Gwen flew backwards with a loud crash and as she rolled over back onto her feet, the blonde winced as she saw Laura rush at her, claws extended.
The blonde ducked and rolled, dodging her head.
"Really Harry, you throw me in here against her?" Gwen questioned as she tried to dodge the attacks as the claws swiped at her. Gwen was panting heavily and she avoided each swipe of the claws. The blonde was about ready to lose all sense of herself and start panicking. In fact, her eyes started to flash with panic.
Harry thought that it would be prudent that Gwen be given some training, especially since she had her new powers.
"I mean, I have this technology that I could use to hack into anything, why do I need to…..fight like this?" Gwen asked as she once again dodged.
"If I wasn't holding back, you would have been dead at least twice," Laura remarked to Gwen as she paused for a second before going after her again with another series of attacks. The blonde avoided them as best she could but she was panting heavily. Laura grabbed Gwen around the wrist and slammed her against the wall, her claws an inch away from slicing into her throat but she pulled back. Laura's smile widened. "Does that answer your question?"
Gwen had to admit, as much as she hated to, Laura really did have a point, several prominent ones in fact. The blonde tried to keep herself from getting a fatal encounter, running on pure instinct.
"She is pretty amazing in there," Kitty remarked as she sat on a perch, her legs crossed. She sat on one side of Harry and Kara sat on the other.
"She's doing fine," Harry remarked before Kitty gave him an exasperated look.
"Laura, she's doing more than fine, she could have torn her to shreds," Kitty commented and Harry blinked before his mouth hung open with an "O". The brunette was pulled into Harry's body and she rested her head upon his shoulder with a smile.
"Well, Gwen's…..I got my backside handed to me by Laura," Kara remarked, she remembered the beating she was given. "So Gwen….she doesn't have that much combat experience, so things could be worse."
"And you do?" Kitty asked and Kara shrugged.
"Harry trained me a little bit in the Fortress," Kara informed Kitty.
"The Fortress?" Kitty asked.
"The Birthright that I've gotten from my people, it has more knowledge than any library on Earth," Harry commented to Kitty, although he really wished that Kara did not bring up. Although he should have told her previously; Harry figured that he only had this coming.
Kitty did not want to say anything, but she wanted to visit this mysterious Fortress one of these days and she doubted that she was alone. It sounded so awesome that it was beyond words.
"So, the show's interesting, isn't it?" Jean asked as she watched Laura put Gwen through the paces and Harry kept looking at his watch. "And what are you waiting for?"
"I have a meeting at the first Church of Shi'ar Enlightenment," Harry informed Jean and the redhead answered with a brisk nod of her head. She was pretty impressed with all of what Harry had on his plate and how he was somehow able to keep himself sane. "And then I'm looking to fill a few more staff positions and there will be a few more mutants that will stop on by."
"Sounds like you're being productive," Jean offered Harry but she smiled as she looked through the pamphlet, before keeping her eyes locked on it. She wondered if this Church also had something to do with the Phoenix Force as much as the Star Child.
That was why Jean wished she could tag along but Senior year swamped her and she had more than enough homework to do that would keep her busy.
"Kitty, could you do me a favor and make sure that Laura doesn't maul Gwen too badly?" Harry asked Kitty and the brunette nodded.
"Yes, that's no problem," Kitty commented as he leaned forward and gave Harry a light kiss on the lips which he returned. There was a promise for something more intimate later attached to that kiss.
"Thanks," Harry said as he gave Jean and Kara kisses goodbye before he slipped out the door.
"Do you worry about him taking on too much?" Kitty asked to Kara but the blonde shrugged.
"It might seem like a lot to some people but if anyone can handle it, it's Harry," Kara stated as she crossed her arms. M'gann joined them, an Oreo cookie popped in her mouth, with an entire package dangling from her hand.
"I'm not sure if I should be watching this, it looks pretty violent," M'gann commented to them but she ate another Oreo all the same.
"Nah, Laura's just intense," Kitty offered with a bright smile across her face but they kept watching the little sparring session with Gwen getting knocked around a slight bit.
Harry was outside but not before meeting Rogue.
"Hey Sugah….." Rogue started as she stopped and smiled. "You know, I was going to ask you if you had a busy day, but I should know better, giving that you're, you and all that."
"Very true," Harry remarked to her. "So how are things?"
"Other than those Friends of Humanity peckerheads, not too bad," Rogue remarked before she placed her hands on her hips and raised herself on her tiptoes so she could look in Harry's eyes properly, which also had the lovely effect of showing off her cleavage quite nicely to him. "Kelly….well he has no spine. Not as bad as his Uncle, did you hear that nut the other night?"
"What did Kelly say?" Harry asked, he had not been keeping up on current events as much as he would have liked given his heavy load. Although he could guess given the man's past it wasn't good.
"Well, Kelly said that all mutants should be rounded up and taken to camps," Rogue said to Harry and this caused him to wince.
"Do people even think before they open their mouths?" Harry asked Rogue and Rogue shook her head in negative.
"I don't think they do," Rogue informed him with her hand on her hip and a smile on her face.
Harry wondered what would happen if someone like Magneto caught wind about Kelly's words. Something about the situation made Harry doubt that the Master of Magnetism would be too overtly happy about it. It was just past experiences talking, maybe but that was something to think about.
Magneto had been quiet lately and that fact was extremely concerning for Harry.
"I'm not going to lie Rogue, things are getting tense, and both extremes….well their stance isn't looking too favorable is it?" Harry asked Rogue and Rogue shook her head.
"It's just hard to deal with, you know," Rogue commented and Harry wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her in tight towards him.
"Yeah, it is pretty hard, but we're survivors like it or not," Harry offered before Rogue smiled.
"We do kind of need a team name," Rogue remarked with a teasing smile towards Harry. "You know before the media ends up naming us something stupid."
Harry would hate for that to happen but it was one more thing that he had to think about, when he was already under an extremely heavy load. They were going to be a league that was going to administer justice but Harry, for the life of him, could not think of what he could call this team. He thought about it, pondered about it, puzzled about it until his puzzler was sore.
"We'll sleep on it, but I need a suggestion box," Harry told Rogue as he tightened his hug around her before his lips met hers for a kiss. There was a promise that there would be much more between the two of them later.
"Yeah, you kind of do," Rogue agreed, unable to keep the wide grin off of her face. "Talk to you later, Sugah."
"Bye, Rogue," Harry said and it should have been no surprise that he would have ran into one more attractive female on his way out the door.
In this case, it was Amara. She greeted Harry with a bright smile as she turned up.
"Hey, Amara, how are you doing?" Harry asked.
"Much better now that you're back in action," Amara remarked before she turned towards him with a smile. "Peve, Alura, Lily, and Lara….they know a lot. You couldn't have picked better teachers. They're worth the money they're earning."
"Wait, we're getting paid for this?" Alura offered as she paused due to the snickering of her other AIs and Amara and Harry looked both amused.
"Trust me, we can work out some benefit package later," Harry informed them and Alura's face contorted in a grin as she leaned back into the wall.
"Don't make promises that you will be called on to keep later, Har-Rell," Alura offered to him.
"I'll keep that in mind," Harry told him as Amara watched him with a glint in her eye that it was obvious that she wanted to say something although she did not say it right off. "So….how are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine like I said, but….my father wonders if there is anything more to make that contract worthwhile that he gave you," Amara offered as she kept her eyes on Harry, waiting for his reaction.
"Given what he wanted to give me, I'm not sure how much more he could give me, giving all that he offered me," Harry remarked to her and Amara's face spread into a smile.
"He's offering you more than anyone could ever have and believe me, they are willing to do what they can to pleasure the Star Child," Amara offered to him with a knowing smile. "And you saw the women there, you know how attractive they are."
"Well I knew that before I even stepped one foot in Nova-Roma," Harry told her and Amara placed a hand on her hip as she surveyed Harry with a grin on her face. "I mean, I've seen you…so…there's really no mystery about the attractiveness of the females of that island nation."
"No, there wouldn't be," Amara agreed, she was glad that Harry had such a high opinion of her and it was because of him that her confidence escalated. "There are other myths regarding island nations that are hidden around the world. Another civilization of all women, based off of a Greek culture, even before Nova-Roma was or so the legends say."
Harry wondered how true that legend was, although he supposed that all legends had some degree of truth in between all of the insanity and exaggeration.
"So did you hear about the Church of Enlightment?" Harry asked her, he had been meaning to ask Amara about this but never pulled the trigger.
Amara's eyes widened before she nodded slowly. "I'm…..I've heard some things about the Church but…..they were rumors."
"Well what rumors did you hear?" Harry asked Amara, trying to prod her for any information that she might have been hanging onto before he headed off to investigate the Church himself.
Amara's expression never faltered from the glance she gave to Harry. "Well, the Church was founded a long time ago but its roots go back even further, to Selene."
"Who is Selene?" Harry asked, he had gotten a few vague statements about her but he had not been able to get more than that regarding this enigma of a woman. He hoped that he would get more information.
"She founded Nova-Roma," Amara whispered to him, but there was an undercurrent of nervousness that flickered through her tone. Harry reached forward and grabbed the young Princess around the hand and squeezed it to give her the strength and encouragement that she needed. "And…..well…."
"It sounds like that she's been there for a long time," Harry remarked to Amara and she swallowed the lump in her throat, nodding.
"Yes, a very long time," Amara commented but she supposed Harry should have figured out. "Given that Nova-Roma has been around for centuries."
"She must age gracefully," Harry remarked to Amara before he checked his watch. He was running a bit behind schedule and he could tell that he got as much information from Amara that he was comfortable about. "We'll pick up this conversation later."
"Right," Amara offered, she was a bit unnerved about being drawn into what was essentially a taboo topic.
Harry pulled her into a tight hug and gave her a quick kiss before he sped off in the other direction as fast as he could do.
X-X-X
The Church was just as Gwen described it; it was unassuming, at least from the outside. Harry knew by now never to judge a building by what it looked like on the outside because it was what it looked like on the inside that was the true measure of what it was. He stepped forward and the door swung open.
The first thing he saw was a statue of himself, well in a matter of speaking. There were a few differences but the same general idea was there. It was the thought that counted.
Harry decided to step into the Church and figure out what their mission truly was. He walked down the hallways and it was not a Church in the traditional sense of the word. Granted, he was sure that there was a sense of believing and a lot of worship going on here.
The emerald eyed wizard stepped towards the front desk. He adjusted his glasses and stared at the redhead at the desk, with a smile that melted the hearts of every woman who saw it.
"Hi, my name is Harry Potter, I'm here to inquire about information regarding the church," Harry remarked and the woman got to her feet, she looked to be around Harry's age or maybe a year or so on either side of it. Regardless, she gave him a bright smile as she reached forward and took his hand to shake it.
"Patricia Swann," she informed him with a smile that crossed her face. "There are a lot of people who come to this church inquiring information but only a select number reach the criteria that we are looking for."
Harry smiled. "For some people, it's almost like it popped up over night."
"Well, as you'll find out if you read that inscription on the wall, the Church has roots far deeper than that….or so I think, no one has been able to read that inscription, for it is written in a language that the Star Child only could properly decipher," Patricia offered.
"Actually, the language is very common among many races."
A woman dressed in a business suit with dark hair stepped forward and her blue eyes fixed on Harry. She was an extremely tall and elegant woman with dark hair. She had healthy sized breasts, a C-Cup or perhaps a bit larger, along with a flat stomach, a toned ass, and long legs. For a few seconds she saw some kind of passing resemblance between this young man and the Star Child.
"You must be one of Xavier's," she stated in a cool voice.
"I was one of Xavier's, we broke apart," Harry corrected. "You must be Lilandra Neramani."
"At your service," she commented to him. "Welcome to the first Church of Shi'ar Enlightenment."
"Where we all eagerly await his return, for he will bathe the world in light and be a beacon of hope," Harry read as he scanned the words. "Even through the darkest day, the Star Child shall deliver us from the doomsday and shall be the one to bring the world forward into a new age of heroes, with the incoming darkness that is inevitable. All will swear undying loyalty to him for he is our lord and savior and he will bring peace to all and prosperity to all who follow him to the promise land."
Lilandra blinked and her mind shot into overdrive.
"You translated it to the letter," she stated in a confused tone.
"Yes, I did," Harry offered as he sensed Lilandra's mind went completely wild with the possibilities that this brought.
Her mouth hung open and even Patricia watched him, with widened eyes.
"You mean….you're….you're…." Lilandra commented before she dropped to her knees in front of Harry, which was the only logical course of action as far as she was concerned.
Harry raised an eyebrow at this action from the woman. Granted there have been many times where attractive women have dropped to their knees in front of him but this was a bit sudden. Patricia did the same thing next to him as she looked up at him, her eyes meeting his. There were a few more women who walked around and they spotted him, aghast about the situation.
There was only one thing to figure out and that was that their savior had returned with a vengeance. They all dropped to their knees to worship the Star Child in their full glory. The group was on their knees before Harry and bright smiles went across their faces.
It was Lilandra who spoke to Harry, a smile crossing her face as she watched him. "Great One, it is an honor to be here before you."
"Um, thanks," Harry remarked, he had heard of the Church but this was not the reaction that he quite expected. He decided to allow them to get up. "You may rise to your feet now."
Harry offered this statement as a joking declaration but sure enough, Lilandra bounced up to her feet. Patricia followed her leader and the other women rose to their feet, all of them eying him hungrily.
"Please leave me, myself and Lilandra have urgent matters to discuss," Harry told the women and they nodded.
"Naturally great one," one of the women stated with a smile as she surveyed him and she walked off, with others following her lead.
As the other women made themselves scarce, Lilandra turned towards Harry before she motioned him forward.
"Into my office, Great One," Lilandra commented to him as she prepared to lead the way.
"So, the architecture in this place, it's interesting," Harry remarked to her idly as they walked side by side to her office.
Lilandra turned towards Harry, her eyes flashing towards him and Harry wondered what he said to stir such a reaction. Sure enough she was going to respond in a matter of seconds to his words. "If there is something that is not to your liking, we can fix it immediately; just say the word and we'll have someone on it."
"No, everything is fine," Harry told her as they entered her office and he sat down in the chair in front of her desk. "So…how many women are a part of this church."
Lilandra sat across from him, as she trailed her eyes around his body to drink in the sight of his muscles but he cleared his throat so she snapped her eyes to more formal business. "There are hundreds of women who are willing to do anything that you want, just say the word and they'll do it."
Harry smiled at her knowingly and he saw her shift, seeing a hint of the woman's cleavage. "That's enticing."
"One of the members of our Board of Directors would like to meet with you as soon as possible," Lilandra commented as she shifted to get some papers to show Harry another hint of her cleavage. "You've met Patricia earlier."
"Yes," Harry offered, deciding to keep the comment of how nice she looked on her knees to himself. He decided to keep his expression professional, along with his tone.
"Well her father heard of your coming for years and set up an observatory that was for your arrival years ago," Lilandra offered. "There are many people who see the greatness that you bring to the world and want to manipulate you for their own means but there are others who wish to help you upon your road to greatness."
Lilandra placed her hands on the desk as she stared into his eyes.
"Doctor Swann passed away about a year ago due to health complications," Lilandra offered him. "The world lost a great mind and an even greater dreamer. His daughter has potential but his assistant had decided to lead STARR labs and is part of the Board of Directors at this church. She's a fairly new recruit, but she made her impact in no time thanks to her devotion to the cause."
Harry was now curious about this and wondered about this Board of Directors. He decided to say as much.
"And who is on this Board of Directors?" Harry asked Lilandra.
"There are many and once they know that you've been here, they will want some one-on-one time with you," Lilandra offered to him, and if she did not have an urgent meeting to go to, she would have explored her interactions with the Star Child more. The woman took a moment to curse her schedule. "They wish to remain anonymous."
"And they're doing a good job at it," Harry informed her and she nodded. "Therefore, I wish to ask a small favor of you."
"Anything," Lilandra commented to him quite eagerly.
"Could you keep that I was here quiet to the others?" Harry asked her and Lilandra nodded with a smile crossing her face.
"Anything, of course," she told him with a smile crossing her face.
"So what was the name of the mysterious owner of STARR Labs who wanted to meet me?" Harry asked her and she smiled.
"Karen Starr, here's the business card that she gave me, her cell number and e-mail address is on here, she'd be over the moon if she knew that you were here," Lilandra told him. "And you're of course welcomed to visit the church, whenever you wish."
Harry smiled he was intrigued by that, he would return.
X-X-X
"So, I've been telling Reed that there's no way that you can be the Star Child."
Harry arrived at the Baxter Building where he was accosted by Johnny Storm. The Human Torch had a wide grin on his face as he prepared to explain his brilliant theory.
"And how did you come up to this genius conclusion?" Harry asked the Torch in a calm tone of voice, as he tried to not to keep himself from blowing that he was him. He was also barely listening to him due to the fact it was Johnny Storm who was talking.
The Human Torch was only too happy to let him in on this situation. "Well you wear glasses, and the Star Child doesn't, so you can't be the Star Child."
"And did you see a picture of the Star Child, Johnny?" Reed asked, barely looking up from the research he was doing. Then again, it was Reed and he was always doing some kind of research, his middle name should have been "Research".
"Well, I saw a little blurry image on the Internet of him, does that count?" Johnny asked with a wide grin crossing his face and Reed started to shake his head as he leaned forward and went back to work.
Harry arrived but there was someone there waiting for him in the shadows of the lab.
"Hey, Sue," Harry commented as he stepped towards Susan Storm, the twenty year old greeted him with a smile.
"Hi, Harry," Susan commented with a bright tone. "I guess the rumors of your demise were greatly exaggerated, weren't they?"
Harry raised an eyebrow before he commented to the member of the Fantastic Four. "You didn't….you didn't believe any of that, did you?"
Susan shook her head. "Not really, after all of the absurd things that I've seen out there, I….I didn't really believe that you were dead. After all of the weird stuff that the Fantastic Four has gotten into that should have killed us, we didn't think that something like this would kill you."
Harry leaned back against the wall before he smiled.
"I figured, although with something like that, you wouldn't think that something would happen, unless you find the body," Harry informed Susan and the Invisible Woman responded with a brisk nod as she placed her hands on her hips.
"No body, no Death, that's kind of the number one rule of being a super hero. And being a villain too as we found out," Susan remarked as she let out a deep breath. "Even then half the time there is a body it's a robot, or a clone."
"So, you seem stressed out," Harry remarked to Susan and she turned to him, blinking before she smiled, although the smile was strained.
"Not really stressed out per say, but just dealing with everything that's happening around here," Susan commented to Harry as she pushed her back against the wall. Harry saw the blue shirt stretch around her body and a slight hint of her midriff which was by design, he figured.
"No one's broken into the Baxter Building today?" Harry asked Susan and the golden haired superheroine shook her head.
"No, no one's broken into the Baxter Building in about eleven days….almost twelve now, in about forty seven minutes," Susan remarked as she consulted the chart that Reed put up to keep track of such a thing.
"Of course, no one's broken in, this time I've got the state of the art security system in place," Reed stated as he edged into his lab on the other side of the floor to check on progress of another project that he was working on.
This left him out of earshot and this caused Harry to arch his mouth in the direction of Susan's ear. "So….wasn't the last security system the state of the art security system that was supposed to set the world on fire?"
Susan shrugged as Harry detached himself from the wall and they walked around.
"Reed's….he's optimistic," Susan remarked as she rolled her eyes at the thought of that but brought herself back to business. "Those scatter brained geniuses, you know how they are. They see their experiments from beginning to end but they are tunnel blind about the flaws in their own plans."
"That's a problem," Harry offered her and Susan nodded in agreement.
"And then there's that new lab assistant that he's hired," Susan commented to him and Harry noticed that she was trying to keep her voice quite neutral.
"Oh, Reed hired a new lab assistant," Harry commented and Susan shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, this one….she's…..quite neurotic," Susan said to Harry and the young sorcerer inclined his head before he invited Susan to say more. "I thought Reed was the original absent minded professor….well this girl…she takes the cake, really she does, she never shuts up. And she's a tart."
"Seriously?" Harry remarked as Susan nodded her head.
"Yes…..she's trying to get Reed to experiment with his powers in a more practical purpose," Susan commented to Harry and the wizard's face looked like he swallowed sour milk.
"I see," Harry offered, he didn't really think that Reed's powers could be experimented in on that way.
"Of course, Reed being Reed is the asexual absent minded professor or maybe he's a workaholic," Susan offered as she looked around briefly to see that no one could hear her. "Anyway, it's a good thing the tart's not here….not that Reed would notice a sexual overture if it slapped him in the face."
"And this bothers you," Harry remarked but Susan stared straight in his eyes, unblinking, with conviction, and shook her head.
"The age gap between Reed and I….it wouldn't have worked, among the other issues that he has," Susan offered to Harry and his green eyes flickered in amusement. "Although the way she's doing this, it would have bothered me if she was acting the same way around Johnny."
Susan offered a smile before she realized.
"Of course, Johnny, being Johnny, he'd take her up on her advances," Susan concluded to Harry and Harry smiled. "But….I saw the advertisement that you put out for the need for teachers."
"Yeah, I really need the help, just got a few more gaps that I needed to fill, but it shouldn't be too bad," Harry commented to Susan and her blonde hair flipped as she nodded her head.
"Do you have anyone for an English teacher?" Susan asked Harry and his emerald eyes flickered towards her blue eyes before he nodded. "Because….I have a degree and I could do it."
Susan smiled, she graduated high school at the age of fifteen, went to college, and finished her degree for teaching with English Grammar and Literature as her major. It did give her something to do in between nearly getting killed by whatever nutcase was trying to destroy the Fantastic Four this week. Although most of them nearly bored her to death by giving some convoluted speech.
"I'll set up an interview with you tomorrow if you can make it," Harry offered and Susan was surprised that he accepted that this easily.
"If nothing comes up….I'll be there," Susan said, she wanted to get out of the Baxter Building for awhile.
The Fantastic Four was her family but like with all families, they could drive her absolutely insane. That was just the way things went like that.
There was a loud siren that echoed outside and Johnny perked up.
"There has been a worm hole that's been opened up over Time Square," Reed informed them and the Fantastic Four turned towards him, with interest.
"Someone invading?" Johnny asked and Reed nodded. He sighed. "Is it Tuesday already?"
"It's all over the television," Ben called from the other room and he saw that the big game might be preempted thanks to the coverage of the latest alien invasion.
X-X-X
Several ships that had technology that looked to be out of a futuristic setting hovered over New York City. They hummed loudly as they were silent but there was a hint that they were not of the friendly visitors type.
Iron Man was the first on the scene but he was joined by a few members of the Avengers.
"And that's new," Ms. Marvel commented as she looked up, her eyes following the ships. The architecture was beyond all description, sleek and black, with numerous pods and it started to blink in a steady pace. There was a pattern, it was just a matter of time before someone figured it out.
Iron Man was on it, but his teammates were awestruck, their eyes followed the progress of the ship. The computer was trying to link up but it was failing immediately.
"Aye," Thor commented as he gauged the situation at hand.
"Any idea what they're doing?" Captain America commented, he placed his shield up, ready for battle.
"Don't like whatever they're doing," Hulk grumbled as he stood and looked up. He looked at the ships and he knew one thing, they seem primed for some smashing. It was all he could do to keep himself from doing the deed.
Wasp twisted her head around to get a good look. With another motion, she stepped forward but the energy field bounced her back. A slight look of annoyance crossed her face as she kept her gaze intense and focused. "Well….it might not be so bad, I mean….they might be the friendly type."
Hawkeye knew that it was highly unlikely but there was not much his arrows could do against this type of technology.
The booming voice that echoed indicated that they would be getting some kind of answer, whether that answer would be for better for worse, well they would find out what this individual was all about.
"Greetings people of the 21st century and greetings Avengers, my name is Kang and I am here to liberate the Earth from a tyrant."
It was at that point when Harry arrived. He was getting a creepy deja-vu feeling from this and could not shake that this was going to be some nutjob after his head again. Well if they were male, if they were female knowing his luck they'd be after his other head.
'People of the 21st century….not people of Earth,' Harry thought to himself before he whistled. "M'gann….are you there?'
'Yeah, Harry,' M'gann thought to him as she nervously shifted. 'I would ask if you're seeing this on the television but….you're kind of in the middle of it, aren't you?'
'Yes, I am, as are the Fantastic Four and the Avengers….at least,' Harry commented as he saw Thor standing waiting. 'Is there anyone in the stronghold?'
'Kara, Kitty, Jean, Rogue, and myself right now, the rest are out doing other things, although I'd imagine they join you pretty quickly once they catch sight of what's happening,' M'gann informed him as she sighed. 'This is one of those all hands on deck things, isn't it?'
'You know it,' Harry commented to her as he continued to look up and sure enough this man was going to continue his speech. 'Just get help here, soon….I'll figure out what this guy's saying.'
"I've come here all of the way to 21st century from a world that has been destroyed by the actions of one individual," Kang remarked in a crisp tone of voice.
There were a few seconds where Harry thought about this. He came to one horrific realization
'You know, I already knew he was going to say me, but if he doesn't after saying that, I'd eat Toad's shorts right before his bimonthly bath,' Harry thought to anyone who decided to hop onto the mental link.
"As you know, the Star Child has arrived in this time period recently and he has brought forth what you think to be a new age of peace and prosperity," Kang commented before he paused and sneered. "That peace and prosperity is a lie. He's already brought forth an end to one world and he will bring forth an end to this timeline as he has ended mine. His mere presence here brought Earth to the attention of two warring alien nations. Whilst it was not because of his direct action this world was brought towards an end, it was because of his mere presence here that the end was caused."
'Of course it was, and global warming, world hunger, and crappy reality television, also my fault,' Harry thought dryly.
"Therefore, I have decided to take over this timeline to ensure that the future that I have seen does not come to pass," Kang commented as his voice rose. "The historical records indicated that he should not even exist, therefore I will correct that flaw in the time stream."
'Of course you will, of course you will,' Harry thought, wondering if he could get a bingo off of this guy.
Harry was trying to get close enough without being seen to get a look at that big ship that had manifested over New York. Several smaller pods shot out and Harry stuck his hand out to get a scan.
'Fortress, see if you can get a reading on this,' Harry thought through the mental link and it was not too long before Peve commented.
'That's some pretty advanced technology,' Peve offered to him.
'Advanced by Earth standards or advanced by Kryptonian standards?' Harry thought to them but he figured that it was pretty amazing given that Reed looked like a kid about ready to go on a sugar high at the candy store. His eyes widened as he followed every action above his head. 'Yes…..I don't know what I'm going to have to do, but it's not going to be fun.'
'And the answer to that would be all of the above,' Peve offered and Harry smiled.
Meanwhile Iron Man was having a hell of a time trying to figure out the technology.
"Technology unknown, what do you mean the technology is unknown?" Iron Man asked, his desperation was about to jump up a fair amount.
"It means exactly what you think it means Sir, it means the technology is unknown," JARVIS told him. "It is not something that is on any computer database on Earth."
"Well that's just great, billions of dollars of research, and I can't even match the nuts and bolts on this thing," Iron Man remarked before he stopped and stared before there was a blinking sound.
"Well, I vote that we find the way to smash it to pieces," Hulk grunted as he cracked his knuckles and Iron Man's face contorted into a smile underneath the helmet.
"Smash away, big guy, smash away."
The orbs were glowing and Ms. Marvel watched Iron Man with a confused expression on her face, with a look that she was not sure if that was such a good idea.
"Do you have any other options?" Iron Man asked as Hulk jumped up.
Hulk smashed but the device hovering over his head, it smashed back. The Incredible Hulk was sent back towards the Avengers like an oversized ping pong ball.
"Anything, one percent, just any fiber of this technology, that's all that I'm asking," Iron Man commented but the pods released scarabs that hovered ominously over them. "And that's not good."
Wasp's eyes widened before she held up her hands and tried to blast them. The blast only backed them off slightly.
Ms. Marvel hovered in the air and fired at the metallic objects that flew through her. Her punches managed to ding them.
Hawkeye took aim with his arrows and fired one at a time but the arrows only put a dent into the scarabs, causing sparks to fly a tiny bit.
"And that's not working," Hawkeye commented as he waited for the backlash.
Captain America looked up as he saw a blur take out the scarabs at supersonic speed, smashing them into bits.
"Don't look now, but help's on the way," Captain American commented in a brisk tone.
X-X-X
There were many times where Captain George Stacy thought that he had seen the most shocking thing in his career but this little…..invasion proved him wrong.
Every week he met his old friend Lieutenant James Gordon in Gotham City for a cup of coffee to talk about the weird happenings that were going on in Gotham City, and New York City. The latest one was the mysterious Bat themed vigilante that had popped up over the past few months. The cops in that town wanted this bat's head, mostly because whoever was underneath the cowl, made them look bad.
Gordon admitted that was because most of the cops in that city were corrupt as hell, and in bed with the mob but it was hard to prove.
As weird as Gotham City was, George would hazard a guess that they did not get what seemed to be biweekly alien invasions.
'Just another Tuesday,' George thought briskly as he looked up into the sky.
It was not a bird, it was not a plane, in fact, he couldn't even really see what it was, given the fact that it moved like a superfast blur.
It took out half of the scarabs up in the sky with a frantic fury.
'Kitty, you're on,' Harry thought and he smiled as Kara flew up to the top floor of an office building.
With a fast ball special, Kara hurled Kitty into the scarabs. Despite being advanced technology, it was still destroyed by Kitty's powers.
'M'gann, go,' Harry thought, as he saw Jean and Rachel working on crowd control, making the civilians move around with some subliminal messages that they put into their mind.
The Martian female launched herself into the air and phased through the one of the scarabs.
"Protocol nine," Kang muttered from his ship.
Harry's super powered hearing picked that up and he wondered what protocol nine was.
He found out, well Kitty and M'gann did anyway as they got shocked and fell to the ground.
'Kara, fry that hull,' Harry thought, as both of the girls were a bit shaken but it was obvious it was a warning shot.
Kara shot forward like a super powered blur and she squinted her eyes, before she fired the heat vision forward. The heat vision ricocheted off of the pods that were released from the ships and the heat caused the scarab computers to fry or at least be brought off course.
M'gann held her hand up, biting on her tongue as she kept the large pieces of metal from landing on the ground and crushing hapless civilians.
Kang stood and watched the carnage of the fleet that he sent to feel out the Earth's defenses. He saw some force on the ground coordinating the attacks.
"Stark, I knew you would be tenacious enough to try and hack the unhackable," Kang commented, not bothering to move from his position even though there was someone trying to bust in. His ship was shielded, it would take an act of god. "One thing remains true no matter the timeline and that's the Avengers meddle in affairs that do not concern them."
Rogue and Kara teamed up to take their best shot. Their super strength caused the hull to be damaged, and Rogue started to bang on in.
"I think they hear me knocking, but they won't let me in," Rogue commented as she started to hammer on the door and Kara's eyes flashed with an expression that could only be describe that was of frustration.
"Keep it up, we're almost there," Kara informed her, but there was a laser.
'Duck.'
Kara frowned, she did not need Harry yelling in her head to know when to duck. She saw some ships get fried with a force field before the Invisible Women became visible.
SHIELD showed up and the situation was getting even more chaotic.
Harry's black trenchcoat billowed from behind him as a purple beam shot towards him. He dodged it at super speed. He was not going to stand there and take that.
He jumped into the air and dodged the beams that flew towards him.
Several metal orbs shot out and Harry waved his hands, causing them to blow apart by the discharge of magic. He had to expend energy both taking out the orbs and making sure the civilians did not get taken out although Jean and Rachel did a good job at shuffling them away to give him some relief.
Wanda blasted several of the pods with hex bolts causing them to malfunction. She was trapped in an energy field but she summoned her full power to burst out. It was a lot of energy so she was punch drunk.
"Star Child, where are you?" Kang asked and Harry stopped, his face vibrating at super speed so no camera could get a fix on anything that was tangible.
He saw Iceman, Nightcrawler, and Cannonball in the background, amongst others, so the X-Men had some representation in the fight. Scott was down on the ground after one of the scarabs blasted him hard and sent him flying head over heels.
Kurt took pity on him and teleported him out of the way, as Storm called down the lightning and tried to fry the ship.
"The elements have no effect," Storm commented in frustration.
"Aye," Thor stated as he called the full force of his amazing powers and then with fluid fury he smashed the scarabs with all his might. "HAVE AT THEE VILE FIENDS!"
There was an energy beam that shot out and took out the SHIELD vehicles in one fell swoop.
"And they just brought SHIELD to their knees," Iron Man said as he watched the ships crash, wincing at the backlash.
A blue energy light appeared and a blue faced figure in purple armor showed up.
"I have seen your efforts to defend yourself against me and they are quite amusing but in the end, futile," Kang offered to him.
Harry wondered if they had different ideas of what the word futile meant.
Three figures appeared in the sky in a blur from another worm hole that opened up over New York City.
Kara's eyes widened as she wondered what was going on.
"Whoa," Kitty breathed, she was shaken up from her shocking ordeal but she'd be mostly fine.
One of the figures had golden blonde hair that framed her face. Her blue eyes burned with passion as she had a white bodysuit that molded around her form like a second skin. One could see her amazing assets from there, her tight ass, ample breasts, and long, drool worthy, legs.
A figure with dark hair dark as the sky showed up as well. She had a warm smile on her face and she had a deceptive innocence to her, although perhaps one should not mistake her innocence for incompetence. She had breasts smaller than the blonde's, although still very nice, a firm ass, and alluring eyes as well, that held an enchanting aura within them.
Another figure split into three. Equal female duplicate had brown hair and bright eyes, with the purple bodysuit that tightened around her slender frame in the most alluring manner. She had a bright and confident smile on her face.
"The Legion," Kang growled as he pressed a button on the ship. He would have to return with reinforcements.
"So, wait, he's just gone like that," Kara remarked.
"That seemed too easy," Rachel offered and Kitty rolled her eyes.
They had a different opinion of what seemed to be easy.
"No, it's not easy," the blonde commented as she got on one knee and bowed before Harry.
Women dropping to their knees before Harry were a recurring theme for him.
"Greetings Har-Rell," Saturn Girl said to him as she got up to face him. "My name is Saturn Girl."
"I'm Phantom Girl," the dark haired girl stated as she blushed as she caught him.
"And I'm Triplicate Girl," the three girls stated in unison in a bubbly tone before she combined back into one, before smiling.
"Indy was correct on the date," Saturn Girl remarked to the other girls and they nodded. Harry looked at them.
They'd all met him, knew him quite intimately in fact, although this was the first time that he met them from his perspective.
"We're the Legion of Super Heroes, and we need to help Earth's heroes coordinate a defense," Saturn Girl remarked before she turned to Harry. "And your Fortress has what it needs."
Now Harry wanted answers.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry told them.
"Okay, we owe Indy ten thousand credits, because she said that was going to be his exact reaction," Triplicate Girl said. "You know, the Fortress…."
"Shh, don't give away the exact location," Saturn Girl said before she turned to Harry. "Har-Rell, we're from the 31st century and during that time, you're worshiped by women all across the universe."
Harry raised his eyebrow. He wanted to know more but that could wait.
"The Fortress….how can that stop Kang?" Harry asked before he realized.
The Kryptonian technology included weapons, weapons that he hoped that he never had to use, but weapons that were even more advanced than a nuke. He had those weapons decommissioned but there were others that could be completely destructive in the wrong hands. Although some would be useful as defenses, it would only be useful under his hands.
Although he preferred not to use them because that would open a Pandora's box.
Harry hoped that it would not come to that but things did look grim.