Chapter 29 Heavy is the Head part 3

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Of course, while all of this was going on in space, there were other issues on the ground, the mutant/human question continuing apace. Mutant supremacy reared its head again in Taiwan, a gang of mutants having broken into and assaulted a very rich and influential politician there. That gave mutants some very bad media but generally speaking public opinion was moving towards coexistence and understanding with Emma, Harry and their business empires behind it.

India was coming around faster than most had expected, though the caste system was still in place there, so caste mattered more than their mutation in judging how specific mutants were treated by the general populace. Switzerland had put mutant rights into law with as little fanfare as possible, as did Canada. Israel and Japan did as well, the emperor himself getting behind the social side of things and pushing, with Sunfire becoming a national hero and formally recognized as 'the Sword of the Emperor'.

At the other side of things, Germany was still a hotbed of racism of nearly every stripe, skinheads there lashing out at mutants just as much as Jews. Africa was very much a mixed bag of course, and many South American countries were leaning toward mutant suppression rather than equality, pushed that way by several drug gangs welcoming mutants into their ranks as enforcers. Greece had other issues, as did China. And the Pope had yet to make a statement one way or another.

And America was still, as Harry cheerfully put it 'being it's normal schizophrenic self'. Several key states, Pennsylvania, Utah, California, and others were close to ratifying laws of their own to give mutants rights, whereas others were close to going the opposite way. And the Friends of Humanity had become closely allied with several religious groups and been given the protection of said in many states, even the state which were looking favorably towards mutants. That Magical Minds had begun to offer to sell directly to the states that made the concessions necessary was a bone of contention of course.

To say the X-men were kept busy was an understatement. They launched several missions to protect various mutants from prosecution from up in Canada down into Venezuela. Many of those mutants were sent to Camelot, joining the group there, even a few families, while a few joined the older teens at Xavier's, though only the teens brought in as part of the second group of X-men had powers useful in combat.

Other things occurred too which had nothing to do with the mutant equality question. For instance, Reed and his family came to Camelot for the first time. Susan and Reed were both ecstatic about the nature of the school Harry had put together. Not only would their child be able to get training in his power, but frankly Haven was set up in such a way that it had far better standards and technology than nearly any school elsewhere. Reed himself would've had to get involved in the construction of the school to match.

"This is utterly fantastic Harry." Reed said, causing Harry burst out in laughter. Reed stopped then rolled his eyes "Oh of course, a pun. I've never heard that one before. Anyway, you might wish to look into letting unpowered humans study here as well eventually. After all, if what you want is coexistence then separating yourself like this might be a bad idea in the long term."

"I've thought about it," Harry said with a nod. "But I'm not going to open up the dormitory to non-mutants, not for a while yet if ever. Eventually maybe if I start bringing in students who come from unpowered families who prove to be abusive I might."

"The reason I bring it to mind," Reed said is the latest news coming from Britain. "Have you seen it?"

"Reed, I just spent the last 52 hours up in space working on my space industry without sleeping. No I haven't seen the local news." Harry replied dryly. "Why?"

"King William's young granddaughter was almost kidnapped yesterday. Her security team stopped it, but it was a very blatant move in order to try to put pressure on him for some reason. The terrorists haven't been questioned thoroughly about their reasons yet but I know your friendship with William so I figured I'd mention it."

Harry blinked, then blinked again and shook his head. "Yeah I haven't heard that. I think my spymaster is concentrating a little too much on the mutant equality issue. Or I need someone to give me a daily briefing."

"You had a daily briefing this morning," Jean said, yawning. "I think anyway. Dennis talked to us for a few minutes when we came down from Babylon, I think, or was that yesterday?"

"And that I think is a sign that both of you need more sleep when you're getting," Ororo said shaking her head and staring at them both. "Put everything on hold for the evening, and go to bed. Myself or one of the house elves will be up with food shortly."

"It's only five o'clock!" Harry protested then quailed under Ororo's glare. "Right, bed."

Jean nodded, leaning over to kiss her sister-wife on the cheek, before linking arms with Harry leaning on him as they both moved towards the headmaster's tower. Susan exchanged glances with Ororo, and both women broke out into laughter while Reed looked a little befuddled. "It was only two days, what's all the fuss about?"

Needless to say when Harry woke up next, he and Melody went down to talk to King William. The idea of sending his granddaughter to a school with as Harry put it "with enough protections to shrug off the entire American military including its nukes," was quite tantalizing to the king, and to say the little girl was ecstatic was a understatement. Harry spent a few hours constructing a runic doorway on the property, which was much more difficult than it should have been given the number of wards already present on it, but eventually he was able to tie it into the various sports games, and then tie the little girl into it.

He also tied Duncan and William into it, but did not remove the portion of the array on the other side that would tell him if either arrived. He liked them, but that didn't mean he wanted either to give either total access to Camelot.

Reed also finally was able to clear the AI core from Tony for installation the day after that meeting with William. Harry, Melody, Jean, Ororo, Emma and Reed were all within Babylon's control center as Harry and Reed installed the core. Melody was there to check on the song birds, but for some reason also wanted to see what this AI was like.

The installation was finished swiftly and a second later Harry ran through the startup sequence. "AI?"

"I am awake," the AI said through the speakers. "Yet, should I use that term? For that would imply I was asleep. Should I use the term, I am born? Yet that in turn implies that I live. Am I alive? Do I then, have a soul?"

"Of course you are silly!" Melody said, scoffing aloud. "Anyone that can think is alive. And I bet you could sing if you tried?"

"Sing? Music, sounds and words arrayed in a fashion designed to be pleasing to the auditory system. Interesting…" the AI mused, his voice becoming less monotone as he spoke, becoming a he rather than a robotic it.

"Hehehe, that's an odd way of putting it but I think you get the idea." Melody laughed. "I should introduce you to Disney, they have the best songs."

"In answer to your first question AI," Harry said with a smile as he wrapped one arm around his daughter pulling the girl into a hug. "You sound alive to me, but what that means in your case that's a question only you can answer. Do you have a soul? Again that's only something you can answer. However, I promise that I will treat you as if you do, and if you want to search for it, we will do so together."

The AI was silent, then said, "Thank you. I am newly born so I do not have the words for my feelings at present, but this welcome is most gratifying, and empowering. "But what is my function?"

"Your function is to be the AI of this installation, to manage and maintain any scanning equipment we, that is humanity and in person myself install here or reroute through this installation designated Babylon." Harry replied crisply. "You are to contact us if you see any hyperspace signals coming in, anything that could be a ship coming through normal space. Under no circumstances are you to link with any other systems on Earth other than my own except at my express permission. Under no circumstances are you to take command of any combat installation. You are our eyes, but we will be our own shield and sword."

"Agreed," the AI said, then asked, "But what is my designation?"

"If you are alive then I think you should name yourself, shouldn't you? You are our partner, not our slave or our possession despite the limitations we put on you."

"Then I am Pinoptes." the AI said his voice deepening, yet at the same time becoming friendlier, like that of an avuncular elder. "And I think it is past time that you humans get some eyes and ears."

Later that evening Jean came in to Harry's laboratory, cocking an eyebrow at the chaos all around. Illyana was in one corner with several of the other kids including Melody, while Harry and Piotr was stuck in the other corner. Both sides were behind what looked like either sand or snow castles despite the air not being enough cold in here for snow, as vari-colored balls of snow, water and light exploded up around them. Illyana was the offense for her group, while the other kids were using their powers to intercept the attacks coming their way from Harry and Piotr.

All of them stopped including Harry to stare at her sheepishly, but Jean simply laughed. "It's dinner time kids, so I suggest you all rush up to the tower and get changed before joining us in the Great Hall." She suggested. The kids being no fools left quickly, though many took a moment to hug Piotr and Harry before being hustled out the door by the large Russian.

Once they were alone Jean shook her head and Harry. "You're just a big kid at heart, aren't you love?"

"Sometimes," Harry said with a shrug, waving his hands at his fort, banishing it and it's counterpart. Some of the colors splattered around the room remained, and Jean supposed that those were from Illyana. Noticing her staring Harry laughed. "Illyana's control of her magic is growing all the time, soon I'll be starting to actually teach her some real spells now that she can connect with her magical core enough to not need a focus."

"That's nice, but you left a message on my door that you wanted to talk to me alone," Jean said sliding into a chair next to Harry as he sat back down, closing out a program on the computer which had to have been magically protected somehow from the chaos she had walked into, before shutting it down.

"Jean," Harry said hesitantly, turning away from the computer, his eyes flickering down to her stomach which was still flat and toned but which would soon show start to show her pregnancy. "We're coming up on the cutout point we agreed on for you taking part in combat missions. I wanted to try to convince you to stay out of this upcoming fight with Magneto."

"No," Jean replied crisply. "Next question."

"Jean." Harry said firmly.

"No Harry," Jean replied just as firmly, reaching out to grab one of his hands and staring earnestly into his eyes, Jade on emerald. "There are too many unknowns even with the information we've already gotten from Sean Dennis and Emma's work with what we were able to glean from Wendy's mind. Too many Acolytes and Brotherhood members, too many unknowns. You can't go into this fight without one of your biggest hitters! You cannot go into a fight like that after hamstringing yourself."

"I understand that, and it will be a risk. But think about it Jean! If you get injured heaven forbid, the kids might…"

"I know, and my suits already been reinforced with all of the Orihalcum scales it can be, and I know you'll hit me with as many of those defensive spells as you can above and beyond the runic arrays in it. But I am not some kind of wallflower, I am not going to sit this one out. Don't try to force this issue Harry." she said almost pleadingly. "I love you, I love you and I respect and understand your fears, I feel them too. But I am not going to let you go into this fight without me."

Harry still tried to convince her for several moments, but Jean was adamant. Neither of them tried to shout or browbeat the other, it was a heated argument, but it was based around their love for one another and their fellows, not the kind of argument histrionics or volume could help. Finally Harry threw up his hands. "Fine! If it happens within the next week and a half, I'll agree to let you go. But if we are forced to wait longer than that we'll be having this discussion again, and I will bring in Ororo and even Emma on my side of things. At that point I bet even Ororo would agree with me."

Jean winced knowing that was indeed the case. "Alright."Then she smiled as Harry pulled her in for a hug, to which she melted in against him. Both of them, while not pleased one way or another with the outcome were more than happy they could argue their differences without it fracturing their relationship.

OOOOOOO

The very next day Harry had finally gotten some free time to speak to Hela with Emma. He had finally gotten fed up with her not answering his mirror calls, and so was falling back on the type of ritual he had used previously. Jean was not going to come with them this time wanting to let Emma with Hela without her, since she was the only one of the group that had yet to meet her, yet also shared their concerns over someone who, at the least might be a friend in something of the same situation she had been.

The two of them were walking through the Hogwarts grounds and out into the forest beyond the wards when a house-elf suddenly appeared behind Harry. "Master Harry! The tracking arrays be stopped, and Cory be here!"

Harry groaned aloud then looked over Emma. "Rain check?" Emma shrugged philosophically, and the two turned back, breaking out into a run towards the castle.

OOOOOOO

The entrance to the Savage Land, or at least the one that Lensherr and his followers used to bring in supplies, was through a vast underwater tunnel which exited out into a small lake at one side of the massive underground cavern which held the prehistoric jungle that was the Savage Land. Originally it had been much smaller, but Magneto had widened it upon first entering the Savage Land from another, far smaller entrance, a cave which routinely froze and unfroze thanks to changes in geothermal activity.

Knowing that entrance was too small to be of real use Magneto had searched for why the lake had salt water, finding a small and very long tunnel leading out to the ocean. He had then enlarged that entrance, and then installed a halfway point within it, an armored door in the tunnel along with a small, observation point. Mastermind and his two aides, Worm and Senyaka, waited there with a stolen nuclear submarine.

Worm was a mutate, one of the few from the first batch who had lost none of his intelligence or personality under the Mutate process. His name came from the Worm-like lower body the process had given him, but his powers were dangerous despite the possibly derogatory name. His hands had changed too, enlarging beyond human norm.

One of the original Acolytes, Senyaka was a tall man who wore the traditional Acolyte colors of blue and red, with a red M on his chest and armor plates on his shoulders. He had come from a harsh childhood and was saved by Magneto, after which he had become a devout believer in mutant supremacy and Magneto himself.

The three of them would come out with the heavily modified nuclear submarine to meet the supply ship. There Mastermind went through the minds of the troops sent out to guard the supplies. After which he canceled out the control over their ship's crew, allowing them to go on their way none the wiser for having served the mutant cause.

If the troops sent out with the supply ship showed any sign of having done anything or having been influenced mentally the submarine would sink the supply ship rather than run the risk of having the Savage Land found. The Savage Land was Magneto's, a haven he hoped to use to gather the mutants of the world and prepare them for the inevitable war with humanity.

While the group sent out this time had passed his telepathic tests, Mastermind was still suspicious about them. There was no hint something had gone wrong or anything of that nature. But there was still something about their minds that had made Mastermind's paranoia, honed through 20 years of being first a criminal and then a mutant rights activist under Magneto to a finely honed instrument, rear its head.

He couldn't come up with a reason to sink their ship and the supplies within but on the slow voyage through the tunnel he was always popping up around corners. His telepathic powers flashed out rummaging through their minds, searching for even a hint of anything he missed. His two helpers also searched for physical evidence, not that they had any better luck than him.

Wendy hated it, and by the time they finally broke out of the lake's water, moving through the waves to the large peer waiting for them, she was about ready to burst a blood vessel. She hated knowing Mastermind was rummaging through her brain and not being able to feel it and she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. None of the Brotherhood girls did, but at least some of them, like Frenzy, knew she could snap his spine. Though whether she could do that before Mastermind could rewrite her mind was debatable.

About 20 minutes later the top hatch opened, letting in fresh air for the first time in two days. Everyone breathed a sigh of joy at that, but that was nothing beside the relief Wendy had as she finally disembarked, moving rapidly away from her so-called teammates. Not exactly the worst the Brotherhood or Acolytes had to offer but even so Wendy sighed in relief at getting away from them.

"What was that sigh for?" said Mastermind looking over at her from where he was directing dozens of servo-droids to unload the submarine. In appearance he was a middle-aged man with dark brown hair swept back and a smart looking goatee and mustache which he thought made him look debonair. He didn't.

"I'm happy to be back!" Wendy said tartly. "Besides which, Frenzy and Crucible do not make for good company."

Frenzy laughed as she passed by, making to punch Wendy in the shoulder forcing Wendy to flinch backwards. Frenzy stopped the motion, smirking at the reaction from the weakling. "And that's why you'll never amount to anything you Brotherhood bitch, you don't have any stomach for the fight!"

"Not the way you mean it." Wendy reposted, her hands sparking. But she knew she couldn't face the other woman and bowed her head submissively as Frenzy glared at her. Frenzy smirked and moved off, but Mastermind did not.

"There is something wrong with all of you, something about this is still bothering me…" Mastermind said striding forward so that he was within a foot of Wendy staring down at her. "Now, tell me the truth, what happened out there?"

"I don't think you need her to do that given the stringent guidelines you always follow on these missions Mastermind." said another female voice. Crucible and the others made way for Amelia Voght her eyes flashing as she stared at Mastermind. "Leave off! If you didn't find anything in their minds, then there's nothing to be found. I warned you the last time you tried to influence one of the Brotherhood girls Mastermind! Please, give me an excuse…" Her fingers began to turn in tangible, becoming gaseous.

That was Amelia's mutant power, the ability to transform herself and anything she could touch into a gaseous substance. Of course if she wanted to she could use that power on someone else then simply not change them back. She had done that a few times during the Savage Land campaign, and Mastermind knew that the woman wanted to do the same thing to him.

Worse, she was one of the oldest Acolytes, having been with Magneto even before Mastermind, and was someone Magneto trusted implicitly. As such, she had a collar around her neck which nullified any telepathic powers. Indeed there were rumors that she had helped Magneto to develop that technology.

For all his arrogance and sense of superiority Mastermind was a coward. He quailed under Amelia's glare, eyes moving from her to Wendy and back again. "Fine," he said, moving backwards quickly, skirting around Amelia. "You're right, I did clear them else they wouldn't be here. I should learn to trust myself more."

Turning from watching him move off, Amelia moved over to Wendy. Her hand becoming normal once more she reached out gently to touch the younger girl's shoulder. "You all right? He didn't do anything on the cruise did he? I really will rearrange his molecules for him if he did."

"I'm fine, he was just really paranoid on the trip in. I guess it's because this is the last shipment for a while but he was really suspicious of all of us, constantly going into our minds." Wendy shivered. "I'd had enough of it…I don't.. I mean…" she shuddered again.

"Let's get you over to my medical center Wendy," Amelia said frowning lightly. "I'd check with Frenzy but I don't think she's his type and if he blanked her mind enough for him to have 'fun' with, she might've well forgotten her own strength and broken him in half. There would be a certain amount of irony to that I must say," she went on rather dryly and Wendy forced a chuckle "but even so, best to be certain."

Luckily for Wendy's peace of mind the medical scan came up negative. After thanking Amelia for her help Wendy left, heading towards the dock's Brotherhood barracks. One of the original stations, it was small but nearby and Wendy didn't feel up to driving herself out to her normally assigned barracks. Her friends were all there, but right now solitude was what she craved the most, and with the only people in the docks being Mastermind, his helpers, Amelia and those of Crucible's team who had stayed to help the unloading, there was room for her to get that solitude.

Actually of the group she'd spent the last few weeks with, only Slither and Basilisk had stayed to help. Crucible and Frenzy were eager to head to the Citadel, a towering obelisk that the Sun People had originally built and Magneto had enlarged which was a more central location it to the rest of the Savage Land and where Magneto himself held court. The others were just as eager to report in to him personally, always vying for his attention and to know Magneto's plans going forward.

Indeed, Stinger's reluctance to do so seemed rather odd to them, but she had always been one of the least interested in currying favor, and whatever fervor for the cause Stinger had disappeared during the Savage Land campaign. Many of the Brotherhood looked at her askance but others didn't. They understood.

Sighing faintly Wendy threw her duffel bag onto her bed then collapsed on it as the door closed behind her on its magnetic rail, closing her eyes wearily. "Damn, it's good to be home. If home is where the heart is, if not the head. I wish I could've gotten ashore and learned whether or not the rumors we've been hearing lately from Milan and the others on the Tech Team were true, but I suppose simply getting back without Mastermind or the others having done anything to me is win anyway."

"You did learn much about the rumors miss." Said a voice, and she looked up abruptly only to stare at a short… creature… with long ears, that looked sort of like Yoda only not quite. Mostly because he was not green, and his face was far thinner and more pointed, his ears seemingly almost prehensile. He was also wearing an incredibly garish uniform, over which he wore a vest in camouflage motif, if sky blue and neon orange was supposed to be camouflage anyway. He also looked somewhat exhausted, nearly drooping in place as he looked up at her.

He held out a small bottle of some kind of… Wendy frowned as the bottle caught her attention for a second beyond even the creature's presence. It looked as if it held some kind of gas or silver liquid of some kind, though her mind was having trouble trying to decide if it was a gas or liquid.

But that wasn't important, what was important was this little creature actually being there and after a split second's shock Wendy reacted to it. "What the heck, who is, who are you and why are you in my room!?" She sprang to her feet her hands writhed in electricity as she began to gather power for one of her stingers.

"I am a friend miss!" the little creatures said, squeaking as he hunched his shoulders but making no move to get away. "My name be Cory, Miss. You met me on the ship."

"I think I'd remember meeting someone as strange looking as you, no offense." Wendy replied, calming down slightly as the creature made no move to attack simply holding out the odd bottle towards her.

"Yes Missy would, if yous not volunteered to have your memories taken." Cory said smiling happily up at her. "You was very brave, but Miss needs her memories back now. Please, take them."

Wendy blinked, then looked at the bottle and back to Cory's face. There was something about the little creature, how extremely earnestly was, not just his mere presence here in her room that was disarming her initial outrage at him. "I… my memories? Are you saying someone removed my memories? Did, did that bastard Mastermind really do something!?"

"Er, no Miss, not him, but please miss, the sooner yous have your memories back, the sooner I's can send a message to my master, the one you called Guardian, he's can be here." The little creature replied earnestly.

One hand moving through her blue hair, Wendy frowned, thinking now. "You said, you said I found out those rumors were true? How do, I mean why am even considering this!" Wendy stood up abruptly shaking her head as the oddness of the moment finally overcame her ability to handle it.

"Because you know you met me Miss, and now's you will remember it!" With that Cory suddenly jumped up towards her, opening the bottle and thrusting it forward towards her Wendy's face.

Instead of a gas or some kind of liquid hitting her face however, the silver strands of whatever was inside the bottle flew out of the bottle almost like string shot out of it before entering Wendy's head through her ears and nose. Even as she fell back, the memories of what had really happened sunk back into Wendy's mind, and she sat down abruptly shaking her head, her eyes closing as her mind worked to reintegrate the previously missing memories. When she opened her eyes Wendy grinned down at Cory. "What a trip! All right Cory, it worked!"

Cory wiped one hand over his forehead in relief then suddenly stiffened as he stared towards the door, his face blanking. "Two people coming Miss!"

With that he disappeared with a pop and Wendy frowned staring at the door. A second later it opened, and Worm entered along with Slither. Worm smirked evilly at Wendy while Slither's tongue flicked out, tasting the air. "Mastermind still thinks you are hiding something Stinger, and I'm beginning to think he's right. We heard voices, yet here you are alone. And the only teleporters are at the Citadel."

Wendy stood up, one of her stings in one fist as she glared at both of them. "I'm not hiding anything!" she lied. "Just because I don't want Mastermind's damn telepathy in my head messing me up doesn't mean I'm hiding anything! You know the rumors about what he's done before."

Surprisingly Slither nodded his head, moving away from Worm for a moment looking around the room. "We did hear voices though, two of them. Were you listening to something?"

"My headphones," Wendy said thinking fast and pulling them out from underneath her duffel. She always had them on her, along with a Walkman. "I'd turned them on high."

"Doesn't matter." Worm said shaking his head. Mucus began to form in his hands and along his bare arms, and he smirked at her once again. "We're to take you to Mastermind now Stinger. He wants to make certain there's nothing in your brain."

"Hell no!" Wendy said, moving back and watching Worm warily while Slither moved to the side, blocking the door but not, for some reason, advancing on her. Maybe he's supposed to be the good cop to Worm's sadistic cop? Fuck it, not gonna let him get that damn body controlling mucus on me. "Not unless Amelia or one of the other lieutenants is there!"

"You think highly of yourself to think you can demand such." Worm said, his voice now much lower, as he moved to grab Wendy's arm but she ducked back, raising her hand. "And you make it sound as if you got a choice anyway! You're just a Brotherhood member, not an Acolyte. Remember your place girl!"

That was as far as the conflict got before Slither's fist, which was slowly turning gray, slammed into the side of Worm's head hurling him into the wall. He looked up woozily from the impact, only to see a foot slamming down into his face.

Slither, or the person who had been Slither turned to Wendy, as his features continued to change. When the process finished, the being standing there was now about a foot taller than Wendy, with a tight blue suit with yellow hands and purple cape. His face was entirely white with no real outstanding feature save for the wide grin that looked, and indeed was, far too wide for that face.

"Morph!" Wendy exclaimed relieved, moving forward to throw her arms around her friend. "Am I ever glad to see you!"

Morph's grin widened even further his face looking almost like the Cheshire Cat's for a moment as he hugged her back. They weren't lovers or anything like that Wendy wasn't really his type, but Morph made a point of sticking up for her and several of the other Brotherhood members who were ostensibly low on the totem pole around here. An Acolyte himself, he was only a few years older than most of the Brotherhood members, but he had never been of the most militant among them, and always made a point of helping anyone he could.

After a second though he pushed Wendy away gently as he looked at her then around her room. "There's no way that was your headphones I was hearing, that was half of a conversation, remember I get a watered down version of the senses of whoever I morph into. What's going on Wendy?"

Wendy bit her lip then shrugged. Cory had no doubt already popped out back to wherever Guardian was, carrying the word and the coordinates to this place so the die was already cast. "Morph, you better sit down for this. You know those rumors about the Custodes Mundi, about how mutant equality was on the rise?"

"About how we might have been making war here for nothing? Yeah I've heard them." Morph said not sitting down but leaning against the wall, before he raised one foot, which swiftly morphed into a hammer as he brought it crashing down on Worm's head. As Wendy glared at him, he shrugged. "Better safe than sorry, do go on."

But before Wendy could, there were suddenly three more people in the room...

OOOOOOO

"All right," Harry said as he looked over the large group before him. They were all here, the Custodes Mundi, Mystique, Nikolai's sister Laynia who had agreed to join for this mission, the X-men and the Fantastic Four too who had agreed to help, though with reservations for Harry's rules of engagement. Kitty, or Shadow Cat, had also decided to join them for this mission.

The X-men included Sam, and three of the newest members of the X-men, Warpath, Thunderbird, and Wanda, or, as she had decided to call herself, the Scarlet Witch. Warpath, John Proudstar, was the younger brother of James Proudstar, who had decided on the Thunderbird moniker. His inclusion was somewhat last minute, having arrived with his older brother several days ago with the rest of the second class at the mansion.

The two of them had been added to the X-men roster immediately after a first 'getting to know you' test, where both had proven to have pretty good combat experience. They'd both passed the team exercises with flying colors, but Thunderbird was a bit more arrogant and confrontational than his younger brother. Despite that, they had both responded well to Cyclops and his lessons, so it was hoped they would continue to do so.

Havok wore the same uniform as his brother, while Polaris wore the same sort of outfit Storm did but with the colors green and white instead black and gold. Wanda had red pants, a tight blouse of black and red that hugged her curves along with long latex gloves of red.

It was a large force, but Harry knew they would still be outnumbered. They would have to strike hard and fast and keep moving, and rely on his spells to make up the numbers at need.

"We don't have any idea how large this place where Magneto and his group have taken over, but judging from the imagery that Emma got from their minds, it's a jungle of some kind, and it might be huge. This could be a full campaign we're looking at, or a series of sharp battles. You all should have been issued potion pouches, if you haven't raise your hands." No one did, though Thunderbird and his brother were still looking a little askance down at their own pouches.

And they also were both sneaking glances toward Danielle in her Ghigau persona. Her uniform and name had started an argument between the four Native Americans, with Wyatt and Danielle smacking the two newcomers down verbally for something Harry hadn't overheard and didn't care about.

"You all have looked over the dossiers Banshee and I prepared. You all know our rules of engagement. We take prisoners among the Brotherhood if we possibly can and if they aren't already wanted for murder or worse crimes. But as for the Acolytes…" he shook his head. "Unless they surrender, don't play around with them. Most of them are murderers multiple times over. We take them down and we take them down hard. Same for Magneto and his lieutenants. We all know what's at stake here, if Magneto is allowed to choose his time and place to reappear on the world scene, he's going to shatter all the good work we've done of late, and the idea of mutant/norm equality will die with it. I refuse to let that happen. If you cannot handle that kind of idea, that kind of battlefield tell your team leaders and you can remain here. There'll be no onus on you, this is war, and it's not for everyone."

They all nodded, even Susan and Reed, and he nodded back firmly. "In that case, Storm will port the infiltration team in first, Storm, Ghigau and myself." Storm and Harry could, thanks to their disparate mental defenses, defend themselves from telepaths without allowing an enemy telepath to realize their minds were even there. And thanks to her own mutant power, Danielle could do the same by hiding her mind behind a projection of an animal's mind.

"We'll clear the immediate area of hostiles if need be, then start porting you all in small groups." He looked over at Diamond who nodded. She would be coming with them in team two. Not to take part in any outright fight, but to match her skills against any telepath on the other side. Hopefully there wouldn't be many of those. Jean was a telepath of course, but the two of them were the only ones they had on hand here.

Charles was not coming with them, he was not a combatant and frankly Harry had talked to him, and Charles would have a major problem with the idea of killing Magneto let alone any of his followers. Cyclops on the other hand along with the other X-Men, while unhappy about the necessity, understood.

Instead Charles would remain here in Camelot along with several of the house-elves, Dr. Druid, Una Destiny and the others. They would be in charge of the medical side of things, with the Kree nurse in overall command, something that had shocked her when informed of it. But with Una, Charles and the others here, the number of potion, they would hopefully be able to deal with any but the most severe injuries brought in by emergency portkeys. Those they would at least be able to put in stasis until Harry or Ororo could deal with them.

With a final nod, Harry turned to Ororo, who nodded, closing her eyes. After a moment's concentration she could picture the image Cory had given her of the area he had been in, teleporting the three out. The three of them appeared in the room as Wendy, right where Cory had been standing.

Harry actually found himself staring into Morph's face, and was about to lash out automatically with a spell when the gray-haired face grinned at him. "You're Guardian huh, well, you don't look like anything like you do in the newscasts I've seen."

With that Morph shifted his face to match Guardian's Milan. "This close you look more dark stormtrooper than superhero." he said, before morphing back.

"That's part of the idea." Guardian said with a chuckle, looking over at Wendy. "I take it you found a partisan?"

"More like he found me Guardian." Wendy said, nearly sighing in relief as she saw all three of them, then blinking in happy surprise as both Guardian and Ororo pulled her into a comforting hug, wordlessly showing their happiness she was alright. They hadn't known her very well, but the risk Wendy had run had impressed both of them.

After a moment she pulled away, gesturing to the white-faced individual, who had been making faces at Ghigau, who was now nearly convulsing in laughter. "This is Morph, he's an Acolyte, but he's one of the nicest among them along with Amelia."

"Amelia was worried about the kid here, so she brought me along when we stopped by. I morphed into one of the locals when he ordered Worm over here to take her captive and came with him." Morph said with a shrug. "Mastermind thought she had a secret, guess he was right. Wow. And I mean that both in terms of him being right and the actual secret."

"Is Mastermind in the area?"

"He's still in the port," Morph said with a nod, then frowned. "Um, he might know something is up already if he was keeping track of Worm's mind, now I'm sorry I knocked the sadist out."

Without another word Storm teleported away. A second later she was back with both Jean and Emma and Emma, dressed in a skintight white suit decked with runic arrays glowing like jewels lashed out immediately in a flash of telepathic power.

Elsewhere in the port Mastermind, who had just been about to reach out for his follower's mind, felt like someone had just slammed a warhammer between his eyes. He collapsed out of the chair he had been sitting in, and moved towards an emergency alarm, only to stop his entire body freezing as his mind began to duel with Diamond on the astral plane.

Diamond's astral form was that of a woman, clad in diamond wearing an ancient Victorian costume. Her attacks were spears, bullets and flashing whips of telepathic power. Her opponent was nowhere near as solid a form. His power was subtle, insidious, black upon black here in the astral plane, with snakes of power reaching towards her trying to bind her as well as defend against her assaults.

But Mastermind, despite his experience was not a very powerful telepath as such things could be measured, and for all his experience he didn't have Diamond's verve, instincts or imagination. Beyond that Diamond was an Omega level telepath, one of the strongest telepaths on Earth. If Mastermind had come upon her unawares it would've been one thing, but she had ambushed him instead, and it took but a bare few moments for his defenses to crumble in the wake of her assaults. Ruthlessly she slammed attacks into his brain, activating the pain centers to such a level that he blacked out, his mouth open in a soundless scream of agony.

As soon as it had begun it was over, and Diamond was back in her own body, falling back onto Wendy's bed. "Mastermind is down for the moment," she said, shaking her head to clear it from the odd feeling of having just flown through a wall to return to her physical form, her voice cold at what she had seen in the other telepaths mind after she had broken his defenses. "I sense only four other people here, counting Worm. One is a woman, and two are by the docks."

"I'll take those two out." Harry said with a nod.

But Morph shook his head quickly. "Not without me you're not. Besides we need to talk. I know more about what's going on in the Savage Land than Wendy does. I'm an Acolyte, and no offense Wendy, but you're just a lowly Sister of the Brotherhood."

Wendy groaned a little. "You know I hate that joke!"

"Yep," Morph said with a grin. "I do. You'll need me."

He went on seriously looking at Guardian. "Not just for my powers, but for what's in my head. Besides, I can talk Amelia down easy if need be. She could be trouble if you approach her wrong, but Amelia's been as unhappy with Magneto's leadership lately as I have been. Heck, I think she's been the one spreading most of the rumors about the world at large that the Tech Team's been gathering lately."

"All right," Guardian said after staring into Morph's eyes for a moment, getting the feel of the man. "I'll agree to that."

Putting his hand on Morph's shoulder he cast a Notice-Me-Not on them both, as well as a Disillusion charm.

With one hand on Morph, Morph was unaffected from the silencing spell, but he stared as their bodies disappeared. "Neat trick."

"One of many in my repertoire," Guardian said dryly. "Now talk."

Morph nodded as he transformed himself into Slither, following Guardian as he opened the door. "Well, the first thing you need to know that you might not've gotten from Wendy, is the Savage Land is massive! We think it's about the size of Australia, maybe a little smaller."

"Damn, we didn't think it was that huge!" Harry muttered then looked up. "There's someone coming."

Morph nodded, taking the lead as they exited the barrack only to stare as Slither looked back at him. "Shit."

The other Slither spoke up quickly stepping back and pointing at his counterpart angrily. "Morph! What the hell, you're not even supposed to be here! Wait until Mastermind…"

That had been as long as it took for Harry to sneak up on the other mutant a stunning spell from his fingertips slammed into the other mutant back of the head from point-blank range, and he collapsed forward.

Morph whistled. "Nice. Let's hide him somewhere or cover him with one of the spells. I'll stay in this form."

Harry nodded, waving his hand and suddenly Slither's body disappeared. He, like any other prisoners they found, would reappear seconds later in the same asteroid they had initially set up for Dr. Banner. He in turn had been moved to another asteroid which had access to computers and other utilities. "You were saying something?"

With Harry on the job, taking out Basilisk went as easily as Slither had been. Neither of them had any kind of natural defense against magic, it was just that simple. Energy manipulators, some shape changers and a few mutants whose ability changed their skin to something else often had some resistance to magical attacks. But while Basilisk might have chosen that name and actually had powers which gave it some meaning, he didn't have a basilisk's magical immunity.

As the two of them moved through the port, destroying the droids Morph filled Harry in on how Magneto had conquered the Savage Land in a series of sharp campaigns against the other power players, turning some into his lieutenants, and crushing others. Zaladane and Sauron were not alone in this, indeed the first batch of mutates had joined him willingly, betraying their people in return for power. Eric had even used diplomacy at times, though he stopped after he had convinced Zaladane to join him. There were rumors that the two of them were lovers, but Morph didn't know if that was true, and neither man really cared.

Harry stopped him at one point, staring at Morph. "I understand Wendy wanting to work with us. She's young and not given to violence, the comparison between Magneto's campaign here and the reality about what me and mine have done has convinced her to help us. Well, that and a large dollop of guilt for her part in the campaign here. And I can understand you deciding to help us somewhat for friendship's sake, but not to this extent. So, why?"

"Hell, I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner." Morph chuckled rather wanly, as he pulled his hand out of one of the droids, having morphed his arm into a steel-like maul which had punched through the droid's carapace.

"I'm normally a very good judge of character, and Wendy trusted you. After what she did to help us find this place that gives her word a lot of weight." Harry replied simply, but his helmeted visage did not turn from staring into Morph's eyes.

"That's good, she's a good kid. As for me… My parents thought I was possessed and that beating me was the best way to get the demon out. When my body morphed into stone tough enough to ignore them, they threw me out, convinced I could no longer be saved. I was… ten I think, something like that, but one of my teachers took me in, he took me in, became more of a father than my own ever was, taught me to laugh at the world you know? But when I was fourteen some of the locals found out about my powers and burned out our house. I survived, he didn't."

Morph shrugged, hiding his pain from that memory with the ease of long practice. "Magneto's people found me and joining them was an easy decision after that. But I never really bought into the whole 'supremacy' angle. I watched what he and the other higher ups did, and I wondered, and just…"

He sighed. "Magneto might have started this fight to defend mutant-kind, but he's gone beyond the pale now. We've nearly wiped out some of the tribes here, enslaved entire species like the Cat People. The ends can't justify the means, not to this extent." Morph grinned suddenly. "Hope you were taking notes Guardian, because that's the last time you'll ever hear me be so serious!"

Harry looked at him thoughtfully then nodded. "Alright, that's fine by me and my friends call me Harry, Morph."

The two of them continued to move through the port, obscuring the few security camera there were, destroying the droids, while Jean, Wendy and Danielle moved directly to the control room, shutting down everything there for now, before heading to the hospital center and meeting Amelia there.

Amelia turned, smiling at Wendy who was first through the doorway, then shot to her feet, her arms suddenly turning gaseous as Phoenix followed the younger girl in.

"Calm down!" Wendy half shouted, holding out her hands. "Amelia, this is Phoenix of the Custodes Mundi. Er, you know those rumors?"

"I know about them…" Amelia said, then slowly, her arms began to reform. "I know they're real too, and that Eric's been mighty pissed about equality gaining ground, throws a lot of his beliefs about how the world works out the door, not that he's willing to change. I suppose I should say you're welcome here. I, I won't fight Eric, but I won't warn him you're here either."

Wendy smirked at Phoenix. "See, I told you! There's more than a few of us who've begun to question Magneto's leadership. Miss Amelia is the most senior of us. She could be a big help."

"With wounds, injuries and, after the battle, maybe other things. But I won't help you either." Amelia cut in firmly. "I owe Eric that much."

"Agreed." Phoenix replied simply. "If you are just willing to remain out of things here in the port and not warn him we're coming, that's enough for us." She then smiled, winking at the older woman. "And afterwards, I think you'll find that those rumors about us only touch the surface of what the Custodes have really been up to. And we're always happy to have more medical personnel. Especially if they're good with kids."

Amelia blinked at that, and Phoenix gestured her to follow them out of the small med bay.

While Ororo had remained behind to teleport the rest of the teams in small groups, Emma had left on her own little mission, moving straight to Mastermind's quarters. She looked down at the man for a few moments then pulled out a knife from her waist, and without preamble quickly cut his throat. She had already shut his mind down nearly to the extent she had Shaw's, but better safe than sorry after all. He was a telepath, he might have been able to come back from that but not from his body's death at the same time.

She ignored the blood gushing down his chest, the gasping gurgling of the empty body as she turned away. While anyone else would have been repulsed, or maybe even queasy after performing such an execution, Emma felt nothing more than she would have after crushing a cockroach under her heel, not after seeing what "Better than you deserved, you rapist bastard."

In the meantime Harry and Morph continued to talk as they moved around the port. He filled in a lot of the blanks in their information, including telling Harry about Exodus, who they had little to no information about from Emma's examination of Wendy and the other's memories.

He had never appeared in Interpol's information net, nor did Sir Douglas turn up any information about him other than a single incident in Germany: a skinhead rally had turned into a mutant hunt but had been slaughtered to a man, their bodies torn apart as if by some tremendous force. A security camera had caught a picture of the assailant's face, but that had been the only thing about Exodus they knew, even his affiliation to Magneto's faction was something they only knew by looking through Wendy and the other's minds.

Morph also informed Harry of Wolverine being there and having escaped from a secure sells somehow, which Magneto was still incensed about. But no one could find the wild man now, nor Shanna. They hadn't struck back at any of the patrols through the savage land, but it was still irritating to Magneto and the other higher ups.

The most important thing that Morph told Harry in the next few moments however was about Magneto himself and what Magneto considered his trump card. Twenty years ago or so Magneto had stolen several nuclear armed submarines from Russia and America, killing the crews by turning the interior of the ships against them and then simply stealing the ships. A few of those crews had been able to get the word out as to what was happening, making his attempt to start another world war falter at the outset, and a few of the subs had been recovered since.

However none of the nuclear missiles those subs had carried had ever been found. Those missiles were currently here in the Savage Land where Magneto and his magnetic powers could get at them. He planned to use them in his war for mutant supremacy. He didn't want to use them otherwise, but Morph wasn't certain if he wouldn't use them as a last act of defiance. He'd brought the entirety of his Acolytes and the Brotherhood here to wage his war against the inhabitants, Magneto had no other fall back base and knew it.

Something else that Morph had said was just as interesting to Harry in the long term though. "So these pillars of alien technology, they keep this place the way it is? Do they do more than just warm this cavern up or what?"

"No idea," Morph said with a shrug. "No one knows much about them, though they also keep that artificial sun thing going, night and day just like it would be on the equator like clockwork. Magneto tried to study them, but even with his power he couldn't get close. They've got some kind of field around them, any attempt to analyze them or touch them activates it, and suddenly Magneto found himself several yards away with second-degree burns covering his hands despite his electromagnetic shield."

Morph clicked his fingers as they turned back from the port's outskirts, heading back inward to the port's main supply depot, where there were several large trucks ready for the supplies which would be taken further into the Savage Land. "Oh, and they also somehow repair the cavern's walls. Magneto tried to make some kind of egress in the roof, and he couldn't make any headway."

"I might have to throw one of my big brains at that, though they've already got so many other things they're working on it'll take weeks or months before they can clear up enough time. And frankly, they're not high on my list right now unless this is some kind of alien experiment center but if that was the case I imagine the aliens would already be here to try and stop Magneto from messing with their backyard." Harry mused.

"The nukes though, those worry the hell out of me." In fact Harry was starting to feel somewhat overwhelmed here.

In front of them the expanded Custodes Mundi gathered under Ororo and Scott's directions. Wendy was there too, along with a tallish brunette woman who must be Amelia. They were all staring out past the port's outer walls, taking in the prehistoric nature of the jungle. a jungle whose sheer wildness and number of fauna was both like yet utterly unlike any jungle the Custodes Mundi had ever seen in real life.

In the distance to the left, they could make out a huge long-necked dinosaur of some kind. Harry had never actually been interested in dinosaurs when he was a kid, having much more important things on his mind. But that wasn't the only one in sight.

"The land that time forgot," Jean murmured as Harry and Morph joined them. "I wonder if Sir Conan Doyle found his way here or someone from here left somehow and met him."

"Doesn't matter right now," Harry smiled grimly getting everyone's attention with ease. "Alright, so the Savage Land is even bigger than we thought it might be. However, we've still got the element of surprise, and the threat is even bigger than I feared as well. So we're going to continue on in the tradition of the Custodes Mundi when faced with surprises."

"Kiss our rears goodbye and carry on anyway?" Piotr asked.

"Trust to luck?" Paige asked.

"Charge through and damn the odds?" Ororo quipped, a smile on her face as she reached over to gently touch Harry's shoulder.

That touch and the jokes, and the obvious high morale among his people calmed Harry down somewhat and he smirked at them all. "That's enough of that you lot. Here's the plan, such as it is. There's only the bare bones of it, but it should still work. First though, communications, can we contact Camelot?"

"Negative at least on the com net. We can't signal anyone outside of the Savage Land. I'd estimate the rock density is far too thick for that." Reed replied. "Your communication mirrors however work very well, even if you don't have one for everyone."

"Phoenix and I could possibly reach out to Charles, but not without warning any remaining telepath on the other side." Diamond said.

"So long as the emergency portkeys work, I think that'll be enough. I'm not happy with it, and I wish we had created com mirrors for everyone but they just weren't high on our list of priorities." Harry shrugged. Seriously have to look into a way to how to create some kind of, of magic clone or something. Despite Kitty, Dr. Druid, and Ororo magic's still a bottleneck. Even with delegating the science and business side of things there were just too many demands on his time, and Harry refused to spend even less time with Melody, Illyana, his friends and lover than he already did.

Putting that out of his mind, he began to turn in a small circle, pointing at each of them in turn. "Vanguard, you lead team snipe. That will be Coyote, Scarlet Witch, Nightcrawler, Carol, Ghigau… and Morph."

Morph grinned at everyone bowing to each of his team floridly. "Charmed I'm sure everyone, hope we all get along."

The others looked at him askance save for Nightcrawler, who grinned at him seeing a kindred spirit in the newcomer.

Harry swatted Morph over the head. "Quiet. He'll try to lead you through the jungle out there on an angle from the main road between here and Magneto's citadel."

All of them nodded, staring out through the small outer wall and gate at the road leading out through the jungle which began a bare two hundred yards away from the port's wall. It led off into the distance near ruler straight, trying to impose a bit of order over the chaos of the jungle.

"You'll be covered with every spell I can use on you to hide your presence. Your job will be to either attack the flanks of any force sent out against the main troop, or attack targets of opportunity, drawing off attention from the main force. Hit and run, don't get bogged down in any one position, understood?"

Nikolai nodded his head seriously while the others replied verbally. Harry nodded back and went on, looking at Ororo. "Storm, you'll lead the flyers, that's Banshee, Darkstar, Torch, Cannonball and Polaris. Not Phoenix, sorry love, but you'll be with me on the ground for now, and neither of us are going to get it stuck in right away, we'll be the reserve force. Morph, tell them what you told me about Sauron, Zaladane and Exodus. We don't have time for you to tell us about all of the others."

Realizing this was no time for jokes Morph refrained from making any with difficulty, instead repeating what he had told Harry earlier. There were some worried mutters when Exodus' abilities were mentioned, and Jean subsided quickly from her anger at Harry trying to protect her, their argument over her participation in this mission still fresh in her mind, to realize that she had been right to come along in the first place. And by the look in his eyes as he looked at her, Jean knew Harry had realized that too. That made gloating rather redundant really.

"The flyer's job will be to forge ahead of the main force, which will be the rest of us. It will be your task to spot and possibly overwhelm any traps or ambushes before we run into them, then, when Magneto sends his main force out, to take control of the skies. Air superiority will help turn the tide on the ground whatever we're facing."

As the flyers nodded grimly, Harry made a point of catching Lorna Dane's eyes. "Storm is in charge in the air, you will follow her orders regardless of if you see Magneto, is that understood?"

Lorna bristled, but Wanda reached over and toucher her half-sister's shoulder. When Lorna looked at her Wanda gave her a thumb's up. "Don't worry sis, Daddy dearest and Pietro will both get theirs, regardless of who gives it to 'em."

"I'm not saying you can't confront him Lorna, but that isn't why we're here. We're here to make certain he can't start the war he seems set on happening between humanity and mutants." Harry said. "You're here because you said you understood that and passed all of Charles' tests, can I trust you to not go off the handle now?"

Looking between her sister, Alex and Harry, Lorna nodded. "Yes sir. I won't promise not to say anything if he and I meet up, but I can promise not to disobey orders to go after him."

"Good." With that, Harry turned to Reed. "Mr. Fantastic, you'll be left behind here with Diamond. I wish I could leave you more people to help secure the port, but I'm afraid I'll need everyone I can at the front or on other tasks. Your job will be to jam Magneto's communications and protect Diamond, whose job will be to offset and shut down any telepathic assault in conjunction with Jean. Wendy and Amelia will stay here and Wendy should be able to help you, along with Susan, I'll take Ben with the main force."

"Actually" Wendy interjected, actually raising her hand as if she was in class. When Harry turned to her she gulped a little, but went on. "I think I can convince a few of the Brotherhood members I'm friends with to if not come over to your side, at least not follow Magneto's orders for the rest of this campaign."

She looked over at Morph who frowned for a moment then grinned, his hand changing into a giant foam thumbs up and she went on more confidently. "We're not the only ones who have started to question Lord Magneto's orders or his way of doing things."

Amelia had been standing to one side, talking quietly with Susan being of an age with the other woman, getting a near-to firsthand account of the progress towards equality Harry and his group had made. Now she spoke up nodding her head. "She's right, there's at least five or six other members of the Brotherhood I know of who no longer believe Eric's methods are the right ones."

"Alright…" Harry mused then nodded. "You know where they would be?"

"Yes, the Brotherhood is spread out through the Savage Land, but most of the times so long as our numbers were kept at a set number, the Acolytes and the higher ups didn't bother us. I know my friends and I had gathered at one of the barracks by the northwest," She gestured in that direction, pointing out away over the large lake towards the far side of it where she knew the jungle gave way to a rocky plain. "If I can get to them before Lord Magneto sends anyone to rally them…"

"It's a chance, and…" Harry trailed off not wanting to tell Wendy or Amelia that removing as many of the Brotherhood members who hadn't bought in to Magneto's policies and willingly joined his terrorist acts would make the battles to come easier. "Yes, I think we need to try it, and you've earned my trust before this Wendy. Wendy, Psylocke, Mystique and… Susan?"

Susan nodded firmly at Harry's question, moving over to place a hand on the teenage girl's shoulder while Mystique merely nodded. She'd only been able to identify a few more Acolyte members than the ones they'd gotten information from Wendy on.

"You three can head out right now see if you can convince your friends to not take part in the fight. That's all I want, I don't want them to turn on their fellows or anything like that, so long as they don't take part in the fight that's fine by me."

Wendy nodded firmly and she, Psylocke and Susan moved towards a small four wheeled buggy, one of a series set beside the two large trucks designed to help single people move around. They roared out of the port before turning off the road heading off on a small path around the open area along the lake's edge.

"Cyclops, Magma, you'll be my lieutenants in the main force. We'll be hidden behind my spells for a time but with a magic user on the other side that might not last. I don't actually want to attack the citadel, so we'll move slow, using these trucks to move for now and searching for a place to set up."

Harry saw the question in many of their eyes but Colossus, Ghigau, Cyclops and Magma all nodded. Cyclops took it upon himself to explain for the others. "You want to pull them out of their main defensive position force them to fight us in the open."

"Exactly. Magneto's not that good a tactician, and he's an egotist, not a real field commander, he'll attack us just like that with his full force once he realizes we're here. When Magneto and Exodus do appear, Phoenix and I will counter them, maybe take them away from the main battle if we can, certainly counteract their attempts to help their fellows. If we have to though, I might not be able to do that and command the battle. That'll become your job then."

"I also note you've sent a magic user with each group," Ororo mused.

Harry nodded watching as Cyclops and Magma exchanged a glance before both nodded firmly. "In that case, hop aboard and let's go." Everyone replied in the affirmative and raced towards the waiting trucks, with Vanguard leading his team out on more buggies for now.

The battle for the Savage Land and, more importantly, to stop Magneto's faction, had begun.

OOOOOOO

Eric frowned as he sat in his throne room. His recent set back in attempting to analyze the pillars had irritated him, forcing him to remove himself from the day to day running of his Acolytes to no good effect. But that wasn't why he was frowning at present. No, he was frowning because Mastermind was late with his report on the latest supply run. It was well into the afternoon now, and he was supposed to call in around lunch time.

Nor had Amelia returned to the citadel just yet. He understood Amelia's reasoning and even applauded her for her defense of the Brotherhood members. Mastermind was a leech, a lothario and an all-around untrustworthy individual to have around young women. But he was useful, and so Magneto would put up with him for now.

He was also normally very punctual hence Eric's frown. I wonder what has happened, he better not have gone behind Amelia's back and began to manipulate Wendy or any other girls. The blue-haired girl might not be the most powerful Brotherhood member, but she is a Brotherhood member, and I warned him the last time what I would do to me if he prayed upon them. There are dozens of young native girls who haven't been put through the improved mutation process for him to prey upon if those urges get to him.

With a wave of his head the master of magnetism activated several small programs connected to the port, video cameras sound enhancers, other things that he routinely used in all of his bases to keep tabs on things at need. After a moment he frowned as nothing came through them. That meant there was something far more serious going on here, and the coincidence of the communications and security being down just now made Eric wary of enemy action.

Another wave of his hand activated an intercom and Moments later his deputies were gathered. With a series of terse phrases Magneto filled them in on what might be going on, giving them their orders.

At Eric's command Exodus had reached out with his telepathic power only to be blunted and pushed back by at least two equally powerful telepaths. While not a very precise individual, who had trouble finding enemy minds and couldn't use his telepathy at the level Mastermind could, Exodus still had power to spare and should have been able to overcome that defense with ease. But he could not, his astral form flung back into his body by a two female images, one of fire and one of seeming diamond.

That did not tell Magneto who was attacking them, but it certainly made the attack a reality rather than a fear, and he began to issue orders crisply. Exodus would remain with Magneto, ready to take the field when their enemies were pinned down.

A group of the fast reaction force of the Pteradon people would be sent out with the Kleinstock brothers to find the attackers by the air. A group under Milan, an Acolyte whose power had little combat application but major information gathering ability, would be sent on an oblique angle to the port to retake it if empty and to check to see what had occurred there.

Other scouting groups would be sent through the jungle just in case, while the main force of mutates, Acolytes and Brotherhood members would gather at the citadel. Whoever this was could not match the numbers or force strength Magneto could bring to bear.

As he was outlining his strategy his lieutenants listened intently, but Sauron's mind was on other things. No, he had no interest in simply following Magneto's plan blindly. From conflict will come opportunity, all I have to do is wait.