Marvel/HP: A Third Path to the Future

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Over the next few 'months' of time dilation, Harry and everyone with him were busy nearly every hour of every day. If Emma had been naïve enough to think that she and Harry could have most of those nights together, that naiveté would have been viciously disabused the first time Harry took a Pepper-Up potion before handing out more all around. They rested every 'week' for a few hours and one night and on those nights they did 'sleep' together, but otherwise Harry kept them all on a brutal pace.

It turned out however that Harry and Steven's arithmancy had been wrong: Piotr and the other nonmagicals reported headaches within two and half hours real-time. Harry of course left them out, then reworked the alarms they all wore for two hours on, one hour off real-time. The headaches would recede for a time, but by the end of the day in real-time, all of them save Emma and Charles, who apparently were immune to the mental strain aspect of thing, were complaining of headaches, and Harry gave them the next two days off to recover.

To the shock of no one who knew her personal work ethic, Kitty learned the new runic arrays to Harry's satisfaction in only two weeks in dilation time. She practiced them for another few days, then was put in touch with several dozen house-elves, who put themselves under her command for several projects she went to work on for Harry out in the rest of the universe.

Shanna too, finished her part in this accelerated planning session quickly, only staying for one so-called rotation. She, Hela and Harry marked out the boundaries of the existing tribes and races in the Savage land then worked out larger borders between and around them for a sort of buffer zone. After that Shanna helped further by marking out known resources and a few quasi-religious sights not in any one tribe's territory. Areas around those sights were marked out again, and then large swathes of territory marked out in another color on the map for possible migration.

The team worked on that breakneck pace until Harry was satisfied they had covered all the points they could while cut off from the rest of the universe as they were and had created the groundwork he had wanted to create for his ongoing country-making scheme. But from the get go this proved to be a difficult task.

First of all, Harry's new realm, whatever the name of it would come to be, was not in point of fact a single nation in geographical terms. It would be sort of like the British Empire with bits and pieces spread out not only on Earth but in space. Camelot and its environs were still very technically part of the United Kingdom after all. Babylon and the orbital industry, Fortress Mars, and the savage Land rounded out Harry's far flung holdings.

Here was Hela's first contribution. First, she and surprisingly Charles pushed hard for Harry to state that Babylon would be the new realm's capital. Harry after all didn't need a large building or a massive bureaucracy nearby at all times to run his realm, that aspect could be spread out. But having a central location where people could be brought to meet with him in person that overlooked much of the rest of his holdings and the Earth was a symbol that could not be overlooked.

Having it there instead of in Camelot would also separate Harry's head of government position from his position as head of Magical Minds and the leader of the Custodes, a form of separation of powers that Hela herself found to be one of the more sensible parts of modern governance, even if she found it to be the equivalent of rediscovering that you didn't pray where you cooked as it were.

Harry eventually agreed, having balked at the idea of having a capital at all rather than just naming Babylonthat. But too many arguments were put forward that having a center of governance, a focal point of the realm was a crucial logistical need so Harry acquiesced.

From there Hela pushed Harry hard on somehow transferring the land under Camelot's wards to himself legally. "It matters not who owns the lands now, Harry Potter, but if the lands become part of your fief there are several old time magics that you could use to aid you in leading and defending your country. An immensely inaccurate but not completely unapt comparison would be magics that would act similarly to how my realm is tied to me. Once they were considered a natural part of the world but now…"

"The king is the kingdom?" Harry had mused, then nodded. "I think we can do that, though you'll have to walk me through those spells, I don't know any such outside some vague hints of blessings and I certainly don't have any books on the subject."

"It will be my pleasure, though don't think your country will ever be as responsive as the lands Niflheim were to me," Hela warned sternly, having seeing the results of such magics going badly walk into her domain. "That would be the work of lifetimes, and probably would not work in regardless given how many living beings your realm will contain."

From the logistics of that uncomfortable reality they moved to the basis of citizen's rights. Harry was all too aware of how much power he would have over his subjects. He would be both king and the largest employer, the primary source of all authority, power, money and material.

Charles objected to the idea of Harry naming his position a kingship most strenuously as did Sage before Harry could even outline the concept of government he envisioned. "Harry, monarchies just don't work in the main. I understand that Dr. Doom and the king of the United Kingdom seem laudable examples of when they do but consider: Dr. Doom is a tyrant. He might well be a benevolent tyrant, but there is no doubt that even though their standard of living is better under his rule, his citizens have far less actual rights. And William's power is sharply curtailed by a parliamentary democratic government. His Prime Minister actually has more power than he does in the normal running of the government."

"I agree with you on those points Charles, but I am adamant on this. Most kings and other royal rulers seem to think they have some kind of God-given mandate to be king or what have you. Their power however truly comes from those who would be willing to follow them. But even if no one followed me, I would still be powerful in my own right. That power comes from what I am. I also know I am not infallible."

Harry went on from there, looking around at the others. "I will have a democratically chosen committee to help me run everything on a day to day basis, but their power will be based upon my acceptance of their appointment. I am more than willing to have other people make choices and follow out decisions they make, but the buck stops here, as the American saying goes. I and my spokesmen will be the only ones who can okay laws, not propose them, but okay them, and I won't let that power go."

Further, Harry opined, a lot of the governmental services most First World countries took for granted would have to be created in the commercial sector. There would be no Dole system in Harry's nation, no aid for those too lazy or stupid to fend for themselves. Health insurance and workers compensation was already part of the contracts all his workers signed before they went to work for him.

Harry was willing to extend paid education to their families beyond that. Ororo had already put a platform for extending Avalon Academy further, and had even put the start of a school in place in the citadel. But there would be no stipend or unemployment benefits outside of aid after injuries sustained on the job. Reeducation however could be paid for on a case by case basis in the cases or such injuries.

Charles, Sage, and Amara were against this, while Hela and Emma agreed, eventually talking the others around. Hela's final word on the matter was, "If they are not crippled or infirm in their mind, there is always a gainful enterprise if one if of sufficient creativity and willingness to work. No realm can sustain an ever-increasing portion of the citizenship on a so-called welfare system and remain solvent."

Harry also wanted to, like in America, make it a law that people had the right to bear arms, which caused something of a row between the group. Sage, Piotr, Emma, and Charles were all against that idea initially. Emma disapproved of the idea because she felt easy access to weapons would incite lawlessness. Sage agreed, referring to the statistics of murder and other violent crimes in America, most of which dealt with armed individuals. Charles spoke cogently of people at peace and protected from external dangers not needing weapons.

Yet Hela and Amara agreed with Harry and it was Amara who spoke up to defend their position first. "Mutants such as myself and Piotr, our very bodies are weapons far beyond what even a trained soldier or martial artist could call on. Now I'm not saying that any of us would abuse our power. But can we say that twenty to twenty five years down the line of other mutants who we take in and house? Moreover, weapons can at least give the illusion that the people hold their fate in their own hands both as self-defense and in standing up for themselves against the government."

Piotr winced at that. As a Russian he could see both sides of the argument, and Amara's point in particular. The revolution against the Tsars was a necessity, yet the violence it propagated and the socialist regime that followed were even more oppressive. Ironically that was so because the Soviets made sure that they were the only people holding the guns.

His girlfriend also pointed out that Switzerland was even more armed than America but thanks to rigorous training and awareness training, Switzerland didn't experience anything like the crime statistics that Sage was throwing out about America. Conversely, she was able to point out to Charles that just because a populace was disarmed did not mean they were safe, as Britain had some of the most stringent anti-gun laws in the world and yet their crime rate was actually quite high percentage-wise.

For her part Hela too spoke up eloquently and passionately on the topic. "In the past, even those who were not warriors, raiders or sailors were expected to be able to protect themselves, to protect the hearth and home. It gave our ancient followers and others of their time a sense of independence and confidence, which was a necessity to face the wilderness at the time. If you were not willing or able to defend yourself in those days you died and none would spare a shred of pity on those who expected to be protected because you were not willing to. I believe one of your most famous 'science fiction' authors summed it up best, 'An armed society is a polite society.'" Hela had bonded with Jean over science fiction of all things, something that had startled everyone who had met the Asgardian goddess of Death.

"Of course, I do not discount that weaponry has changed vastly since that era but the principle remains the same. To deny your populace the means to protect themselves from anything short is to tell them that you expect them to be helpless and trust in others to keep them safe, that theirs is solely the role of the victim and the supplicant! I think going forward that kind of stance, that kind of independence and self-reliance, is one we must foster if we are to start to build a real society based not only on the defense of Earth, but of expansion into space, a society of trust that its peoples can count on each other to stand against any threat rather than hiding away hoping that the foe is beaten by the government without any involvement on the part of the majority of its citizens. I also agree that the people will need to understand they have the right to defend themselves, especially from mutants."

"Especially?" Charles asked, frowning while Harry leaned back, his eyes narrowing as he seemed to understand what Hela was going to say next.

"Indeed. You and Harry have discussed many of the issues that faced mortal kings, but you missed one: the danger of sycophancy and nepotism, of like calling to like. I see here mutants all around me, I do not see a single unpowered individual," Hela said calmly, though her words caused the rest of the think tank to start and stare at one another. "I know for a fact that you listen to those unpowered individuals that work for you, like Carol or the think tank who have thought up most of your space-based industries. However, the public will belief that you value the lives of mutants more highly than those of ungifted folk. They will need reassurance that in the eyes of the laws of the land all are equal in fact as well as in platitude."

These two arguments quickly swayed Emma and Piotr to join his girlfriend's side of that debate, which caused Harry to turn to Charles with a smirk. "See, democracy at its finest."

"Yet Sage does bring up a good point when she says that guns in particular are weapons which are easy to abuse. There will need to be stern laws in place to keep such from occurring, to allow for the right of self-defense and protection without it being abused. And I do not mean like the laws of most of the nations I've looked at."

Hela actually shuddered. "Tyr, Thor, and Forseti would all rage and rail at how justice has been perverted and strung out into a farcical mockery of their sworn purpose in such a way that it often rewards the criminal on the government's gold. No, laws needs must allow for justice to be dealt with quickly, while still ensuring that it is justice being carried out. Too many laws of today do not deal with justice but in simply making certain the aggressor cannot perform the crime again, or the punishment is known to the world as a whole. These are not laws but chains of a different form shackling those who obey them in the vain hope that they will be protected if they are obedient. Laws must protect and help those who live under them, and if you proved unwilling or uncaring to follow them, then their protection was removed and you were fair game."

Amara spoke up once more on that point. While not having the same methods as the ancient Scandinavian practice of exile, the ancient romans did have banishment or other heavy punishment in their lands and the idea that the accused could still call upon the same rights as their victims was something she loathed.

Harry nodded, having anticipated Hela's stance on that point after the Althing. The Asatru were big on personal accountability. "Agreed, and I have something no nation has, an easy access to Veritaserum, though I will still need to create a police force I suppose." Sage and Amara looked quizzical at that, and Harry filled them in before going on briskly. "Rape, torture and murder, that is killing not related to self-defense or defense of another, are going to be execution offenses in my nation, with the accused rights suspended until proven innocent under trial by Veritaserum. If proven innocent that innocence will be as public as the trial, with no retribution being allowed towards the formerly accused.

"If someone gives false accusation against someone, such as which can occur during cases of rape, they too will be questioned under Veritaserum and if found guilty of falsehood could be exiled as Hela said. The same will be true for lesser crimes, and forfeiture of property and or cash. The laws of my land will not be unreasonable, but if you break them you will pay."

"Harry you cannot simply execute people! There needs to be due process, or else the so-called justice you seek to serve becomes nothing more than vengeance." Charles objected. "Further execution is far too harsh, surely imprisonment and indentured servitude for forty years or more would be better."

"No it isn't." Harry cut in, having seen Hela about to blow up at the man and not wanting to clean up after she was finished with him. "I want everyone who becomes one of my citizens to realize that while it is a privilege, they will be held up to a higher standard than the citizens of more… I suppose, countries. My citizens will have a lot of freedom, but they will also face far harsher penalties if they break my laws. That is nonnegotiable"

"I would agree tovarishch, so long as you make allowances for being under the influence of drugs or alcohol." Piotr cautioned.

Here once more Hela jumped in. "And if one is foolish enough to partake of substances that alter their judgement, knowing full well the effects, then they are fully responsible for their actions afterwards! The only exceptions to that should be if those drugs or drink were given to them without their knowledge and even then I would not make allowances for carelessness or lack of awareness."

"Agreed," Harry said simply.

Charles looked like he wanted to argue the point. But seeing that Emma, Harry, Hela, and even Amara were arrayed against him and Piotr himself seemed to accept the distinction presented, gave it up as another lost cause.

"Which neatly brings us to the subject of taxation." Emma quipped, causing groans to come from Sage, Charles and Harry.

"Why?" Amara asked, shaking her head. "No offense Emma, but I think that is really putting the cart before the horse. Thanks to the way his industry in space and the various medicines Magical Minds sells, Harry's new government might become the first one to ever be completely self-sufficient."

"It might be now, but not when Harry starts to actually put his country in place." Emma warned. "Furthermore, if the citizens of the nation don't have any monetary connection to the government, they won't have enough of a connection to it to see it as truly their own. It's the other side of the coin of 'no taxation without representation', you can't have representation, like the council you are thinking of Harry, without taxation."

From there, Harry and his latest think tank continued to work. Few points they raised actually became solid laws, many of them instead went under the term 'social contract'. There were laws about property, both intellectual and physical, as well as personal safety and privacy, which were big points. Harry had looked at the libel laws of the world and declared them insufficient to the task, let alone what he had suffered in his own world.

Hela agreed with him on that point, as did Amara, though Charles and Piotr didn't see the point. Hela had been simply appalled that tabloid journals existed and considered it proof that modern societies had something fundamentally wrong with them that insults and blatant lies could be purveyed without reprisal.

Another point was Harry and the others declaring that freedom of religion be made a permanent law in the new country, whose name they were still hotly debating months later. However these laws were not nearly as broad as they were elsewhere. The religions would have no right to proselytize or force their views on someone else, something that had been a common point of agreement for all involved.

If it came down to a case of the rights of the individual against the rights of a religion to enforce its rules, the religion would be the loser. Religion would not be an acceptable reason for violence of any kind and the crime would be treated like any other. The specter of the 'Church of Humanity' hung over everyone's minds when that particular point came up, as did certain groups from the Middle East.

Of course not all of their time in the dilation chamber was spent working on such thorny issues. Harry and Emma took a night off every 'week' to have a date in their room. To her surprise and a bit of chagrin, Hela didn't seem to care about those dates, which made Emma feel a little petty, until she realized that Hela too was able to have dates like that when Emma and the other nonmagicals were not around for a week of dilation time.

Most of the time those dates were simple meals conjured up by Cory or one of the four house-elves that were in the room with the group at this point, and then a night of love-making. Emma enjoyed being the center of Harry's attention, despite the fact it routinely wore her out and gave her a limp the next day.

What she most loved however was the two of them simply… talking, just talking, watching movies, planning out what her next moves would be on an economic level. Even now it thrilled Emma that she had such a major voice in their joint endeavors going forward. On top of that Harry's ideas on how to handle Osborn's attempts against her were amusing and rather heartwarming too. This time made Emma love Harry all the more, although they had one rather disturbing conversation during this time.

Their third date in the dilation chamber Emma sighed happily, nuzzling into Harry's shoulder. She ignored the smell of sex and the sweat covering their bodies, reveling in the twinges of pain coming from the numerous hickies that covered her body. "Mmm, that was fantastic, just what the doctor ordered."

Harry chuckled, running one hand through her sweat matted hair. "Glad to hear it."

"You know, I was worried about all this time speeding up thing," Emma said languidly, stretching like a cat for a moment though never enough to remove Harry's head from her hair. "I was really concerned the first time my bones started to ache. I was afraid I'd leave and see some gray hairs, but it has really helped us. I have to admit the idea of using it on a large scale is kind of scary, especially on Mars since there the magical power running the arrays would fade over time, but still it could be a major help."

"Agreed, though the downsides are why I haven't made more use of it before this," Harry said, before clearing his throat, going on far more hesitantly. "Um and on the uh, the whole growing old thing..."

Emma looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "You do know that is sort of a forbidden topic to women don't you?"

"Yes, but it has to be said. I… magical power effects how an individual ages, how fast that is, after a certain point. Um, Dumbledore, he was 178 and while he looked old, he was still hale and hearty when he died, and he wasn't the oldest witch or wizard I knew. So, so Ororo and I, we're really powerful…"

"You might outlive Jean and I," Emma replied calmly. "I had actually already considered that given what you told me about Dumbledore, and his age. I can't say it was very heroic of you to not mention it before this though."

"I'd hoped that the medical think tank looking into it would have come up with some results about how to slow aging or something before this, and it never seemed the right time. But um… it's not only the two of us, it's Jean too… she's the avatar of the Phoenix Force, so I, I really doubt…"

To his shock Emma just shrugged her shoulders. "Like I said I had anticipated this. I can't say that I like the idea that in a decade's time you all will look as you are now and I will have aged, but that is in the future. I'm not even 25 yet Harry, I'll worry about my age when I'm pushing forty and I start to look like I am in my early thirties." The look of smug vanity on Emma's face got a chuckle out Harry and he smiled to see Emma's spirit unaffected by the topic.

Emma rolled on top of him, rocking her pelvis against his for a moment, smiling as she felt 'not-so-little Harry' rise once more to attention. "For now I am still vibrant, young and very energetic, so why don't you quit talking love, and do something about that…"

Laughing Harry agreed, his hand, still tangled in her hair pulling Emma down for a kiss, a worry he had hidden for a long time proving to not really matter much. Three cheers for feminine egos!

Of course Hela and Harry could have dates as well, and they did every 'week' when the nonmagicals were gone. Harry and Hela then had the entire time dilation sector to themselves. Though they kept on working during the day, they often ended up just spending time together, enjoying one another's company during the night. Harry showed Hela various movies on the computers, and danced. Hela forced him to exercise strenuously even more than he would have during the morning exercises they all had to do to keep in shape, challenging him to swordfights that would go on for hours.

Surprising even herself, Hela actually enjoyed the dates they spent talking about places on Earth and simply, well talking, more than anything else. Unlike with Harry's discussions with Emma, his talks with Hela ranged wildly in topic, and rarely touched upon the work they were doing. When asked, Hela said that the daytime was for work, the night was to rejuvenate themselves.

One of these nights would forever stand out in both their memories. Harry took it upon himself to cook for a change, moving around the small kitchen with practiced ease. Hela watched him, smiling as she once more felt that odd mix of appreciation and desire flow through her as she did. "However did you become so good at cooking Harry?"

Over the past few months she had stopped referring to him as Harry Potter, though she had once or twice called him Jarl Potter. Harry took it as a victory that she mostly called him just Harry.

Pausing momentarily Harry checked the timer on the oven before moving over to cut up some capers, tomatoes to go with the salmon. To one side a salad sat already finished. "When I was younger, I lived with relatives of my mother called the Dursleys. Along with doing all the chores they could find to give me, I was taught how to cook by around age five or so."

Hela's eyes widened at that behind her mask, her expression growing angry. "Excuse me? Surely you were not the only one in the kitchen at such a young age. No child would be left alone to cook in any home among my people."

"Of course I was. Petunia just didn't want to cook that's all, and hated spending money on food as well, so having me do it was a win-win. Mind you I was punished whenever I bungled it, so I suppose at those points I wasn't alone. First time I burned dinner she took a frying pan to the back of my head. Not my favorite memory I'll admit." Harry quipped, having long processed his abuse at his relatives' hands.

That didn't stop Hela from having to visibly suppress her divine wrath as such appalling behavior.

Her power crackled around Hela as the goddess's fingers made noticeable and effortless divots in the table, "Scum such as them would not last long in my realm, or any if I had my way!" Hela took a deep breath that Harry noticed did delightful things to her dress before blatantly changing the subject as Harry turned back around to continue cooking.

"How then can you even bare to cook? I can understand such experience making you very good at it through desperation if nothing else, but surely it would also make cooking a painful memory for you." Hela asked.

"You'd think so, but no. Oh, I never really enjoyed cooking for them, but then again I never got to eat most of what I cooked for them either." Harry heard and rejoiced in Hela's fist slamming into the table in front of her, though he did wince as he heard the crash of the shattered table collapsing from the hit.

He did not turn around from his work however, allowing Hela a moment to use her magic to repair or perhaps even just replace the table and regain her poise before going on. "But I think it sort of ties into what you've said to me a few times about presents. At one point I had just conjured up a communication mirror, summoning it out of my pouch. You commented that it would not make a good gift because I had spent no time on it. At another point you said that the work put into the gift made it all the better."

He turned, smiling at Hela his eyes warm, causing Hela to flush lightly under her mask. "I paid a steep price for my cooking skills. That makes using them to put smiles on the faces of those I care for all the sweeter to me."

Blushing hotly now beyond her mask Hela turned away. Curse me for a blushing maiden Hela thought before responding. "Wisdom gained is always bought dearly, I am pleased that you have been able to look past the price and take pleasure in the wisdom. It is much like rubbing their noses in the fact they failed in breaking your will, is it not?"

"Oh yes there's a bit of that too," Harry chuckled, then cocked his head to one side, looking at the table. "Huh, you know I could have sworn the entire table was made of mahogany, but now the top looks like it's made from oak."

"I'm sure you're wrong Harry," Hela replied briskly, standing up and moving around the table to help him bring the food over to the table.

"Are you sure?" Harry teased, lips twitching at Hela's antics.

"Quite positive yes." Hela replied swiftly. "Now, what was the most challenging thing you've ever cooked?"

Sitting calmly and listening as Harry went with this change of topic, Hela bit into her food, smiling happily at the taste as she contemplated the odd mortal Harry Potter. Mortal by choice after a brush with divinity, raised as the next best thing to a slave and now a leader of men. A doughty warrior, yet possibly the gentlest man I've ever met. Such an odd enigma is Harry Potter, such a… increasingly interesting enigma.

As Harry finished his story, which Hela hadn't honestly heard, she spoke up. "You know, I have often been surprised since meeting you, or rather re-meeting you, that you have never made little or ignored the advice of myself and the others as I have noted before."

"Why would I do that?" Harry asked quizzically, cocking his head in puzzlement at the serious turn the conversation had taken. "You, Emma, Jean, Ororo, you all know things I don't, it would be the height of stupidity for me to not listen to you, even when we aren't talking about something that falls in your area of expertise."

"Most men in relationships routinely attempt to control the women in their lives in some ways. Even the best of men at times do so, not always by putting them down, but rather silencing their opinions and limiting them in some fashion. You do not."

Piotr too did not do that, but Hela put that down to him not being a natural leader or in a leadership position, so he felt freer to admit to the need for advice than most of those in a leadership position would. Then again, Hela pegged Piotr as generally a follower outside the areas of empathy and morality where she reluctantly admitted that his Eastern Orthodox heritage gave him an inner strength.

On the other hand Harry had no follower in him. He also seemed to take a positive delight in pushing his ladies to give their opinions, to grow as much as possible.

"I'm not most men. I want the ladies in my life to be as strong, as powerful and independent as they can be." He stated now, laughing, then getting a certain glint in his eye that once more set Hela's pulse to racing. "Unless of course, you want to be… controlled?"

Hela laughed in turn, ignoring her racing pulse as she upped the ante. "Oh, you think you could rule me if I did not wish it Harry? How foolish these mortals be!"

The two of them shared another laugh and the night passed uneventfully beyond that right up until they were about to part for the evening. Hela had picked out a room down the corridor from the one Harry and Emma used. Despite not really feeling any jealousy for the blonde's relationship with Harry, Hela had no wish to be near enough to be considered a third wheel as it were.

Harry walked her to her room as usual after their dates ended. He held one of her arms in the crook of his as they walked side by side down the hall after having danced for a few slow songs when they finished eating.

As they exchanged farewells and Harry made to turn away to head to his own room, Hela made a small decision and immediately acted upon it. She reached out, tugging Harry back around gently, and before Harry knew it, leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

It was a light kiss, Hela making no effort to deepen it or open her mouth against his, her half-mask tapping against Harry's temple. But Harry returned it quickly and their emotions came through the kiss with ease. Eventually Hela leaned back whispering, "Until tomorrow, my seidr man."

Harry stood there in something approaching a stupor as she turned opening her door. She paused for a moment to look back at him, sending him a wink before the door closed behind her.

After nearly a day and a half of sped up time Harry had created enough of an organization to go forward with at least the start of building his country in terms of rules an outline of the bureaucracy and what citizenship would entail. He would have to rely on Kitty and the others to start building up the actual infrastructure. But at least the most important laws were down now, his version of the Magna Carta was finished, and a start had been made on what Hela insisted on simply calling the laws of the land and the social contract everyone would need to sign to become a citizen of his new nation.

That would be sent to Shanna, who would share it with the rest of the Savage Land inhabitants. Harry would be damned if he didn't offer the same rights and benefits of his new nations to those who were already living in the Savage Land.

They had also worked on other decisions one of which would hopefully solve their manpower issues given time. Here Emma had been a major help, and Harry would be sharing much of that discussion with William and his contacts with other militaries in the future.

With the most important decisions made and outlined at this point the project could be handed over to a few lawyers that Emma felt she could trust to continue the work. "I'll have to keep an eye on them of course, but they are among my family's most trusted retainers and they are studiously apolitical. They never got involved in our internal power struggles, and I honestly don't think they care about the government at all so long as they are paid and nothing illegal can be traced back to them." Emma said as they exited the time-warped room for the last time, or rather for the first time for Harry and Hela since this project had begun.

"Good, though I doubt that what we're asking them to do is really illegal, if only for the fact that no one in America or anywhere else would have ever thought of someone creating a colony in this day and age." Harry replied.

Emma looked at Harry and then over at Hela, frowning slightly. The two of them had several weeks of sped-up time together alone, and she had to admit that she was a little irritated at that. Gah, the more time they spend around each other, the more certain it is that she'll join us and I don't like that! Even if I've come to respect and perhaps actually like Hela, that's a far cry from agreeing to her joining us in our relationship!

She paused contemplating that as the group began to break up. Cory popped in to take Charles down to his mansion while Harry took Sage down personally to Magical Minds headquarters where she apparently had an apartment built into the building. But then again, I came into this relationship after the others as well, so I don't suppose I should throw stones at that aspect anyway. She looked over at Hela, catching the woman looking at her in turn.

The two of them stared at one another then Hela shook her head. "This has been a most interesting time, "Hela said dryly, before going on more slowly. "And I suppose it has done wonders for my getting to know you."

"The sentiment is mutual," Emma replied just as slowly. If one of the kids were there, they would've likened the way the two of them looked at one another to two strange cats trying to outdo each other with their nonchalance and unconcern. "I could say that your intelligence is as formidable as your magical powers, but I'm not in the habit of stating the obvious."

"Truly, the same can be said about your telepathic powers and your ambition. You also raised some very prevalent points in there most particularly about the economy which I know is your particular purview. But on another topic…" Hela went on hesitantly, an occurrence rare enough that Emma's focus was now intent upon the goddess of the Asatru dead "I would like to hear how you and Harry met from your own perspective? I've heard snippets of the story since meeting you and Harry for the first, but not the entirety."

Emma thought about it for a moment then nodded. "Perhaps another time? You could stop by my mansion this evening and have a meal with me, and we can exchange stories then. It'll be a much more… intimate… setting then what we put up with in there," Emma replied gesturing over her shoulder to the room into the where they had been spending their sped-up time.

"I think I would like that," Then Hela turned away, one eyebrow rising behind her half mask. Emma noticed the reaction and looked in the same direction before looking back at Hela. "Duty calls at the moment though," Hela said answering the blonde's unasked question. Before Emma could reply to that Hela disappeared, slowly fading out of existence rather than snapping out like Harry did when he teleported.

An instant later Harry reappeared, popping into existence with Jean on his arm.

"I see you made a stopover after dropping off Sage. Can't say I'm surprised," Emma replied said with a drawling tone, moving over to hug them both and exchange a lingering kiss with Jean before nuzzling into Harry's chin and neck.

"That will be what Evan called a 'no duh' moment there Emma," Jean replied with a chuckle, leaning down to kiss Emma's forehead. "Besides, I was heading out to Fortress Mars anyway. The workers have been able to open one of the magazine compartments on the Planet Crusher, and we'll be able to take out one of the missiles soon. I want to find a way to more easily detect those damn things just in case." She looked over at Harry thoughtfully, not removing her arm around his shoulders, even as Emma put her own arms around both their waists. "Does the fact that they do use missiles at times change your appraisal of their tactical doctrine?"

Harry shook his head. "Not so much no, though it will change our defensive posture. We'll have to have a secondary defense of antimissile platforms of some kind to take them out in the future. Without a near-sacrificial moment of heroism for preference."

"Is Ororo still unconscious?" Emma asked, wondering if she would decide to take some time in the future to sit by her. Sitting by the bedside like that wasn't something Emma had ever thought she'd do, but then she hadn't thought she'd be in a relationship like this one either.

Harry nodded glumly and Jean kissed his cheek commiseratingly. "I called up Gaia and yelled at her a bit, and she says that the weather patterns of the world will be back to normal within a week or so. It just seems a lot longer to me you know?"

Jean and Emma both chuckled at the rather lame joke, though Emma could certainly emphasize. After all, she had gone the equivalent of a few months month without seeing Jean between breaks let alone Ororo. A sudden longing to do so even if the ebony goddess was asleep shook Emma, but she had duties of her own that she had to get back to.

Looking up at Harry from his arms Emma shrugged her shoulders, one hand moving through the air languidly as her voice came out in an even more upper-class drawl than usual. "For now, take me home Jeeves."

Harry chuckled at that, then removed his arm from around Jean's shoulders with intense reluctance, gently cupping her cheek and bringing her head down into a soul searing kiss that left both of them breathless and Emma's face nearly flush with desire. She in turn leaned up, capturing Jean's lips with her own for a moment.

Now it was Harry's turn to look on, his eyes almost literally flashing with desire as he did. "I'll see you tonight," he mumbled to Jean, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek as she broke the kiss with Emma.

"You better believe that Mister," Jean said with wagging a finger in his face. "I've missed my cuddle toys, er I mean bed partners. It's awfully hard to sleep with only Ororo for company especially when she's… "

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find that you won't be getting any sleep with me tonight Jean," Harry growled, leaning forward quickly to nip at Jean's neck and interrupt their downward spiraling thoughts before stepping back and putting his other arm around Emma. "I love you," he said.

Jean had just a moment to reply "I love you too," before the two of them disappeared. She chuckled and turned, heading towards the loading bay and out towards Fortress Mars her lips still tingling.

OOOOOOO

Superior, Wisconsin could be said to be a microcosm of America as a whole when it came to the mutant question. The proponents of mutant rights or equality could be found in any already existing subculture or socioeconomic level, as could their opponents. The events occurring on the day Hela and the others left the time dilation capsule showed this in no uncertain terms, for there were two rallies going on in the city, separated and kept apart with difficulty by the police force.

One of them as a pro-mutant rights rally led by a man named Claude Robere, a son of Flemish nationals who was normally seen as a bit of a layabout. He was a deeply in debt college student, who felt strongly about the rights of the people to speak out. Though he had been a part of the pro mutant rights faction, he had not been a leader of the local mutant rights groups until recently when his longtime girlfriend had come out to the fact she was a mutant. Her feet, which she had never actually shown him in over a year, were webbed.

Claude had organized his rally as a peaceful walk through the city, with placards, signs, and pamphlets. The pamphlets in particular he and his friends thought were a masterstroke. Printed out on college printers in simple black and white, they covered two topics: DNA and news clippings and pictures of the times the Custodes Mundi, who were known mutants, had saved people. The X-men also featured prominently, especially their work in Tokyo after Moses Magnum's attack on the city, and a recent attempted robbery they had put a stop to.

The second pamphlet wasn't so straightforward and didn't have nearly as many visual aids. Those pamphlets showed first ape DNA, then a normal human's DNA and finally a mutants DNA. The difference between the first one and the last two of course stood out far more than the differences between unpowered and mutants. It was even explained, while the difference between normal humans and mutants was not. The pamphlet was titled 'Not So Different After All', and finished with the line 'Makes you wonder doesn't it?'.

In contrast to this group was the local Friends of Humanity movement, led by Rupert Geish and his wife Yala. Both of them had been heavily involved in the equal rights for black people movement, since Rupert was in fact black, and they had been held up for years in their little community as almost picture perfect examples of how integration and equality should work. But when it came to mutants they were united in hate, a hatred that was almost pathological, based on nothing more than fear of the unknown.

They had organized and led the FoH chapter in the city for several years. Under their leadership it had grown far, far beyond its small, violent origins, yet violence was still very much a part of the group's normal operating procedure. While Rupert was the overall organizer of the two, it was actually Yala who was more at home with directing violence and organized their contacts throughout the city in the many acts of vandalism and assault that they enacted.

Yala had recently learned there were two mutants actually living within her city a few weeks back. However her informants had also said that not only was the father of the two boys a police officer, but he was well thought of among his fellows Even the FoH members among the police wouldn't be willing to help attack the family home when he was there.

When he was gone, that was a different story. So while Rupert organized a counter rally, Yala prepared a little attack of her own.

The recent incident in space didn't matter a damn to her. If alien freaks showed up, well the government had to be useful for something right? Yala would concentrate on the freaks right here, trying to live among good, normal god-fearing folk.

Rupert led the FOH rally, marching through the city shouting slogans taken from the FoH platform, the bible, and several papers which had been written by mutants who thought they were the next step of evolution. The noise they made was much louder than the pro-mutant rally, and they drew an even louder crowd because of this despite being a weekday.

Eventually the group began to move off the path the police had wanted them to follow, marching down the streets, pushing police barricades out of the way. The police of course tried to stop them, but the crowd didn't respond to their directions, shouting the police down and moving on, either overwhelming the police or forcing them aside due to the sheer numbers of the mob. Eventually, as Rupert had planned, they ran into the pro-mutant rally despite the best the police could do, the SWAT and much of the police force unable to intercept them in time.

Violence erupted almost immediately, with groups from both rallies hurling insults, bottles and other things at one another before the two crowds slammed together. Sadly enough it would later be determined that it was the pro-mutant groups who threw the first bottles, and both factions had groups falling into looting and assault in equal number. While Claude was trying to desperately stop the fighting, Rupert egged it on, smiling as the sounds of sirens reached his ear.

Elsewhere in the city Yala and a group of twenty leg-breakers of various ages marched down the street, confident that the police had called in all the police they could including the father of their two targets. Indeed, their lookout had seen the man in question racing off in his police car moments ago. No one to protect you, nowhere to hide freaks! Yala, a normal seeming woman smirked, her eyes lighting up with a need for blood.

The area they were in was a nice suburban area, where the houses were all two or even three stories. The size of the house and the lawn varied widely, with the house they were here to attack having a rather large front yard, separated by a rather nice white painted wooden fence, hiding most of the lawn from view.

One of the toughs kicked the gate, smashing the lock and the rest raced onto the lawn, only to be stopped by a sharp, female voice cracking out. "Here now, what do you think you're doing there ey?"

The voice sounded like a grandmotherly type, which matched the speaker visually as the toughs turned to look. Standing in the middle of the lawn surrounded by a few very… odd statues was an elderly woman. For a moment the statue she was moving, that of a boy wailing on another boy as he held up a sword, grabbed the attackers attention, but they eventually tore their eyes way to stare at the woman.

She was short, with a shape that looked like a dumpy potato bag, with a nose that seemed as red as a cherry and hair that stuck out every which way, almost daring a comb to make its day. She was wearing smock over a dress that was faded, the sort a woman would wear when she was going to get her hands dirty. In her mouth she had an old-seeming pipe clenched between her teeth, and a twinkle, the origin of which none of the group in the yard could discern.

"Hah, if yer here ta buy one of me statues, there ain't no need to rush lads." the woman barked a laugh, winking saucily at the nearest tough, who actually shuddered, taking a step back. "Not that it ain't flatterin', having so many healthy youngsters rushing to meet old Nanny, but I's normally only sell on the weekends. Hah, though I suppose I'd be up for a little leasing now and then during the week."

"You, um, you carve those?" said a thug hesitantly, looking as if he was about to bolt. Violence against other men was one thing, violence against an old grandmother type quite another. And there was something off-putting about this woman that made him want to run for the hills. This might have had to with the statues all around her, organized, though none of the toughs knew it, like the center of a hnefatafl, or Viking chess, game.

"Ha, carve, mold, chop, whatever takes me fancy. I likes getting me hands dirty," Nanny replied with a bawdy guffaw, puffing on her pipe as she looked around at the toughs, though if you looked closer there was nothing of a pleasant old woman in her eyes. Rather there was something very sharp in them looking out at the world, and at the moment it didn't like what it was seeing. "Now, what ye strapping lads be here for ay? If yer hear for a statue, I gots a few made for men over there in that corner. I'd recommend the one I call, 'virgin priestess escapes with her hero', or my favorite, 'Freya riding her boar'. Now there's a ride that pays fer itself! Carved them to be as lifelike as possible so I did."

A few of the leg-breakers couldn't stop themselves, and they turned to look before gulping and looking away, looking very disoriented now. An old woman shouldn't have statues like that around the place, let alone actually create them!

Only Yala, the one woman among the group wasn't affected, and even she was somewhat embarrassed by the nature of the 'art'. "No we're not here for your dirty statues! Get out of the way old woman if you want to live! We're here for the muties!"

"Ar, so that's how it is, you're here for Frederic and Josef?" the woman replied, and suddenly there was nothing amiable about her face. She turned in the direction of Yala's voice, and scowled, pulling out her pipe to spit to one side. "And you a woman too, you ask me, a grandmother ta step aside and let ya at me grandkids? What kind of woman be ye!?"

"A woman whose family doesn't have freaks in it!" Yala shouted, pointing at the house accusingly. "We are protecting the human race from the contamination and its so-called evolutionary betters who would supplant us! Humanity will never go the way of the Cro-Magnon while I live!"

"Now that's plain idiocy," Nanny scoffed, setting down the statue she had been holding with a solid thunk, making several of the people there wonder how heavy the thing had been as Nanny turned, crossing her arms over her dumpy chest and glaring around at them all. A small bracelet of some kind glimmered on one wrist, showing an Ingwaz inscribed on it.

"How many mutants have ya actually sat down and talked to ey? None I'd wager, and that don't even count how few they are to the number of normal humans. Look you, ya all can turn around right now, and naught'll come of this day's foolishness. Or ya can stay and try to get ta my grandkids, in which case you'll have to go through me, 'cause there ain't no way 'round Nanny!"

"If that's how it's got to be!" Yala shouted then hurled a bottle at the woman, who dodged to one side. This seemed to have broken the paralysis the old woman had somehow woven over her people, and more of the gang attacked, charging forward or hurling bottles and other things at the woman.

In reply Nanny dodged backward past the largest statue, the one who wore a crown, but otherwise really didn't look like a king of any sort. Then there was a loud sounding crack, and one of the toughs who had been charging toward her fell screaming as a bullet shattered his kneecap. "Hah, never bring a knife to a gunfight ya daft fools! Come get some o' Nanny!"

At the same time, vibrant white flashes of light shot out from one of the uppermost windows as someone inside the house used the Cold Steel patented stun gun. One of the attackers went down convulsing as the stun blast hammered his nervous system. "We've got your back Nanny!" shouted a youthful boy's voice inside the house.

"Good shooting me lad!" Nanny bellowed in return.

Unfortunately for Nanny and her family, many of the attackers did in fact have pistols on them. Very few of them had wanted to use them, fearing the escalation using them would cause. Beating on some mutie freaks and then getting away before the police could arrive was one thing, using a gun and leaving behind that evidence was another. Now however many of the leg-breakers pulled out their guns and began to fire near point blank at Nanny.

Some others also proved to have guns that were by no means normal, looking like some kind of knockoffs of the Cold Steel weapons. They opened up on the boy in the window. A few other weapons shot out rounds that went faster than most bullets should have shattering through the wood. Others shot out greenish blasts of energy.

The boy, whose name was Frederic, cried out, pulling back as the first bullets hit the windowsill all around him. But Nanny had a bit of an advantage, given the number of wood, metal, clay and even marble statues around her. She popped up here and there like the worlds fattest jack-in-the-box, firing her pistol, a Beretta M9, at the attackers.

A few of them fell, but others spread out as Yala shouted at them, "Ignore the bitch, let the boys with guns pin her down we've got a job to do! For the purity of humanity!"

"For the purity of humanity!" Shouted more than one of the others as they raced around the makeshift pillbox that contained Nanny.

Scowling Nanny tried to turn and fire at that group only to wince in pain as the head of the clay statue beside her exploded, sending stinging pieces of hardened clay all over her, cutting into her face and shoulder like ceramic shrapnel. "That ain't a way to treat a lady, ya bloody new age Nazis knockoffs! To Helheim with the lot of you!"

Her handgun barked once more, and another attacker went down, this time with a bullet in his gut rather than his leg. With guns on both sides and outnumbered, Nanny wasn't willing any longer to play for time.

Which, though the attackers didn't realize it, she had been doing since the beginning. For Nanny and her entire family were of the Asatru faith. While most Kindreds prided themselves, as Hela had often said, on being self-sufficient and somewhat insular, many Kindreds had realized over the past few years as the mutant question began to gain precedence in the world that they needed to start looking out for one another more than they would have otherwise. Now the Asatru as a whole had gotten a lot better at gathering on a moment's notice and not just for sombels or other important events.

The first man to reach the front door bounced off, and before he could try again another white bolt struck from above, sending him spasming to the ground. The second man had better luck however, smashing a large sledge hammer into the door from one side, destroying much of the door with a single blow.

Another blow swiftly followed, demolishing more of the door, but as the man, a large, heavily tattooed steel factory worker tried to pull the weapon out of the gaping hole he found it stuck fast. "What the-gah!"

Suddenly the hammer was pulled into the house and the man came with it, smashing into the wrecked door, doing some further damage before he fell back with a cry, hurled backwards his chest caved in and gushing blood from a blow that looked to have come from some kind of animal with small claws. His shirt and skin had been slashed open in five streaks, but the main damage had been done by the strength of the blow.

"Fucking muties!" Yala howled, pulling out her own pistol and firing into the hole. This didn't do anything, but the next few men rushed forward, their sense of self-preservation now gone as they rushed to push through the door. They fell back, crying in pain and Tala finally had a good view of the mutant in question.

He looked normal for the most part, a young boy of around 14 or so, dressed like normal boys that age were in t-shirt and jeans. But most boys didn't have what looked like massively powerful bear arms replacing their human arms, complete with vicious claws dripping blood of the recently wounded thugs. Nor did they yell and snarl like a trapped bear, shouting curses at their attackers rather than trying to run away and hide.

"Mutie freak!" Yala shouted, raising her gun to fire. The last thing she heard was a sharp crack of sound from above before she fell, spasming to the ground.

Behind that fight Nanny winced again as a bullet tore into her side, dumping her back and down to hide among her few remaining statues, most of them marble or steel for the most part. A loud voice shouted out, "Damn it you old bitch, we don't want to kill you, we just want the freaks!"

Grunting in agony, Nanny shook her head. "Why in the name of Frey would anyone think that would work on a family member? Honestly." Despite her flippant tone Nanny knew she was hurting, that bullet was still lodged in her, and she knew she was bleeding out. Still she wouldn't retreat, not ever.

'Death before failure, death before flight, death before shame' was a phrase often bruited about the Asatru, and it was part of what made them so fiercely independent, and so implacable in battle. Even someone like Nanny, who before this had rarely fired a gun outside of a shooting range and never in anger, would have refused to give way. As she was fighting for her grandkids, well, Josef wasn't the only one showing bear like tendencies. "Fuck you and your ancestors too you bastards!" She shouted, as in the distant she began to hear the rumble of incoming cars and further out the sounds of sirens.

Nanny leaped up, firing as fast as she could pull the trigger, taking out three of the people with the weird high tech weapons from the side grinning in triumph, blood dripping from her mouth and side. She was still smiling when a bullet took her through the side of the neck, dumping her to the ground.

"No, grandmAGHHG!" howled the boy at the window before falling back, his shoulder exploding in a blast of bone and sinew from one of the high tech bullets from below. He rolled away from the window, screaming in agony. "AGGH!"

Hearing his twin brother, whose only crime had been to develop eyes like that of an eagle crying out in pain and having seen his grandmother's death, Josef saw red. Roaring he smashed through the doorway, closing with the people outside the door before they could realize what was going on. He was too close now for their fellows behind to shoot at without killing their own, and they hesitated.

This moment of hesitation doomed them, because from the road leading up to the house there came a roar, and two cars, a jeep Cherokee and a Ford Mustang, smashed through the fence. From the jeep several men and women began to fire at the FoH members, joined almost immediately by several others from the Mustang.

Outnumbered and with their members dropping all around them the surviving FoH leg breakers threw up their hands in surrender quickly. That didn't do much to sate Josef's berserk state however, and moments later both newcomers and their prisoners retreated out of the raging boy's line of sight as he rent and mutilated the fallen FoH mooks, both living and dead, in his rage.

"Hmmf, better late than never I s'pose, they better help me poor Josef though else I'll be haunting them and me son, the Tyr blasted fool." muttered a voice unheard by any of the men and women making up this tableau. The shade of Nanny stared around her, frowning as she continued to watch what was going on in front of her.

"I'm afraid I can't help you there, the follower of Thor is on his own," Drawled a voice to one side. "I am not allowed to be seen in moments like this one. Rather ironic really considering my own circumstances at the moment, but alas I don't make the rules."

Nanny's shade turned to stare at a statuesque black haired woman with a skin color that put fresh cream to shame and a body to match. Nanny had to nod in approval of the woman's outfit, both sexy and dangerous looking, very nice. Despite that, she scowled. "Yer not who I was expecting."

Hela turned from where she had been watching the Kindred, she could feel their belief this close even if none of them worshipped her specifically, to look at the shade of the woman who had died. Good grief, I wonder if she ever met with Terry Pratchett at some point. "I'm sorry, should I have shown up in green, with half my body decayed and grotesque?"

"Bah, not that Lady Hela, who am I to deny a woman the chance at a makeover?" Nanny barked a laugh, before waving her hands toward the scene in the yard around them, where Josef had stopped his berserk assault and was now hugging her corpse, crying brokenly. "No, what I'm talking about Lady Hela is that I died heroically in battle right? That should mean that Lady Freya at least sends some of the Valkyries to take me to Sessrúmnir right? Why'm I getting gipped?"

Narrowing her eyes Hela refrained from blasting the spirit for making it seem as if she felt Hela was the second-best choice there, especially to 'the most beautiful of goddesses'. "I do not think that general rule would apply to you I am afraid. Besides, what would you do in the halls of Sessrúmnir?"

"Find Thor or Balder an' goose 'em, then show those warriors and teach 'em a thing or two." Nanny replied promptly, before cackling. "Hah, show those boors that a woman with experience can be many times the fun of-"

"Unfortunately for reasons beyond Old One Eye, Freya and my own control, no honored dead from this plain are able to make the complete journey to Valhalla or Sessrúmnir at this time. You will have to make do with the planes of Hel, that area of my realm reserved for those who showed true honor in life," Hela replied, holding back a shiver at what Nanny's words implied. She really didn't want that image in her head darn it!

Something caught her eye then and she turned moving away from the shade for a moment. "Excuse me," she muttered over her shoulder. For just a moment her hand became once more corporeal as she overrode the rules of moments like this to grasp up one of the guns the attackers had used. It was covered instantly by the same field of in-corporeality that covered Hela and she moved back, holding the gun out to Nanny's shade. "Are weapons such as this normal?"

Nanny looked at the weapon, slowly shaking her head. "Um, no, not that I know of. Looks like something that coward Stark might've thought up, or someone else of his ilk."

"Hmm… So not normal. And in the hands of this anti-mutant group…" Hela had of course heard about the fight for mutant rights and the Friends of Humanity. The idea these small time terrorists could have access to such weapons was not a good one in her opinion, and might be a sign of something deeper going on.

Nanny coughed. "Not ta bother you or nothing, but uh, can we get on with this? I'm interested to see what the next great adventure is like."

Blinking Hela came back to the here and now, flushing behind her mask at having set aside her duty for a moment there to satisfy her curiosity. "Um, my apologies, yes we should be moving off now." Perhaps I might have more to talk about to Emma tonight than just her tale of meeting my seidr man…