was educational. Thanks for the food and stay out of my head." Harry dug in a pocket, took out a card and focused on it. His name was erased, replaced by only his code-name. "This is my number. If you need help, call me. If you go looking for trouble though, it's your problem." Harry said as he stood up and stretched out.
"I've had enough of a break. Back to research." Harry waved his hand and caused a miniature fireworks display to go off inside the cafeteria. While everyone was distracted, children laughing and pointing, he turned the professor pink with green stripes and made the words 'one warning!' appear on his forehead. It would last a couple of hours. That should teach him. Then he apparated.
When he appeared back at his lab, he took out his phone and called Fury to give him an update.
"Agent Potter, good thing you called. We need you at headquarters immediately. Romanoff has gone missing." Fury said.