25Zero Hour: A Harry Potter/X-Men Crossover Fanfiction
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters: all rights belong to JK Rowling. I do not own X-Men or any of their associated characters: all rights belong to Marvel. I do not own any other crossover references used in the story: all rights belong to their original creators. I do own any OC spells explained at the end of a chapter.
Plot: Harry Potter, forgotten brother to the Girl-Who-Lived, was turned into a weapon nonetheless. One that was supposed to rid the world of freaks and abominations. Such a shame that humans never learn: never tickle a sleeping dragon, and never think you can control everything.
Author's Note: So, here we have a funny adventure that, as weird as this is going to sound, was actually inspired by a dream I had.
Yes, seriously!
I dreamt up this story and, unlike most dreams, I can remember this one so vividly that, for the first time in a long time, I have a very strong feeling that I will be able to see it through to its completion.
Fingers crossed, eh?
Recommended Reads: The Power Unknown by imjake93, Child of Azkaban by Fire and Starlight, Harry Potter and the Ashes of Chaos and Harry Potter and the Perversions of Purity by ACI100, Widow's Vengeance, Bonded, Dark Lord Potter and Apex by JustBored21, Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin by The Sinister Man, When Daylight Dies by BloodyRose90, Harry Potter and the Hidden Truth by KingFatMan25, The Necromancer and The Darkening Of Your Soul by MaeglinYedi and Green Eyes Red Hood by Writing Shop 12
Key Pairing: Evil Harry/Illyana/Lorna
Other Pairings: To be determined
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
'Mental Speech'
/Parseltongue/
Chapter 1: You Should Not Have Said That
"Sir! Main Entrance just reported in! Zero has returned!"
"Excellent," whispered the man known to his subordinates as The Commander, his greedy, piggy eyes fixed on the main security screens as he watched and waited for the inevitable return of his favourite asset. As he waited, the Commander wrapped several large fingers around a large, silver cross that hung from his neck, while he closed his eyes as he began reciting the Lord's Prayer, much to the unease and discomfort of the aide in the room with him.
As the religiously-obsessed master of the base finished his prayer, the doors to the security room opened, admitting a figure who walked into the room with a military-like precision, his footfalls emphasised by the black, steel-toed boots he wore on his feet. His face, meanwhile, was hidden beneath a black hood with a blood-red cross that was stamped onto the cowl at the front of the hood.
He also wore two silver bracelets, both of which also had crosses stamped onto them, while as the man walked in, the Commander smiled with relief and pride as he noticed the blood dripping from his asset's fingers, which meant the goal had been a successful one.
He could crow about it later, as he damned another soul to Hell where their sort belonged.
For now, though, he had to maintain his appearance around the asset.
"Zero! Welcome back! You were successful, I see?"
"Yes sir," replied an ice-cold voice from under the hood, their words so apathetic, they might have been described as robotic in nature.
"And all the offending terrorists are dead?"
A pause.
The Commander frowned, eyeing a switch on the main console in front of him as he drew in a slow, calm breath, before he asked, "Zero?"
"Sir?" asked the man in the hood, though there seemed to be a note of restraint in his voice as he addressed the Commander, who flicked his eyes to his asset as he spoke again.
"Did you ensure all the terrorists who threatened the people were dead?"
Again, a moment's silence.
Then, just as the Commander felt a grain of self-satisfaction rising inside of him, at the thought of once again having to discipline the asset, he heard the asset speak with that same cold, robotic voice.
"Yes sir."
"All of them?"
"All of them," repeated Zero, earning a proud smile from The Commander.
"Good boy; you've done well to teach all those freaks their rightful place. Now, off you go to your cage: we'll be sure to call you out when we need you to protect the sanctity of our nation once again."
"Yes sir," said Zero, his footsteps echoing through the room as he walked past the Commander.
As for the Commander, he scowled when Zero could no longer see him before, walking forwards, he pressed a hand to one of his aide's shoulders as he growled, "Prep the Cage for the Cleansing Protocols: I want full programming put in place."
"Y-y-yes, Commander," replied the aide nervously, before he began inputting the necessary programme, even as he asked, "Full programming, sir?"
"Zero must be made to believe he is continuing to serve the Greater Good," explained the Commander, unaware of the aide's eyes widening in horror as he explained, "He is clearly fighting against what he knows is his Sacred Duty, taking out all other freaks, abominations and demons. He needs to be reminded, so we can be sure that the little freak stays under our control, as God's willing avenger."
"Yes sir, but…" began the aide, before The Commander glared daggers at him.
"Are you refusing to obey God's will, soldier?"
"I…I just…"
The Commander's grip tightened on the aide's shoulder as he hissed, "Let me remind you of your obligations, young man: these monsters are poisoning the Almighty's world, making monsters and demons as agents of Satan. Therefore, as God's chosen, it falls to me, as his Angel of Vengeance, to deliver these freaks and mongrel demons back to the Master they so dutifully serve!"
"I…I get that," argued the aide, before he gulped hard as he added, "But…but sir…"
"The Lord delivered Zero to us as an infant," continued the Commander, unaware of how the aide's face was paling more and more with each self-delusional word he spoke. "He was a cursed soul himself: an abomination, handed to us so that we may purify him in God's image. And by sending him to wipe out these demons, exterminate them and then take their powers in tribute to our Lord, he is doing God's work. That's all he needs to know; he is my Moses, and he will lead these hellspawns back to the Gates where Satan will pull them back and make them suffer for their sins!"
"Sir…"
"And, when all's said and done, God wills me to dispatch Zero, and I shall…delivering the Freak back to Hell where him and his kind belong: after all, what's one more dead demon compared to fulfilling the will of our Lord, Almighty God?"
"SIR!"
"What?" asked the Commander, looking back to the technical aide. "What is so important that you continue interrupting me when I am decreeing the Word of God and reminding you that this is our Holy Crusade? What is so important you interrupt your Commander?"
The aide's words made the Commander's blood turn to ice.
"Zero is looking at you, Sir."
The Commander spun around as the aide delivered the news; sure enough, the figure identified as Zero was indeed looking right at the Commander, his hood now lowered, revealing a head of black-and-white, dual-coloured hair, which stood up on his head like flames. His eyes were emerald-green in colour, and burning with cold fire and dark intentions, while his jawline, which looked strong and sturdy, was fixed in a snarl of hate and darkness as he glared daggers at The Commander.
"Z-Z-Z-Zero?" asked the Commander, eyeing the switch on his command console. "H-H-H-H-Harry…you…I didn't…you…now you surely…"
Suddenly, The Commander's eyes widened in horror, while his body began spasming and jerking as every fibre of his being seemed to freeze up.
At the same time, the aide in the room didn't know whether to activate the switch that the Commander had been looking at, or sound the alarm, so that the security officers on call would rush the room and make sure the Commander was safe.
Or, as he was rapidly-choosing to do, whether to just sit there, not move and not risk being put in the crosshairs of the pissed-off-looking individual standing across the room from him and the Commander, his lips curled into a sneer as he hissed at the man in charge of the whole operation.
"You filthy, disgusting, obsessed thing! Do you honestly believe that you have some holy writ, so that you can just pick-and-choose who lives and who dies, and I won't do anything to stop you? Didn't you even wonder what powers I managed to acquire this time around on my latest Hunt?"
"I…I didn't…you…this…you're…you're just hallucin…ack!"
Suddenly, the Commander's mouth froze open, while Zero – or Harry, as the Commander had also called him – narrowed his eyes, clenching his gloved fists tightly as he hissed, "Haemokinesis: the ability to manipulate the blood of my targets. One of my victims had this power, not that he knew what it was capable of; he just used it for constructs and shields of his own blood, and that of his friends after I slew them. He never realised he was, probably, the most-powerful member of his little camp."
"It…it wasn't…they…they were…"
"CHILDREN!" Thundered Zero, his voice reverberating around the chamber – which the aide watching was certain the Commander was suddenly regretting making soundproof, after he'd done so following a punishment session with Zero – while his green eyes actually turned jet-black in their sockets, as his voice grew cold and monstrously-evil.
"They were children, you sick motherfucker! Not terrorists plotting an attack on the President! Not sleeper cells feeding information to other units across the world! Not even terrorists of the mutant variety, like Lehnsherr and his acolytes: they were just children! Orphaned, abandoned, forsaken souls who'd been brought together by the eldest of their group, so they could look after one another. They never hurt anyone!"
"L…L…Lies…it…I…Go…"
"I do not know this God," drawled Zero, pushing more and more of his strange, terrifying power into the Commander as he hissed mercilessly. "But if I did believe in such a thing, I would imagine anyone who willingly slaughtered kids as I had to, all because you were watching, listening and had your finger on my execution, would be kicked out of those so-called Golden, or Pearly, Gates and sent down to Hell with the Devil himself!"
"You…they…you…you all…God will protect…"
"Let me see him, then!" sneered Zero, lifting one hand, which was still clenched into a fist as he growled, "I'll give him to the count of three…to save you, you sick-and-twisted freak! One…"
The Commander's eyes flickered between Zero and the switch.
"Two…"
"A…Ac…V…I…Ac…"
"Three."
Zero didn't yell it out.
He didn't raise his voice.
In the times to come, the aide wondered if that actually made what happened next even scarier, or if it was just beyond-terrifying already?
Either way, on the count of three, Zero splayed his fingers…
And The Commander turned into a mass, gas-like cloud of exploded blood and gore, which flew all over the room, the security screens and the console, leaving nothing, sans Zero, untouched by the bloody mess that remained.
Well, a bloody mess, and the head of the Commander, which rolled to Zero's feet, where the young man looked down at it with a cold, malefic look in his black-sclera, emerald-green-iris loaded eyes.
Seconds later, the tech on duty flinched as Zero's steel-capped boot crushed the Commander's head under his heel, leaving a mess of gore and grey matter where the Commander's eyes had been looking up at Zero, who sneered darkly as he looked up from his latest victim, to the white-with-terror aide sitting at his station.
"What's your name?"
"A…A…Adam Pierce," stammered the aide, earning a scoff from Zero as he wiped gore on the floor, if only so his boots were clean again.
"You have two choices, Adam Pierce," said Zero, his voice still cold, while his eyes now looked up at Adam with cold indifference and ruthlessly-cruel evil as he explained, "You can push that switch, and execute me for betraying the Commander and my so-called holy mission, before you run for the hills before alerting security, so they can come and watch me die. Or, you can flip the switch, trigger the alarm, let the freaks into this room and then, for your service, I'll do you a favour and kill you first before wiping out the rest of them in a bloody massacre worthy of The Commander's backers' last so-called pet project."
"Or…or there…if…if you let me…then, there…there's a…a third option," suggested Adam, raising his hands, before he gulped hard as he kept his eyes on Zero. "I…I can surrender…unto you, Master Zero…or…or is it Commander Zero, now?"
"Just Zero is fine," said Zero, his voice not even affected the air of humour expected of such a reply, as he asked, "But why should I bother wasting my time on another filthy, religious fanatic of a human who would be willing to send me to hunt and murder children because they're different?"
"Because I…I'm no human, M…M…Zero," replied Adam, before he swallowed hard as he asked, "May…may I have…have your…your permission to show you?"
"Try anything, you'll die…"
Adam nodded.
Then, Zero nodded, folding his arms as he watched Adam lower his right hand, before he set it down onto the console; to Zero's surprise, the move was followed by a large series of bleeps, flashing lights and even flicked switches and pushed buttons.
Seconds later, Zero saw his bracelets snap clean off, before he felt something fly out from the back of his neck, right at the top of his spinal cord, in a move that should have left him paralysed and probably would have done.
Were it not for the fact that, over time, one of the powers the Commander's sick mind had let Zero keep was a healing factor worthy of Weapon X himself – aka the pet project of the backers to the Commander, whom, from research, Zero knew was now called Wolverine and actually worked to protect mutants and humans as a member of the so-called X-Men.
As he felt his wound heal from what had just been done to his body, Zero looked back to Adam, who now had his hands raised in surrender once more, before Zero hummed, "You're like me."
"He…the…the Commander referred to…to me as…Gabriel, as in the messenger of his God," explained Adam, earning another hum from Zero, before the young man went on. "It…it was why he…he only ever had me on guard in this room; my…my technopathic and techokinetic abilities meant I could be everywhere and nowhere, acting as…as your voyeur on mission and…and reporting in, while…while storing all knowledge and triggering all programs with…without much effort."
"So, you'd have backups of all my previous Cleansings, then?"
"Yes, Zero."
"Can you restore them to me?"
"If…if you let me, yes…but…of…of course, you…you could just do to me what…what you did to…to those others; I…I promise you, though; I…I never knew they…they were kids he was sending you after."
"I believe you," replied Zero, drawing in a slow, calm breath before he smiled thinly as he added, "Open the Cage."
"Yes, Master Zero," answered Adam.
Seconds later, a cache in the wall opened, revealing something that looked like a cross between an Iron Maiden torture chamber, and a tank that was meant to hold onto an experiment for a mad scientist, like the Commander's backers.
As he faced the chamber, Zero hummed amusingly as he asked, "How long do you need?"
"Seven minutes," replied Adam, earning a nod from Zero.
"In six minutes, fifty seconds, trigger the alarm…"
Adam smiled cruelly before, as he sat down at his station once more, he nodded in response to the other young man's order.
"Yes, Master Zero."
Zero, meanwhile, stepped into The Cage for the last time.
But what would emerge…well, it was safe to say that it was definitely worthy of one thing the Commander's sick-and-twisted mind believed in.
For what might as well have emerged was the Harbinger of the End Times, the bringer of the Apocalypse and the one who'd usher in Armageddon.
Aka the Antichrist, if not the full might of the Four Horsemen combined into one…
Zero
"LILY! JAMES!"
Across the pond, just as Zero was being reborn into what he was meant to be, Lily Alexandrea Potter nee Evans, as well as James Charles Potter, shot out of bed with a thump as the cries of one of their oldest friends echoed through the mansion, emanating from a Floo Gate that was already ignited and burning brightly.
Seconds later, Lily and James ran to said Floo, where they saw a wizened head poking through, the sight of which made James' eyes widen as he asked, "Albus? What…what do you think you're doing Flooing us at 3am in the morning? Don't you know Lily needs her beauty rest?"
"Apologies, old friend," said Albus Dumbledore, his voice edged by a note of urgency as he explained, "But, in my defence, you did always insist that I deliver news immediately, should any arise!"
Next to James, Lily's eyes widened in disbelief, as well as fear and hope, before tears of all previously-named emotion sprang forth, unbidden, as she clasped her heavily-pregnant stomach, before she asked, "H-H-Harry?"
"Yes, my dear," said Albus, a note of relief and warmth in his voice as he addressed his old friends, favourite students and colleagues-both.
"It's taken nearly ten years, but…at long last…I do believe I have finally found him!"
Wow, talk about a dark rising: Harry, or Zero, as he seems to be known, has become almost Magneto-esque and then some, but what will he be capable of with help from his first, new acolyte?
Also, what does Albus mean I've found him?
How was Harry ever lost and, if nearly ten years have passed, what's the situation at home with the Potters, at Hogwarts with the old fool and in the Magical World in general?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: Zero is reborn, the would-be tormentors receive their just deserts and Zero's own fallen angel proves his loyalty even more when he tells Zero a devastating, but also life-changing secret: about himself, and the one he used to have to obey;
Please Read and Review
AN: Portrayals
The Commander: Clancy Brown
Adam Pierce/Gabriel: Elyes Gabel
Lily Potter: Lena Headey
James Potter: James Masters
Albus Dumbledore: Jude Law