Ororo smirked, pushing past him to get into his car, looking around in interest and finding it as nice on the inside as on the outside. She took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on, throwing her wild main of hair back. "Let's go Harry I suddenly feel the need to shock people. Their faces amuse me."
"Heh, I'll remember to take pictures." Harry shook his head and got into the driving seat and gunning the engine.
"And on the way you can tell me more about this other mutant, and what that has to do with your lips tasting of spearmint and cherry." Harry laughed, and the two exited the mansion at speed.
Mystique sat down in her lounge chair in her office, sighing tiredly and relaxing back into her swivel chair, still wearing her disguise of Raven Darkholme. If I knew there was this much work involved in being the principal of a school, I would never have chosen it as my cover. The paperwork and the showing the flag crap of walking around and just be seen was irritating. Training the kids before and after school was also irritating as hell, but they were all getting stronger, better at using their powers, even if their teamwork wasn't up to snuff yet.
She was still a little confused though by the newest X-man, Harry Potter. His mysterious message to Lance had yet to come to anything, but neither had he shown up anywhere. I still have no idea what his powers are but at least he seems pretty neutral in our little conflict here. I have to wonder though what his opinions on the bigger picture are….
Her thoughts were interrupted as her private cell phone rang in her pocket. She frowned, only a bare handful of people knew her number and none of them would use it lightly at an unscheduled time. Indeed the one who was mostly likely to be calling would only call if he couldn't come speak to her in person, which would indicate something had gone wrong elsewhere. Worriedly she picked up after the second ring. "Hello, this is Raven."
"Hello Mystique. How is the world of education?" A woman's voice speaking in calm, soothing tones came over the line and Mystique relaxed.
"Irene" she said tiredly, yet with a smile on her face and in her voice "how are you my friend?" Irene Adler was normally called Destiny most of the time, and was a mutant like Mystique. She was able to see into the future, though how far varied from a few seconds (very useful in a fight, making Irene deadly when pressed, though she wasn't anyone's idea of a front-line soldier) to years, sometimes even decades, though the farther she looked, the less useful her power was. Any prediction made within the next few years was almost guaranteed, but any beyond that became far harder to interpret in their wording. They were still accurate, but not very useful far in advance of the prediction itself.
She was also Mystique's closest friend, indeed her only real friend all the others were merely acquaintances at best. More than that, Irene was the only person in the entire world Raven trusted completely. Most people trust other people in little ways all the time, but not her. For Mystique, her power was a curse as she knew that enemies could be literally anywhere, could find her any time. Add to that the appalling number of times she had been betrayed, betrayed by friends, fellow soldiers, and her employers, and you had a person whose paranoia was beyond extreme. She handled it most of the time by simply being in disguise herself, but even under that she never let anyone close. Irene was the exception to that rule. They had known eachother for so long, ever since they were young adults back in 1903 when the daughter of a well-to-do merchant family hired Mystique, a young independent detective at the time, to help her figure out her visions and what they meant. The two of them had been friends ever since, and never had Irene proven less than a true friend.
Over the years, as Irene suffered her own betrayals, her own horrors, the two had become closer, even lovers at times, until that trust was one of the main foundations of their personal worlds. Both of them felt strongly about the need to defend mutant kind from exploitation and bigotry, and it had been both their choice to side with their current leader as the best chance to see that through. Mystique shook her head, but the smile on her face didn't disappear. "You realize you nearly gave me a heart attack calling out of the blue like this, our scheduled check-in isn't for another two days. What's wrong?"
"A third path to the future has opened." Irene said her voice deepening a little, become a little more otherworldly as she relayed what her power had informed her when she used it a few moments ago. "You will soon be meeting the fulcrum of it face to face, what you do then will be up to you."
Raven frowned, not understanding. "What does that mean Irene?"
"It means that before, there were only two paths dominating the future of mutant-kind, intertwined and so muddled as to be impossible to discern where one ended and another began." Raven nodded thoughtfully, understanding this probably meant Xavier's theories of co-habitation and peace and Magneto's idea of isolation and conquest. Obviously they would be intertwined, some mutants would choose one or the other, and they would just as obviously be at odds. "Yet now a third choice is part of the equation. Where the others twist and turn, signifying changing of the people involved, this one lays there like a bar of solid steel, as if the people who become part of it never deviate. It is… astonishing. It is not an easy path, I can see war and battles, but it is a third choice, and it will involve the wizard with the emerald eyes. More, all my predictions set more than a few years into the future are gone. Some are changed, others are simply not going to occur at all."
"Wizard? Emerald eyes?" Raven was very intelligent, and there was nothing wrong with her memory, she could remember quite easily a person with emerald eyes. "Potter, you mean Harry Potter? Wait, he's a wizard?! Son of a…." she trailed off, knowing her friend's distaste for vulgarity. "That explains, well that explains his powers and why none of the Brotherhood could explain what they were." Mystique and Irene had run into one real wizard and one wannabe wizard in the past, and Mystique had run into two wanna-be occultists during WW2 when she was working for the allies. Baron Struker had dabbled in the occult at one point, and she had worked with the allies forces to stop him. Another madman had tried to open some kind of portal to another realm, and she and Irene had both worked with a real wizard to close it and kill the idiot. Doctor Voodoo had been an odd character, but powerful. Though his powers were based more on fighting the undead than the living at the time that was just what they needed. She had also heard about a 'Sorcerer Supreme', but there was no way Harry Potter could be that individual, he was far too young. "But does that mean he's also a mutant or did Xavier bring him in as a combat consultant or something, that wouldn't be like him at all. Can you tell me anything about Potter's powers?"
Irene chuckled tiredly. Using her power to look into the future was draining and the further into the future the harder. She had been so fascinated by what she saw she had expended a lot of her energy looking. She was in fact going to conk out for a while very soon, whether she wanted to or not. "You know my powers don't work like that, the images are so confusing its impossible to tell, I just know he is from elsewhere, and different than any sorcerer from our dimension, powerful in odd ways. He is center of this path, the fulcrum, and will be joined by the power of nature, of the cleansing flame, of the diamond frost, and others, though I cannot make them out, Russian steel is one, and others, a flame from the Orient, some others. He will be important and you have a chance now to meet him and possibly join him if you wish, though the outcome of is so affected by others that I cannot see if it will be good or bad." The fact Irene would follow her didn't need to be said it was so obvious.
"I'm sorry Irene, you must have exhausted yourself. Go to bed my friend, I'll call you tomorrow afternoon. Let me handle it from here." Raven said, her voice gentler than most who knew her ever heard, a note of actual apology in her voice. Irene sighed in weary assent and hung up, leaving the shape-shifter to wonder what she was going to do, when she should expect Harry Potter to contact her, and how he would do it. This would be answered momentarily.
Jean stretched contentedly at the back of her last class of the day, world history (which was more American rather than World but still interesting), having gotten there early enough to get a seat in the back where she could relax. She was a few weeks ahead in the reading anyway, and the teacher for this class didn't assign many assignments, simply lumping all the information into the unit tests and two papers per semester, the next of which she had already begun. She wasn't complaining though, she had physics right before this, so a nice lazy class right before having to deal with the errant emotions of her fellow cheerleaders was just what she needed. Ugh, only ten more minutes, I feel like a child wanting to pair the time down to smaller and smaller increments to put off getting out of bed. As she finished stretching she felt someone else's eyes on her and turned to look as Scott looked away from where he was sitting a few place over. She frowned a little, but then shrugged.
The fact that Scott had the same class was a mixed blessing. While she was still friends with him, the way he had been acting lately had soured their friendship and she couldn't bring herself to care much. Scott refused to think he was in the wrong pushing Potter, not learning as well as he could and playing favorites (which they had a massive row about earlier), and until he did she wasn't willing to be the one to bend. Really the similarities between Scott and Duncan are amusing as hell. One is opinionated because he's been chosen as our leader, the other because of his family's money, one thinks he's entitled because of how good he looks and his football skills, the other because of the 'tragedy' of his power.
Her thoughts were interrupted as a few of the kids on the outer side of the classroom looked out the window, whispering excitedly about something in the parking lot. Since this class had a side facing the lot and was on the second floor they had a good view of the parking lot, one that was normally uninteresting in the extreme. She cocked an eyebrow, wondering what that was about. Suddenly a wave of envy and lust hit her from both the boys and girls who were looking out the window, and several others gasped. One of the boys even muttered, "Damn who is that fox?"
Her friend Taryn, who was one of the most boy-crazy girls she knew despite having a good head on her shoulders, hissed a reply from where she was sitting between the windows and Jean. "That looks like Ms. Munroe, you know, the foreign languages teacher from over at the Xavier Institute, looks like she's had a bit of a makeover though. Never mind that, who is the hotty next to her? Look at that suit, and that smile, and are those green eyes?"
Hearing that Jean was torn between banging her head on her desk and laughing. Guess Harry's back, wonder what he and Ororo are doing here. There goes my normal day.
BY the time the pair had parked they had garnered quite a lot of attention and the school day had ended, letting out hundreds of kids to meet their parents/friends/buses, all of whom were looking at Harry and Ororo. "You think we made an impression?" Harry laughed as he closed his car door.
Ororo laughed too, walking around the car to sit on the front of it, her legs crossed languidly. "I believe so, and it is indeed a pity I forgot my phone, my nephew's face in particular is amusing, and would make a lovely photo to send his parents."
Harry laughed again touching her lightly on the shoulder. "You want to come in with me?"
"I think not, Raven will look at you with suspicion anyway, my presence would needlessly aggravate that response. Besides," she cocked her head, smirking a little, "I think my nephew and I will need to talk here for a moment."
"Have fun breaking his mind," harry said waving one hand and moving off towards the front of the school. He walked in and asked the first teacher he came across, a woman in her late forties who looked at him as if he was candy that she wanted to eat up, much like several of the teenage girls he could see, something he pointedly ignored. He knew they weren't actually attracted to him, just to the fact he was good looking and had a fantastic car. "Excuse me, can you direct me to the principal's office please?" She did so, strangely hiding one of her hands in her pocket as she leaned forward unnecessarily, pointing out the way. Harry simply nodded, thanked her and moved on, shivering a little as soon as he was around the corner.
He nearly bumped into Pietro and Lance, who were coming the other way, but he dodged around them easily. "Hey lads, nice day huh?" Before either of them could react he had moved on, leaving them both behind to stare after him along with dozens of other students, wondering who the man with the emerald eyes was.
Lance however knew who he was and he turned toward Pietro. "That's the Potter guy right? Wonder if he's here to meet with Mystique like he said he would."
Pietro shrugged, looking back at the older man, a little angry at how many admiring glances he was getting. "I don't know, but I don't like him." Maybe father should know about this, nah, whatever the punk can do I can handle, well me and the rest of the losers anyway.
Harry moved on and soon found himself at the principal's office on the third floor. After a brief discussion with the secretary in the outer office he was ushered in to see the principal, leaving the impression he was an alumni of the school just stopping by for a chat. The principal stood up, a rather severe smile on a rather severe face, thin, high cheekbones with a pair of glasses with red rims, and a deliberate, if Harry was any judge, unattractive female body covered by a serious business suit. As soon as the door shut behind her secretary however her smile disappeared. "So, Harry Potter, wizard, and mutant?"
Harry refused to let any of his surprise show, wondering internally at how she had figured it out. But he realized that the time was fast approaching when he would no longer be able to hide. He was determined to not show all his cards anytime soon though. "I see my reputation precedes me madam. Harry potter at your service, and my mutant power is rather a minor one. However, I came with a bit of a proposition."
Mystique sat back in her chair, keeping her eyes locked on the man in front of her. The very dangerous man, she realized, one with the eyes of a veteran soldier, and the way he carried himself told her he was an officer of some sort. It made her remember what Irene had said mere moments ago, about this man representing a third path for mutant-kind. It remained to be seen what kind of future it was however. "I'm listening, though what one of Xavier's people could say to me that I would find interesting is beyond me."
Harry barked a sharp laugh. "Well, I'm not really with him rather I'm more there to help the kids. What I'd like is to hear your side of this issue of mutant-kind's place in the world. But rather than just listen to you alone, I want to set up a bit of a debate, give you a chance to use your words to convince me and a teacher and student pair from the institute and let them do the same to you."
Mystique blinked in shock. The idea of a rational debate had never occurred to her, and she wondered if she should agree to this idea. To buy more time to think she asked "And where would this debate happen exactly?"
"Somewhere neutral, a public restaurant somewhere this Friday say, any recommendations?"
Mystique decided to see what kind of resources this man had, only realizing after she spoke that she had tacitly agreed to the idea. "Then how about the Spogeo, the new Italian restaurant that just opened in town?"
"Fine by me, say eight-ish?" Mystique nodded, cursing a little and wondering who to bring along. The idea of Blob or Toad in a fancy restaurant like that boggled the mind, so the choice was really down to Lance and Pietro, but the choice between them was a tough one. "Excellent, I'll see you then, now if you'll excuse me, I want to make certain none of your students tried to touch my new car." And with that Harry left, leaving behind a very confused shape-changer, who was wondering what this discussion would bring.
"A-auntie O, wh-what are you doing here? And why are you wearing… wearing that?" Evan asked, his face stuck somewhere between furious and confused.
All in all Ororo thought it rather cute. "Well Evan, I am wearing this because I feel like it. And I am here because Harry came home and wished to relay a message to the principal." She spoke circuitously, having noticed the dozens of people around in hearing range. Indeed she was now receiving even more admiring glances than Harry's Huayra. She rather liked the name, and felt the Incan god of wind it was named after would find it a most pleasing avatar. "After that he and I will be taking a bit of a drive together." Many of the boys who were staring at her turned away at that point seeing she was taken though a few, two of whom she recognized from going to football games where Jean and the cheerleaders performed, didn't and began to make their way out of the crowd toward her. She shook her head mentally, as if she would ever be interested in little boys.
"B-But, what will people think of you dressed like that?"
"I care not of other people's opinions," Ororo said coolly, "Storms have many different faces, nephew. So long as I stay true to myself I see no reason to apologize for how others perceive me."
Evan gaped at her, trying to reconcile the change in his aunt that had been going on the last few days. Rogue however who had joined them at this point grinned. "Ah think yah can call that part o' bein' a woman sugah."
Ororo chuckled. "Perhaps." She looked over at Evan, her manner challenging, regal and aloof despite her clothing. "I am who I am nephew mine, the shell I was before was just that, a shell, barely scratching the surface of my full self. Accept it and move on."
Evan scowled a little, not really used to thinking of his aunt as this outgoing, this vibrant and, well sexy. It was disturbing the hell out him given how she had always been this calm, almost self-effacing and quiet person before. Rogue took one look at his face and giggled while Scott, who had come through the crowd with Jean, simply patted him on the shoulder in commiseration.
Jean on the other hand walked toward Ororo, wondering again how the other woman could look so sexy and yet so regal and commanding at the same time. It never occurred to her that she often gave off the same appearance when she was angry, like she had been the day before at Duncan and his fellows. "I take it you're feeling better Ororo? Harry had the medicine for all that ails you?" She said, causing the other X-kids to gape at her in surprise, wondering where that came from, and why Jean felt so comfortable talking that way to the older Storm, who despite her new looks and attitude was still one of their teachers.
Ororo simply laughed holding out one hand while the other rubbed her temple. Realizing that the weather witch wanted, Jean reached out and squeezed her hand, even as Ororo replied to her previous comment. "Yes well, he convinced me to get out and about and that seems to have done the trick for my little funk."
Jean sent a bit of her power through Ororo's hand, the physical contact making it easier. As soon as she did Ororo's mental voice said, I want to thank you again for pointing out that Kitty was having a problem this morning. She was, well her problem is her own to share, but I think my talking to her helped. She was close to a complete breakdown, and if you hadn't told me about it, well it would have been much worse than it was.
Jean gripped her fingers firmly saying, Don't worry about it Ororo, I was just happy to help. We all need shoulders to lean on sometimes.
Ororo smiled again and the two women let go of one another's hands. Jean looked over the car now, whistling appreciatively. "That is one hell of a car. Where in the world did Harry find that thing?"
Duncan forced his way through the crowd of interested kids as the crowd thinned with many of the kids heading over to their rides. "Fancy piece of nothing Jeany, European crap, all flash and no power."
"My car can outlast and move faster than any dinky yank made car boyo. It's a Pagani Huayra, and it is one of the fastest cars in the world." Harry moved through the crowd, which parted around him naturally. He was about to use his regular nickname for her when he saw Jean standing there but something dangerous in her green eyes caused him to change his mind before the word came out. "Grey, you're looking your usual fetching self, how are you doing? Any new breakthroughs?" He asked, obliquely questioning if Charles had spoken to her.
Jean, her jade eyes caught by his emerald ones flushed a little but shook her head, a smirk on her lips. "You're looking good too Potter, who knew someone so scruffy could clean up so well." She then addressed the second half of what he said, thinking he meant her occlumency training, and worded her answer as if he had asked about a history paper or something. "Nice car, and no, no new breakthroughs, though the source you gave me is still helping a little."
Harry frowned a little as he patted her shoulder, which caused Duncan to scowl a little at the familiarity, even as he wondered how a shrimp like Harry had bagged a sexy thing like the older black chick. "Pity that. Ah, well, Ororo and I are off for a bit, so I'll see you lot later." Ororo nodded and got into the passenger side of the car as Harry got behind the wheel, ignoring the jealous looks from the guys and the longing looks from the girls. The two drove off living a bit of chaos in their wake.
Taryn glared at her friend. "You live with that Hotty and Scott both, god how lucky can one girl get?"
Jean shook her head, moving off toward the gym. "Harry only moved in a few weeks ago, and if you're interested in Scott…."
Ororo and Harry drove around for the rest of the late afternoon, stopping in to grab a bite to eat before heading out into the under populated mountains. Ironically they wound up near the endurance camp that the youngsters had gone to, and they pulled off to the side of the road in a little secluded area that had a wonderful view of the surrounding forests and meadows. The two ate slowly, sitting close to one another and leaning up against the side or Harry's car, telling one another in more detail about what they did yesterday.
Ororo had known since the beginning that Harry was making long term plans, plans that might not include staying with Charles and the X-men. He believed in equality between homo-sapien and homo superior (a name he never used actually) but he and Charles had very different views of how to follow that dream. More there was still a tension between them whose origin Ororo couldn't quite figure out. She was worried for the day when they would split, but from what Harry said of his plans it was a few months in the future, something which she was very thankful for. Right now though she had other things on her mind. "So this Emma girl, you honestly believe she was in a very dangerous position?
"Oh yes," Harry said rather grimly, wiping at his mouth with a napkin. The food was sandwiches, turkey clubs, and they were in his opinion mediocre, but filling. "She let a little more of her emotions slip than I think she wanted to, and she was very afraid of this Sebastian Shaw character. I want to see if I can find any information about him and his business, but whatever the reason the fear was real, just as much as the loathing she felt toward her father. Are you… are you irritated she came on to me so strong?"
Ororo took the time to finish the last bite of her own sandwich before replying, giving her time to think. "In all honesty I am not. We have not formalized our relationship, in fact we barely have a relationship so it would be….."
She was interrupted by Harry pulling her into a kiss. The kiss started rather chaste, but quickly became deep and hungry on both their parts. Ororo pushed off the ground and slithered into Harry's lap, neither disengaging from the kiss as Harry's hands fell from her shoulders to cup and fondle her rear. Ororo moaned into the kiss opening her mouth and their tongues began to twirl and slide along one another in her mouth. Her own hands went into his hair while she ground her core against his rising excitement. After a moment they had to pull back for air and Harry began to attack her neck with little nips and licks between words. "Let's change that then…" Ororo let out a deep throaty moan that was among the sexiest noises Harry had ever heard.
He decided right than he wanted to hear that noise as often as he could for as long as he could, and as Ororo continued to grind herself into his lap, he gripped her jean clad rear with one hand, bucking up beneath her as his other hand trialed up her back and around her side, gently touching the side of her breasts before just as gently playing with one of her breasts through her shirt. Even with the shirt in the way the sensation was incredible, and Ororo moaned even loader. After a moment, as their movements began to get even more frantic Harry latched onto her neck, using one of his personal tricks, parseltongue. Snakes didn't communicate with sound, but with vibrations and when Harry was speaking it his tongue vibrated. When Ororo felt that sensation against her collarbone, which was a sensitive part of her, her moan turned into a throaty yell of pleasure that rose to the sky as she came down hard on his lap, her love juices leaking through her panties. Harry moaned aloud in turn as he finished as well from the friction caused and they both fell back, with Ororo letting out little gasps and moans as she leaned on his shoulder.
It had been five years since Harry had last even seen a girl, and a bit longer since he been with a girl. This was a woman whose beauty exceeded that of any girl he had been with back in his former dimension was it any wonder he found himself out of practice and shooting a little too quickly? Ororo, despite having had a boyfriend in college a scant two years ago, had never felt anything like that with either of the men she had been with, an orgasm when she was still fully clothed? Her last boyfriend couldn't even give her one when her clothes were off and they were having full on sex! And the older tribesman she had been with as a teen had good endurance and size, but hadn't really cared about foreplay or her own needs. That had simply been the best orgasm she had ever had, her legs felt so weak that she knew she wouldn't be able to stand up. "What," she half moaned, half gasped, "Was that?"
"Heh," Harry chuckled, as his hand flashed in a very specific version of the scourgify, cleaning his pants and at her nod her own jeans, which had a very small dark spot on them. "It's called Parceltougne, a magical ability that gives me the ability to speak to snakes. Snakes talk using vibrations you know?" Ororo looked at him in shock, her grey eye wide at the implication, a shiver going through her at the idea of feeling something like that on more sensitive bits of her. "So, just to make it formal, will you be my girlfriend?"
Ororo chuckled throatily, leaning up and kissing his neck gently. "Oh yes, I definitely think you are a, what's the phrase, a keeper? Yes, you are a keeper." Harry grinned and the two kissed and simply sat there together for a time cuddling before reluctantly getting up and heading back to the mansion.
When they arrived all the girls took one look at Ororo's flushed face, wobbly gate and lightly bruised lips and began to giggle wildly to one another. Jean simply grabbed her and led her off for a talk, with Rogue and Kitty following eagerly. Harry simply smiled and walked away, ignoring Evan's glare and Kurt and Scott's looks of admiration.