Chapter 31: Sins of the Father

Chapter Thirty One: Sins of the Father

"Do not despair if you do not get a clear picture of how powerful you are. People have been trying to read powers with clarity since the dawn of time. Very few have had any kind of success."

Those were the words of Doctor Strange during Harry's latest training session. Harry had a few words to state.

"Ever since my illness, I've been a lot more focused, everything's been processing in my mind faster," Harry remarked when he looked to the Sorcerer Supreme. "How could this be?"

"I have noticed this change, do not think I have not," Strange answered when he looked at Harry, sure enough it was remarkable that he was able to process information three times as fast since his sudden bout of illness. His mind was like a computer, studying the scenarios around him, and processing, before he mimicked everything Strange taught him with one hundred percent clarity. "We will try a different tact."

A blindfold appeared around Harry's eyes.

"There will be some instances as I have found out where you can't rely on sight alone to do a battle, for magic is illusion," Strange stated and Harry nodded before the Sorcerer Supreme pressed on. "Therefore you must rely on your instincts and not what you see with your eyes. Or even what you are unable to see."

To his credit, despite his eyes being covered, Harry processed what was going on around him. Despite his eyes being covered, he fine-tuned his hearing and his other senses and sensed the body language of Strange through that. He processed it, he did not need to have his eyes uncovered to see.

Strange was pleased with the progress his pupil made.

"Magic is all about intent, focus, and numbers," Strange answered Harry, before he crossed. "There is a certain mathematics to magic, where the numbers three and seven lead to something strongly powerful."

Harry knew this, well Tom knew this technically, from Artimancy and this was true throughout the multiverse.

Training was something that was part of the lives of the X-Men and something that they did multiple times a week. In fact, they were in the midst of a pretty intense and important training session as of this very moment. While a valuable member of their team still elected to not return, they tried to press on without her, even though they knew that she left a spot in the team that was hard to fill at any rate.

Harry stood out to think about where Jean gone, there had been a few sightings of her over the past few weeks, despite being gone it was almost like she wanted the X-Men to see her to let them know that she was alright. Without them really seeing her if that made any sense whatsoever. Jean would come back but Harry did wish to speak with her. Maybe if she did not return in another month, Harry would seek her out.

As of now, Harry could not worry about where Jean was, rather he needed to focus on the task at hand before him, the training of the new recruits. They had come a long way since they arrived at the Institute a couple of months back but at the same time, they still had a very long way to go. Harry understood this better than anyone that there were times where it would take a while to get the hang of things regarding training.

"Okay, this exercise might seem run of the mill but it's essential," Harry answered when he turned to the new recruits and also some of the old hands like Kurt and Rogue who agreed to be a part of this mission. "Knowing where your team is at all times is essential, as your teammates are part of the tool set you need to use in a dangerous situation."

Harry paused when he stared at them before he offered them more cryptic words before he conjured a fog to make things more interesting and challenging for the recruits.

"You will need to focus on your surroundings and use your instincts, even when your eyesight is compromised, you have four other senses, use them," Harry answered when he looked around at the new recruits and a few of the team members who elected to be in this exercise.

There was an instant where Harry paused before he continued to speak.

"At the same time, your team members will not always be already for you to rely on them. Whether it be by their nature or because they are caught up in a problem of their own, that is an eventual thing that you may have to deal with. Therefore, adaptability is important, sometimes you got to stand on your own two feet if you want to win the day and seize the moment."

There were nods from the new recruits and Harry understood that there were times where he played off of his team rather well, often times to great success. But there were other times where he had to stand alone in the field of battle but Harry was used to standing alone. He did not fear having to go up against immense odds by himself should the situation dictate it but he avoided it when he could.

"Everyone get in your positions!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs when the team scrambled, struggling a bit through the fog he conjured. "And remember the drill and assume that this one will be for real. This may be an important exercise to determine if you should graduate to the main X-Men roster or if you will remain in the remedial class."

Scott watched Harry from a distance with his arms folded and allowed everything to sink in. He watched Rachel say something to Harry and it was painfully obvious that Harry managed a third girl. Again, Scott wondered about how he did it and if the staff at the school were uneasy, they sure weren't saying anything, at least for now. The other girls at the public school meanwhile were scheming for a spot on Harry's dance card, some of them trouble.

He thought that Harry was naturally in his element as well, giving instruction and that fact rubbed him the wrong way a little bit. He watched, thinking that there would come a time where Harry would slip up and sure there had been some near misses but Harry was adaptable. Failure did not seem to be in his vocabulary and he was getting better, that was the scary part.

"Okay, let's do this," Bobby remarked from afar when he rubbed his heads together.

"We're going to blow this one out of the park," Jubilee answered when she turned around and faced the rest of her team who nodded.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Jamie asked and Bobby clapped him on the shoulder which caused some of his dupes to form, although not as many as before and he was quicker to reign them in thanks to Harry's advice.

"Piece of cake," Bobby stated, when Kurt lead one squad of Iceman, Jubilee, Multiple, and Boom Boom while Rogue lead another squad of Bezerker, Sunspot, Magma, Cannonball, and Wolfsbane. The attacking team was lopsided to simulate the fact that many times when an enemy attacked, they would have a superior numbers advantage and a defending squad would need to compensate for that.

The fog added an unpredictable factor to both sides.

Kurt's squad was going to see how well they adapted from an attack from Rogue's squad.

Kitty and Rachel stood by Harry, with Rachel getting the nod to join the main roster after a short time. There were whispers that she would be a good fit to take Jean's place which was not her intention at all. She had no intention of replacing Jean Grey as a member of the X-Men and hoped that she would return, although when that would happen, she did not really know.

"The team looks ready, let's hope they stick to the plan," Harry remarked when he watched them all.

Scott stood a ways back from them and observed in his own right, but there was no one else out here for this outside exercise for the team.

Kurt was lowered down in a basket by Multiple and Iceman as he closed his eyes. He braced himself from what was to come, when suddenly, he saw Magma on the ground beneath him and she launched a fireball from her hands, striking the side of the basket.

"The enemy is attacking!" Iceman yelled at the top of his lungs.

"The first one was a warning shot, the second one will take you down!" Rogue yelled from below. "I'm not joking, surrender peacefully and you won't get hurt!"

"Never!" Jubilee yelled when she shot fireworks down at the attacking squad, causing them to scatter.

Kurt rocked back and forth in the basket, when he saw Wolfsbane and Bezerker make their way up the rocks to engage him in battle. He waited when Iceman and Multiple felt the basket slip from their hands as Jubilee engaged Magma in battle on the other side.

"Take that, take that, and some of that!" Jubilee yelled but the rocks shifted from underneath her feet and a spurt of lava splattered out from behind her. It did not strike her but it merely started her and rocked her a little bit.

"Stand back, Boom Boom coming through!"

"Oh no," Kurt groaned when Boom Boom, a little late to the party, dove down before she sent a barrage of her cherry bombs down.

On the bright side, it sent the retreating team packing, so that much was a win, Harry noted on his sheet.

On the negative side, it let the enemies know that she was here and what she was capable of, even if it was an effective assault. That one might not work as well outside of a battle scenario and also the basket began to snap down, causing Kurt to scream.

Thankfully, being an experienced team member and able to adapt to the situation, Kurt teleported out of the basket, before it smashed to the ground into pieces. Harry held his hand up in the air and he made a banging noise with his hand, which signaled that the exercise was over.

The team members turned around to face Harry after what happened.

"Well, I can't say both sides were perfect, but both sides have improved from the dry run," Harry responded when he looked at both of the team members. "Tabby, aim still needs a little work and while your attack was effective, you kind of announce yourself to the enemies."

Scott could not resist offering his two cents to the matter. "That was reckless and you could have gotten the team members killed!"

Harry's eyes fixed on Scott's in a very prominent, "please let me do my job and kindly be quiet" look and Scott folded his arms with a scowl pressed upon his face.

"First of all, this being a simulation, I made sure that there were fail safes that no real harm would come to the team mates," Harry added when he looked at them all. "A bit of physical injury to remind you what is on the line sure, some emotional trauma when someone spooks another teammate with a burst of lava behind them."

It was at that point where Magma looked at Jubilee with a bit of a smirk on her face and she offered a pouty expression to the mutant which caused her fellow teammates to laugh.

"I'll have notes back to you guys by the end of today as always and if you have any questions, you know where my office is," Harry responded when they laughed at this little joke.

Technically Harry didn't have an office, rather he had a bedroom but they were invited to ask him questions, except after eight PM at night because that was Harry's time. None of them asked questions about what that meant but they all had a good idea.

Logan exited the Institute and popped up to stand beside Harry, a bit of a grimace curling around his face.

"We've got a bit of a problem, Time Bomb's father here arrived to see her," Logan said to Harry in an undertone.

"I was under the assumption that Mr. Smith was banned by Tabby's mother and wasn't he in jail?" Harry asked to Logan.

"Guess they felt sorry for the schmuck, but I don't normally ask people to do this, but if you see him, can you use your hocus pocus to make him disappear?'" Logan asked but Harry smiled a smile. "I'll go and tell her that her father's been snooping around, kid won't take it that well, given the strained relationship that they have."

Things improved with the Brotherhood over the past few weeks, well most of the improvement had to do with their living conditions more than anything else. The boarding house that looked like it was always up for demolishing had been outfitted to a world class training facility.

All of them learned not to ask any questions even if they had many of them on their mind. They were kept out of the eyesight of the X-Men, hoping that they could prepare for them. That was the orders of their new leader, said new leader was knocking them around.

"Again, pathetic!" Sin yelled when she waved for them to get them up to her feet.

"I'll show her pathetic," Lance said through gritted teeth when he placed his feet on the ground and began to rock it underneath his feet. "I'll show her."

Sin jumped into the air, before she threw a series of metallic balls at Lance, causing them to break open on the ground and cause his equilibrium to be staggered and stunned before he blinked a little bit. Lance grabbed the side of his head, clutching his ear, before Sin took him out.

"You sure showed her," Todd remarked in a sour voice when he watched Sin rushing him but he jumped out of the way.

She pulled out a chain and shot it towards Toad, wrapping it around his ankles, before she threw him down to the ground. Toad screamed before he was knocked to the ground.

"So, are you doing anything on Saturday night?" Pietro asked when he moved forward to engage Sin in battle, but she ignored his advances before she swept the leg out from underneath him, and she landed on her feet, saying something underneath her breath in German. "I don't know what she said, but it seems like it was hot."

"Actually she called you a dickhead," Toad responded when he rubbed the side of his head.

"And enough!" Sin yelled when they stood on their feet or tried to but they collapsed down. All four members of the Brotherhood panted, out of breath.

There was a slow clapping when the Taskmasker showed up. The clapping was loud and sarcastic when he made his way into the room, he watched over the entire battle. The Taskmaster turned on his feet to watch the Brotherhood before he stood on his feet and stared them down.

The Brotherhood fell into line, all standing up straight, they all knew to show the proper respect when the Taskmaster showed up. Their palms were sweaty when they stared back up at the Taskmaster, all of them blinking and wondering what he was going to say. The entire group was put through the ringer but despite that fact, they stood up straight.

"Congratulations, you've managed to stay on your feet for the entire duration of the battle, for the most part," The Taskmaster answered when he looked back at the assembled Brotherhood members before he rubbed his hands together. "Over the past couple of months, you've shown marked improvement and with the school year wrapping up, you've been given a chance to redeem yourselves from your sloppy attempt against the X-Men last time."

"Just say the word, and I'll lead the Brotherhood," Lance answered when he placed his hands on his hips but Sin cast a nasty glare at him.

"No, you've proven yourself to be an inadequate leader, little man," Sin responded when she towered over Lance and the other members of the Brotherhood. "I'm not going to let this team fail after all of the hard work I've put into it. None of you have any input in this plan, we're going to deal a crushing blow to the X-Men. And some of them this time might not return from this battle."

"You mean kill them?" Toad asked when he looked at Sin.

"No give them flowers and candy and little fuzzy teddy bears," Sin responded in a dead pan when she looked back at her teammates. "Yes, you've goofed around too much and to see that these X-Men live is an insult to me and an insult to my father."

"Wait, wait, father?" Pietro asked when his eyes spun towards Sin. "Who is that?"

"It's none of your concern!" Sin snapped when she clutched her hands, as if she envisioned wrapping them around the speedy mutant's throat and squeezing the life out of him. Alas, he must be kept alive for now. "Stick with the plan."

"Yes, the X-Men, will be the ex men," the Taskmaster stated in a sadistic voice, with the Brotherhood not daring to comment on the cheesiness of that line for fear that the Taskmaster would use them as target practice and if the Brotherhood failed, well he would jump in and take care of business. He looked forward to matching his skills with the one known as Arcane one on one, he felt the need to succeed.

The Brotherhood all exchanged tense looks, the original four members took a moment to wonder if this was a good idea, given that the X-Men beat them like drums every single time they fought.

Sin thought about everything that happened, she was sent here and had something to prove to a very important person in her life. She wanted to prove that she was the strongest out there and given the shoes that she had to fill, that was something that she concerned herself with. Her mind flashed back to certain moments in time, moments that she wanted to keep buried in her deepest, darkest, subconscious.

There was a moment where a young redhead girl cowered in a corner when an imposing man yelled at a woman.

"You are pathetic, you dare give me this useless thing for my heir. You couldn't give me a son, so now I have no use for you."

The woman dropped to the ground to know no more, as the imposing man before the girl turned to her, and prepared to do her in but another figure grabbed him around the wrist.

"What is the meaning of this, I have no use for her as my successor."

"Yes, great leader but she still could have potential for she has your superior DNA flowing through your blood stream."

The man considered this point when he looked at the young child, to be honest from his point of view, it looked pathetic, weak, and not able to do anything that a man could do. It was the type of child that would get drowned due to its existence but yet, the man thought that there was possible potential.

"You will live today child but on every other day, you will only live if you grow strong," he stated to the girl who nodded fearfully. He turned to his men. "Take her away and make sure she is subjected to the tests. If she dies, she dies."

The girl was taken off by two men who were tall and imposing, wondering what was going to happen to her today. Her young mind did not comprehending what happened and the coldness of the man that she supposed was her father flickered in his voice. It was not until some time later where she experienced her purpose.

"Sin," Taskmaster stated and the young woman pulled out of her thoughts about the weakling she used to be. Sin's full attention was on the Taskmaster, she was always drawn to powerful men in one way or another, blame it on her father's influence. "I have the perfect venue for the final battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood."

"The perfect venue, it will be done," Sin answered when she spun around before the Taskmaster described his plans in great deal to her.

Sin thought about it, it was simple, which meant that the Brotherhood would not screw it up that easily, so the potential was in fact there. The Brotherhood stood off to the side, they would have to have a simple plan because that team was able to screw up anything given their abilities, at least that was her opinion.

"It has potential," Sin offered when she prepared for what they were going to do tonight.

Harry stood outside before school the next day when he heard the footsteps walking up towards him. He did not even bother to look over his shoulder, he could sense who it was by the frustrated and uncertain thoughts that bubbled through the back of his mind.

"Hello Scott."

"Harry," Scott replied in a stiff voice when he turned to him. "So yesterday's training..."

"They need improvements but I think that they are going along better than can be expected," Harry answered when he turned to Scott, the two of them staring at each other coolly.

"Yes, but I'm not sure if it's such a good idea for you to continue to take such a close interest to the training of the new recruits," Scott answered when he looked back at Harry.

Harry figured that this one was coming, he did not know when. Scott was not being overtly hostile but the fact of the matter was that the magical mutant still detected an undercurrent of hostility in the other young man all things considered. There was a tension where Scott seemed to think that since he was the first, he should default the leader status and that was a huge problem, given that he felt that he should be named the leader.

There was a key difference between being named a leader and actually being one and as of right now, that was something that Scott had not figured out.

"Scott, there will come a time where you need to step up or get stepped on," Harry warned him when he looked at Scott with a serious expression in his green eyes.

"How can I step up when you keep undermining me as a leader?" Scott asked Harry, the glare beneath his glasses a bit intense.

"Yeah, undermining, look Scott, you're a halfway decent guy, but the fact is, you're the only one who undermines yourself," Harry said when he looked back at Scott with the two staring down each other. "Take a bit of advice from me and actually man up and understand that you have limitations and figure out a way to overcome them instead of being crushed by them."

Scott and Harry stared at each other but the door opened to reveal the new recruits walking out. They acted like that they were not in a heated discussion, it wasn't nearly violent enough to say it was an argument, a moment ago. They waved them off, with Amara in particular smiling with Harry.

"I want to work on you with that thing I was having trouble with this weekend, if that's okay," Amara responded to Harry and Harry smiled to her.

"Of course, my schedule's always open," Harry answered when Kitty, Rogue, Kurt, and Rachel followed the new recruits outside the door.

Rachel, being a telepath, sensed some hostility in the air and it was obvious why, Harry seemed to challenge Scott's role as the designated leader of this team. That was the best thing for him as far as the redhead was concerned, perhaps it would allow him to gain some perspective and assume that people would not follow his orders. Then perhaps he would not turn into that thing that he was twenty years from now that made Rachel barely stomach being in the same room as him.

"Do you even know when Jean is coming back?" Scott asked Harry, picking up that topic once again.

Harry's eyes fixed onto Scott's face, he was going down a dangerous road bringing up Jean and Harry got a sense that Scott thought this was somehow his fault.

"No, I didn't ask her," Harry answered when he looked back at Scott.

"You mean you saw her," Scott said in a confrontational manner when he looked at Harry.

Harry stared back down at him, icy fury bubbling in his eyes and Scott wondered if he took things a step too far with this implied accusation. He could tell Harry had a sense when he was being accused of things, even though he did not explicitly say so. The two stared each other down for a couple of moments.

"I caught a glimpse of her, so did Storm, Wolverine, and Xavier, so feel free take it up with them," Harry responded when he looked at Scott with a challenging expression in his eye.

"Yeah, Jean will come back, but if you're acting like a jerk, I'm not sure how you expect anyone to follow anything that you're saying," Kitty fired back when she stared at Scott.

Scott's mouth opened and snapped shut when Rogue, Kitty, and Rachel looked at him with challenging looks and even Kurt offered him a questioning expression.

"Jean will be back when Jean is ready to come back, trust me, she's perfectly fine," Harry answered and Rachel nodded in response when her gaze practically burned a hole through Scott's head.

Again Scott had no idea what Rachel's problem was there and in fact, he had no idea where she came from, Xavier seemed to be unable to read her mind even. So they figured out she was some high level telepath who had a lot of experience with blocking mental intrusion. Scott wondered if Rachel was a similar situation to Harry, where she popped out of nowhere, perhaps from the same place where Harry came from.

That was another matter for another time where tensions reigned high and Harry turned around, knowing that Scott blamed him for Jean running off but Jean needed this time to sort out everything in her head. The Phoenix had been a revelation and Harry knew that anyone, even a fully mature and rational adult, would need a lot of time to sort out everything in their mind regarding everything.

Rachel seethed, it was times like this where she wondered how her parents got together, and wondered at times if she had been the reason. It would stand to logical reason, but without the dates of the marriage and her birth, she would not be able to do the math. She walked side by side with Harry; she was glad that Scott seemed unnerved by the fact that Harry was with three girls.

His head would really explode if one of them was his daughter from the future. Still this was the best thing for Scott all things considered. This was done for his own good and he needed to learn that simply because he was given the leadership role by Xavier did not entitle him to throwing his weight around.

One of the most prominent events of the Bayville High School year was the annual school carnival/fund raiser that was on every single year.

"And I hope that this year's carnival we put the fun back into fund raiser."

There was a polite applause that Principal Kelly received but it was mostly because people felt sorry for him because of this proclamation that he said. It was a pun granted but it was not a good pun. Kelly walked around, the school was in heavy need of money and the teachers threatened to strike next year if their needs were not taken care of, so it would not be good for them to be without money.

"It looks like a blast, doesn't it Harry?" Kitty asked when she walked by her boyfriend.

Harry to be honest never went to a carnival, although he saw all he needed for clowns with the Dursleys and Aunt Marge could with a little modification pass as the bearded lady. Although Harry reminded himself that would be more of a circus than a carnival but still it was a chance to take a cheap shot at the Dursleys, so Harry was not about to pass that one up ever.

He waited for the entire group to make their way over, he saw the new recruits having a good time, although Harry made sure they did not get too out of line. Sugar and mutant powers tended to be a deadly mix and one that Harry wanted to avoid.

"Trouble at ten o'clock," Rachel remarked to Harry out of the side of her mouth as she saw Tabby and her father.

"I could have sworn that Logan told him to buzz off," Rogue said when she clutched her fist at the very thought and watched it.

"I'll take care of this," Harry answered when he walked forward.

"I'll help," Rachel answered when she followed Harry behind him.

Kitty and Rogue stood a few inches behind them, to reign them in case things got a bit ugly and knowing there luck, it likely would have gotten very ugly.

Tabby gritted her teeth when she stared down her father. Mr. Smith seemed to give the air of someone who wanted to change his ways but Tabby did not buy that false proclamation at all. "Just...use your powers one more time to give me something, so I can get back on my feet."

"It's always one more time for you, isn't it?" Tabby asked when she turned to him.

"Tabby, it's okay, we'll take care of this," Harry answered and Tabby opened her mouth to protest but Harry's eyes snapped towards her, giving her a chance to leave.

"Can't a man spend a little quality time with his daughter?" Mr. Smith asked when he looked at the group and he clutched his fists. He looked rather scummy to be honest, not that Harry judged people.

Rachel was the one to fire back when she stared down this man, for lack of a better term. "Not when that quality time consists of grand larceny."

Mr. Smith prepared to argue this point but Harry raised his hand to shut him down quickly as possible, shaking his head.

"I know what you think you're going to do, and it won't work," Harry answered when he turned to this man. "If you think you're going to expose the X-Men...you've got another thing coming. Sure you can scream to the heavens but no one will hear you."

'You will get yourself busted for a crime and arrested,' Rachel planted in his mind as an afterthought.

Mr. Smith turned around and walked away, with Tabby waiting for them, her arms folded.

Before she could say anything, the ground beneath them began to rumble. Harry and Rachel both floated several inches off of the ground to see what was happening and Harry in particular offered a rather pained grimace when he looked out into the distance.

'If it isn't one thing, it's another,' Harry thought when he saw the Brotherhood show up, and they were not in their normal attire Harry noted, they looked, well professional for lack of a better term.

Scott saw this as a perfect opportunity to step in and he turned to the X-Men.

"We're going to have to take..."

Quicksilver ran in at super speed to take Scott's legs out from underneath him before Toad jumped into the air and grabbed Scott's glasses on his slimy tongue, before ripping them off of his face. His eyes opened and everyone screamed when Scott's optic blasts shot out into the crowd of the carnival causing them to run and flee with terror.

"DUCK!" Harry yelled and everyone did, before Scott managed to shield his eyes, fighting blind and that was what Blob noticed.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel," Blob answered but Rogue flipped the switch on her wristband before she removed her glove.

"Normally I don't touch garbage like you," Rogue responded but suddenly a field appeared around the Blob, blocking her absorption powers.

"Ha, not so tough now, are you," Blob stated when she knocked Rogue down with a shot and sent her flying to the ground.

"Not so fast, my friend!" Kurt yelled when he appeared in a cloud of smoke on the Blob's head and the Blob swung but Kurt disappeared and Blob smacked himself in the back of his head.

Sin appeared, before she held up two super charged knives and tried to stab Kurt with them in the face. Harry was too busy trying to stop the Avalanche that Avalanche started, he seemed to have better control which meant Harry had to dig deeper into his magical powers.

"I'm so sick and tired of you!" Avalanche yelled when Harry caught several dozen pieces of debris while Multiple used his dupes to help the bystanders get to safety.

"Feeling's mutual," Harry grunted when he popped back, creating a befuddlement fog around them, so that that the civilians who were there would pass out when they got home and think today's events were the product of some really bad cotton candy.

Kitty moved over and engaged Sin in battle, diving at her with the young woman swinging her knives wildly at the young brunette mutant.

"Ah, too slow," Kitty managed before she went intangible.

The unexpected happened next, the knives stabbed through her intangible form but they turned intangible with her. That was a situation that caused Kitty great pause and she yelled out in agony when she realized that she could not pull them out of her intangible form herself, without becoming tangible herself.

"My father taught me how to deal with little girls like you," Sin answered when she stared down at Kitty who remained intangible, slowly sinking through the ground despite her best attempts to avoid it, knowing the knives would stay with her. "You can't stay like this forever."

She run up and kicked Cyclops in the head, before she forced his hands off of his eyes and used his powers as a targeting cannon, putting her thumbs inside his eyes to keep them wide open. She did not feel the pain of his optic blasts burning through her hands.

"NO!"

Harry yelled this when he saw Kitty on the ground but it was Quicksilver who moved in front of him.

"Out of my way!" Harry yelled and suddenly Quicksilver was blasted by a charm that caused him to fly backwards at super speed and crash into a tent.

Toad, boldly, tried to jump in but Rachel caught him in place and made him jump into the dunk tank with a mental suggestion she planted in his mind.

"Hold on, Kitty," Harry managed when he grabbed the intangible hands of the knives, closing his eyes when he caused the density of his hands to shift before he slowly but surely and safely pulled them from Kitty's chest.

The knives still felt hot to the touch but they allowed Kitty to go tangible again.

Sin, meanwhile, knew that the odds turned against the Brotherhood but she proved her point.

"We're not going to let them get away!" Bobby yelled when he used his powers to focus a wall of ice in front of them.

Harry summoned Scott's glasses, using the scouring charm to remove Toad's slime from them, before he threw them back to Scott. Scott took them and put them back on, looking at Harry with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Um, thanks," Scott responded but Harry gave a shrug, he was more concerned about Kitty's well-being than Scott's.

Before the X-Men could engage the Brotherhood in battle, a white robed man with a dark mask dropped down to the ground to face them.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Rogue asked when she stared down this man but he responded with a sadistic tone of voice.

"You may call me, the Taskmaster," Taskmaster stated when he stepped forward, menacing.

"I've got this guy," Cyclops answered but Taskmaster used his powers to study Scott's abilities when he fired off one shot.

Taskmaster moved around, predicting the exact angle Scott shot his optic blast, before he slid behind him and knocked him to the ground with a kick to the back of the leg.

Kurt was next, so he teleported behind the Taskmaster but the Taskmaster grabbed his tail before he swung him around like he was nothing and tossed him to the ground.

"That guy, he's studying our powers, he's just like...Arcane!" Rachel yelled when she tried to get a mental reading on the Taskmaster but his mask seemed to block out any psychic readings.

Harry aimed a bludgeoning spell towards the Taskmaster but his armor created a thick field around him to block the attack. He recognized that the armor had mystical and scientific properties around it.

'A gift from HYDRA,' Taskmaster thought when he dove in and dodged Harry's next spell with expert precision.

He ducked and he dodged again and again, with him learning from Arcane's fighting style but there was an equal problem, Arcane learned from his as well. Both tried a punch at the same time while both tried for a block and both remained at a stand-still.

No one moved when they pushed back at each other and Arcane and Taskmaster stood, eyes widened and knees buckling when they rocked back and forth with each other.

Taskmaster jumped back but Boom Boom hurled her bombs at the Taskmaster, which caused the Taskmaster to stagger a little bit.

"X-Men, together, confuse him don't think, just do!" Arcane called when he looked at the Taskmaster before he began to conjure the fog in the air. "Remember what we've learned!"

While Harry could study body language through his other senses, the Taskmaster's abilities were not that advanced. Therefore he leveled the playing feel.

Rogue dove underneath the attack of the Taskmaster, realizing that he delayed them from stopping the Brotherhood yet again. She left him in position for Cyclops to rip off his visor and try and blast through the shield but the shield protected the Taskmaster from further harm.

"You can't defeat me, you're children!" Taskmaster yelled but Harry caused the ground to blow up with spikes.

"Magma!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs.

Magma sent spurts of lava from the ground to cause the Taskmaster to dance.

"Iceman!" Harry shouted when he turned around and Iceman sent ice to further try and keep the Taskmaster off balance.

"Shadowcat, Rogue, Nightcrawler!"

Shadowcat dove underneath to try and sink Taskmaster into the ground while Nightcrawler teleported at random points trying to confuse him, while Rogue tried to push her way through the energy field. All attacks bounced off of him.

"Cyclops, you're on!"

Scott gritted his teeth but never the less he fired his option blast through the spot that Harry indicated. The blast moved through the Taskmaster and the X-Men realized something.

The genuine article checked out a bit ago when the battle got tough and replaced himself with a hologram. There was no way to hear his thoughts and someone that stealthy was going not going to make any noise.

The carnage at the carnival made the event a disaster but the X-Men felt great that they mitigated any casualties and that in their book was a win. Well for most of them, as Harry turned around to reflect upon the failure of not taking the Brotherhood or this Taskmaster down. Whoever the Taskmaster was, he was second to none with his ability to fight and to defend himself.

Yet, he had weaknesses and Harry could exploit them, although next time he might have to find new ones. The Taskmaster seemed to be the adaptable sort of guy.

"Hey, I don't know what you're problem is, we got away from there and laid a beating on the X-Men."

It was Lance who spoke up at this point but Sin seemed unsympathetic with these actions, rather she turned around and looked out in the distance out of the window, her teeth gritted.

"You've failed, they all still live," Sin answered when she walked down the hallways to her room, the biggest and nicest room in the house, it used to belong to Mystique.

She remembered what her father thought about the price of failure, the memories flashed by in her head, beating on the inside of it like a drum. The young woman shook her head when she sat on the bed, the reflection coming back to her minds eye.

It was one of the first missions she was on and she thought that she done rather well, having got the information that she needed on the enemies. Her teammates all made it out safely and they all praised her leadership abilities but that was until her father reviewed her performance. Sin's father was not an easy man to please by any stretch of the imagination and he showed his displeasure.

"Weakling of a girl, you left some of them living to tell the tale."

Sin felt his strong grip, stronger than hers, grab around her right arm and she felt her arm break with his grip. He broke her right arm.

"You broke my right arm," she groaned, the wrong thing to say, as she found out the hard way, when he grabbed her by the left arm.

"Do you not think that is fair?" her father asked her when he twisted at her left arm and there was a crack echoed throughout her ears, as she felt the pain of bones cracking and snapping in her arm. "There, now you're left arm has been broken as well, now that is what one would consider to be fair, would it not?"

Sinthea Shmidt dropped to the ground, favoring her broken arms, she could not pull herself up on the account of her broken arms and her father peered down in her young eyes, she saw his face, red and bald, with sunken in eye lids. It was the fact that put terror in the hearts of the most hardened men and women and he clapped his hands for Sin to be dragged off.

"Show her the price of weakness, throw her in the camps," he stated when he looked at his men and none of them dared even offer a questioning gaze. "If she's there in six months, we'll retrieve her. If she's not there in six months, we shall see if there is enough of her to bury after the rats are done with her."

Sin knew by now about protesting before her father's guards dragged her off to a large camp that her father tortured his enemies back during the days of the war. She shivered when she saw the human bones at the bottom of the large pit that the men threw her into.

Only ten years old and she landed hard in the pit, shivering when she hit the bottom. There was no food down here, no food except for the rats. That was all she had and if she did not eat the rats, then she would perish and thus the rats would eat her.

Her broken arms also hurt for days, but Sin learned at this time to become highly adaptable because if she was not adaptable she would die. It was a game where only the strong survived and she would be part of a superior race that her father was part of. He dangled the leader of that movement a time ago on strings like a puppet, not that depraved and deranged man needed much of a nudge to commit the acts he did.

Sin shook herself out of the thoughts that she had, today's battle would be an adequate performance in the minds of some but she thought that there was nothing adequate. Of course, for many, there would be no shame with losing to a team lead by someone like Harry Potter, but her father had the highest standards. Sin shook her head when she placed her hands in her face and adjusted her expression to something that was stronger.

"Sin reporting to HYDRA"

She opened up the communication link when she clicked the link on and she heard a buzzing sound before the agent on the other end reported.

"HYDRA reporting back, please give details on today's mission," the HYDRA representative stated on the other end of the link.

Sin collected her thoughts for a moment before she brushed her hair back and collected everything that she needed to say. After a pause, she leaned forward before she offered her words in a calculated and quite diplomatic manner. She wanted to give an accurate portrayal of the situation without trying to make it sound like that she failed big time, which she thought she did.

"The Brotherhood show some progress but they are nothing but the level of cannon fodder."

"It was as we expected," the HYDRA representative stated from the other side of the communication link before he drummed his fingers. "The X-Men have gotten in the way of our operations once too often."

Sin knew that HYDRA referred to the events in the facility up in Canada that once belonged to the Weapon X program.

"The gas is on schedule," the HYDRA representative answered when he drummed his fingers.

"It will be HYDRA's ultimate weapon," Sin answered when she thought about the gas and its capabilities, it would bring the strongest enemy down to their knees.

"Indeed, our glorious leader will be pleased with the progress."

Sin doubted that but she remained polite and silent before she checked her watch. It was almost time for another training session and after some of their sloppy efforts today, Sin made her way down the stairs to knock them around. She would make sure they understood the price of their failures today and the young redhead woman shook her head when she thought about it.

She did know that Jean Grey disappeared off the radar as well, perhaps that would be an opportunity to endear herself to the higher ups in HYDRA, to get such a powerful mutant on their side. Especially given the fact that her fractured mental state might make her desperate and in need to control her powers.

Sin began to hatch a plan, the X-Men might have won this one battle tonight but HYDRA was going to win the war.

Harry stood outside of the Xavier Institute late at night when he looked up into the sky. He could hear Scott approaching him and he waited for the other young man to speak.

"So thanks out there."

Harry offered a nod before he spun around and looked at Scott before he answered in a cool voice. "No problem."

There was an awkward moment from the time of them, Scott and Harry both knew where the other stood from before Harry stepped inside the Xavier Institute to think about the night that was between the X-Men.

All of them rested after the battle with the Brotherhood and Harry thought about that battle, how their newest member managed to tip the scales. The Brotherhood seemed better trained at that moment but Harry shook his head when he walked up the stairs, taking a moment to think about.

If the Brotherhood stepped up their training, it would give the X-Men a chance to step up their training even more, but there was another problem, that being the Taskmaster. He seemed to be a person who trained in his powers for a very long time before Harry walked inside, through the Mansion without a word, and up the stairs towards his bedroom.

Harry entered his room and saw Kitty sitting on the bed where she wore a black t-shirt and black shorts, she looked a bit out of it. Rogue sat next to her, wearing a black skirt and mesh top beside her and Rachel sat next to both of them, wearing a green robe that showed her shapely legs.

"Hey, how are you three doing?" Harry asked when he looked at Kitty, Rogue, and Rachel .

Kitty was the one that responded first ,shaking her head. "I thought that...well things could have gotten much worse, couldn't they?"

"Yeah, they could," Harry agreed when he sat down and Kitty threw her arms around Harry, he pulled her up onto his lap.

"Guess I'm relying on my powers a lot, perhaps I should learn to duck more," Kitty offered when Harry ran his fingers through her hair and Kitty straddled him a little bit, before Rogue and Rachel pulled Harry's shirt off without a word.

"We all need to unwind after what happened tonight," Rogue offered, when she rubbed Harry's neck and the back of his shoulders, while Rachel and Kitty took his abs and worked his pants off, before the real fun began.

They really needed to relieve some stress and now was the time to do it.

Smut/Lemon Begins.

Kitty dove between Harry's legs, lapping his balls with her wet tongue, with Rogue taking the base of his cock and licking at it, and Rachel began to suckle the head. Harry watched his three beauties down on their knees between his legs, sucking on him.

"Feels good, keep doing that," Harry grunted when Rachel popped Harry's cock in between her lips before she pushed up and down on it, making lewd sucking sounds with her mouth.

Kitty reached over and pulled Rogue's top over her head to reveal her nice round, pale globes of flesh. They stood rather perky, with her nipples erect. Rogue reached over and slowly pulled off Kitty's top to reveal the black bra that she wore, before Rogue slowly unstrapped the bra, allowing Kitty's pert teenage breasts to fall out.

"Yeah, so hot," Harry grunted when Rachel bobbed her up and down his fleshy pole, smacking her hips together, and sucking him down.

Kitty pulled her shorts off, before removing the pair of panties that she wore. She sat on one side of Harry on his bed, with Harry using his fingers to push open Kitty's lips and shove his fingers inside.

"Oh yes!" Kitty moaned when Harry began to pump into her to get her pussy wet.

Rogue was on the other side of Harry and she got one of the same treatment, with Harry thrusting his fingers deep inside her dripping cunt.

Rachel tasted and sucked on Harry's cock with Rogue and Kitty moaning with Harry manipulating their cunts with his fingers. The four of them gave pleasure to each other as Rachel played with herself as well, playing with her pussy while she gave Harry the blow job of his life.

"YES!"

"PUMP IT INTO ME!"

Rachel popped Harry's member out of her mouth and squeezed it tightly, before she turned around, and locked eyes with Kitty.

The three girls decided between themselves who would get Harry's cock in them first. Rogue slid over towards Harry, and straddled his lap, his cock trapped between them, brushing against Rogue's stomach when they kissed hard and Harry played with her breasts.

"Ready for the ride of your life, my goth goddess," Harry breathed to Rogue and Rogue nodded, a smirk crossing her face.

"I need you in me," Rogue managed in a husky tone when Harry squeezed her hard around her breasts and she moaned rather loudly, before his cock brushed against her hot entrance and with a tease, Harry slid inside her.

Harry grunted when he felt Rogue's tightness envelope around him, when he pushed in and out of her with the skill that Rogue expected of him. His member penetrated her, hitting all of her pleasure spots and out of the corner his eyes, he saw Kitty and Rachel playing with each other.

Kitty pulled Rachel's shirt over her head and exposed her breasts, large and firm, and Kitty felt their firmness when she squeezed them. Rachel threw her head back with a moan.

"I'm going to suck your tits when Harry watches," Kitty said in a teasing manner when she rubbed her thumbs against Rachel's nipples, before she twisted them.

"Yes, that'd be nice," Rachel breathed when Kitty went between her tits and began to suck on them. "Yes, suck on my tits, they're yours!"

"Fuck that tight twat, Harry!"

Harry pushed Rogue back onto the bed, pumping his cock into her, his balls slapping against her flesh when he buried himself deeper and deeper into her. Rogue lifted her hips up to meet Harry's motions a little bit, before the two met together with each thrust.

"YES!"

Kitty had Rachel stripped completely naked and the two of them laid with each other in a sexually charged sixty nine position, eating each other's cunts to the sights and sounds of Rogue and Harry making love. The two of them indulged themselves in the sweet taste of each other, liking what they indulged in each other.

Harry and Rogue continued their love making actions for a time, before he pumped into her hard and felt his balls size up.

"I'm not sure if you've earned this cum," Harry teased Rogue when he placed his hands on her sweaty tits, rolling them over her.

"Yes, I've earned it, fucking blow it in me!" Rogue yelled before Harry pumped into her before he injected her with his burning hot seed. Rogue clenched around him to milk every single drop of seed from his balls, squeezing and yanking his prick until he flooded into her cunt.

Rachel was down on the bed and suddenly found herself handcuffed, spread-eagled to the bed. She looked up, to see her pussy exposed, and Kitty was over her. Rogue rested because of her bout with Harry and now Harry went between her legs, teasing her folds.

"Oh, that's the spot Harry," Rachel breathed when Harry teased her lips before he brushed against her slit with his cock and with another swift movement pushed inside her.

Harry felt her warm tightness envelope him when he proceeded to saw into her. Rachel pushed her hips up, meeting her hips to Harry's with both making the sensual sounds of love making, breathing heavily, when their powers clashed together.

They pulled mental cues out of each other's minds to figure out what the other wanted. Harry buried himself deeper and deeper, pushing into her and Rachel's screams got loud even though she could not play with herself due to her handcuffed position.

So Harry went to her, rolling his fingers over her sweaty nipples while Rogue pumped her fingers in between her spread legs and played with herself. With a dirty expression in his eyes, Harry looked up towards Kitty, a smile crossing over his face. "Kitty."

"Yes, Harry" Kitty breathed when she looked at Harry plunge his cock into the depths of Rachel's wet folds. Each push stretched her out more, when he continued to steady his pace.

"Rachel's a bit loud, do me a favor, love and gag her?"

Kitty did not have to be told twice, she sat on Rachel's face and Rachel understood immediately, she indulged herself in Kitty's pussy. Her tongue licked inside the dripping cunt, as she tasted the honey between Kitty's legs and Kitty made lewd sounds the more Rachel delved into her.

"Oh, you know what I like," Kitty breathed and Harry played with her breasts, so that statement could be applied to both.

Rachel continued to pay attention to what Kitty wanted, reading her mind while she munched on the younger girl's cunt. Harry's cock plunged into her pussy in tune with her actions, licking and sucking on Kitty's peach, and also she briefly simulated her clit.

Harry placed his hands on her breasts to push up, before she slammed down. Rachel spread eagled and handcuffed made it so much hotter for some reason. Her cunt could squeeze him so tightly, it was with an immense strength and power that Harry thought that he never experienced. He pushed through into her, pushing his prick into her tightness hard and hard until the end came.

'Cum for me Harry, I can tell you're done,' Rachel projected into his mind, using her telepathic gifts to give a few subtle prods to the pleasure centers of Harry's mind, while she used another part of her body to lovingly squeeze his massive member.

Harry held off due to a sheer strength of will but Rachel's actions combined with the fact that Kitty threw her head back, offering a scream, that was until Rogue shoved her own fingers into Kitty's mouth, caused Harry to reach closer to finishing. Kitty sucking Rogue's girl cum off of her fingers caused him to lose it and Harry lost his load in Rachel's waiting chambers, splattering her pussy with his juices.

Rachel fell back and Harry saw Rogue and Kitty making out while Rachel still gave tentative licks to Kitty's cunt. Kitty was the only one who he had not serviced tonight.

"Best for last," Kitty managed when she pulled herself away from Rogue and saw Harry's cock stand at attention for her. Her pussy was wet and willing and she needed it in her now.

As it turned out, Kitty would have it, she grabbed Harry's cock, and impaled herself down onto it. Harry felt the pleasure of his hard rod encased in her tight love box, with the brunette girl pushing up and down on him at an intense speed, riding his cock like it could cure cancer.

"Oh yes, you are amazing," Harry groaned when he grabbed her ass and pinched it, before Kitty rose up and sank down on him, gyrating her hips a little bit to squeeze Harry, to tease him. Even though he already came already tonight twice, Harry had an amazing sex drive.

Rogue dove between Rachel's legs and munched on her, with Rachel still handcuffed to the bed.

"YES!" Rachel yelled when she felt Rogue's talented mouth on her and she could tell that her moans of pleasure gave Harry more pleasure as well.

Kitty rode Harry's pull, sliding up and down his well lubricated cock, pushing and squeezing him with her tight box. The friction of their two sexes colliding and their sweaty bodies rocked back and forth against each other, causing their moans to escalate.

"Fucking hell, how many times can I make you cum?" Harry breathed when he speared his cock deep into Kitty's cunt, pushing it in and out of her.

"As...many as you want to...YES!" Kitty screamed when Harry continued to work his magic in her snug snatch, each thrust feeling like pure sexual magic as it ripped through her.

"YES!"

Kitty's latest scream was done in Harry's ear and he swatted her on the ass before he pushed her down and speared into her, plunging his cock between her legs.

Rachel panted heavily when Rogue continued to sample her heavenly juices between her legs, there was a moment where she lost her mind to a pleasure. She offered subtle cues into Rogue's mind and that added to the experience for both of them.

She also inadvertently stimulated the pleasure centers of the minds of her other two lovers as well, with Harry returning fire and it was almost like their minds connected in a pure wave of sexual magic. Rogue and Rachel got into a sixty nine position, each others cunts when they went down on each other with talented tongues and hot mouths.

Much time later, Kitty felt like she was going to lose it from the sheer number of orgasms Harry put her through, each plunge of his cock going deeper and deeper into her, stretching and working her twat out, punishing her perfect pussy with each shot.

"Cum, please," Kitty managed when she felt a burning desire in her pussy and the only way that need could be filled was through Harry's seed.

Harry's balls tightened before he spurted his seed into her inner chambers, with Kitty, Rachel, and Rogue all cumming as well.

The entire group collapsed, feeling spent in some ways and recharged in others.