Beast Of Burden

"So, it's agreed then, if she doesn't call us by the end of the week, we go and see where her head was?"

Rachel stated this fact to Harry when the pair of them made their way to the mental hospital to visit Wanda. It had been less than a month since Jean ran off but it seemed like much longer. With all that happened, time went rather fast, especially with those at the X-Men. The duo made their way through, without Xavier for this visit.

Xavier's visits due to his schedule with Wanda were few and far between, not that the sessions seemed to be doing much good for her. Harry did manage one concession with Wanda and as far as he knew, they stopped with the drugging of her. During his last visit here nearly a week ago, he explained that they were doing a disservice to her with what they put in her system.

Of course the liberal application of Confundus spells may have also convinced them to stop doing this deed.

If Wanda had an episode, Harry could be over here straight away and control the situation quickly, hopefully figuring out if something was wrong.

"You came back."

Wanda's expression was the perfect combination of surprise and relief when the young mutant magical user looked up at Harry. She tapped her fingers on the side of wall where she sat. The barrier between the pair of them was thin, it was to the point where Wand could almost reach out and touch Harry.

"Of course, I came back," Harry answered with a slight smile, which Wanda returned. He sensed the distress coming off of the young magical mutant but he shook his head. "So, is there a reason why you look ready to kill somebody."

Wanda paused before she explained to Harry.

"It was seven years ago where my father dropped me off at this place, without a backwards glance. He could not control me, so he abandoned me here. I haven't even heard a word about him since and what he was doing but believe me, since I compromised his little plans, he threw me off to the side like a piece of garbage."

Harry felt Wanda's despair and he understood what she went through, well in a way. People tended to be scared of what they did not understand. Magneto, strong and resourceful as he was, did not properly understand his daughter's powers. Therefore, the young woman found herself as the guest of this mental institution, with no chance of parole.

"I wish, I wish there was another way," Harry answered when he looked at Wanda and he honestly meant that. "Did you read that book that I gave you?"

"Yeah, nothing else better to do in here," Wanda agreed when her expression softened. "Trying to figure out how to find the balance, that's tough with anyone who has powers at all."

"It is," Harry agreed when he popped inside the cell.

"Most people don't come in here without a remote control," Wanda offered when she looked at Harry. "Aren't you afraid that the Scarlet Witch is going to blow you to oz?"

Harry offered her a smile before he stared at her. "Trust me; I've fought far worse than a temperamental teenage girl with super powers."

"One would argue that there is nothing that's worse," Wanda offered, a point that Harry conceded to be honest. Teenage girls could cause a great deal of havoc without super powers. One only needed to take a trip to a shopping mall to get the full scope of that situation. He shook his head, to get back to the matter at hand and resolved to give Wanda some good, genuine advice.

"It's all about focus and mastering your powers, don't fear the unknown, but rather embrace it. You are not a monster because of your powers bur rather how those powers are used. They could run away with you but only if they let you. If you focus on them, Wanda, you will be able to master them and maybe live a normal live, or as normal as we get in this crazy mixed up world of ours."

Wanda's face contorted into a thoughtful expression when she mulled this over in her head. To be honest, the young magical mutant before her did make a lot of sense but at the same time, uncertainty ruled her mind and her thoughts. That was what the problem was in a nutshell, she felt uncertain and unable to focus on everything to be all that she could be. The throbbing from her head that accompanied her powers made her quite unstable.

The fact that she doubted she could brush the surface of her powers alarmed Wanda and made her wonder about certain things. There was the very real fact that she could potentially warp reality if she thought things over a little bit and that fact resounded in her mind. Of course, whether or not she meant it or not, that was beside the point.

"Do not overthink these things Wanda, blast apart that shelf," Harry answered before he paused. "Don't damage the wall over, just the shelf. Become your powers, let it flow in and out naturally, and do it."

Wanda fired a hex bolt to the shelf, now that the drugs left her system she fired a shot at it. The shelf bust apart and dropped to the ground but the wall cracked.

"Not bad for a first try, but do keep focus as well as you can," Harry offered with a smile on his face before he repaired the damage Wanda did. He closed his eyes and used his powers to mimic Wanda's powers.

With precision and accuracy, the hex bolt slammed through Harry's hand to nail the shelf to pieces. He staggered, Wanda's powers were sure among some of the most powerful but his body stood the ability to mimic them and blast them.

"That was a fairly decent representation of my powers," Wanda answered when she shook her head and looked at Harry.

"I've been able to copy the powers of other people around me more and more lately," Harry responded with a shrug, he was at a loss as to how to explain this one.

However, it was true, the moment he came out of his illness, Harry's body language reading powers evolved to a different power. Before he was able to pick out subtle movements in the body language of others to engage them into battle and find ways to defeat them. After the illness he suffered, those powers became so much more, with Harry copying them bit by bit, able to analyze and figure out all of the powers.

Then with his magic, after simply mere moments of observation, the young mage managed to replicate them down to the last movement. It was a fairly decent representation although he must train with the powers like any other skill to get any kind of clear control. For the purposes of the demonstration he did, Wanda's powers worked well for him because they were so closely linked to his own.

"That's interesting and useful," Wanda offered when she looked at Harry. "You could defeat anyone with those powers."

"Not exactly," Harry said with a shrug. "I can only pick up the basics unless I train with these new powers. Although I have been able to shift my body through walls like this."

Harry answered when he shifted back and forth from one wall to the other, phasing through it like Kitty did. His green eyes popped up before he turned to them.

"I have to really focus but I think I've observed Kitty enough to pick up most of the basics," Harry offered with Wanda nodding.

"I'm sure you have," Wanda stated crisply under her breath.

They went back to their training, a few more times with Harry trying to allow Wanda to blast the same shelf. With each passing blast, she got better and more accurate, although to be honest, there was still a long way for her to go. Rachel stood by in the event that Harry needed her help to temper one of Wanda's outbursts. To the young magical mutants credit, she kept her impulses at bay.

"I should visit almost every day, when school ends next week," Harry answered when he reached forward. "I brought you a present."

Wanda's interest piqued when she looked at Harry and he handed her a battery operated CD player, charmed to make the batteries never go dead.

"I feel that you could use something to keep your sanity in here, as these days can go rather long," Harry answered and Wanda gave him a raised eyebrow, with a smile.

"You're telling me?"

Harry bid Wanda farewell before he rejoined Rachel and hoped that this was the beginning to the young mutant's road to recovery.

"So how goes the real estate?" Rachel asked when she looked at Harry.

"I've got a few places," Harry offered when he looked at her. "If the X-Men want my help after I leave, I'll be there, and it will be close by, but I want to start my own dream. Xavier and Magneto shouldn't be the only games in town."

Rachel nodded, all of the events of mutant kind revolved around those two. She sensed Harry wanted to get this place ready and hopefully give Wanda a place to stay when he got her discharged. He worked hard to get the young mutant released under his care so she could be surrounded by people who had her best interests in mind. As opposed to people who prodded and poked at her like some kind of lab rat.

They hoped that came sooner rather than later.

"Keep to it, Amara, you're doing a good job."

Amara felt a rush of pleasure at these words from Harry but she resolved not to lose her head. It was amazing how much she got things when he demonstrated and showed her what they expected of her. She cut through at her own pace. It also amazed her that Harry was able to copy her powers with the expert precision and direct them in a halfway decent way, as rudimentary as it might be. Magic did many wonderful things as she thought about.

She held her hands up and melted the rock that appeared in the Danger Room. Iceman, Jubilee, Cannonball, and Sunspot followed her, with the other members of the team chasing her.

"Remember, either find a way to seal it or pass it onto a teammate that has the ability to seal it before your enemies go through," Harry called from above.

"Iceman, freeze!" Magma shouted before Iceman held his hands up and sent a sheet of ice going through.

Wolfsbane, Boom Boom, Bezerker, and Multiple moved through.

"Maybe I can create a few clones and chisel on through," Multiple stated but Harry yelled out a scenario.

"You have only forty five seconds to find a way through."

"Stand back, this one's mine," Boom Boom stated before she flicked the bombs and they blew to pieces, sending ice flying everywhere.

"Points knocked off for putting your teammates in direct danger, Tabby!" Harry yelled but Boom Boom turned to look at Harry.

"They should have known to get out of the way," Boom Boom stated when she looked over her shoulder to Harry.

"Never assume that, you're supposed to tell them to stand clear, very creative Magma," Harry stated when she made the bursts of lava splatter from the ground to block them. "Find a way around."

Wolfsbane turned into her form to scout the situation around her, running around in circles.

"This way," she stated when Multiple, Bezerker, and Boom Boom followed her.

A barrage of fireworks shot her.

"None shall pass!" Jubilee cheered when she blasted them with fire works, rocking back and forth. "Come on, take your best shot."

"And stop," Harry responded when the timer went off. "You had sound strategy, but you need a diversion before you go through. Remember that, and you'll be able to win the day. Some of you lost points for very obvious things, others for very minor things, study and go over it in your mind, and we'll be able to go back to this training session next weekend."

The group responded with nods before they moved off.

"Session with the Sorcerer Supreme canceled?" Kurt asked when he saw that Harry controlled the weekend Danger Room session.

"Pushed back to tomorrow, something came up," Harry answered when he watched the New Mutants file out of the Danger Room. "Make sure to stretch afterwards, powers or not, your muscles will tense up."

"Yes Professor!"

Harry wanted to throw Iceman into a sauna if he made one more Professor crack but the fun loving mutant did lighten the mood.

"That one on one time help you a bit Amara," Harry responded and the young princess nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm sure we can go over some other things in a few days, maybe before next weekend, outside the Danger Room," Amara answered when she looked at Harry with a smile and Harry got the message.

"Monday after school fine," Harry responded and she nodded, surprised at her own daring. He turned over to Kurt when Amara ran off with the rest of the new recruits. "So I saw you and Amanda the other day..."

"Yeah, we talked, a little bit, it was rather nice," Kurt answered but there was a bit of awkwardness between the pair of them.

"Go for it Kurt, what do you have to lose?" Rogue encouraged him and Kurt opened his mouth but the goth girl cut her off. That was a rhetorical question."

"What if she is weirded out...well you know," Kurt answered but Harry offered him a sound bit of advice.

"Just go for it Kurt, whatever happens, happens."

"Yeah seize the day, you never know, it's totally your time," Kitty answered when she paused and craned her neck upwards. "Is that Mr. McCoy?"

Kitty, Kurt, Harry, Rogue, and Rachel all spun around to see the biological teacher. The dark haired mage stepped over, his hearing got more acute ever since the sickness, in fact all of his senses were super heightened. It was a gift horse that he was not willing to look in the mouth, especially considering this allowed him to listen in on Xavier and McCoy.

"My friend, I did warn you years ago that you can only temper it for so long."

"I need of a way to cure it; do you realize what this might cause?"

"Cure, that's not what I do, even if I did know how to help you. This formula that you're ingesting, it could make matters far worse than it would have if the change happened naturally."

"I have hands for feet, one might consider that to be unnatural."

"And others would consider that to be a very useful gift."

Harry turned over to relay what he heard to the others, who all looked thoughtful. A few moments passed when they all went over what they heard in their mind, before they shook their heads.

"So it appears that Mr. McCoy might be one of us," Kitty stated in a bright voice when she turned around.

McCoy exited the room and the five mutants backed off, acting like they did not listen in, like they came from the Danger Room.

"Mr. McCoy, it's nice to see you here at the Xavier Institute," Kitty remarked in a bright voice when she looked at her instruction.

"Good to see you too, Katherine," McCoy stated when he walked off in a bit of a daze. "It appears that Charles did not have the book on genetics that I hoped he did, it's a shame but I've got to make do with what I have."

Without another word, McCoy left the Xavier Institute, with the five members of the X-Men looking at each other, they knew one thing, they had to follow him.

"I wonder what his secret is," Rogue whispered when they followed them.

"Don't you think that we're being nosy?" Kurt offered him before another concern visited him. "And don't you think we should inform Scott about this?"

Rachel responded to both questions in a crisp and curt manner. "No and definitely not."

Harry managed to pin the tracking charm on McCoy which allowed him to drive all the way home. When Harry sensed that McCoy's car stopped, he turned to the fellow X-Men and closed his eyes. A field engulfed them all, and popped them off.

"Nice, new sickness related power, Harry?" Kitty asked when they touched down on the front lawn outside of McCoy's house.

They saw it was the nice, modest home that they expected from a man like Hank McCoy, who got the most out of his teacher's salary. The driveway paved over, the grass cut close, and everything that one could expect was present. The five walked forward.

"Yeah, I seem to be picking these up far more often," Harry added when he turned to Kitty with a smile.

"Maybe you should get sick more often?" Rogue suggested, in a half teasing voice.

"No, I like Harry a lot better when he is well, he wasn't that fun when he was sick," Kitty stated when she folded her arms over and thought about it.

"Bit cranky, wasn't he?" Kurt asked but Harry gave them all a mock glare.

They turned their attention to the window that was opened. All five of them kept their distance as much as they could, to see what McCoy was up to. He had a glowing blue formula in his hand and Harry wondered whether he should drink it. Especially considering Xavier warned him against doing so but that was beside the point. The fact of the matter was that he put the formula to his lips.

Kitty, Rogue, Rachel, Harry, and Kurt simultaneously shut their eyes, bracing themselves for some kind of disaster to take place. When nothing happened, they let out their breaths in sigh of relief.

Until the moment where their biology and gym teacher began to grow blue fur and took on the appearance of a large blue gorilla. All of them stepped back when he gave a primal yell.

"That's not good," Kitty breathed when she clung onto Harry's arm. Her boyfriend held up her up careful.

A large smash and the Beast went out the back way into the city.

"And that's even worse," Kurt responded when he reached forward but Rogue blocked his hand.

"No time to call for reinforcements, that thing went into the city, we're the only one's close enough to stop him," Rogue offered with a shaky voice.

"Remember, that thing is a man inside," Kitty said to her and Rogue nodded.

"I know, but maybe we should try telling him that," Rogue stated when she looked at Kitty and Kurt chimed in with a suggestion.

"Maybe you could drain some of his power off?" Kurt asked when the group scrambled after the rampaging beast.

Harry sent a stunning spell at it but it dodged out of the way.

"Yeah, and shave my legs for a week, no thank you," Rogue stated when she shook her head but it was Rachel who shook her head and leaned forward.

"If we can track down Beast, and subdue him, I might be able to get into his mind and awaken the real McCoy from inside."

Harry thought that it was worth a shot and the X-Men scrambled off, before the angry mob formed.

'It's good thing they don't have pitchforks, torches, and a castle to storm,' Kitty thought to herself when she reached forward, following the rest of her team members. The X-Men stormed in with Harry leading the charge and listening for the sounds that would lead him forward to his target. Time stood still when Beast went on the attack and sent everyone flying in every which direction.

The dark haired magical mutant stood firmly on his feet, twisting his head over his shoulder from one side to the other. The young man stepped forward moving each step at a time, going further and further into the distance but he grew rigid.

Yes he was most certainly close, closer than he reckoned he was before.

That much was good, he supposed but then there was the fact that they had to get McCoy in and out of there without anyone realizing what happened. Or anyone putting two and two together even if the fact that the Beast rampaged from the teacher's house, that lead to more people putting together the pieces or so Harry assumed. He stood on his feet, twisting his head to crane it a little bit.

The angry mob approached the scene, waving their fists and there were a few pained screams, anguished fury and people yelling for the head of the monster that entered the park.

'Time for action, Rachel direct their attention elsewhere,' Harry thought to one of his girlfriends and she nodded.

Rachel locked onto the mob and their actions only pacified for a few seconds but it was a few seconds more than they had previously. Their knees locked together when the shook and swayed but they backed off. It gave the Beast some room.

"Kitty, Kurt, subdue, but don't hurt," Harry stated and Kurt disappeared behind Beast.

Beast growled, recognizing the young mutant beside him barely. Kitty grabbed Beast's arms and tried to phase them through the wall. For a moment, she thought this attack worked, well planned out that it was, although it was not too well planned out all things considered.

That was until the moment Beast ripped his hands form the wall and caused the gate behind him to crumble.

'I know the real him is inside, but where, that's the question," Harry thought before he looked up to face Beast and blasted him with a cheering charm.

The charm was strong but the savage fury in the Beast was also strong. Whatever he put in that chemical remained potent, exactly how potent, that remained to be seen. The creature flailed his arms back and forth, reaching for anything that moved. This allowed Rachel to slide into position and lock onto the savage mind of the creature.

The creature fought hard, that credit could not be denied but Rachel's mind strongly pushed into his mind, working into his inner consciousness, before Harry joined with her in tandem, to attack his mind, to separate the primal fury within. It pushed back, with the creature's eyes narrowing a little bit but he pushed back. The creature was not about to be denied, no way, no how, that was something that was for certain.

Fists clenched together when the two mutants combined the full force pushed into his mind that they offered, the attack growing stronger with each passing moment. There was a mental tug of war in the mind, between the man and the monster, with the monster winning despite the assist from Harry and Rachel. Despite that all, they had to try, they had to work into the inner subconscious of the mind and push him out, work into his mind, deeper, pushing deeper.

'I think I...got it,' Harry thought when he closed his eyes, in time to feel the throbbing in the back of his head.

'You better hurry up, the natives are getting restless again,' Rachel informed Harry, seeing the nervous looks on the face of Rogue, Kitty, and Kurt.

"Do they have it yet?" Kurt wondered, not wanting to break their concentration but also he wanted to ask a question, he needed to ask a question. The pair of them pushed back and forth in their minds.

"I think...I think they're close," Kitty offered, not knowing how she knew this, it was the fact that she knew this really that allowed her to strengthen her mind and her thoughts. She folded her hands over, a strong resolve kicked up.

Beast and McCoy, perhaps two sides of the same coin fought and pushed out, his eyes blinking, gazed over with each passing attack. His knees crumpled underneath him while he swayed but the combined attack by Rachel and Harry continued to worm their way, separating the two sides and allowing McCoy to gain more clarity even though it seemed like his physical body would stay mutated into a more primal force.

Scratching, pulling, biting, clawing, that's what the name of the game was and that's what they did, but Beast fell down to the ground, toppled at that moment. His head rang and the creature gave a pained grimace.

"It's done," Harry managed when he staggered as did Rachel but it seemed like it was not a moment too soon that it was done. Had they held up longer, Beast would have struck out.

"Yeah, I can feel McCoy returning," Rachel answered when she looked at him, her expression swimming, before Harry placed the repelling wards around them.

Rachel wiped the sweat from her brow, that was a bit too close for her comfort to be honest, if things got a bit more differently, who knows what would happen. Despite that fact, there appeared to be no way to reverse McCoy's mutation right now, at least she did not think.

When she voiced that theory to Harry, he shook his head.

'Temporarily perhaps, but not permanent,' Harry thought to her, it was a problem with even the best magic and it seemed like this was in the genetic make up of McCoy. He shifted and turned into this Beast and the result was what was before them all.

"We got to get out of here, even magic won't hold up what happened for long," Harry offered them all and his team nodded.

Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue helped pull up the slack form of Beast and Kurt elected to be the one to check in with the Institute.

"Yes, Kurt, what is it?" Xavier asked when Kurt got on the line.

"You remember how you told Mr. McCoy this morning that his attempts to cure what he was going through would worsen it?" Kurt asked and there was a pause for a little bit before Xavier answered.

"Yes, I do recall that conversation, although I wonder how you would know about it...that's beside the point at this moment, tell me what has transpired."

Kurt gave Xavier the full report when Harry transported the entire group back to the Institute. Xavier paused for a few seconds, it was obvious that he mulled something over in his mind, at least for a little bit of the time. Time stood still whilst the group waited for their leaders words. After a few seconds, he reported back to them in the only way he could.

"Whilst I would have preferred that you went for back up, I do think that you worked well as a team, at least to the point where you managed to defuse the situation, at least partially."

Harry, Kitty, Rogue, Kurt, and Rachel all felt a compliment coming on, as well as a lecture but still that was the best that they could do, so more power to them.

"We'll determine what happened later, as of now, let's get Mr. McCoy ready and willing so I can ensure that the beast is truthfully gone in his mind or if he lays dormant."

Henry McCoy knew one thing, this was something that was a bit of a blunder that he did but honestly things could have gone worse. Exactly how much worse, that remained to be something he would have to determine on his own. To say that things were good however would be a gross misunderstatement beyond everything he ever realized.

"It seems like I should have listened to you, Charles."

"Yes, you should have," Xavier agreed when he turned to his colleague but then his expression softened. "It seems like mistakes are the greatest teacher and your appearance….I'm afraid it cannot be reversed, no matter what step we take."

Kurt smiled when he turned to his teacher, before trying to offer him a bright side to the entire situation, at least that's what he assumed. "Hey, Mr. McCoy, it's not going to be too bad, all you need to do is wear an image inducer like I do and…."

McCoy shook his head, cutting that particular statement off at the pass before he stood and faced the younger mutant, one who had similar issues to him with hiding who he was. "Kurt, I've realized that there are instances where no matter what, we cannot hide behind an image inducer."

Kurt wondered if this was a thinly veiled statement to the fact that he tried to hide from behind the image inducer that he wore. The more the young mutant thought about it, the more he wondered about what happened. It was true, his unconventional appearance could cause people to look at him strangely at best or panic at worst. Even those who were used to him, the young mutant could not help but feel some undercurrent of hostility going through them in the back of his mind.

Yet, Kurt shook his head, it was a part of who he was, like it or not. Although he did not have to like it, perhaps there was some way for him to adjust in time but as of this moment, he would remain carefully entombed in the disguise he chose to wear. It might not be the easiest thing in the world to deal with but it really was a part of who he was.

"I guess my teaching career is over," Beast mused when he took a moment to shake his head. "I'm guessing the school's hiring policy on my type is not going to be that tolerable. So be it, I assume, I wondered how long I would keep up the charade anyway."

Xavier's eyes flickered to Beast in a stern way before he looked at his colleague. "Henry, perhaps one might consider that to be the end of one chapter of your life but think about the possibilities. This could bring forward a brand new chapter of your life. The X-Men needs qualified instructors, as our numbers grow. Someone with your level of knowledge would be a valuable asset to the school."

McCoy looked unconvinced for a moment but then Kitty chimed in with a few words of encouragement of her own. "Yeah, you wouldn't be shutting one door, you'd be opening up another, another brand new, awesome door where you could make it."

Henry McCoy, Beast, he did not really know what to call himself at this very moment but it seemed like they offered a rather attractive proposition. He mulled over the options in his mind and there was no reason why he would refuse the teaching offer Xavier gave him for this school. The possibilities to further his career and perhaps the scope of his knowledge danced in a most tantalizing manner in front of the teacher before he nodded his head.

"I will accept your proposal, Charles," Beast offered when he looked at Charles, with Logan, Ororo, and Scott joining him at the moment.

"We'll be happy to have you," Ororo stated when she looked at him.

"For sure, we need all hands on deck with what's coming," Logan stated and he turned to Scott.

"Welcome aboard, I'm sure you'll fit the school rather well."

Rachel, despite the fact that she did not agree with Scott on many things, did agree with him on this particular point. Beast would fit the school rather well, fit the X-Men in general like a glove. He had powers and knowledge that would serve the next generation of mutants well.

Harry turned around to face Beast. "You'd know that I'd help you if there was any way."

"I've learned my lesson in meddling with my nature," Beast answered but he was thankful for the offer. "At this last bout and what happened, it's best to leave well enough alone."

Kitty chimed in with a few words. "It's fortunate this happened at the tail end of the school year."

Rogue nodded in agreemnent, that fact was extremely fortunate. There was a burning question on her mind that she had to ask Beast. "So with you out of the picture, who is going to be the one take your spot? I mean, you've got some big shoes to fill."

Beast pondered the matter before he responded with the most logical answer. "I think that the children of Bayville High School deserve a man who will not indulge himself in formulas to try and change his nature. The perfect man for the job it seems is an old colleague of mind, Doctor Curt Connors. His knowledge base on lizards and other creatures on the like is amazing. I'm sure he'll be a good fit."

Harry, Rogue, Kitty, Rachel, and Kurt thought that Beast had the point, if he vouched for someone to that degree, there was a good reason. Perhaps things would turn out for the better for all of them.

"Ororo, show Doctor McCoy to his quarters, I believe after the day he had, that he deserves a bit of a rest," Xavier answered and McCoy nodded.

"That would be preferred, thanks," McCoy stated when he took his bags and said his good byes before Ororo lead him up the stairs.

"I think he'll fit in well here," Kitty offered with a smile crossing her face.

"All sorts are welcomed at the Xavier Institute," Harry offered and the entire group nodded at that, before they went their separate ways. It had been a long day and all of them needed to relax.

First, Harry needed to go out and test his powers away from the Institute, to see what the full scope of them was so he would head out and do that. Later he would let the others in on it but he wanted to see what he could do and what observations he could make about his powers.

A group of men dressed in military fatigues cowered when a man dressed in a green jacket, with a black t-shirt, and blue jeans. His hair was red, and his eyes were dark, they stared at the men with sadistic fury. His patience, as it turned out, was not much for the fools he dealt with. The man shook his head before he offered one single question that dripped off his teeth with pure venom.

"You mean to tell me you had the freak cornered in the mark and suddenly, you forgot what you were doing."

The men shook their heads, fearfully, backing off a little bit, wondering if they were going to be blamed for something really bad that happened. All three of them shook their heads, when their leader was in a towering temper and talked about the freaks, they knew one thing was for sure; it was time to stay clear and far away from him.

Who was this man? The man's name was Graydon Creed and he absolutely hated mutants, no one quite knew why but him. His backstory was one that dripped with tragedy and one would almost fell sorry for him, if it were not for the fact that he was kind of an irredeemable bastard and tarred all mutants with the same brush despite his experiences with them.

Graydon Creed was a human born to two mutants but thanks to an operation, his blood was pure. No one knew this naturally and many if they did would question the logic of how draining all of his blood from his body and replacing it with human blood would no longer make him the offspring of two mutants. Yet there it was and he stood to face a small, but devoted, group of followers, nasty and mean as ever with the human blood dripping through his twisted veins when he stared at his men.

His pure human blood pumped with his heart that beat strongly with the hatred of all mutant kind and the hatred burned strong through his eyes, narrowed and cruel. The red haired man shook his head when he remembered the cruelty of his mutant parents. His mother left him at birth with his father, who to be honest was a real bastard. His father abused, belittled him, locked him a cupboard, and threw him down the stairs, calling him a freak of nature.

The phrase what does not kill a person makes them stronger resounded through the head of Creed and this nature made him stronger. Creed turned to his men, a gaze through his nasty beady eyes before he responded.

"I'm not going to mince words, you screwed up big time."

"Give us another chance, Creed."

Those words sounded a lot like begging, something that Creed did not sympathize with. He needed all of the hands on deck that he could. There were more so called heroes but they were nothing, except for big freaks. Spider-Man, these X-Men, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, all monsters that needed to be put down, needed to be destroyed for the good of all humanity.

The revolution started with Creed and he would bring the fight to the enemies, the group were the Friends of Humanity. If people showed their loyalty to the freaks, then they were most certainly not a friend of human, rather they were an enemy. And that was someone who needed to be destroyed because Creed did not suffer these people well.

"Do not deny what is true in our hearts, we will rise, the Friends of Humanity will be one."

The Friends of Humanity agreed with this proclamation, nodding their heads, it was all that they could do to get into the good graces of Creed. Being his enemy meant that they could get shot up at any time so it was time for a little careful brown nosing.

"For sure Mr. Creed."

"Yeah, you're the boss."

Creed smiled, loyalty to the human race was so hard to come by in this day and age, when everyone talked about tolerance and respect for those different to them. Was his existence tolerated when his father knocked him down the stairs. Was he respected when his mother left him at birth, to his abusive father? The answers to both of those questions were obvious to him, painfully so.

"We stand together, or we will hang separately."

That creed belonged to Creed, it separated the Friends of Humanity from the rest of the world, and made them understand that they were special. Humans would not be the minority, they would remain the majority. They were the ones who ran the planet and a group of super powered freaks would not dictate how they lived their lives. No way, no how, not in a million years.

The Friends of Humanity were willing to die for their cause but were the mutants? Would the freaks show the same loyalty to each other when push came to show?"

"We will show them what makes us humans, makes us strong," Creed stated to the assembled and growing group, men and women dedicated to his cause, his words. "We will show them that mutants will not get the better of us. We will show them that the true power comes from within and not from with super powers."

The group cheered.

"LYNCH THEM!"

"BURN THEM!"

"RUN THEM OUT OF TOWN!"

"DESTROY THE MUTIES!"

Creed knew that they would be exposed before a matter of time and when the mutants were out in public, unable to hide behind their anonymous mask, then it would separate them both and show that humans were still strong. It was only a matter of time.

"Who is with me?"

Loud cheers echoed from every single direction and the Friends of Humanity waved their hands, they stood together, all dressed in white robes and holding up crosses. The power of human kind would not be denied, they would stomp the mutants, they would make sure none of their kind would thrive. Some only fought to protect the interest of their friends and family while others fought out of distaste and distrust for all that were different was.

"Recruit your friends, your family, your neighbors to our cause, if they're not with us, then they're against us, and if they're not with us, they'll hang with the muties!" Creed yelled and there were more cheers from this statement.

The group would grow and Creed's influence would, he would wipe them all out, and gain revenge on behalf of those who suffered at the hands of injustice like him. The Friends of Humanity were not monsters like many unenlightened people thought that were. Rather, they would deliver the human race from the injustice and the destructive embrace of the mutants.

"Now's the time, stand up and face them, it's time to fight!"

Harry moved forward to consider what he could do, so far he found out a way to replicate Kurt's powers, Kitty's, Rachel's telekinesis, Bobby's ice powers, Amara's magma powers, Wanda's hex powers, and Scott's optic blasts all with magical abilities. He moved through his mind to see what all he could do and found out something else. Thanks to his abilities, the young mage also could crawl up the walls ala Spider-Man. Granted, that was not the most special thing in the world, given his flight abilities but still anything was useful.

No doubt in the coming months, Harry could figure out what else he could do. Multiple's powers were a must for certain aspects of multitasking involving his girls, with perhaps reigning in the clones a bit. Given the fact that his group grew with each passing day, that would be a must to learn or so Harry assumed. That was something he could be entirely mistaken about.

Regardless, his ears perked out when he moved past the museum and stepped forward. Someone broke in but that someone left the door open, to allow anyone to come in. Perhaps that was the intention of this would be thief, so Harry wondered what this was all about. He decided to move in to see what was going on, slipping inside and wondering what kind of trouble he would mean.

'Likely some balding middle aged man with a beer gut and two teeth missing,' Harry mused to himself when he popped up and dropped to the ground.

He stopped and stared, to say the least, the thief was the last thing in the world he suspected.

The thief's platinum blonde hair shined in the moonline, with a mask over her face, showing her shining blue eyes underneath. She wore cat ears on the top of her costume, with a black bodysuit that wrapped tightly around her. It showcased every single curve, every single bit of her, the swell of her very large breasts that threatened to burst out of her top. It moved around to curve around her shapely ass that jutted out. Harry could tell her legs went for miles and had a nice shape to them as well.

To put matters bluntly, this young woman was a reflection of woman hood.

The thief turned around, prying open the case, careful not to trigger the security along but stopped at the clearing of the throat.

"What do we have here?"

The twenty year old thief spun around to face Harry, staring him down.

"Well, someone new, I thought for a moment you'd be the Spider," the thief responded when she stepped forward and got a good look at him.

'Well, I've just hit the jackpot,' she thought when she looked at his tall form, the dark black hair that had a messy quality to it that was downright sexy. The burning green eyes that stared her down, with the black shirt that stretched over his muscular body, which she saw a taunt, a tease of but there was no more than that. The tight leather pants wrapped oh so snugly around him.

"And who might you be?" Harry asked when he saw the hot and likely older thief check him out.

Only a complete idiot would not take advantage of something like this.

"The name's Black Cat, you must be new to town," Black Cat stated when Harry rushed over to her but she showed a great deal of gymnastic ability and flexibility to move out of the way. "I must say, decent moves, but I'm the one who plays the game here."

Black Cat bent back, her legs spread at the perch point above Harry. She grappled up there and thought she was safe. The dark haired wizard moved up after her, flying.

"Oh, hiding a few tricks, are we?" The Black Cat purred when Harry dropped down to face her. "Well, I must say, you're nothing like I would think you are."

Black Cat found herself trapped in Harry's arms when he physically restrained her. He caught a glimpse of her very ample cleavage, with the breasts that threatened to spill out of the cat suit that only zipped up partially. The heat caused the suit to wrap firmly around the thief's breasts, her nipples poking out, beckoning him forth.

"Trust me, I'm much more than you think I am," Harry stated and Black Cat pulled open the front of his uniform, before the thief ran her hands, slowly, sensually over Harry's body.

"I can see that," Black Cat purred when she nearly had Harry's top off. "I'll make you deal, let me go and I'll make it worth your while."

Harry was dubious, but curious at the same time. When a young woman makes a statement like this, Harry, as a young man could not help but be curious.

"I don't offer this deal to anyone, but you know, it's been a while since I've gotten some real action," Black Cat stated when she leaned back into the wall. "With the Spider, it's go around, make some quips, and then he splatters his webbing into my hair…..no that's not a euphemism for anything."

A smile twisted onto Harry's face when he had the Cat cornered.

She shivered at the smile in spite herself.

"So I'm sure you kiss all the girls and make them cry, but I wonder what you'd do with a woman," Black Cat stated when she rubbed her hands on Harry's shoulders but he grabbed her hands.

"Depends on if you're being genuine about this," Harry answered when she looked at the Black Cat.

Black Cat's face contorted into a smile when she stared back at Harry, before seduction dripped off her voice. "Please, everything about me is real."

Harry raised his eyebrows when he looked at Black Cat before he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back in the wall. They were in a public place, inside a museum that anyone could run in at any time and see what they were doing. Somehow, that made everything more exciting. A pair of strong male hands clutched the face of her, running his fingers down her cheeks, and causing sexual fire to burn through her.

Kitty knew and the other girls knew that there would be situations, opportunities if one could say, where Harry needed to take advantage of them. It was the way his powers worked and Kitty in particular understood, she said she did as long as she came first in Harry's life. That was a fair deal as far as he was concerned.

"Let's find out, "Harry answered before he shoved his tongue into the Black Cat's mouth, violating her mouth with his organ, and the two ran their hands over each other's bodies.

Felicia peered over her shoulder, she was sure the time was a little bit after midnight when she came there but now it was closer to three in the morning, perhaps a little bit later. She looked over her shoulder and almost expected security guards to come after her but found nothing.

Sure enough, she turned with a smile and saw them stumbling and bumbling in the hallway outside, singing "It's a Small World After All" or humming it rather. It appeared that her mysterious lover decided to bamboozle them with some kind of trick.

"Take these," Harry stated when he handed the jewels to her, and she turned around.

"You're handing me counterfeit jewels?" Felicia asked when she looked at them.

"No, the counterfeits are in the case, I conjured real ones," Harry answered when he looked at her and she raised an eyebrow. "It appears that the museum used fake jewels and fake jewels only."

"So the people who I sent to fence for them, would have put a bullet in my head when they found out that I brought them back fakes," Felicia responded before Harry looked at the thief with a smile. "You saved me a lot of trouble."

"Fifty percent, meet me at this address in a week, and remember, I'll know where you to find you," Harry responded.

The young thief offered him a smile and a shrug.

"Do I get a perk?"

"Depends on how well you do," Harry responded when he looked at her, a grin crossing his face.

She understood his implied meaning, got dressed, and slinked into the night. To be honest, she had no intention of cutting him short on the money he wanted, especially when the alternative was getting sent to prison for stealing jewels. Felicia also wanted a return performance of tonight, and knew that next time, things might get more intense.