Chapter 38: Living Legend Part Three

Magneto turned his attention to the Red Skull, sadistically staring at his enemy through a nasty expression that danced through his eyes. This was one of the reasons why he suffered as he did during his childhood. While Sinister was the other one, the Red Skull help masterminded a lot of the deaths around him. Friends, family, and strangers alike but Magneto felt their pain and now he had the metal wrapped around the Red Skull's neck.

"It's been a long time coming," Magneto responded when he looked at him but the mysterious man attacked him from behind and knocked him back onto the ground. The Master of Magnetism ducked his head and did a roll, landing on the ground, before he bounced back and summoned several nails to try and shoot him. "Do you not know the hell that this man has put many through?"

"Sorry, just following orders," the young man stand before he dodged the attack and pulled out a wooden weapon, before he shot the wooden arrows from it at Magneto. Magneto pulled over a large piece of metal to block the attacks.

Magneto was not impressed by these words and he conveyed that much with a mighty bellow, his eyes glowing with the personification of power he showed.

"I have suffered plenty because men just followed orders!"

Magneto waved his hand and slammed the large chunks of metal down against his enemy, sending him spiraling back a little bit. His enemy was quick and resistant, Magneto would give him that. That was about all that he was giving.

The Master of Magnetism when his eyes began to glow and then he sent large metal barriers that wrapped around his adversary, to hold him into place.

Before he could do much more, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. His face began to get flushed and suddenly, he became a magnet for the metal, all of it flying towards him and trying to impale his flesh, with sadistic fury.

The Red Skull turned, a sadistic grin crossing over his face when he looked down at his prey with a malicious expression.

"You were weak, the weaker man and…."

The doors burst open and Red Skull looked up, before he motioned for his HYDRA agents to head in to shield him from the attacks.

Jean was on the scene first and she got a pocket of HYDRA soldiers with a telekinetic attack, which blasted them off to the side and sent them flying hard to the ground. Their bones cracked and their necks snapped when they spiraled head over heels and smashed down to the ground hard with a sinister impact. They rolled over down, bones rattled and busted, in pain.

Harry stood over, without another word, and he waved his hand, before he transfigured the weapons of his enemies into snakes which bit his enemies on the wrists. Then several spikes came up from the ground, impaling them.

"Man there sure are a lot of these guys!" Iron Man stated when he blasted several of them into the wall with his attacks.

"Stay focused!" Captain America stated, when he knew he needed to get to the Red Skull and he flung his shield around.

Logan growled, there was something about this situation that brought back a few of his memories that were suppressed. He popped his claws and jabbed at his enemies, causing them to drop to the ground, blood spurting out of their wrists when they landed with a thud. His enemies rolled over with the pain.

"Don't you think that we should leave some of these guys awake?" Mockingbird asked when she swung her staff and cracked the knee caps of the HYDRA agents.

"Well if any of them stop shooting at us," Hawkeye stated when he fired at his enemies with a rapid fire barrage of arrows. They nailed his enemies with a ballistic fury, knocking them back and causing them a great deal of discomfort and discontent.

The group knocked their enemies back and Hawkeye continued to pick up the pace with a series of rapid fire arrow shots.

Harry caused the platform that two of the HYDRA guards stood to begin to vibrate and then explode underneath them.

Hulk ran forward, growling, when he smashed through a gigantic robot that was firing on the team. It was surprising how much a gigantic figure like the Hulk could hide himself. A second gigantic robot was about to go against the Hulk but Thor dove down.

"HAVE AT THEE VILLIAN!"

Thor smashed the robot with a shot with his hammer, causing it to explode, along with the person inside. Being a warrior, Thor knew that when these people put the lives of civilians in peril, they put their own lives in peril.

The Red Skull edged his way through the door, he knew that his men were going down fast. It was time for a strategic maneuver but naturally if they knew the truth. He saw Black Widow dive down in front of him.

Red Skull flung a knife at her but she dodged it, rolling on the ground.

The next thing he knew, he was shot in the back of the head, his head blowing completely off from the shot. He dropped to the ground, sparks flying out of the back of his neck and motor oil spurted out of his neck.

"The Red Skull was a robot?" Iron Man asked when he walked over and looked down at him.

"Of course he wasn't you fool, he's tricked us again," Sin stated when she held the gun in her hand.

"You'd shoot your own father in the back of the head?" Hawkeye asked, not that he was complaining about it, since he was the Red Skull.

"Of course she would. I must say Sinthea, you are finally showing some backbone. It's a pity that it won't matter in the end but I have to give you points for effort."

Captain America heard the voice of his most hated enemy but he saw another figure on the catwalk. He stood and he blinked. It couldn't be, he thought he saw a ghost. He died during the final battle with the Red Skull, or what he thought was the final battle at the time. The star spangled avenger shook his head and walked over.

"So you've won one minor battle, congratulations but the war continues."

Harry walked forward to the next room after he pulled open the doors before he blinked and saw it. In a glass case he saw the red liquid flowing through it, and he smiled when he looked at it, tapping his fingers on the side of it. He managed to find it.

"Is that it….is that the plague?"

It was not Harry who answered Iron Man's question but it was Sin, who she turned to the armored hero with a sneer on her face.

"Yes, it is, my father must have left it here for a reason, so I trust you'd be all on your guard," Sin responded when she looked at the entire party.

"Yeah, I can tell she's his daughter."

Harry ignored that comment from Logan, right now he squinted his eyes. He never saw anything like this before and his eyes flickered through the plague, when he continued to analyze every single bit of it. There were micro-organisms in it, which had body language, so Harry could study how it worked. Then he could understand their behavior to formulate the rest of the antidote, working through every single bit of it and he shook his head.

He conjured a pad of paper and began to write out a formula, and with another motion he spun it around, handing it to Black Widow.

"Check this out, to see if it works, I trust SHIELD has the resources to mass produce an antidote," Harry stated and Black Widow responded with a nod, SHIELD did very much have these resources to do so.

"So what now?" Hulk asked, breaking the silence.

"He actually had a good question, what now?" Hawkeye asked to the ground.

Harry responded when he looked at them. "We figure out the antidote, before it's too late, and then we figure out where the Red Skull is."

"The Red Skull is mine," Sin responded fiercely, she figured that if she took out her father, than HYDRA would be hers. It was time where the student became the teacher and she taught her father the same painful lesson that he had been teaching her. Yet she would go the extra mile and ensure his suffering was quite spectacular.

Red Skull was someone who understood the need to have a contingency plan should things go south and very wrong rather quickly. Several contingency plans if he could manage it and believe him, he managed several of them. The average person would think that the plague plot would be something that many people would think to be foolproof.

Those people would be proven to be a fool time and time again. He left nothing to chance.

Red Skull clicked his pen to the side and his face twisted into a smile before his eyes closed and he thought about everything that was going to happen. The truth was that despite his best efforts, Captain America lived.

He shook his head, his face twisted into a sadistic smirk.

Captain America would not live for that much longer.

He cracked his knuckles when he thought about but he remembered everything that happened. Years of careful planning to ensure that HYDRA would rule the world would not be flushed down the drain. Rather he would adapt and improve, no matter what. His droid kept his enemies distracted while he commenced with Plan B.

Plan B did not offer the sweet sophistication and science that the original plan offered. Poisoning a bunch of super powered mutants where their powers would eventually kill them and other humans around them, thus causing fear and hatred to be spread would be a sound plan. However, he had neglected to focus too much on one unintended variable. Why would he? Why would one child be a problem to someone like the Red Skull?

Yet this particular child was a problem, of course one would be a fool to think of someone like that as a child. He closed his hands together and imagined wrapping them around the throat of this one known as Arcane. He must suffer for meddling in his plans.

Red Skull thought at first that he was a minor annoyance, someone who would give the lowest levels of HYDRA problems. He thought that the incident in the Weapon X facility was something that was a fluke, a shot in the dark. There would be no way whatsoever that something like that would happen again, and he would be killed. He sent his daughter to refine the Brotherhood into a fighting force, or at least someone who would know how to hold their own a fight.

Yet there was something else and that was that Harry Potter, Arcane, whatever you wished to call him, he got stronger. And then there was a strength to him to say the very least that he would have perhaps respected. Yet Red Skull refused to respect anyone that meddled in his plans thus and cracked his fists when he thought about it.

He knew that the plague would work but it also could not work. He never expected it to be defused this soon but perhaps the leader of HYDRA expected when he was going to do so. He grabbed the gun he held. So far, no one knew where he was, and that was what he was going to stay. He sat in his office or rather the office of Dell Rusk, unassuming politician in Washington, the Secretary of Defense.

He had been in that position for many years and had been in the government for many more, he had been slowly breaking down the defenses of this country. Making everything weaker and weaker, so HYDRA could take them down easily but it seemed much to his distaste that there would always be heroes in the world.

Red Skull pulled out the sheet of paper that he had in his paper, his face twisted into a sadistic smile when he saw the blueprints of his super weapon. He shook his head when he slapped the paper down on the edge of the table, when he looked up at it.

Yes, it was going to work, the power of HYDRA would live on forever and a day. It would continue to reign supreme forever, his face continued to contort into a horrific grimace when he looked. If anyone had been in the office with him at this present moment, they would have been afraid and rather scared. The terror that they experienced would be second to none.

The Red Skull waited for a moment and thought about what was going to happen. Arcane had gone up the ranks, next to Captain America and Nick Fury on the people that he would like to destroy most. He would do so, slowly, and painfully, where they would be begging for his demise.

To kill them would not be enough, he would break them, he would break their spirit and destroy them all. They would beg for death and he would be merciful enough to grant it, in a fashion.

Fingers get crossed when the X-Men were still down in the infirmary and the main lab at SHIELD mass produced the cure that Harry calculated. It was the first time Harry used his powers for such a thing. He hoped that this purpose would not blow up in his face, but he also knew that SHIELD had some of the foremost scientific minds in the world. So if anyone can check his math.

He waited outside, with Jean on one side of him and Rachel on the other side of him. There were no words needed.

'It will work,' Rachel projected to Harry, when she sensed her lover's thoughts and understood what he was going through. She did worry about her friends and fellow lovers as well, and she could tell Jean, as a senior member of the team, worried about most of them as well.

The door slid open and the SHIELD doctor exited to look at them. The entire group was on pins and needles waiting for the news, whether it would be good or bad. They crossed their fingers and hoped for the best, even though they expected the worst. Moments ticked by before the SHIELD doctor gave them the news that they had been waiting for. The anticipation was much worse than the actual news.

"The good news is that everyone is out of the woods and will make a full and clear recovery no matter what."

Harry, Rachel, and Jean all smiled, with both redheads on either side of Harry. The three of them waited for as long as they could and hoped that this was going to be the case. There were some anxious moments between the three of them. Yet, they showed that patience and persistence would pay out in the end.

Of course, Harry was always one to look at a problem from all sides of the equation, so his eyes turned to the SHIELD doctor. "You said there was both good news and bad news."

Rachel offered a sardonic smile, leave it to Harry to look at the negative side of things, even though everyone was going to be right. Still she supposed that he would have a point, as she placed a hand on his and waited along with her lover to see what the SHIELD doctor would say.

"The bad news is that they will be out of commission for a few days from all physical activities. Their bodies will be feeling the effect of what happened for a number of days but….within the next week they will be back to themselves."

'So that means no sessions in the Danger Room for a while,' Jean thought to herself. 'Logan won't be happy.'

'Or other activities in the case of some,' Rachel thought picking up on her thought sand Jean smiled when she looked at Rachel.

For the longest time, she thought that there was some kind of connection between her and Rachel although damned if Jean could pinpoint it properly. It was fascinating in many different ways with what she had and Jean hoped to uncover the mysteries. Right now, she could focus on that later. She needed to follow the group inside and see what their next move would be.

Harry led the way when he got the okay. He saw Kitty lying on the bed, with Rogue and Amara beside each other. Other X-Men were elsewhere and they looked to be in fairly decent shape for nearly dying but as of this moment, these were the three that Harry focused on.

"Hey," Kitty managed when she looked at Harry, and Harry leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the forehead. He did the same to Amara and Rogue. "We…look like hell don't we?"

"Feel like it too," Rogue grumbled, she would take ten Danger Room Sessions over feeling something like this again.

"So are we out of the woods yet?" Amara asked when she looked at Harry.

Harry looked at the entire group, a smile crossing his face before he cleared his throat and responded. "Well it does depend on what would constitute as being out of the woods. You're not nearly as bad off as you were, if that's what you're trying to say. Still, you might need to cut back on the physical activity for a week or so."

Kurt grumbled something off to the side, he took it particularly hard. As did Scott and Bobby, among others but they would be rather fine to say the least. They would be back on their feet.

"Commander Fury is trying to pinpoint the Red Skull," Black Widow stated when she showed up to relay the message. Until this current crisis faded, she acted as a go between from the X-Men and the rest of SHIELD. "Charles Xavier will make a full recovery and will return to you soon, he got hit particularly hard with the attack."

Harry was not surprised; the barrier Xavier created in his mind to keep the thoughts out would break anyone's mind if that dam burst immediately. He closed his eyes to think about what happened.

"They'll be fine, but I wonder about the rest of the world," Harry answered when he turned to the side. It was amazing how the events of today gave him more than enough time to think.

"My father could be anywhere."

Sin showed up and Kitty's eyes narrowed towards her, to the brunette mutant, she was not welcomed here.

"You can't…."

"You should get some rest," Sin responded, in almost a sarcastic manner when she stroked Kitty's hair in a condescending manner. She stopped at Harry giving her his most dangerous glare. "Then again, I suspect you do spend a lot of time on your back…."

"ENOUGH!"

Harry yelled this statement and Sin turned around, a smile crossing her face. She acted as if she did not do anything wrong, even though she did plenty wrong and she shifted her expression away from Kitty towards the dark haired wizard standing before her.

"You know, my father could be hiding in any one of two hundred and twelve known HYDRA outposts around the world," Sin responded when she looked at both Harry and Black Widow, addressing them both. "However….there is one place where he would be above any others, where it might be right under your noses."

Black Widow got the message immediately and had to relay it back to Fury.

Sin hoped to get a front row seat when they found out that her father was playing them all for years as a member of their government. She neglected to tell them this however because she found amusement out of this. If there was….if they failed to manipulate the letters properly, that was their problem and not hers.

Kitty glared at Sin and she tugged Harry on the sleeve. Harry spun around to look at his girlfriend.

"I don't trust her," Kitty whispered when she looked at Harry and his look indicated that he did not trust Sin all that much either. This relaxed Kitty but only slightly, she knew that Harry would be able to allow himself to not be put in a situation where he would have problems.

Harry placed his hand on Kitty's shoulder lightly. He did not trust Sin either and was keeping a close eye on her for any treachery.

"She's….she has her own agenda," Harry whispered to Kitty, making sure that Sin was out of ear shot and the anti-eavesdropping charms were put up around them. "But I think that she's given us some valuable insight."

"The X-Men really got hit bad," Kitty remarked when she looked at Harry, stretching and feeling a soreness in her. And it was not the good kind of soreness after Harry and her had her fun ever. This particular amount of soreness was going to lead to plenty of pain and no pleasure, no enjoyment out of it.

Harry shook his head, the X-Men got hit pretty bad granted but that was something that was going to be expected. It was clear by now that they stumbled upon HYDRA's plans before now and the Red Skull was someone who did not let these things go. In fact, he gave into his worst parts of him, the vengeance and was more sadistic. He had fought enemies that might have been more powerful but very few enemies that were that much craftier.

The hints that Sin gave him that the Red Skull was underneath his nose clicked in Harry's mind. He closed his eyes and thought about it, there was a pretty big hint and he had to do it.

Then it hit him and there was something that Harry considered, before his face twisted into a grimace. He thought about something and then it hit him faster than anything else. He could really have smacked himself when he did not figure this out and he wondered if Fury was going to kick himself equally as much.

"Dell Rusk," Harry breathed when he looked at Kitty.

Kitty frowned, not quite sure what Harry was getting at. "He's the Secretary of Defense, isn't he?"

Harry nodded with a smile crossing his face. "Yes, now you're getting it, he's the Secretary of Defense but rearrange the letters in his name."

Kitty's eyes bugged out when she thought about it and she could hardly believe that any of them had been unable to connect such an obvious pair of dots together. It was one of those things where….it was hard to really say.

Ms. Marvel popped in now, she crossed her arms. She missed out on the battle at HYDRA base due to the fact that she was rounding up the Brotherhood for Fury, making sure that they did not escape again.

"The Brotherhood has been given the antidote," Ms. Marvel responded to the ground when they all smiled at her. "They're being kept in a SHIELD holding cell for the moment, none of them are going to get out any time soon."

It was at this moment Magneto showed up and joined them.

"I trust you're going to attempt to put me in such a cell as well," Magneto responded and there was a special emphasis on the word "attempt" because Magneto looked as if he doubted that any of them were going to succeed.

Magneto and Harry looked each other, stared each other down. Harry realized that this was the man that put Wanda away. While Wanda's living conditions were much better thanks to Harry's intervention, she still was not completely out of that place. Although it was a fortunate thing that she was not here right now, otherwise there would be far more trouble than Harry could handle at this point.

He had far bigger problems than some family feud.

"So I have you to thank," Magneto remarked crisply when his eyes fixed on Harry's and the dark haired wizard nodded.

"You do," Harry agreed when he looked at Magneto and the two of them locked eyes. "But I wasn't the only one who did this."

"Of course, Charles would be wise if he appointed you as the leader to his team, unlike some who are not equipped to handle pressure," Magneto answered when he looked at Scott who rested on the bed and acted like he was asleep and did not hear this.

Harry did not say anything.

"I wish to assist you with taking down the Red Skull," Magneto offered when he continued to stay the course and stare down Harry. The two mutants locked eyes with each other. "And then…I will turn myself over to SHIELD for the day. But they may not be able to keep me."

Harry thought that sounded fair and to be honest, he could tell that Magneto had a personal vendetta against the Red Skull. That personal vendetta and what it was, Harry had no idea whatsoever what it might be. All that he knew was that it was there and he looked at him, hoping to figure out what to do with this.

"Do you accept my offer for an alliance?"

Harry looked at Magneto, he could tell that there was a certain amount of sincerity to his voice but he was almost not sure. Yet there was an instance where a smile twisted across his face and the dark haired wizard inclined his head. The magical mutant decided that they needed all of the hands on deck.

"Do you mind explaining how the antidote has helped you and has not completely healed the others?" Harry asked but Magneto paused before he swayed himself from one side to the next before he responded.

"It is difficult to say to be honest."

That was a statement that indicated that Harry was not going to get the answer that he wanted or the answer that he needed. That was more than fine for now, he suspected. He would also not take his eyes off of Magneto, no matter how long this took. He stepped forward a little bit and eyed his enemy and also his reluctant ally.

Neither brought up the subject of Wanda, at least for the moment because there were far more pressing matters at hand and those matters dealt with regarding the Red Skull. All they needed to do was await for the word back from SHIELD.

Widow appeared back, having popped in and out of the room. Harry turned over to her and his gaze met hers.

"Does the name Dell Rusk mean anything to you?" Harry asked without any preamble.

Black Widow's eyes widened and he could tell that she made the same connection that they did. They knew exactly where Red Skull was but the fact was that it might be too late given that he had resources and access to high level weapons and government secrets. That made the situation more dangerous and Red Skull was going to need to be killed, no question about it. Not that there were many questions about it before but the security of the United States of America hinged on him not living another day.

Red Skull made his way down to a secret underground bunker underneath a mansion in Washington DC. He bought this place with the tax dollars of the American people and it was an excellent resource that would allow him to build his empire on top of everything else. The malicious leader of HYDRA stepped his way down into the basement area, before he pushed the door open.

It looked like a simple bunker that stored food, medical supplies, and other essential elements that anyone living underneath there would need to survive. He bent at the knees, pulling a bag of clothes away.

He saw a remote control device on the ground and he pressed one button, which caused the doors to blink up. The doors began to slide open to the side and the Red Skull took another step forward, to see the delights that was inside. His face spread into a malevolent grin, soon the entire world would be in the palm of his hand.

He saw the remote control console before him and tapped on the side of it, waiting for everything to come to light. All of these controls would be confusing to anyone who was not a genius like the Red Skull. To Red Skull however, they were picture perfect perfection and he stepped forward. He could feel a tingling feeling in the pit of his stomach, the type that would twist the minds of most people if they understood what was happening.

For the past several decades, he was working on creating doomsday weapons that would allow him to overrun the people who opposed him. And doomsday weapons were not a term that the Red Skull offered loosely as he had heard other would be world conquerors stating rather loosely as well. He drummed his fingers a little bit from one side to the next and then twisted his expression to study the controls.

The outposts were set up in several population centers. If anyone found out and few did, Red Skull made them think that they were weapons that would be used in case any of their enemies decided to do something cut and attack the United States. All while he did this, the defenses whittled down to a nub and the Red Skull weakened them while strengthening HYDRA's weapons.

Now he stood tall and ready, this would be a day that he would win, there was no question about it whatsoever that his success would be assured. Red Skull spoke to the agents in position in the loud speaker.

"Sir, there's….they figured out your cover."

Red Skull did not let this bother him, by the time they figured out his cover, it would be much too late. The best place to hide from an enemy was in plain sight, as no one would dare look underneath their noses. Dell Rusk met Nick Fury several times and even the eagle eyed agent of SHIELD was none the wiser of what happened.

Fury would be the first to suffer, as the upgrades the government installed on the Hellicarrier would be launched.

Red Skull smirked when he activated the first wave of droids and then prepared to cripple the satellite defenses around the country, and then the other countries around the world. He could bring the entire world to its knees and bend it to the will of HYDRA. If there was one thing that he knew, it was without their convenience, they were nothing if weak.

The weakness of an enemy was something that one of true thing would understand and exploit when he shook his head. The twisted notions that went through the mind of Red Skull spelled out one thing and one thing along. The same concept drove every single motivation for the past sixty plus years, and would be the same motivation that would allow him to continue to push forward with everything that he had.

"I will crush them."

Control was the big thing that the Red Skull obsessed with and the ultimate motivator when he thought about everything. The dangerous leader of HYDRA gritted his teeth when he folded his arms together when he took a moment to think about everything that went on in his mind.

The demons from the past echoed throughout the back of his mind.

Red Skull crushed his fists together.

The pain would be the supreme motivation, and he would crush them all underneath his foot.

His daughter thought that she had some level of control and thought that she would be the one that would lead to his demise. Red Skull hoped so because her failure's reflected on his and the fact she was unable to kill him to this point, that insulted him personally. Red Skull twisted his head over to the side and peered over his shoulder when he activated a few more buttons.

"The droids are marching on Washington."

That was one population center.

He also set the droids to explode in sixty minutes, taking anyone in the radius out with them. They would do plenty of damage and in the chaos, HYDRA would reign supreme, with all bowing before them.

Captain America stood outside on the grass, in front of the Xavier Institute. His narrowed eyes looked forward when he thought about all of the battles that he found over the years. That was something that he could not forget, all of the dangerous enemies that he went up against. HYDRA might be his most prominent enemies but they were far from his only enemies.

Despite all of that, there was something about today that made things far more dangerous. The Red Skull could have done far more than anyone than he thought to say the very least. Every single time he went up against HYDRA in the war, the stakes were high. However, there were no stakes that were higher than this and higher than what happened tonight. The dangerous expression flickered through the eyes.

To understand the Red Skull, Captain America would have to match his intensity and his spirit, before he folded his arms. He barely heard Iron Man walk up from behind him. Hawkeye joined him, then Ms. Marvel, then Mockingbird, Black Widow, Arcane, Wolverine, and more followed him. Magneto hovered in the shadows, a cool expression spread over his eyes when he looked at them through narrowed fury.

"So do we have a plan?"

Iron Man voiced that statement and it was not the first time that someone voiced that question to Captain America. There were many instances where he could come up with an answer. A plan might be a good idea in theory but going up against someone like the Red Skull was never something that one could predict. The vicious nature of someone like this monster needed to be met with an equally ferocious attack.

"We'll know when we go out there," Captain America responded when he turned to them. Figuring out what the Red Skull's end game was could be an exercise in frustration. Often times he did have a motive but there were other instances where the motive was lost.

"So do we have a name for this little team or not?"

Ms. Marvel decided to speak up. Thor and Hulk hovered in the background, not saying much of anything, just waiting for the battle but for different reasons. Still the blonde woman stated one question. "The Avengers…I mean we avenge."

"I like it," Hawkeye stated and the others nodded.

"It does have some potential yes," Thor agreed.

"Not bad," Hulk grunted but he folded his arms all the same.

Captain America offered two words that would live on in infamy.

"Avengers Assemble."