3

"Harry, is it wise to alienate Mr. Keller so? I fear he may break from us and leave. He has a lot of potential and will be very powerful." Emma pointed out worriedly as she and the Stepford Cuckoos approached Logan, Laura and Harry in the Infirmary half an hour later.

"Oh, I know he will. In fact, he has already left the building and tried to get some of his friends to leave with him." Harry chuckled, he had asked Lorna and Dani to keep an eye on him but not interfere.

"Shouldn't we be out there looking for him?" Emma asked, angry at Harry's seeming lack of care.

"Nah, I alerted Dr. Cooper she and her people are going to pick him up and leave him in the new sanctuary tonight. I'll deal with him tomorrow when I pay a medical visit there with Hank."

"What's the deal, kid." Logan grunted. "You ruined a perfectly good exit back there."

"I'll make it up to you, but this was far too important.

"Back in my world, they tried cloning. The problem is that cloning does not create a true soul. I had to kill off the clones as they were abominations. This universe is closer but not close enough. You four are clones." He said indicating the four teenage girls.

Harry pointed at Laura. "You have a badly formed soul, you will never have a full life as you are.

"You three," He pointed to the triplets, "only have one soul between you, and it is badly damaged as you had a soul mate and it was ripped away."

"We were once five, now we are three." They intoned emotionlessly.

"Yeah, I can't do anything about the shared soul, but I can help the four of you.

"You need a companion soul to compensate for your damaged ones. You might call them soul mates. I recommend Emma for yours and Logan for yours." He told the triplets and Laura respectively.

"Ain't this a romantic thing?" Logan asked a little disgusted.

"No, it's a love thing. It will bolster any love and caring you have for each other. If the love is familial then you will have that love bolstered."

"So… she really will be my sister? In my mind."

"You'll come to care for her as such, my first soul mate was my adopted sister."

"We want someone else as our soul mate." The triplets declared.

"Emma's a good choice. She already loves you and I know you love her."

"We do not trust her. She helped cause us to become Three."

Emma looked severely ashamed and depressed.

"Was it intentional?" Harry asked the girls.

They shared a look. "We do not believe so."

"Then that is all the more reason to choose her. There is no immediate rush. You survived this long and you can survive the rest of your lives like this, but you will not have fulfilling lives."

"Are there any bad side effects?" Logan asked.

"No, if you die they will need a new anchor, but I can handle that easily enough."

"If the kid wants it I'll do it, but she can think about it for a few days first." Logan said decisively.

"I will always be ready to help my girls." Emma said firmly.

"Not yours. Not anymore."

"Not for now." Harry rebuked the girls lightly. "But always in her heart."

The next morning Harry told Sophia to go and hang out with Dani and tell her he sent her. He then grabbed Hank and Emma and they headed off to the sanctuary, which was a few miles down the road.

"I'm sorry sir. I have strict instructions to specifically deny you entry." The guard on duty stated.

There was a huge concrete wall surrounding the camp with four Sentinels posted on guard. Not to mention the various military personnel. The O*N*E worked fast.

"Well, you can try and stop me, but don't hurt any bystanders or I won't be pleased." Harry warned as he proceeded to walk through the man.

"Do we fire?" Another soldier asked.

"At what?" The guard asked incredulously.

Emma and Hank followed Harry as he headed in a specific direction.

"How do you know where you are going?" Hank asked.

"I'm following Julian's scent. It took me a few years, but I can now access my heightened dragon senses in human form."

"Can all magicals become animals?"

"Yes, but it takes hard work and a potion and only certain individuals can become dragons." Harry stopped outside a tent. "Knock Knock!" He called before marching in.

"Mr. Keller, I thought you were stronger than this. Running away when someone confronts you on your beliefs." Emma admonished.

"Bastard called me evil. I don't have to stand for that." Julian snapped.

"That's 'Doctor Potter', and mind your language."

"I never called you evil, I simply pointed out you were heading that way." Harry reasoned. "If you do become evil, you'll likely never hear me call you it as I'll just kill you."

Julian paled at that, he didn't think the man was boasting or making idle threats.

"Now, for today, you are going to play our assistant as Doctor McCoy and I see to the medical needs of the residents here as needed. When you get back, the Headmistress will assign you whatever punishments she deems fit." Harry informed him.

"What if I don't want to go back?" He said sullenly.

"You are a minor. You don't have a choice, we have a responsibility to you until you come of age, we will not allow ourselves to be found lacking in fulfilling that responsibility." Hank said sternly.

Julian was shepherded out between Hank and Harry as Emma headed to speak with Val Cooper.

There were very few injuries, there were two rather distressing cases. The first was Lorelei Travis who had apparently had her hair viciously sliced off because it was prehensile. She had been healed by a man known as Mr. M. Harry was happy to leave her in Mr. M's hands as he seemed a gentle soul and Lorelei was quite taken with him.

But far worse was Amara Aquilla. She had been driven insane by the loss of her boyfriend and the man who was mentally calming her had once mind raped her. Hank was not pleased and intended to have harsh words with Scott and Emma about who they sent out for various missions.

"You have had a very hard life." Harry said as he caressed her hands, he lifted them so she could see.

"You healed them!" She gasped as she saw the scars from when she was crucified were gone as was the residual ache.

"When your memory is already scarred, you don't need the physical ones. If you decide you want me to help you with those memories come and see me. I understand from Hank that you are likely to be very distrusting of those who practice the mind arts."

Amara flinched but controlled herself.

"Don't worry, I am a Healer and Doctor, I took oaths about that sort of thing.

"Now, you have a much bigger problem. The man you just lost, he was your soul mate. That's what drove you insane, you will continue to suffer unless we do something about it."

"I could always just die." She said sullenly.

"Or you could lean on a friend." Harry said pointedly. "Is there anyone you would trust with your life, a friend, sibling, parent? Preferably not someone you have a romantic connection with, more familial."

Amara shrugged.

"Miss Moonstar is currently at the institute." Hank offered.

"I trust Dani." She shrugged again.

Harry put out a mental call to Dani, she appeared seconds later.

"Amara! You're here!" She gasped happily as she went to hug her friend. She pulled back when she saw the state she was in. "Amara, what happened?"

"She lost her soul mate, Dani." Harry said quietly.

Having been there to witness Harry deal with Peter Parker, she knew just how bad that was, she also knew there was a solution.

"I'll do it." She said defiantly.

Harry smiled, he was very proud of her, she had deduced what he needed of her, what her friend needed of her and she had jumped at the chance. She was the perfect choice for the second magical he had created in this world.

"Do what?" Hank asked for both himself and Amara.

"The human soul is not meant to be cut into and mutilated. That is what happens when a soul mate dies. A piece of the survivor's soul is ripped away as the one who dies crosses over. That wound will remain open and eat at you unless a connection is re-established, which I can do."

"And you want to do this between Miss Aquilla and Miss Moonstar?"

"If they are both willing. Dani's reaction makes me believe she is definitely a good choice." Harry nodded. "What do you say Amara, this won't replace the one you lost, it just makes sure you aren't suffering unnecessarily."

"Can I think about it?"

"Absolutely. Dani, take her back and get her settled, both of you discuss it some more." Harry ordered.

Hank and Harry made their way to find Emma with a sullen Julian in tow. They found her having a heated discussion in the O*N*E command centre with Val Cooper.

"What has you so angry, Emma?" Hank asked.

"They want to implant mutants with tags." She said bluntly.

"Really, Dr. Cooper? I thought you were better than this." Harry said disappointedly.

"It's not my decision. It's coming from way over my head." Val explained.

"Send your superiors a message from me: You first."

"They will just use that as a threat against them and they will use it as justification to actually do it."

"That's fine, but tell them that if they continue to treat us as animals, I will turn them into animals." Harry smiled. "And I may not turn them back."

"I'll pass on your message, but I doubt it will do any good." She sighed.

"I will be speaking with Dr. Strange about this. If the government is willing to attempt this on a sub-species of humanity, how long will it be before they turn to the rest of the people? I am sure the press will be interested in hearing about this."

Val and the other O*N*E personnel in the command van were stunned as Dr. Potter, Emma Frost, Hank McCoy and Julian Keller just vanished.

"Get General Lazer on the line." She ordered when the shock had passed.

"So, humans and mutants as equals?" Keller asked smugly once the shock of being teleported straight to Emma's office wore off.

"Do you know why your government isn't acting in favour of mutants?" Harry asked as he conjured a large extra chair for Hank. "Because those that hate mutants are the loudest, they are demanding the government do these things and when they don't the anti-mutant group goes on TV and starts claiming that the government doesn't listen and doesn't care about humans.

"Governments hate bad publicity and they try so hard to please everyone that they end up pleasing no one and hurting nearly everyone."

"Then what's the point of having a government?" Julian demanded angrily. It sounded like Dr. Potter was making his point.

"Governments provide boundaries. They ensure that the laws are enforced. If there were no laws, then Miss Ashida could have killed you last night and gotten away with it. And she was ready to do so."

"Like she could." He scoffed quietly.

"She could, she was enraged. I've told people several times that our emotions affect our powers. Rage has a tendency to amplify them, unfortunately it can also overload them and make us more vulnerable."

"I believe Mr. Keller has learnt all he can for today." Emma interrupted. "We need to decide his punishment."

"What were you thinking and how long?"

"A month, with one week restricted to his room, meals and classes, and then restricted to the Institute for the rest of the time."

"Perhaps we should assign him to the infirmary to assist Dr. Potter and myself for that month, after his week of severe restrictions of course." Hank offered.

"Yes, perhaps he will learn something." Emma smirked. Having Mr. Keller cleaning up various bodily substances would be most useful.

"Ok, but I am adding an additional punishment." Harry said as he placed a glowing hand on Julian's arm.

Julian tried to move away but Harry held firm. When the glowing stopped, Harry released him and sat back.

"I have just turned off your powers. I will turn them back on when your month's punishment is up. You need to understand that your powers are a gift to be cherished, not abused and lorded over others."

Hank and Emma were shocked but held their tongues.

"YOU WHAT!" Julian leapt to his feet trying to access his powers. But nothing happened. "What the fuck am I supposed to do if I get attacked?"

"Language Mr. Keller." Emma snapped.

"I suppose you can either defend yourself as a human or rely on someone with powers to protect you." Harry smiled. "Of course, why a powerful mutant would want to help a lowly human is beyond me." He said with that same smile. "Go on, off to your room, you will be called for meals." Harry teleported him outside the door.

They winced as they heard an inarticulate scream of rage.

"I've just asked Logan to ensure he goes to his room." Emma told them as they heard stomping footsteps get slightly quieter.

"Was it really necessary to remove his powers?" Hank asked. "He was right, the institute is often attacked and we have had many injuries and far too many fatalities."

"First of all, if the school is attacked, the students should not be fighting. I was not pleased when I saw them fighting the Sentinels the other day. They need to be evacuated into the sub levels. We as their guardians should be fighting and protecting.

"Secondly, there are a number of things I can do to protect the Institute. As soon as I get the chance I will implement them. For now we will need to rely on the O*N*E as the first line of defence."

"Those are sound ideas, but they rarely work out the way you want them."

"Hank, I can quite literally remove the Institute from this phase, no one on the planet will know where it is unless we tell them and even if they know the general location they won't be able to touch it, just like when I walked through the guards today."

It was hard to argue with protections like that.