The third, and the one which gave the wards most of their power was the fact the castle sat on an intersection of two ley lines, but this option was only to be enacted during wartime on order of the headmaster. Never, not once, not even after McGonagall became headmistress, had Harry ever seen the wards of Hogwarts at anywhere near their full potential.
The wards before him were not only at their full potential, they were at what his world would have called a wartime footing, taking power from the ley lines below the castle. They were so powerful, so numerous and so well layered it was incredible. Harry counted at least fifteen anti-muggle wards, thirty full powered defense wards layered into the ground and the castle, and five anti-apparition wards. The others looked to be a mix of security, (wards to lock access) warning (wards to inform the headmaster or whoever of what was going on under them) and specific wards that seemed to block or dissipate specific spells. Other ones seemed to be things like anti-animal wards, though there were far more of them than he would have expected, and a few whose purpose he couldn't figure out, though they looked like they were versions of an unplottable, possibly much more powerful and tweaked to only block out non-magicals.
"Wow, just wow. That lot would take me weeks to decipher." He was tempted to do just that, but he had other obligations right now, whatever mystery Hogwarts hid would wait for now. He supposed he could just blast his way in, as strong as he was now, but only if he wanted to sink this part of Scotland into the sea, not something he was interested in doing whatever secrets the castles hid in its halls. Still I will be back, he vowed. Something about the castles was whispering to him that whatever was inside was important, that it held secrets he had to decipher, and that somehow the castle was waiting for him in some way. Yet it would have to wait a little longer.
He looked at Hedwig who smoothed out her feathers and jumped off his shoulder into the air, her destination Bern, Switzerland. From here it was in her flight range, and she would be back soon given her ability to 'go between' as she did. Harry still wasn't certain how the hell she did her little jumps, but simply put it down to how magnificent she was, which she of course agreed with.
Harry continued to make his way to shore (which seemed to be empty of squid alas, Chulhey had been a good friend, well he had after Luna introduced it to them all, and a major help in the second task of the Tournament in his fourth year), feeling more and more of the wards hit him and thankfully find him acceptable. The anti-apparition ward hadn't of course but most of these wards were developed to keep the castle hidden, not take out someone who already knew of its existence.
As he stepped onto the shore he remembered how he first became friends with Daphne and Tracy on the shore of the lake. It was at the beginning of their second year, and he and the twins had been spending time together, trying to come to an agreement on a group prank against the teachers when they heard the sound a commotion by the lake. It turned out to be a group of upper year Slytherins fighting two third year girls, whose bodies, much like Susan Bones in Hufflepuff, had already begun to mature. A group of six sixth years and two seventh years had followed them out to the lake and ambushed them there. Harry and the twins had leapt into the fight and with surprise on their side routed the lot of them. Unfortunately later on it was their word against the older Slytherins and as usual Dumbledore refused to hear anything against Snape or the little bigots.
Harry and his New Marauders would run into all eight of that group later, but they would be wearing black robes and masks then, and wouldn't be walking away from that second meeting.
The aftermath was that Daphne and Tracey practically moved into Ravenclaw tower, and Daphne and Hermione conspired to create a few spells to help protect the girls in the Slytherin quarters from their enemies. Hermione showed a certain level of viciousness in her spell creation that made every boy in their group flinch and cross their legs, but it cemented a friendship with the two pureblood girls and started a rivalry between her and Daphne that would last until Hermione was killed by Snape and Draco.
He spent his time waiting for his familiar walking around the grounds for two hours lost in his memories, but Hedwig's return dragged him back into the here and now, and soon, after viewing her memories of their destination, the two were off.
At around two in the afternoon local time a man walked into a bank in Bern the capital of Switzerland. He wore a tailored Armani suit in dark gray colors, a very nice white shirt underneath, but no tie. He was carrying a large backpack, but as the metal detectors at the door didn't ring in alarm, the security guards stationed on either side of the entrance didn't think it dangerous. They watched him, of course, and when he walked up to one of them it was a surprise to hear him speak in fluent Swiss. "Excuse me," he said, "could you direct me to where I need to go to open up a new account?" the guard thus addressed did so, still wondering what was in the bag but being too professional to ask.
Harry smirked a little. When he had mentioned his translation spells to Ororo, she had gotten very, very irritated. Even with her normal control before he gave her the necklace he created a storm had begun to develop outside the house, complete with lightning, thunder and rain. She thought that it was a cheat. That you learned more about a language and its people while actually learning the language than you ever could just by being given knowledge of the language in a few seconds of spell work, especially since that knowledge faded over time. Harry had agreed to only use it when he wasn't around her, but also refused to join the language classes as he had far more important things to do. Ororo hadn't liked that, but had acquiesced.
Harry was shown into a rather small office where a man in his 30s stood up and welcomed him with a bland noncommittal smile on his face. "I understand you wish to open up a new account with us, Mr…?"
Harry nodded. "Harry Potter, yes as I've recently moved out on my own so I really do need my own account. I have made some recent discoveries and I hope to start up my own business soon. I have the capital, some of the items that I'm looking to patent have done very well, but it's all been sort of under the table."
The man looked a little dubious, at that, but nodded. "Might we have your ID please?" Harry handed over the ID the Fantastic Four gave him, and as he had suspected it passed muster quite easily.
While they were waiting for the ID to come back the man talked about the minimal initial deposit requirement, as well as what kind of interest he could expect. Harry replied that he would be depositing quite a lot more than that, but he would allow the interest rate to remain at their set level, until he was proven to be a good investment.
The man frowned a little at that, wondering what the younger man in front of him was going to be doing, but shrugged as the ID came back clean. "So how much are you looking to entrust to us today, Mr. Potter?"
Perry reached into the bag and began to pull out large wads of cash, all of which of course was in the US dollar, but the presentation was all he could hope for. "About 2 and 3/4 of a million dollars US actually."
The man gaped at him and said softly "I think I'm going to have to go get my advisor." Harry frowned a little, but nodded anyway. He could have simply waved his hand and gotten the man to agree to create a bank account for him no questions asked but had decided against it. He didn't want anyone to accuse him of using his magic to influence other people like that when he eventually went public.
The discussion with the supervisor lasted about 45 minutes, but he was satisfied by Harry's tale of continually selling off items of gold that he had discovered in his grandfather's house, as well as selling certain scientific items. Mind you, the items that he described, a wrist mounted taser and a hand sized wide area dispersal pepper spray were ideas that he was going to run with eventually, but he didn't think they would be very big money makers in comparison to some of his other ideas. At the moment though they did well enough to convince the man that the money was real and that Harry was on the up and up. Of course, this being Switzerland they didn't really care what he was doing in America, so long as he didn't do it here. Once they were convinced of that fact it went much smoother.
The upshot was that an hour after walking into the bank Harry walked out with a brand-new bank account, as well as checks. He had asked the man if the checks would be usable immediately, and after another 5 minutes of wrangling, the man agreed and activated his account as fast as he could. He did this happily since Harry informed him that the money he had already deposited had only been a down payment, and that Harry expected to see a massive return in a few days. He refused to divulge where that return would be coming from, only that it wouldn't have anything illegal about it. After all, there's no law that says I can't take gold from one dimension into another is there? Harry smirked to himself.
His agenda today was to buy the various crystals and other items he would need to create a magical analysis to figure out what Juggernaut's armor was composed of, as well as certain scientific devices for the same purpose. The devices he would have to order specially, they weren't exactly going to be sold in stores, and much the same thing would have to happen for the crystals, because they had to be of perfect quality on the molecular level, but certain other items he could buy. "However," he said to himself as Hedwig zoomed down out of nowhere to perch on his shoulder. "I think I deserve a bit of a present, what do you think Hedwig?"
Hedwig seemed to think about this, then nodded affirmatively, and Harry made his way over to a map of the city at a bus stop, and then made his way over to a very specific automobile dealership. He had seen this car online while living with the Fantastic Four, and had immediately fallen in love with it. It wasn't exactly the most utilitarian car, but then again, he didn't care about that. All he wanted was something to have fun with that was fast, and this car would fit the bill nicely. After that he decided to get himself some tea and searched for a good café.
Emma Frost sat alone at a table in a little café off the main street of Bern, tapping the fingers of one hand rhythmically on the table as she read over a few notes from her bank manager. She sat alone because she wanted to, a young woman of her looks and grace would never want for companionship, but at the moment she wanted to be alone. She scowled irritably as she went over her bank notes, looking for some way out of the predicament she found herself in.
Emma was born into the Frost household, its third eldest child, and was expected to do her part to enrich the family. Frost pharmaceuticals, Frost perfume, Frost Industries, Frost import/export, and Frost Telecommunications were all big business, not quite as big as the biggest like Stark Enterprises or some of the other really big names, but easily multi-billionaires. They had become so by making few mistakes and taking care of any enemies with ruthless dispatch. Not that any of that could ever be traced back to them of course. And she was now expected to take her part in the family business, and that was surprisingly as its heir.
Her older brother, their firstborn child, was a lush. He spent his time and money on sex, alcohol and drugs, and anyway was gay, something that was almost as bad these days as being a known mutant. Her older sister was equally unsuitable, she was cruel and sadistic, and was horrible at hiding it. Her father approved of such things in moderation of course, but Adrienne refused to even think that the opinions of anyone outside the family should matter at all, and routinely abused the servants in various ways.
So Emma had been chosen to succeed her father as head of the business. The only problem was, she didn't want to be. She wanted to make a her own way in the world, succeed on her own merits. However, the family had refused to allow that, and Emma was here to see if she could in some way get enough of her money out of her bank account to start up somewhere on her own. Unfortunately, her parents had tangled up her bank account with numerous regulations, rules and expectations, and she was left with no way to get out any significant amount without their say-so. Well her father's say-so, her mother kept herself drugged to the gills so she didn't have to deal with her families issues.
Emma scowled angrily to herself, confident that her powers would keep anyone from actually noticing. It was those powers, the mutant power of telepathy that had awoken during her puberty that allowed her to sit alone in the very crowded café. Despite the fact that I would miss the higher things in life, I'm almost tempted to run off right now. I could convince someone to buy my car, and that would give me enough money to start with obviously. But no, I bet my father would send people after me, especially given certain agreements he's made concerning me! If it was only the fact that she was being forced to take over the family businesses in the future she would've easily born that up. The businesses weren't anything she was really interested in, but that could've changed over time. No it was the other aspect of being head of Frost industries that bothered the hell out of her.
Her father was part of a very old, very wealthy and very influential group called the Hellfire Club that had been around since the 1700s. This group specialized in backroom dealings, insider trading, and working together to profit from the rest of the world. She had no issues with any of that, what she did have an issue with was the fact that it was heavily gender biased and male-dominated. Despite her high birth, despite the money and influence she as the head of Frost Corp. would bring to the group, she as a woman was going to be subservient to a man, one of the so called Kings, which would control her as his Queen. The man in question was named Sebastian Shaw, a friend of her father who had been eyeing her for several years now. The idea of what that man would do once he had actual control over her did not bear thinking about. And unfortunately, he had such good telepathic blocks, developed despite not being a telepath himself that he would know immediately if she tried to influence him, with consequences she did not want to consider.
It wasn't as if she was entirely unused to the attentions of man of course, she had had several boyfriends despite her older sister's machinations. With her looks how could it be anything else? And in fact she had a very brief and extremely pleasant affair with one of her teachers, there was something to be said about experience over youthful ineptitude. No, it was the fact that she was still very technically a virgin. Much like the Middle East still did, and like the Hellfire Club had done since its inception, a woman was supposed to come to it unsullied and her father had basically told her from the very beginning of puberty that she was allowed to fool around in any way shape or form but that. If she did that, not only would she be thrown out of the house with nothing to her name, but he would see to it that she could never work at any level at any business in the world again save as a slut on the street.
Emma had long thought of getting out of it somehow, but had hoped to be able to find a better way forward. It hadn't worked. Calm down Emma, she thought coldly to herself, so you can't get out of it, figure out some angle, you want to influence him, figure out a way to do it, or just take the plunge and run off now. The odds of her successfully running off were slim, but possibly better than being controlled by that neanderthal Shaw.
Her thoughts were interrupted however, as someone sat across from her, something that should've been impossible given the fact that she was projecting a telekinetic field that would tell anyone with a brain that this table was not in fact here. Yet someone still had sat down with her.
She looked up and was caught by the most magnificent emerald eyes she had ever seen, snapping with barely concealed humor and hidden power. The face around those eyes was handsome, dominated by an expressive smile, white teeth, unkempt black hair and a strange fading scar on his forehead. "Sorry about this," he said as he sat down a cup of tea and a large scone, "but if the choice is between sitting with you or sitting with the fat Yank, I'll choose the beautiful blonde every time."
Emma looked around beyond startled and then noticed that he was in fact telling the truth. The only free space in the café was next to a very fat American who was talking loudly into some kind of cell phone. Probably a tourist, she thought scornfully then turned back to her new companion, looking at him in a strange kind of wonder. Pausing momentarily to think about it, she then sent a small fragment of her telepathic power forward to probe his mind wanting to make sure that this wasn't some stooge of her father or someone Shaw sent to look over his 'investment'.
Harry frowned a little as he felt a little nudge on the side of his mental invisibility cloak. It didn't seem to have any malice behind it or anything, and he realized almost immediately that it was coming from the young woman in front of him. Still, he thought to himself if I looked like her I would be a little worried about a complete stranger sitting with me too. He decided to have a bit of fun with her, and very stealthily stuck his mental avatar's hand out from under the invisibility cloak protecting his mind. That hand held a sign saying 'No Trespassing, violators will be pranked mercilessly', then a little animation started on it, featuring a Bugs Bunny like rabbit and a very large mallet coming down on its head several times.
On the outside edge Emma had continued to sip her tea as she sent her probe forward, only to nearly spit it out in surprised laughter at the response she eventually got, though the fact she didn't see anything else of the man's mind was fascinating. Setting down her tea she picked up her napkin and dabbed at her mouth for a moment before speaking. "All right, that was interesting."
Harry grinned at her. "Well, that'll teach you not to probe strange men's minds. I know why you did it, after all a young woman as good looking as you probably does need to be more careful than normal people, but it's still rather rude."
Emma leaned back, taking in more of the man's appearance. The suit was nice, well fitted and very good quality even if it only looked like an Armani, as a Frost of course she could spot a fake suit a mile away, but this one seemed decent enough. The boy, no young man in front of her had some bank information in front of him as well as a map showing the roads down to Italy. He didn't look up from looking at the map intently almost as if he wasn't paying her any attention now that she had stopped trying to probe his own mind.
That didn't feel like any kind of telepathic block, nor did it feel like a natural one. I wonder what it was. Emma smiled, this kind of mystery was precisely what she needed to take her mind off her current troubles. "So what was that little trick just now?"
Harry looked up from the map he was perusing. He had decided that he really wanted to try out his new car before going back to the X-Men mansion. And driving in the US was problematic with the stupidly low speed limits. "Just a little trick," he said blandly, not about to open up to a young woman he had only just met, no matter how good looking she was, not right away at least. "By the way, what is it with mutants and being beautiful? Is that part of the whole mutant thing, I mean really is it genetics?"
Emma smirked a little at the rather blatant attempt to change the subject, the compliment was flattering but oddly informative at the same time, though the man might not have meant it to be. "And have you met many of us mutants?" She had only met one, maybe two other mutants, though she had suspicions about several others, including Sebastian Shaw.
"Several" he said, not going into any detail, "And I've yet to meet a female one that wasn't gorgeous." Inside however, he was wondering how this woman had fallen through the cracks and been missed by Xavier. It would seem Cerebro isn't as accurate or all knowing as he wants me to believe. Or could it be that he doesn't know either? The first would be irritating, but the second would be much more worrisome, especially if it isn't missing because of faults in its detection net, but because of someone else being able to block it.
Regardless, this young woman had easily the most defined telepathic probe he had ever felt bar Xavier's own. Jean's in comparison was blunt with not a lot of force behind it and even the legelimencers of his former dimension like Bumblemore didn't compare. That spoke of a lot of drive, training and ability.
Emma frowned a little when the man went back to perusing his map. She was unused to being dismissed so easily, and wondered what other tricks the young man had that gave him such an air of competence and concealed power. "Come now" she said, leaning forward. "Can't you tell me a little bit about yourself? It's not often that I meet someone who can simply ignore my mental suggestions and probes."
Harry looked up and took in the view she was very consciously giving him then concentrated solely on her face, allowing her to see his appreciation there for a moment before saying blandly. "Now why would I tell a complete stranger anything about me?"
Emma cocked her head to one side letting her hair fall coquettishly down one shoulder. "My name is Emma Frost, there, we're not strangers anymore."
Harry laughed a little, then shook his head, as he leaned back in his chair. "The innocent seductress act doesn't really work for you, you know. My name's Harry Potter how do you do?"
Emma leaned back met again, smiling a little now that they had broken the ice. "I know, but sometimes it's the only card available. I might as well get used to it after all," she said the last bit a little tartly, and then blinked, not having wanted to say that aloud.
Harry frowned. The young woman didn't strike him as someone coming from a bad family or anything like that, but the frustration, anger and the little bit of fear in her words struck a chord in him. "So," he said thoughtfully "you've run into someone else who is immune to your mental powers, and who wants something you don't want to give?"
Emma sighed, she hadn't meant to let that out, after all she was interested in getting information from the young man not giving out her own. "It's a lot more complicated than that. Suffice to say however that I was here searching for a way out of it, and my father has rather neatly sewn them all up long before I got here. I've been debating with myself whether or not to simply run off, unfortunately I doubt it would work for very long. Frost Corp has a very long arm."
Harry frowned thoughtfully recognizing the name now. Frost Corp was a big name in perfumes, pharmaceuticals, and scientific instruments and had holdings in some other industries. They had literally thousands of patents to the company's name, including some of the scanners he wanted to buy. "Frost huh, I recognize the name. I don't suppose you'd be willing to barter a deal for some of your scientific scanners."
"Satisfy my curiosity and maybe," she said bluntly. She now knew with the kind of assurance that came from long trusting her instincts that the young man before her held some kind of power that could probably help her. All that remained was to convince him to do so.
Harry smirked a little, while looking at the time. It was now three in the afternoon, and that left them with four hours of sunlight, which was perfect for what he wanted to actually be doing with his day. Talking to Emma was interesting, and certainly kept him on his toes, but he wanted to be doing something a little more physical and fun. "Now if you actually had a good car, we could make a little game of this. After all I just bought a car, and the dealer said it was pretty fast. I like going fast and I'd like some time to get to know my car a little, see if he was telling the truth before heading back to the land of the ridiculous 60 mph limits."
"I have a Ferrari 458" she said laughing a little. "I could probably beat any dinky little car you have in any kind of race you could ask."
"Wow, a Ferrari 458, that's incredible. Precisely the kind of rich little girl car I thought you'd have." As Emma's eyebrows rose in amusement Harry smirked a little. "All right, let's have a little race and put your money where your mouth is. The winner gets to ask the loser for three favors or the answer to three questions, no arguments, no prevaricating, okay?"
Emma grinned, looking far less haughty and far more impish. If there was one thing she loved to do more than make money it was race. "Fine by me, I'm finished with my tea, so shall we start now?"
Harry smirked finished his own tea, stood up and led the way outside. In the little parking area right by the café Emma stopped and stared.
The car Harry was moving towards was emerald green like his eyes only a little deeper shade, it was obviously built for speed with very fine lines, little side mirrors, a very big engine at the back and it was absolutely gorgeous. "What," she said coldly, "is that?" She had the feeling she had just been duped and she didn't like it.
"That,is a Pagani Huayra," Harry answered, grinning a little.
"A Huayra, as in one of the newest, fastest cars in the world," she said softly, knowing now she had been tricked.
"Yep, isn't she pretty?"
Emma growled but went over to her own Ferrari 458. Suddenly her certain victory wasn't looking so certain.
On a nearby rooftop a man wearing a skull mask, blue spandex and an orange cloak was watching this with amusement. On his back he had a quiver of arrows, on one arm he wore a shield and at his waist rested a sword and a short bow. He spoke into a walkie-talkie saying, "Keep an eye on them for now; we'll have a much easier time taking her outside the city somewhere. Wait until they're far enough away and as alone as possible before we move in, understand?"
He received three affirmatives, and jumped off the building toward his own car. Of course, given how fast the two punk's cars were, he and his associates would have a devil of a time keeping up with them, but that didn't matter. They would have to stop eventually, and the tracker he had put on Emma Frost's car earlier that day would enable them to track them down easily.
Taskmaster was much more of an assassin and trainer than a kidnapper, but the money he would get from some of the Frost family's enemies would let him retire from active duty and open up his training school for criminals that he had been planning for a few years now. Much easier, safer and more profitable than actually being out in the field. What his three associates would do with their pay was something he didn't care about.
The two young people stopped at a gas station right outside of Bern off one of the countries highways to fill their tanks and mark out their route. Emma, who of course had been around here before marked down a route to take down into Italy the halfway point of which would be the city of Devos. "The hotels in Devos are magnificent, and have very secure parking areas which would be good for us in particular. After that the road from Devos down into Italy this way is one of the best in the world if we end up running into too much traffic between here and Devos to make it really a race." Emma was of course covering her bases here. While she might not like being a Frost, she still was one, and just like the rest of them she hated to lose.
Harry nodded. "I shall be guided in this by you fair lady, though the traffic should be a part of any race, after all that will make it more exciting. Are you ready to go?"
Emma nodded looking a little amused by the older boys bravado. "And what about any policemen that see us?"
Harry smirked a little. "I don't feel like dealing with them, so I think we'll just ignore them. I assume you can do your trick from the café for yourself, and I have my own equivalent so…" Emma laughed and nodded, and the two got back into their supercars. As soon as they pulled out onto the main road the race began
Almost immediately it was clear the Huayra had a far more powerful engine. The 458 had a V8, the Huayra had a v-12 turbo, and Harry began to pull ahead, but Emma had tweaked her own car by adding turbo and other things well enough that she was able to keep within shouting distance. She also made up some time on the curves and in traffic, though not nearly as much as she had expected. "I really need to learn the specs of that car, it's amazing!" She laughed, and gunned her Ferrari further, the air coming in from her open windows swirling her blond hair around her head.
Harry too was having a lot of fun. The two were dodging in and out of traffic, pulling further and further away from the city, and they hadn't even really been able to open up their engines due to the traffic. As soon as they hit a good speed, normally around 70 mph, they would hit traffic and had to slow down again, and even as he realized this it happened yet again, allowing Emma to stay on his tail.
In an attempt to put some distance between them he changed from one lane to another to avoid a truck, then swiftly ducked back in to his original lane to avoid another one, and sped on. "This is almost as fun as playing Quidditch, the only thing missing is people trying to bludgeon me to death!"
Emma followed him swiftly, showing her normal lack of concern for her own safety when driving her car. Her parents always castigated her severely about it, not because of concern for her own well being but because of the bad PR their daughter being in car accident would give their family. But she'd never been in an accident, and she wasn't going to be in one now.
This was a trick she had learned early on with her telepathic powers, the ability to pinpoint minds around her, and predict what the owner of those minds would be doing in the near future. This allowed her to prepare for the actions of the other drivers around her, which in turn allowed her to react to them far better than anyone else. More she could send out a sort of radar pulse to read the territory around them and predict changes in the road, turns and any problems ahead of her. It had never failed her yet, and it was the only reason she was able to keep up with Harry, who didn't have that ability.
She swerved around one truck dodged into the other lane, then back in front of the truck and then did the same thing again to several cars that were going far too slowly in her opinion, than was right behind Harry again.
The further and further they got away from the city, the less traffic there was, and the two super-cars were finally able to really open up about an hour into the race. Emma pulled even with Harry at that point, but that was the last time they were neck and neck. Harry's car was simply that much better than hers, and his reflexes were utterly insane, almost able to match the knowledge her powers could give her.
Still, she was having a hell of a lot of fun, and she hoped that that she could probably talk him into helping her anyway. The more she thought about it the more she became certain that the young man could help her, that his aura of confidence and power was the real thing. Sebastian Shaw gave off an aura like that, but in his case it was more an aura of cruel malice and ambition rather than simple power.
The race continued for several hours, but they were obliged to slow down as dusk came and they began to see signs for the city of Devos. Harry signaled they should pull into an abandoned viewing area that overlooked a magnificent view, though the edge of the area was a simple cliff with no protective fence. Emma responded by following him in.
Harry smiled as Emma got out of her car, flashing quite a bit of leg to a very appreciative audience. She smirked a little as she noticed his gaze, and then smirked even wider when he concentrated on her face as she came up to them. She could count on the digits of one hand the number of boys his age or younger that could look at her and not just see her as a sex object and it was very refreshing.
"I believe I won that," Harry said, raising one eyebrow in question.
Emma nodded. " So you did. That car is truly fantastic, and your own driving wasn't that horrible either."
"Yes well, I did learn from a former super-car test driver."
"Oh, who, was that?" she said.
"Johnny Storm actually." Harry answered flippantly, though he was looking around for some reason, his instincts were telling him something was wrong.
And that she thought gleefully, clinches it. He radiates power like a beacon, has money to burn that's obvious, knows Johnny Storm and probably the rest of the fantastic four! Even if he can't help me with my present situation, he would be a fantastic connection later on.
Their conversation was interrupted when a large truck pulled in ahead of them on the side of the road. Four men jumped out of the back, all dressed in various uniforms. One was dressed in a decent looking blue suit with green pants, though the suit looked a little too tight on him, and his tie looked like something from the late Victorian era. Another was dressed in blue spandex, a orange cape and death's mask. The third was a taller, massively ripped man with blue hair and a slight tan that wore form fitting red spandex. And the last was a man twirling a large boomerang around in his hand and wore purple spandex.
Harry just shook his head. "What is with people in this dimension and wearing spandex? Honestly, it's almost obscene."
Emma heard the 'this dimension' bit there, but decided not to comment on it just yet. "I have no idea." She said blandly, "Though if I wore it. I certainly would look better in it than these four don't you think?"
"But of course you would my dear," Harry replied, bowing grandly.
The four had by this time surrounded the two racers, and the one with the death mask on his face spoke up. "Emma Frost, you're coming with us. There's someone out there who wants quite a bit of money from your father and you are going to be the key to that. You kid, can get out of here."
"Hey now wait, a minute," said the man wearing red spandex in Italian accented English. "That car of his is fantastic, let's take that with us too. And don't you worry honey, we'll take goooood care of you." He leered at Emma who merely rolled her eyes.
The man in the suit nodded, looking her over and smiling lasciviously. "Indeed, after all, our employer wanted to cause the Frost family pain. Kidnapping is only one way to do that, humiliation is another, isn't that right Taskmaster?"
"Hey," the guy in purple said sharply, his voice carrying a distinct Aussie twang. "I didn't sign up for any shit like that, let's keep this clean."
"Boomerang's right," said taskmaster sharply. "Keep on task Unus, Swan, we're not here just to get your jollies off. Let's keep this professional and not make this any more difficult than it already has to be. Now get out of here punk, before we change our mind and just dump you body somewhere."
Emma frowned and looked at Harry, who raised an eyebrow at her, his whole body tense like a spring. She nodded, indicating she could take care of herself and Harry shook his head and suddenly was holding a sword. "Yeah, that's not happening" he said calmly. "In fact I don't think that anything about this is going to be easy for you lot."
He cast a speed enhancing spell on his legs and shot forward, already conjuring up lions and other beasts out of the thin air to attack the Italian Unus while he concentrated on the one he saw as most dangerous, the one who seemed to be in charge and who was even now firing arrows from a short bow at him, the one the others identified as Taskmaster.
The one carrying a boomerang shouted "what the hell!" as Harry closed in, but Emma didn't waste time looking astonished (though inside she certainly was, that was two different powers Harry just showed) she simply lashed out with her power. A bolt of telepathic force centered around the idea, the concept and mental signal for PAIN hammered into the l minds of two of the attackers. Boomerang went down screaming in pain, out of the fight for now.
Swan however simply shrugged it off and turned to look her with a sneer. "So you are a mutant as well." He said a little coldly as he brought out his sword. "I dislike violence against young ladies of your stature, but if you do not wish to come with this peacefully. Then I have no choice. After all it is not as if I would not make our liaison as pleasurable as possible for you if you do not resist."
Emma smirked a little as the man's own power tried to get past her defenses, but it was easily beaten back and she lashed out again with her telepathic power. This time her assault was not a brute force bludgeon but a subtle illusion, making it seem as if Harry had summoned more beasts to fight him. Hundreds of such images assaulted Swan, who suddenly was no longer sneering. He began to stab out wildly with his sword at a few of the beasts as his power made some of her other illusions disappear. Emma simply laughed, slowly leading him away from where they had parked and towards the edge of the cliff the rest stop overlooked.
Behind him Taskmaster and Unus engaged Harry, the Italian's fists doing numbers on Harry's conjured animals, while he laughed madly at the beasts attempts to bother him, yet his power, the ability to create a impenetrable shield around himself, protected him from all attacks. Taskmaster too dealt with them swiftly, far more swiftly than Harry had expected, but he was fine with that. After all, they had only been designed to test his enemy's abilities.
So the one has a shield of some kind, but obviously it doesn't keep out air or else he wouldn't be able to breathe. Harry used one of his prank spells to conjure up a cloud that smelled like a full power gas attack and sent it towards the would-be rapist, and soon enough he was down and gasping for air as his eyes began to tear up.
That left Harry to engage Taskmaster, who at this point, had finished off Harry's conjured beasts and closed the range striking out at Harry with his sword. Harry deflected the first blow and the second then barely dodged the third. This guy is good he thought, but if he thinks I've run out of tricks yet he's sadly mistaken.
A brief wave of his hand brought up several hundred hands reaching out from the ground, but Taskmaster simply moved through them exceptionally quick, slicing them to pieces and blasting away at Harry with a gun he had pulled from his back, out of arrows for his short bow having spent them on some of the more dangerous conjured beasts. A quick shield spell protected Harry, but Taskmaster was once again able to close the distance and moved around the visible shield to run Harry through. Or so he thought.
The illusion that Harry had created at the same time he created his shield dissipated as Taskmaster's sword pierced it and the man's sword arm was still outstretched when the real sword of Gryffindor sliced in from behind the image. Even taken by surprise the Taskmaster was able to dodge the blow, only taking a very minor nick on the outside of his sword arm.
Taskmaster adjusted himself and came forward again, this time a knife in one hand and his sword in the other. Harry however simply backed away and then turned away completely to face Unus who had recovered by this point. Taskmaster was just about to step forward enough to run him through from behind, wondering why the hell he had turned away but not looking a gift horse in the mouth, when his knees gave out. A sudden wracking pain jolted through him, and he sagged. "P-poison," he said in shock, "There, there was poison on that blade?"
Harry looked over his shoulder as he sent out yet another air based spell at the man with the shield, but he seemed to have learned his lesson and now the shield was blocking that is well. It didn't block the blinding 'Lumos' spell that went off right in front of his face however, and the man once again fell back screaming and clawing at his eyes in agony. "Basilisk venom," he said softly to Taskmaster. "I nearly died from it when I was twelve-ish, and the only cure was the tears of a Phoenix, I truly doubt you'll find one of those around here." Eight days later remembering this line would cause Harry to bang his head against a wall as hard as he possibly could.
"This blade might not be the most dangerous blade in the world, but it sure as hell is up there, you underestimated it, and you underestimated me. When you see Death, give her my regards." Harry had no patience whatsoever for kidnappers, rapists or murderers, especially murderers/kidnappers for higher.
He walked away as Taskmaster tried to get to his feet, only to fall again, his eyes dimming over as his body shuddered and quaked around him.
The first one that Emma had taken out was almost back to his feet, when the ground underneath him rose up and ensnared him like a living wave of earth. After a second he gasped as his clothing constricted him, and then changed color into a paisley kind of thing. Harry walked up then slapping him on the shoulder. "The only reason you're still alive," He said cheerfully "is because you said you wouldn't go along with the rape idea. I suggest you get a new line of work, because I am very much a strike one sort of person. The next time I see you, you will be out." And with that Harry used 'Stupefy' on the man, knocking him unconscious.
It would take a bit of work later, but he would eventually erase all knowledge of Harry's abilities from the man's mind, or at least, Emma would once the battle ended, and Harry would install a small runic array based on intent on the man's back, that would change his hair color and make the man crap uncontrollably every time he thought of something violent, draining the man's own bio-energy to power it. Humiliation after all, was oftentimes much better than any other form of punishment. This way the man couldn't even think of violence without being humiliated, much better than simply putting him in prison and expecting him to mend his ways on his own.
Unus was back by this point, but his eyes didn't seem to be working properly. Harry wondered what would happen if he cast his own 'Protego 'on the man to cover his own shield, and did so. He walked away, and the man fell to his knees, gasping for air. He tried to break out but Harry kept the shield moving around him until he fell to his knees, lack of air having finally taken his toll. Harry made certain the man was down by using another overpowered 'Lumos' and the man didn't even twitch. Harry conjured up several more shields to surround the man, then pushed on the outermost with a 'Repulso', sending the man's entombed corpse over the edge of the cliff to get rid of the body. He would later do the same to Taskmaster after ransacking his pockets and transfiguring him into a rock. Dead beings after all were much easier to transfigure.
By this time Emma had handled the so called Black Swan. His blade was passing through the air at imaginary enemies and she had easily tied him up in knots so much that he didn't even realize she had also cast a subtle illusion on his senses that had to deal with the ground, extending the edge of the cliff just slightly. A moment later he stepped forward to put his back against the edge and fell as the ground which to his mind looked so solid wasn't in fact there at all. He tried to scramble at the edge but a sudden telepathic blast of pain rocked into his shocked mind, and his defenses crumbled. He screamed aloud reflectively clutching his head and then fell to his death screaming.
She turned to see Harry coming up and looked behind him to see one enemy seemingly having been mostly eaten by the ground wearing the most ugly outfit she had ever seen, one other dead and the other had already past her on his way off the cliff. She nodded cordially to him. "Now, where were we?" she said calmly.
Harry smirked a little at how composed she was despite the violence of the last fifteen minutes or so, and decided to see what her reaction would be to a bit of the truth. "I was going to ask you some business related questions, and hopefully make a deal with you for a few of Frost Industries patented scanning equipment. More I have a lot of gold that I need to get out into the market and I need to know the best way to do that without bringing any attention to my doings."
Emma perked up visibly at the word gold. "Tell me more."
Harry did so, estimating how much gold he had, and her smile, which had still been a little cold after watching the man called Swan fall to his death turned very bright and eager. "You know Harry," she said looping one of his arms with her own as they made their way back to their cars, "this could be the start of a lovely friendship."
Harry smiled a little and said "you know what, I think so too."
End chapter