Harry Potter The Mutant Obscurus Gamer - Chapter 37

According to the bȧrė fragments of information Harry was able to dig through, Mr. Sinister was a researcher and an extremely dangerous person. The designs for the Mind Cloud system seemed to have been stolen from him when Nanny and Peter both escaped from him, though Harry found no details of why they were imprisoned or how they escaped.

In any case, Harry made a mental note of the name and returned upstairs. Scott it seemed, had not decided his rant was over. He nearly shouted, “How could you do that? Just leave her in that place! She was a human being!”

Harry sighed and decided to close the matter. He answered, “Just because I decided to save the orphans doesn’t make me a hero. Helping people is a hobby of mine and I am not obligated to save everyone. Yes, I could have returned her, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to.”

Harry didn’t stop Scott from grabbing his shirt and dragging him close so Scott could yell into his face, “How is that different from killing her?!”

Harry shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he’d killed people he didn’t have to. He could have left the Death Eaters who tried to kill him years ago alive, but he chose to kill them instead. He did so under the conviction he wasn’t a hero. He’d help the people he wanted to help and he wouldn’t put any effort into sparing those who acted to kill himself or his friends.

Of course he’d only reach that point if someone used actual killing intent. Both times that pyrokinetic threw a fireball at him, Harry could tell the density of the fire wasn’t high enough to kill him, so Harry didn’t take his life in turn. If someone just tried to horribly mangle, cripple, or injure him or a friend, Harry wouldn’t kill them in retaliation.

Harry looked Scott in the eye and asked, “If they killed your brother, would we be having this conversation?”

Scott quickly released Harry and looked over to Jean who was glaring at him like he was a hypocrite. Harry had learned that Scott had lost his younger brother years ago. Scott knew these people killed Jean’s sister yet Scott was protesting the harshness of how Harry dealt with them in front of her.

Harry continued, “That woman completely rationalized that murdering a child’s parents was acceptable because she was better at taking care of children. Perhaps she could have been taken to a mental institution, gone through years of therapy, and been released. But if she relapsed or escaped, the lives of her next victims would be my responsibility for sparing her. Maybe, just maybe she could have become healthy, come to regret her decision, and try to redeem herself. But the possibility of that happening is far too low.”

Scott yelled, “That’s not your call to make!”

Harry flatly said, “I don’t regret my choice. If she had regained her sanity to the point she would be willing to repent, she would also have to live with the guilt of what she had done for the rest of her days. That guilt however would only emerge if she regained her sanity. That is the reason it is unlikely she’d ever willingly become sane. She’d be a mental patient living in her delusions all her life, waiting for a chance to escape and orphan more children.”

Scott took a step back at the sheer weight of the cold logic.

Harry had not pushed Nanny out on a whim. He’d paused and considered all the possibilities and the weight of each of those possibilities. The best case scenario for the world if he spared her would be if she could regain her sanity, but that would not be the best case for Nanny herself as she would have to live with the guilt. She might even take her own life if that occurred and there was no way her mind could heal without accepting that sort of guilt in the first place. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Since she was damned either way, Harry decided to reduce the possibility of her orphaning children in the future to the smallest acceptable level he could without directly beheading her in front of the X-Men.

Jean had walked over to Scott by now and said, “Look Scott, I was in that woman’s head. There wasn’t the slightest trait of remorse for what she did. She even took pŀėȧsurė in killing, thinking that it was evil for non mutant parents to raise mutant children and she was simply ridding the world of evil. I didn’t find any trace of her mind that even wanted to heal.”

Scott tried to argue, “But Jean, she was-”

He was cut off when Jean shouted, “She was Not Human Scott! She was a monster! And if Harry had taken her back with us, I would have put her down myself!”

Warren and a few of the other X-Men that weren’t comforting the children had heard Harry and Scott’s exchange. Warren seemed conflicted but decided not to say anything. If Harry really had just left her there out of malice, he would have had words with him, but since he clearly thought out the consequences of his actions, there was nothing more to add.

Once consequence of this was that although Harry would not be punished, in the future, he would not be regularly invited to outings with the X-Men. If Harry didn’t feel obligated to save even those who didn’t deserve saving, he’d be a liability on the team. Harry had considered this as well and didn’t have a problem with it. He never intended to become an X-Men after all.

Warren used a cell phone to call up a few groups he’d set up earlier that had been waiting on standby. Two hours later, several vans and personnel from Child’s Services showed up and were briefed on the details.

Harry had run diagnostics on the children and determined that without a weekly dose of ‘Fairy Dust,’ their memories of their families would slowly return. He’d already found a sample and determined its ingredients earlier. The recipe was similar to some potions but the ingredients had no exotic energy and the processing was far more complicated. Harry figured he might be able to create a potion that could immediately negate the effects, but after some consideration he decided it would be better for the process of returning memory to be more gradual.

Although their memories were suppressed, their minds still possessed them and Jean was able to look through their minds, one by one, to learn where they lived and what their names were. Nanny, it seemed, gave them new names after taking their memories. Jean’s nephew for example was named Joseph, or Joey, but had been called Tommy in the orphanage.

Using this information, Child Services would look for other relatives to see if they could be taken in. For those lacking relatives or had relatives that refused to take them in, special priority would be given to grant Charles Xavier guardianship. Jean had already had a tear filled call with her parents about her sister’s death and they agreed to take care of their grand-kids. They might have been a dull and dreary couple, but they were still proper humans and cared for their family.

Although she was in pain, Harry watched Jean smile when she was looking after and playing with the orphans. He thought her smile was beautiful and wondered if he was falling in love with her. Harry knew that he liked her and knew he enjoyed spending time with her. He knew that even after her issues with the Phoenix were resolved, he’d still want to be a part of her life and when he thought of the future, he saw her standing with him. Of course he also knew that love was not so simple to quantify. He wouldn’t force it but would let it be without interference.

Jean had the children write letters to the friends they made in town and at school which would explain that the orphanage was broken and they would be moving away. When the kids had been relocated, they could send another letter and if the kids at the other end responded, they could continue as pen pals until they had a cellphone.

Once the last of the kids were loaded up, Harry got the ping he’d been waiting for.

*Ping*

[Quest Complete: Rescue the Orphan Mutants from N’astirh

Reward: Belasco’s Ancient Book of Spells]

Harry paused and went over the book that had appeared in his inventory. His quest didn’t really have much to do with Belasco, meaning the book had been acquired from N’astirh. That meant the red demon had likely stolen the book from Belasco himself.

The book contained a heavy ȧssortment of Black Magic but Harry couldn’t use it. Black Magic was called Black Magic because it required negative energies to power the spells and Harry didn’t have any negative energies. Even the soul energy he’d gotten from the slain Dementors had been purified through his own patronus before he’d absorbed it.

Harry considered using the coordinates of the Infernal Plane to head over and kill demons and use their tainted energies to level up. He could do it too once he’d gotten his portal situation resolved. The energy of the few demons killed by his wizard magic when he was heading over to N’astirh were absorbed by him so it was an option. However he decided against it. All magic had a cost and Black Magic’s cost was far steeper than normal. Even if Harry absorbed the negative energy, he’d have to put effort into keeping it negative, lest his own positive energies purify it.

Harry remembered that Sorceress Supreme from the future had been filled with both Negative energies and positive energies without one cancelling the other out, but Harry expected such a situation did not come naturally and required special circumstances.

In any case, the details of the book would be useful as reference and would allow him to become familiar with demon script should he encounter it again. Most magics had areas of overlap so the insights into tricks for how Black Magics worked could help him in other areas. Harry didn’t have any Dark energy from the Dark Dimension but he still memorized the dark magics in the Book of Cagliostro which gave him insights into the workings of time and space. On the theoretical level, only the Ancient One was superior to him when it came to knowledge on energies on the mortal plane. Harry had spent untold centuries studying the texts within Kamar-Taj’s library while paused after all.

At one point to break the tension, Kurt asked Harry, “What was that glowing thing you did earlier? It was really funky looking.”

Kitty said, “Yeah, you did a whole bunch of crazy stuff back to back while those rocks spun around you like a rainbow.”

Harry lied through his teeth, “Just a trick I can use to use for a couple of minutes. Though I can’t use my power again for a few days after doing it.”

Kurt gave a sly smile Harry caught and told the blue prankster, “Anything you try before I recover, I will return several fold.”

Rogue walked up and said, “Wait, so you just used all those gemstones at once?”

Harry shrugged, “Yep, that fight cost me about sixty-five thousand dollars.” Or at least that is how much it would cost to buy all the large gemstones he’d vanished while fighting from his company. His backpack had about thirty of them and since he vanished them instead of putting them back in his inventory, he wouldn’t be able to reuse them, they were gone forever. Still, for rocks of that size, it was pretty cheap. His company already had the best machines to mass produce large gemstones after all.

No one had anything to say about that. Although Harry had done a lot, it looked like he’d spent a fortune to do it.

As the group departed for the Blackbird, Jean telepathically asked Harry, ‘Can I ask you what that flame was? I’ve never been able to do something like that before, but it felt..’

Harry replied, ‘It felt natural, like something you were born to do?’

Jean turned to Harry with a raised eyebrow and telepathically sent back, ‘What do you know?’

Harry cheekily answered, ‘Jean, what I know could fill whole libraries.’

Jean rolled her eyes at the answer but Harry continued, ‘I know exactly what that flame is and where it comes from. Yes, I could tell you or you could look in that book over there in my mind and it will give you everything I know on that flame. But, you’ll gain more if you learn that piece of knowledge yourself rather than learn it from me.’

Jean replied, ‘Is that what this has all been about? I know you’ve been keeping something from me and daring me to ask you what it is, but have you been trying to get me to find the answer myself?’

Harry nodded back. He knew he wasn’t being subtle. Especially when he told her to practice the mind folding technique he stole from Xavier to practice mental discipline while also telling her not to permanently use it on herself to repress any part of her mind like Xavier had with his own darker impulses.

Jean sighed and conveyed back, ‘Alright Harry, I’ll trust you on this.’

Harry smiled and replied, ‘Don’t let that stop you from reading about my life. You stopped at the bad part last time and it really did get better after that.’

It didn’t take long for the group to return and Warren met up with Logan and Xavier to give his report. It was decided that Harry’s inclusion in X-Men missions in the future would be as needed only. Logan had no problem with what Harry had done, but he knew the X-Men were being taught to be symbols, not soldiers.

Surprisingly, Xavier never asked Harry or Jean what that flame was. Harry figured the Professor must have thought it was some kind of magic and didn’t dwell on it further.

The following week passed by in silence. Harry still spent most of his time in the workshop either on personal projects or working with Forge, but he still spent the evenings in the Study group helping everyone while Jean read through his library. Harry knew even when he was taking his four hours of sleep, Jean could still access his mind and he knew she often did so when she was having trouble sleeping.

The final weekend before classes started had most of the teachers except Logan once more out and about, escorting the last of the students back to the Institute.

In the meantime, Harry had been making excellent progress in two areas. First, Harry finally had access to portals again. Using some tricks he learned from his insights into Black Magic, Harry could once more create a ring which allowed passage through space.

The ring itself however was still a combination of Sorcerer and Wizard Magic. It was different from normal Sling Ring Portals. The first difference was that it had the appearance of a glowing silver ring instead of a swirling vortex of rust colored light. The next was that Harry didn’t have to swirl his hand to make the portal. Instead he could use a simple motion to stamp it into the air. When he moved with the intent to form it, a silver light would appear midair and it would expand into a ring shaped portal at his will. Harry could control the size and even make it large enough to drive a semi-truck or a tank through. Opening it, holding it open, and allowing passage however all used magic from his internal reserves so it had some practical limitations compared to normal Sling Ring Portals. Distance it seemed, was not necessarily one of them. However because it was merged with his wizard magic which was still invisible, his portals wouldn’t be sensed by any direct energy sensing means.

The second break through Harry completed was he had an approximate understanding of ForgetMeNot’s power. His power basically caused him to not exist at the same time he existed. It was as if a parallel universe where ForgetMeNot did not exist seemed to actively overwrite the traces of his own existence in this universe. However it worked through ForgetMeNot himself. If he died, his power would actually stop working. The problem was that unlike Rogue who unconsciously could not turn off her power, ForgetMeNot’s power was completely involuntary. It was the universe itself that was trying to erase him.

Harry did discover some limitations of his power. If ForgetMeNot himself met someone and forgot them or didn’t pay attention to them, they would forget less of him than someone he paid attention to. This variable meant ForgetMeNot’s power had a controllable trigger. Using that as a base, Harry determined that ForgetMeNot had two sets of memories, from both the universe he was in, and the universe he didn’t exist in. When he met someone, his own memories of them were actually the first thing to get erased and their memories of him were erased along with it. His second set of memories was fine though, so he didn’t even notice this.

This was the key to controlling his powers. If his first set of memories getting erased caused others to forget him, then as long as they were preserved, he would not be forgotten. This however was the tricky part. The universe itself wanted to erase him. Harry tried copying ForgetMeNot’s memories onto an external magical artifact, but those were still erased over time. Even if Harry took materials from another dimension, they would still get erased because that dimension was still a part of this universe. The only way to build something that would not get erased, was to use something made of materials from a completely different universe.

Had this been anyone else, that would have been the end of it. There was no safe way to acquire material of any kind from another universe. Harry on the other hand had six DVDs of Star Wars from another universe. He’d copy to content elsewhere so it wouldn’t be lost, but the DVDs were in fact pieces of matter from another universe and would not be affected by ForgetMeNot’s power.

It would take time to turn the DVDs into a magical memory storage device he could wear, but if it worked, Harry could have ForgetMeNot’s memories stored on them and have them constantly refresh his first set of memories, preventing him from forgetting them and preventing others from forgetting him. If Harry could make the external storage interactive, ForgetMeNot could choose who forgot him and who didn’t. It was a useful power if it could be controlled after all.

Of course Harry would have to make it indestructible, impossible to get stolen, recoverable if stolen, and make a spare in case it was completely destroyed. Some might call Harry pessimistic and paranoid. He preferred to think of himself as prepared.

There was one aspect about ForgetMeNot’s power Harry had discovered and considered a use for. He had been holding back on it for a while, but he decided there was no longer a point in waiting around.

After cleaning up his workstation, Harry went over to the gym he’d discovered ForgetMeNot often spent time at.

“ForgetMeNot, I got a favor to ask.”

The seventeen year old with the slicked back hair took a step back and said, “You’re not going to ask for more hair are you?”

Harry shook his head and answered, “No, I want to ask if you can let Rogue use your powers. Her’s is kinda broken, and I’ve figured out how to use a copy of yours to fix her’s.”

ForgetMeNot appeared surprised at that. “You can fix Marie? Well, yeah. I’m in.”

Harry smiled and led him over to where Rogue was. ForgetMeNot was a remarkably caring person for someone who got such a bad draw in life. Harry hadn’t told him about his progress because it still required a lot of work and he didn’t want to get his hopes up only for a delay to occur.

Harry considered getting Xavier to supervise but recalled that he was out of the mansion and meeting some politicians at the moment. Harry didn’t need the man, but Xavier witnessing what Harry was going to do would prevent questions about it later.

Rogue was watching TV with a few of the other kids and Harry shouted to her, “Rogue, come over here, we’re gonna fix your powers.”

Rogue looked over at him incredulously and asked, “What?”

Harry didn’t answer and went over to an empty room while motioning for Rogue to follow.

Unsurprisingly she got off the couch and followed him inside along with ForgetMeNot.

She asked with an accusatory tone, “What’s this about fixing my powers?” She didn’t want someone to get her hopes up for nothing and didn’t have a lot of faith anything could be done for her.

Harry pointed at ForgeMeNot and said, “This is ForgetMeNot, remember him?”

Rogue looked over him then blinked, then blinked again. “ForgetMeNot? Oh, Wait, I think. Yeah. I think I do.”

ForgetMeNot smiled and shook his head.

Harry continued, “You remember what I said the problem was with your power?”

“Yeah, you said there was too much gunk in there for me to feel how to control it.”

Harry nodded and said, “Well, one application of ForgetMeNot’s power would allow you to, under controlled supervision, completely erase other people from your own head.”

ForgetMeNot asked, “Wait, really?”

Rogue asked, “What do you mean, supervision?”

Harry turned to ForgetMeNot first and answered, “Yes really, I’ve already figured out a lot about your power and have a few leads on how to get around it without cuticle ȧssimilation.” He turned to Rogue and said, “I’m going to go inside your head after you absorb ForgetMeNot’s power and ȧssist you in directing it in erasing the remnants of those you’ve absorbed.”

ForgetMeNot asked, “Won’t other people forget her?”

Harry said, “Their memories will fade a bit, but they’ll return when they see her after the power is gone.”

Rogue looked pensive for a moment before giving a determined nod, “So what do I do?”

Harry said, “Well, first ask permission to use his power. I suspect if permission is asked and not refused, your power will work better.”

Rogue took in a breath and said, “Alright. ForgetMeNot, please let me use your power.”

ForgetMeNot smiled and held out his hand saying, “I freely give permission to use my power.”

Rogue took off her glove and after a moment of hesitation, touched his finger.

Harry had seen her take other powers before and usually, both party’s flinched. ForgetMeNot however just looked a bit uncomfortable and after two seconds, Rogue released contact.”

Harry asked, “Do you feel like ForgetMeNot or have any of his memories?”

Rogue’s eyes shot up in surprise and said, “No. I can feel him, but I’m still me.” She looked up at him and asked, “How are you feeling?”

ForgetMeNot looked at his finger and said, “Not bad.” He looked over at Harry and asked, “Why was that different?”

Harry answered, “Mindset. The difference between taking without asking and taking after asking. That should be the proper way to use her power, though we’ll deal with that when she learns to turn it off and on.”

ForgetMeNot nodded and said, “Alright, keep me updated,” and headed out to give them some privacy.

Harry sat down with Rogue and had her relax. He used his psionic abilities to connect to and enter her own mind.

Rather than do anything himself, Harry concentrated and pulled Rogue herself into her mind where she stood within her own mental space next to Harry.

She asked, “This is my head huh? Kinda empty I suppose.”

The space itself was dark, quite dreary, and had something of an inky texture to the floor and sky. Harry knew it to represent Rogue’s sorrow and inner self loathing over her powers. He said, “It will look better later. Let’s start.”

They wandered a bit and found what looked like the ghost of a wild animal covered in metal spikes. Rogue took one look at it and said, “Logan.”

Harry said, “Concentrate on that connection you made with ForgetMeNot and use it to ignite a silver flame in your hand. This is your mind so all you have to do is imagine it and it will happen.”

Rogue was neither slow nor stupid and had to mȧturė rather quickly due to her circumstances. She was in fact very smart, though due to some much gunk in her head, she was not always able to show it. Within moments a bright silver flame emerged from her hand and without Harry having to tell her, she pressed it against the shadow and it dissolved away.

Rogue felt the effect immediately. She said, “I can’t feel him anymore. It actually worked,” she finished in shock.

Harry nodded, “I suspect he’s not the only one in here. We have to get them all for you to become a blank slate.”

“Well what are we waiting for?” She ran off to find more remnants and one by one dissolved them away. The inky black sky slowly started clearing up and the ground started showing more and more color. When Mystique’s shadow, a constantly shifting amorphous blob was dissolved, the ground turned into lush grass and stars began to shine in the sky above.

Eventually she found the last one. This one was not a ghost. It was a young teen who appeared to be merged into the ground itself. Rogue knelt next to it and mouthed a silent apologize Harry pretended to not notice and she dissolved his remnant as well.

The empty plot the boy vanished from suddenly sprouted flowers which spread around the field and gently reflected the light of the moon that appeared in the sky like a sea of silver.

Rogue stared wide eyed in shock at the beauty of the scene before her.

Harry smiled and commented, “Not so empty now, is it?”

Rogue turned to Harry and jumped him. They fell to the ground and Rogue took his lips in a passion filled kiss. One side effect of psionics was a strong sense of empathy and it was far too easy to feel the emotions of those close to you. Rogue’s emotions had overcome him in the kiss and he unconsciously kissed her back laying down in the field of flowers.

It only took a moment for Rogue and Harry to realize what they were doing and they immediately separated, each blushing the same shade of red. Harry had the mind of an ancient, but his hormones were still that of a fifteen year old teen, the same age as the girl he was with. He could talk big but he had no experience.

Rogue quickly said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

Harry sighed and said, “Your mind has been freed from taint for the first time since your powers awoke and you’re not used to your own emotions. It’s fine.” He wasn’t going to tell her that was his first kiss.

Rogue looked over in the distance and saw someone standing there. She got up and walked over followed by Harry and together they found the figure was none other than ForgetMeNot.

Harry asked, “You’re still here?”

ForgetMeNot answered, “Well, I did give Marie permission to use my power. Did you still need it?”

Rogue shook her head and said, “Not right now.”

ForgetMeNot nodded and said, “Well, if you need it again, just ask.”

Harry said, “Wait, so you’re gonna just stay here in Rogue’s head and if she needs to use your powers, she just has to ask the you in here?”

ForgetMeNot said, “Yeah. This place isn’t so bad. I’ll leave if you want me to, but I’ll stay here otherwise. Later.” He turned and casually walked away and looked like he wanted to enjoy walking through the field. Harry wondered if through the nature of his own power would he vanish along with Rogue’s memories of him or would he remain. Only time would tell.

Harry left Rogue’s mind and they both found themselves back in the empty room.

Harry said, “Before you decide to ask for the powers of our friends, you should take some time to feel out the off switch of your powers.”

Rogue nodded with a light blush and got up to run out the door.

*Ping*

[Quest Complete: Rogue Powers

Reward: +2 Scholar Path Rank]

This was the first time he’d been awarded a Path Rank for a completed quest but his Scholar Path increasing from 42 to 44 was actually a very large increase and very, very useful. His last Scholar Path Rank increase was from making a website which had been considered a lesson to the world. Harry wondered if something on that scale was required to continue increasing his path. Something to think about later.

Harry returned to his workstation to see what progress he could make on his other projects. Halfway through the day, the Brotherhood of Mutants started randomly trashing parts of Salem so the third X-Men group was called to head over. Rogue stayed behind because she wanted to practice more before heading out and when Scott learned what Harry had done, he agreed spending time practicing was better than dealing with the Brotherhood who only acted up because they were looking for a fight.

Thirty minutes after Scott’s group left, the Institute’s siren’s went off. The sirens were a security system that went off when an incoming threat or danger to the Institute was detected. Harry ran out to the TV room where the TV screen would automatically change to the security camera feed and show the incoming danger.

The threat that set off the alarm was not an army or ȧssembled group armed with weapons. It was a single man of staggering size. Almost completely covered in bright red armor was a man approximately nine and a half feet in stature including the dome shaped helmet he wore.

Harry watched the monitor feed of the man casually smashing through the wall and moving forward without faltering at the barrage of weapons fire from the turrets that emerged all over the grounds.

Harry went over to a wall panel in the TV room and pulled it back to reveal a phone. He picked it up and pressed a few numbers before it rang and was answered. Harry asked, “Forge, who or what is that?”

On the other side Forge answered, “That is Cain Marko, the Professor’s step brother. Also called the Unstoppable Juggernaut. Stay away from him Harry, magic is completely ineffective against the guy and nothing can halt his momentum.”

The monitors already showed Logan had rushed the guy, but his armor held against Logan’s adamantine claws and the massive brute was faster than he looked.

Forge said, “I’ve already recalled everyone so backup should arrive shortly.” The line went dead and Harry hung up from his side.

After casting a Notice-Me-Not on himself, Harry entered to an empty room that didn’t have any cameras and stamped a silver portal connecting to outside the grounds. When the sirens went off, the mansion went on lockdown meaning the doors were heavily bolted shut, as were the windows so Harry had to leave using nonstandard means.

From a distance Harry immediately recognized the Strength energy from Cyttorak’s realm. Harry figured Marko had Cyttorak’s Crimson gem, making him the elder god’s avatar on Earth. Thankfully he only seemed to be using a few percent of that power. The full power of the gem would grant the power to rewrite reality with every step he took.

Strength energy was not about literal strength. It was about dominance and overcoming obstacles through force. Since Marko was the Gem’s possessor, he had a direct, unbreakable connection to Cyttorak’s Crimson Cosmos and the Strength energy within. From what Harry read, the gem also provided its user with a field that basically attacked magic with overwhelming force causing magic to dispel on contact. A ‘the strongest defense is a good offense’ approach. Even Harry’s dimension splitter which wounded the immortal black dragon wouldn’t have an effect on Cyttorak’s chosen.

Of course, that was only if Harry used magic to attack. Marko’s ability to use the gem was practically insulting.

Harry got a dozen Smoky Quartz from his inventory and placed three spells on them. The first would cause them to freeze in place in the air when thrown. The next would cause them to glow with a time delayed Lumos the moment they froze in the air. And the last would cause them to vanish with a time delayed vanishing charm two seconds later.

Marko had made it through the trees and turrets and Logan wasn’t able to do much to slow him down. Harry got out a hundred dollar bill and smiled. It was time for a prank. He shouted, “Hey, Mr. Unstoppable, I bet you a hundred bucks can’t get past me!”

The massive Juggernaut looked over at the kid standing between him and the institute, waving a hundred dollar bill in the air and he gave a feral grin beneath his helmet before he started charging.

Logan half shouted, half growled, “No! Get out of here!”

No one noticed the bag Harry held in his other hand until he swung it into the air and out fell the ten palm sized Smoky Quartz crystals. Each frozen in place surrounding the charging Juggernaut and glowed brightly.

Harry used that moment to cast a massive transfiguration on the ground. The space fifty feet in front of him had suddenly dipped down as if it was collapsing and the Smoky Quartz vanished from the air. The Juggernaut lost his footing and tripped, rolling into the center of the pit before coming to a stop.

The flat ground had turned into a fifty foot diameter perfect hemisphere shaped pit and the moment it finished shifting, the surface of the pit changed to a completely smooth texture. Harry had transfigured the pit into stone with a six inch layer of completely smooth rubber over the stone.

Harry then threw another crystal into the pit where it stopped in place, glowed, and vanished as Harry conjured a large amount of water to fill the pit and drench Marko.

Marko got up and looked at Harry staring down at him from the edge of the bowl waving the hundred dollar bill in the air. Harry sat down to observe Marko who started roaring in rage.

Harry was not completely exhausted but he still used almost all his magic reserves on this prank. There were easier ways to do it but Harry couldn’t guarantee the Gem wouldn’t break any Portal Harry tried to send Mark through and it had been far too long since Harry was able to prank an ȧsshole who deserved it.

Marko of course tried running up the rubber hill but he didn’t make it very far before his momentum faltered and he slid back into the puddle of water that reached his ankle. His wet boots provided not an ounce of traction against the smooth rubber surface.

Such basic use of Cyttorak’s Strength energy only preserved a single vector of momentum. If it was a straight line, he could charge through ten feet of rubber and stone without much of an issue. But each step up the bowl shifted his vector to a new angel preventing him from building unstoppable momentum. Because it was a perfect hemisphere, there was no way to travel in a straight line. The best he could do was run up the other side and run down to use gravity to ȧssist his momentum. It was only a half sphere after all and any skateboarder would know how to escape. Of course that only worked if he didn’t slip while running through the puddle of water in the middle

Marko tried to do a straight run three times before he realized the problem and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Logan had recovered and walked around the hole over to Harry who was still sitting at the edge of the pit. The warrior observed Marko’s attempts and the result with a wary expression. He apparently didn’t expect something like this to work.

Once he reached Harry he said, “Why can’t I smell him down there?”

Harry calmly answered, “There is an invisible plate of glass over the hole and the pit is filled with carbon monoxide. He’s too angry to notice how short his breath is and by the time the effect wears off, he’ll be unconscious.”

The reason his magic reserves were almost empty was because he’d cast two overlapping transfigurations to make the pit, and when he threw the water as a distraction, he conjured and immediately rendered invisible a fifty foot diameter circle of glass and a lot of carbon monoxide.

Marko seemed to have figured out the skateboarder trick and was running up and down the walls. Though he had no traction, it was still possible to run without slipping if you have good balance and Marko had surprisingly excellent balance for a nine and a half foot tall mountain of a man.

Even if he reached the top, he wouldn’t have enough momentum to break through the glass on the first try and if he tried a second time, Harry would break out a Ruby and make a shield using Strength energy himself. Though since the Juggernaut was literally running on fumes, Harry doubted it would come to that.

Marko’s strength gave way and he collapsed onto his back. Harry took out a diamond and used Lumos on it before putting it back in his inventory and conjured a scanning type mandala in front of his hand. Harry kept it up and said, “He’s still conscious. Give it another thirty seconds.”

Logan didn’t say anything but watched the Juggernaut closely. Twenty three seconds later Logan said, “He’s out.”

Harry nodded and threw his last crystal into the air and cast Finite Incantatem on the whole area. Thankfully it was easier to break your own magic than it was another’s so the last of Harry’s energy was enough to remove the glass, the gas, and return the ground to normal. Harry then collapsed.

*Ping*

[Magic Path has risen to Rank 40]

Harry smiled at that. His magic Path had reached 39 and his Tech Path 32 while upgrading the Danger Room and now his Magic Path had reached the next threshold.

A small airborne drone flew over from the mansion and took a moment to observe Harry, Logan, and the unconscious Juggernaut on the ground. Ten seconds later the continuous sirens halted and the lockdown was removed.

Harry was curious about something and used his psionics to send a mental message to Rogue, ‘Come outside, there is something I want you to try.’

Harry put a hand in his bag to use as a cover while he pulled out a potion from his inventory. After removing his sense of taste from his Settings he popped the top and downed the whole bottle. It was something of an experimental magic recovery potion. Usually he would just wait to recover naturally instead of wasting such a potion, but the ward he’d secretly placed around the institute picked up two intruders, not one. The ward was set within the perimeter and zigzagged a bit to avoid the hidden turrets but was placed safely enough to avoid harming the electronics of the area. Five minutes after Marko entered, someone else did as well and was still inside. Harry’s ward would stick to the intruder so he knew that person had entered in spite of the Lockdown and was currently heading down the basement stairs.

Forge came over from the mansion first and said, “Harry, you fried every camera and the targeting system of every turret in a hundred feet. What did you do?”

Logan flatly summarized, “Kid turned the ground into a hole filled with gas the Juggernaut couldn’t climb out of. After he passed out, the ground changed back.”

Forge did a double take and said, “Oh. Well, alright then.”

Rogue came out along with a few of the kids who followed Forge after the lockdown was removed. Harry said, “Hey Rogue, ask this guy if you can use his powers, the same way you did earlier.”

Rogue did her own double take at the unconscious brute and said, “Wait, really? You think that’ll work?”

Harry shrugged. “If not, you can erase it the same way right?”

Rogue nodded and took off her glove and walked over to Marko’s shoulder. She asked, “What’s his name?”

Logan was watching with interest and said, “Cain Marko.”

Rogue took in a breath and said to the unconscious man, “Alright Cain Marko, please let me use your power.”

She waited a moment before touching his shoulder. She held it there for another moment before retracting her finger and closing her eyes.

When she opened them Harry was the first to ask, “Well?”

Rogue said, “It sorta worked. Marko here is only ok with me using his power to wreck stuff and fight people. Like he won’t let me use it to build hospitals or help little old ladies cross the street. That sorta thing.”

Harry nodded. That fell in line with his theory. Rogue was a Sorcerer, but one who made contracts with humans instead of gods. Gods wouldn’t let mortals use the powers they lent for things they didn’t approve of. Marko for example was also unable to use his strength constructively. If he tried, the power of the gem would wane until he did something destructive again. Cyttorak was a destruction loving god after all.

Harry had considered letting Rogue make contact with the Crimson gem itself to see if she could directly forge a connection to the elder god, but becoming Cyttorak’s avatar was not a good thing and using the power through Marko was far safer. Though if Marko lost the gem, Rogue would lose the ability to use that strength as well.

Dr McCoy showed up with some syringes he had been working on since Marko’s arrival and pumped the unstoppable force with enough drugs to keep him out until Thanksgiving.

As the crowd dispersed, Harry headed over to the intruder who was now making their way back up the stairs. It seemed the person had just paid a visit to Cerebro. Harry hid behind a corner and when the student he didn’t recognize passed by, Harry sent out a stunner directly at his head, dropping him to the ground.

Harry used telekinesis to lift the kid up and take him to another room where he opened the kid’s unconscious eyes and used Legilimency to find out what he was doing.

Harry smirked at the results. This was Mystique. She had released Juggernaut as a distraction to break into Cerebro so she could get in and copy the tech. Forge had revamped it several times and it was a very sophisticated piece of technology.

Harry sent another mental message to Rogue, ‘Got another one, second room from the foyer.’

While Rogue was on her way, Harry took the hard drive from Mystique’s bag and took out his own computer screen and keyboard from his inventory. He easily connected to and copied the content and was trying to decide the best move next.

Rogue showed up and asked, “Who’s this?”

Harry smiled and answered, “Mystique here has been a naughty girl.”

Rogue’s eyebrows shot up before she glanced back down at the unconscious kid and let out a sigh. She said, “Mystique, please let me use your power.”

After a moment she touched her and released. She didn’t say anything afterwards and left. Harry didn’t ask, he already figured out they had a past and whatever the Mystique in her mind said, Rogue probably wasn’t willing to share it.

After pausing for a moment of contemplation, Harry opened up the original fire of the scan and made some edits. He was surprised how much the geometry used to build Cerebro could be mapped out using Arithmancy and by using the same formula, Harry figured out what to change to have Cerebro show something completely different. Harry was very satisfied, this was two great pranks in a single day.

When finished, Harry put the hard drive back and moved Mystique over to where he knocked her out. The hall was empty since everyone was checking out the fallen Juggernaut. Harry stood her up using telekinesis and cast Rennervate along with a mild confundus charm to make Mystique ignore the feeling that she had just been knocked out and awoken.

Harry was thankful he’d cast the stunner at her head earlier and not the backpack or else the hard drive would have been wrecked. Harry actually wanted to have a good look at Cerebro for a while but doubted he would have been allowed access even if he asked politely.

Mystique shook her head and continued walking out, making her way to the exit. As someone with a very high vitality and the ability to control her own cells, her resistance to magic was much higher than a standard muggle or mutant reaching as high as a normal wizard. However Harry was quite a bit above normal wizards himself so his magic was perfectly effective against her making it almost too easy to deal with her.

If she were a video game class, she would be a warrior or monk. High resistance against physical damage but nominal resistance against the arcane. The only reason she had resistance against psionics was because she’d manually adjusted her mind against it. Perhaps if given time, she could do something similar with magic, but until then, one stunner was all it was ever going to take.

Since the fun was over, Harry returned to his workshop. He’d learn later than Scott’s team had quickly found out from the Brotherhood that they were only a distraction while Juggernaut was destroying the mansion. They tried to return but the Brotherhood had put a lot of effort into stalling them. When Scott’s team arrived and found that there was no damage and the Juggernaut was out cold, they were appropriately speechless.

When Xavier returned and had been briefed, he requested Harry to come over to his office to speak with him.

Harry entered and found Xavier alone with another pile of paperwork before him.

Xavier gave an honest smile when he saw Harry and said, “I saw Rogue earlier today. She touched me without harm.”

Harry smiled at that. Seemed Rogue had figured out how to turn off her powers already.

Xavier continued, “She informed me of your part in the training of her powers and I have come to a decision.” Xavier pulled out a file stamped with an official logo of one of the nearby Mental Institutions and opened it before sliding it to Harry. Inside was a picture of a young girl with brown hair and red bangs. Xaiver said, “Her name is Wanda Maximoff. She is a mutant gifted with a power she can’t control, a power that greatly resembles the magic you’ve shown yourself capable of.. I’d like you to meet her.”