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Everyone there grimaced. That genie was most definitely out of the bottle, though thankfully outside of the two examples Harry had put down in Russia, no one else seemed to have come up with working suits just yet, mainly because of the energy requirement. Harry didn't know what part of Stark's research got out that fueled the rapid development of such projects worldwide, but he was not amused by it at all. Still, they could be handled and he was going to be doing something about Stark soon. He wanted to set up a meeting between his alter ego and Ms. Potts to get her opinion on her boss. There was something there, something more than PTSD at work, and he hoped the good woman could be convinced to share it. If Harry could get Tony into his debt, there was no telling what doors that could open.
The talk continued from there, with Emma taking control, going over what she wanted everyone to be aware of before going into their meeting with the King. Eventually, it was time to get ready and the quartet excused themselves. Dennis watched them go, wondering if he should have asked to go with them. After all, he had been a loyal servant of the crown for years before Britain pulled out of Vietnam. Yet no, his loyalties were to this young man. Come what may, Harry was going to shake the world and Dennis wanted to watch as it happened.
About an hour later, Harry came down to the entrance hall to meet his ladies, having been consigned to dress himself, under several very gruesome threats from Emma to 'be presentable', in what had already been come to call 'the couples bathroom', though Harry was relieved that there weren't any other couples using it just yet,. The somewhat less ornate bathroom in the headmaster's suite was turned over to the ladies. He wore a very old fashioned tuxedo, complete with cravat, but he had drawn the line at a hat.
The ladies were simply magnificent when they came down half an hour later. First, they all actually wore makeup, something that only Emma made use of very often and even there, only a bit of lipstick. Ororo wore a formal suit made of silk with a long sheer black skirt with silver accents and a matching blouse with large loose sleeves. The bottom edges of the sleeves and skirt were embellished with bronze colored clouds, much like clouds at sunrise. She also wore bronze and silver earrings shaped into lightning bolts.
By her side, Jean wore a complicated braid going down her back, no earrings, and a green with red blouse and skirt set that covered her from neck to ankle, looking attractive, yet, somehow business like in cut. Emma wore a similar combination in white, naturally, with gold highlights which looked demure and almost virginal, yet again, somehow business like at the same time. Both dresses were markedly less colorful than Ororo's suit, emphasizing that Ororo was the senior of the trio, although why Emma had organized it that way Harry didn't know.
Emma, however, knew which of them had the most regal air and wanted to capitalize on it. Ororo wore power and majesty like a cloak and seemed to almost dominate the room with her sheer presence. Jean and Emma did the same, of course, but to a lesser extent, since Ororo had years of experience on both of them, making her impact all the greater. "Well, what do you think?"
"I think you all look magnificent, although I hope that the court physician is on hand. William's an old man and the sight of you three might be enough to stop his heart," Harry said gallantly, bowing to them all and taking Emma's hand. With his other hand, he quickly weaved a few spells over all four of them, making it so that their identities and his power to keep their identities secret would remain secret.
After telling Dennis and Shiang Chi that they were leaving, Harry and the others set off. Emma looked down at the carpet Harry was standing on as it suddenly lifted off the floor. "And this is?"
"Our mode of transportation for the day. I transferred one of my little projects from when I began teaching Kitty runes onto this carpet. I figured that this way we could arrive without looking windswept." Plus, this way no one has a hint of Emma's powers, one way or another. "Jean and I always look a little disheveled after long distance flights and even Ororo sometimes lets her hair get messed up by the wind."
"That'll do Potter, that'll do," Jean said, then dared Emma's ire by leaning in to kiss him gently on the lips, messing up her lipstick a little. "Let's get going."
Harry chuckled, as Ororo raised a shield of wind around them, keeping out the force of the wind of their passage. A second later, the carpet rose at Harry's command into the air before zooming off like a speeding bullet. Dennis and Fay Brown looked at them as they went, then turned to one another and laughed before going back out to join the rest of the castle's denizens out on the grass.
The trip down to the castle was silent for the most part, with Harry merely sitting there, preparing himself mentally for the battle to come. Jean and Emma made some small talk, but they were worried about what was going to happen soon as well. Only Ororo was confident, knowing that Harry would do as well as he could in forging their alliance with the King and realizing that as all she could ask of him.
About thirty minutes travel, much faster than any normal plane could move, found them over the sprawling city of London. The spires of the churches, the massive towers of the hotels, and other buildings all were laid out below them, wringing a whistle of awe from Emma. The view of the countryside when in flight had held no interest for her, but this, this was something else. "Now I know why you three like flying so much. Damn, this is impressive."
Jean and Ororo chuckled and agreed while Harry guided them down slightly, heading toward a corner of the back gardens of Buckingham Palace, where they landed right outside the magical wards. "Game faces on, ladies."
As soon as Harry canceled the number of spells he had used to cover them, they were challenged by two guards. These were not the red-shirted guards on show outside the castle; these were serious soldiers from the same regiment as the Gurkha company they had befriended during the battle against Selene. "Halt and be recognized, you are on royal property!"
Harry held up his hands in token of peace while the trio of men in front of them took in their clothing. They didn't lower their weapons, of course. These were combat veterans who knew their job very well but there was a slight lessening of tension as they took in the way the interlopers were dressed. "We have an appointment with the King. I believe the name might be under the moniker of Mr. Wizard."
"Wait." The corporal in charge ordered and then quickly brought out a walkie-talkie, calling it in. "Confirmed, Mr. Wizard and friends. Please follow us; the King is indeed expecting you."
The ladies moved forward but Harry stayed right where he was. "If you could, please remind the King about our little chat on the nature of the wards of this place. I really do not want to try their patience. In this particular area they would… huh… they would inverse all the hair on my body while also hitting said hair with an enlarging charm while forcing me to dance a folk dance. . Ye gods, someone had way too much time on their hands and a very odd imagination. Also, ugh."
That seemed to break the ice a bit more. Evidently, the soldiers had heard from their fellows a bit about magic being real or simply believed in it anyway for some other reason because they all chuckled while Emma and Ororo both gagged. Jean, on the other hand, merely looked around, angry she couldn't see the wards Harry was speaking of. Ororo, to her own surprise, could see a faint flicker in the air at the corner of her eyes as she looked around but couldn't understand what it was and put it out of her mind.
The corporal called it in then held up the walkie-talkie on full. The King's voice issued from it declaiming in a loud voice. "I, William the Fifth do give you welcome for this day only, so long as you intend me or any within no harm, to enter and be welcome in our palace."
Harry took a step forward and was grateful when the wards didn't try to do anything to him. Of course, at this point Harry could have shattered them with ease but he didn't know if he could put them back up later and saw no need to cause the massive amount of property damage that would result if he did so.
After that moment of amusement/tension, the group continued, moving through the grounds to the palace with the soldiers moving around them in a defensive formation. The group garnered some attention from the guards stationed around the grounds and from hundreds of tourists walking around taking pictures just outside the grounds but, on the surface, it simply looked like a group of nobles being escorted around so most of those watching didn't take much notice. One or two, stationed here by their parent agencies after the remarkable events weeks ago, did, but couldn't figure out what the odd group could mean.
Soon enough, they reached the palace and were ushered swiftly up the back way to the royal apartments, the area of the castle turned over to business. This included a small but formal sitting hall, built around a single wooden table with the King sitting at the far end. There were several men and one woman around him, two servants stationed by a far door (with one holding something on a silver platter), plus a man and a woman, obviously not part of the group around the King, standing to one side.
Looking at the people there and the general setting, Harry sent a mental nod Emma's way. Part of him had hoped this would be a simple business meeting with just him, William, and a few cronies on either side, though he winced at that using the term for his ladies. He had known that was wishful thinking but he hadn't really thought that Emma's belief that it would be ultra-formal would in fact prove the case.
And it truly was. The King was sitting on his throne, scepter of office in one hand and his actual crown on his head, something, it was publicly known, he cordially despised. He wore an equally old-style suit like Harry's, as did two men by his side, one of whom looked somewhat familiar but Harry couldn't place him. The other two men who weren't wearing courtier's formal dress however, he could.
One of the men was Captain Nabari, standing there resplendent in the Gurkha's dress uniform, with several medals including the George Cross, the Order of Merit, and Distinguished Conduct Medal, which had several bars under it. Next to him was General Mountebanks, who Harry had briefly seen after the battle with Selene. He, too, was dressed to the nines in his dress uniform along with is full array of medals, which included the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, the Distinguished Service Order with dozens of rosettes on it, several campaign specific medals much like the Captain's and, in pride of place, the Victoria Cross.
Harry paused in his perusal of the people in the room when he saw that and exchanged a nod of recognition with the older man before turning his attention to the others. There had been talk back in his old dimension of awarding him with the Victoria Cross after the guerilla war with Voldemort ended but by that point, he was already planning his little trip through the Veil and had seen no point to it.
The woman with them was dressed in an extremely severe business suit, providing a stark contrast to the rather old-fashioned formality of the others around her. Harry wondered briefly if that was a contrived effect but would soon decide that it was simply part and parcel of the woman's personality. The Iron Maiden was a moniker that Margaret Thatcher truly deserved.
Despite the formality of the atmosphere, the King's initial words were rather whimsical. "I understand from the report I received that you arrived on a flying carpet, Mr. Wizard? I don't suppose I could prevail on you to either sell me something like that or never ever be seen using it? My granddaughter is a tremendously large fan of Aladdin."
"I'll see what I can do about that Your Majesty, though selling it might be a bit much. And I have decided on a new codename, I'm Guardian now."
"Rather accurate given your chosen profession and your particular disease." The King nodded, then straightened up slightly and began more formally. "Come before us today is an ally in times of greatest peril to this realm, who without his aid we would not be sitting here today. We have thought long and hard about an appropriate gift for your actions, Mr. Potter."
The name change signified that they were now entering the formal stage of this ceremony and that it was not time to hide behind codenames, if his mode of speech and tones left any doubt. "At first we thought public recognition would be the thing to do but later thought that's you would not like this."
Harry nodded agreement, and the King went on. "Perhaps some medals, Mr. Potter?"
"I've got enough paperweights of my own, Your Majesty. I fight for people and for ideals, not fancy bits of metal." Behind Harry, Emma mentally winced at this undiplomatic statement and was tempted to send out the telepathic equivalent of a slap but she couldn't find his mind to hit.
Yet, the King merely chuckled as did the general nodding his head agreeably. Some medals were worth it, they symbolized something, but eventually the symbols no longer mattered. What kept you going where the memories, the people around you, and the knowledge you were doing what you felt was the right thing.
The King answered quickly, however. "So we had assumed and then we were reminded by our majordomo of another gift we could give you, a magic user. Something that our family has held in trust for several generations now."
He raised one hand and the steward carrying a silver tray in his outstretched hands came forward. On the tray was a parcel or small box covered by a royal blue velvet cloth. He moved forward until he stood in front of Harry and then removed the cloth revealing a large, leather-bound book. The leather was black and the pages of parchment were faded with age. Upon the cover were written three words, all in Welsh. Harry didn't know what two of them were; he couldn't read them, but the third, Crochenydd, that was a name he had seen before.
At the sight of that word, Harry almost gasped aloud, keeping himself still with difficulty. This was proof positive that one family, at least, hadn't disappeared behind the wards that had separated the wizards from the norms in this dimension, a book that looked like a family grimoire left with the royal family.
William had watched him very closely and he smiled to himself though it did not appear on his face. "Will this be sufficient recompense for your aid, Mr. Potter?"
"I would've helped you in any event Your Majesty, but I thank you for this gift," Harry said with aplomb, reaching forward to take the book.
"Very good. I understand we are also here to finalize the agreement between your corporation and my nation."
"We are indeed, Your Majesty, but given what happened after the crisis, I feel that perhaps we should renegotiate? I'm certain that by now there are other nations that would be willing to enter into negotiations with us."
"Not as many as you would think so long as you're going to push your mutant/human equal rights agenda as part of the deal." said the woman standing beside the king crisply. "I'm Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister."
She looked over at two other men who had been standing watching the events silently. "May I present the ambassadors from the Italy and France? When we hinted at the idea that you would probably be pushing your own agenda about mutant/human equality, it seemed to make most parties back away from the idea of hosting your corporation."
Emma frowned mentally, happy that Harry had remembered to open with that move but not surprised it had been countered. That was a very good opening gambit, releasing real information that would make your competitors back out of the bidding for Harry's corporation.
The ambassador from Italy shrugged and when he spoke, he confirmed that thought. "Our Russian, Greek, and German fellows have enough issues at home with other acts of racial hatred. The skinhead movement is on the rise in Germany. There is even a strong party based around neo-Nazism in their government. The Greeks are having a major issue with their economy as well as some homegrown terrorists and their general level of governmental corruption. As for the Russians, they hate mutants almost as much as they hate gays, possibly more, though the difference is slight."
"You should have heard the German embassy's doctor scream about it. He was very vocal about it, threatened to defect the last time I had lunch with my counterpart just to go somewhere where he could get his hands on some of your potions." The French ambassador, a statuesque blond whose looks and accent reminded Harry somewhat of Fleur, spoke up, a small smile on her face.
"The American doctor couldn't get his boss to agree to look into it. They don't like the idea of using your potions since they are so unknown and they don't see any way of taking over their creation. We prefer to be more pragmatic about that and, to mix English metaphors rather badly, our governments see those potions as the tip of an iceberg that they wish to be able to ride."
"Please, be seated." the King said, waving at the table in front of him. "I have no doubt this will be a long discussion."
Harry and his ladies sat at one end, with Jean on one side of the table, Emma on the other, and Ororo and Harry at the end. The King sat at the end opposite Harry along with Margaret in a simple chair next to him, though the chairs obviously did not denote any kind of special rank or status. The two ambassadors sat side-by-side on one side of the table down from Emma.
The male ambassador turned to her and asked politely, "May I ask what you're part in this is, Madame? We were told to expect the former Mr. Wizard and his allies but you are an unknown. I notice, by the way, that when we look away from any of you we can no longer bring your features to mind. That is an interesting defensive ability, one I'm certain many nations would give practically anything for, if it is something that could be taught or bought."
At Harry's nod of encouragement, Emma replied. "We are aware of many things that governments the world over would pay any price to have exclusive access to but we are also equally aware that most of it would be abused and not a one of them could be possibly trusted not to do so. We are here to discuss setting up Mr. Potter's corporation in this realm or one of yours gentlemen, nothing more just yet. That corporation will begin by selling potions and it might move on into other realms depending upon your ability to make it worth our while."
The wizard cut in smoothly here, smiling slightly at how well Emma had redirected the conversation, working with her almost like they were a skilled combat team now. However, despite his own name being known, he wasn't about to share anyone else's so he had to come up with a name for Emma on the spot and, once again, he overcame his horrible naming sense to decide, rather ironically on a gem of a name for one of his jewels. "Diamond has a point. Anything my company comes up with will be fully vetted before we release it. Many things I can do will not be released at all." In fact, the ambassadors and all the others there would later find they couldn't even talk about the abilities Harry had shown, much to their chagrin.
Emma smiled internally at the name, deciding it would do well enough for a codename. Certainly better than the White Queen, since that would hint at her involvement in the Hellfire Club.
"The initial offer by the King was to have the corporate tax remain at fifteen percent for the first fifteen years, with an agreement to raise it by one percent every year, extending that rate of taxation to any other avenues of business. I believe that, given the fact that my potions have now been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, and that they will represent a tremendous boon to medicine both on the civilian side and the military, that that should be a minimal starting amount, along with starting to ensure mutant rights under the law, making any crimes against them hate crimes, as has already been made into law here in the UK."
Those laws had been rammed through the Parliament a mere week ago, although before that, the police forces had already been acting on them. There were a lot of unhappy people because of it but thanks to both Thatcher and the King getting behind it, the law had gone through. There were still a lot of problems, both internal to the government and with public displays and violence but the government was clamping down on it as much as the police could.
The Italian winced a little but Harry couldn't tell whether or not the wince was a real emotion or a negotiating gambit. He wasn't used to reading people like this so he couldn't tell what he was seeing. "I think that my government will be willing to match or exceed that, and more than willing to throw in other incentives, but the pro-mutant stance however is a sticking point, if we could put that off for a time…?" He ended hesitantly.
"You may put off creating such laws so long as you make some concessions in that area." Harry replied, smiling thinly. "Perhaps, putting together a think tank to study the problem? Needless to say, of course, that we would be represented on said think tank and would thus have your government's permission to interact with any proven mutants that turn up in your nation? And of course, ensuring their rights under your laws will come within a year, after which, if those laws haven't gone through, then the corporation will move its headquarters elsewhere." Emma smiled slightly, not able to stop herself as she watched Harry take her advice from their discussion on Wednesday.
The Frenchwoman frowned while the Italian winced even more but it was the Frenchwoman who replied aloud. "That… that might be possible but… I don't think my government would be willing to let foreign operatives be part of such a potentially volatile situation. An advisory role, certainly, but actually interacting with our citizens, no. Instead, shall we talk about the tax cuts we are willing to offer?"
"On the contrary." Margaret stated firmly. "I believe we would be very willing to put together a think tank to look after mutant interests. Those mutants who have mutations that make them dangerous need training in how to use their powers; this is just fact. We would of course require to be represented, to watch and understand that training, but otherwise, adding a think tank like this would be an excellent idea above and beyond the laws we have already implemented. As for taxes, I think rather than fifteen percent, ten percent for twenty years as a starting point?"
"I would be willing to go to ten percent for twenty, plus free permits for producing and selling pharmaceuticals, though we would need to have our PSM okay them before actually selling them to the public. Five percent supplier's tax when you do start selling to the civilian side for the first two years, where it is normally ten percent set. On the mutant rights issue, I can agree to look into setting up a think tank to look into the actual facts of mutations and providing defense of those mutants whose mutations bring more public problems down on them. However, I don't think my government would allow any other group to oversee how we interact with our own citizens."
The discussion moved on from there, with Mrs. Thatcher taking the role of sole negotiator for the British and the two diplomats negotiating hard for their own governments against the team of Harry and Emma, aided by some small interjections from Jean and Ororo. In the end, they couldn't quite match Britain's ability to make Harry feel at home. The pro-mutant stance was indeed a sticking point but it wasn't the only one. There was also Harry's firm demand that there would be no reselling of his products to other nations or hoarding of his product and the fact he wanted it put into the agreement that any such official act would be regarded as a breach of contract.
"I understand that duplicitous people exist everywhere," Harry said, smiling faintly, but his words were serious as were his eyes. "But I refuse to let them make money off my hard work when I can stop them. There will be... defenses in place to stop anyone from actually using the potions if they are taken from the district, base, hospital or state they are sold to, but I want the governments I deal with to know I take such attempts very dimly indeed. There will also be defenses in place to stop any attempts at hoarding."
As the conversation continued on that topic it became clear they didn't believe him on the efficacy of the defenses he was making a point to not go into detail on. Eventually, they agreed and moved on to other points.
Thanks to Harry using Emma's earlier suggestion on a gradual change to mutant/normal human equality, that was less of an issue. The French diplomat was willing to open up a dialogue with Harry, regardless of the business deal, to train and make certain mutants with superpowers were not a threat to either themselves or other people so long as they had representatives watching the training. She also felt her government could agree with the idea of a think tank to look at the base issue, that of mutations marking a demarcation between homo sapiens and 'homo superior'. The Italian couldn't promise the first nor could he agree to the idea of a think tank. In terms of the deal for potions however, however, the Frenchwoman was not able to match the next sticking point.
Harry wanted to start selling directly to medical centers for the military with no more time spent on testing. The military part of that wasn't an issue but the civilian doctors they had contacted refused to sign off on letting Harry's potions through their equivalent of the FSA. They wanted to analyze the potions themselves, as well as all the ingredients, and Harry's calm assurance that they wouldn't find anything if they did was worrisome.
They were however able to hammer out deals for their countries militaries to start bringing in potions within a month, which they paid for now after an entirely different discussion which the British bowed out of, now knowing that Harry would almost certainly be working with them. Harry left this portion of the discussion to Emma, knowing he was a little too soft hearted for this portion. He wanted to sell his potions cheaply so they could be used by civilians who needed them cheaply but that really wasn't smart.
The main potions Harry was selling at present were the bone knitting potion, the nerve healing potion, the burn paste, and the blood replenishing potion. The bone knitting potion, which was a slightly weaker potion than its parent, skelegro, sold for the equivalent of one hundred twenty thousand pounds for every unit, a bargain for what it could be used for, since a single unit could be used for various levels of injury with smaller doses before running out. It couldn't replace lost bones entirely, but it could heal bones that were still there regardless of how damaged they were, which made it much more applicable to the mundane world than skelegro.
The nerve healing potion went for a two hundred thousand pounds single use, but again for what it could do that was a monstrously good price. The Burn paste was sold for one hundred sixty thousand pounds and, again, a single tin of paste could be used many times for varying levels of burns. The blood replenishing potion sold for ten thousand pounds sterling.
The two diplomats handed over initial payments for a 'small' sample to be sent to their countries, the size of which were staggering to all but Emma who smiled appreciatively at them. For a thousand units each of the bone-knitting potion, burn paste, and blood replenishing potion plus two hundred nerve-healing potions, the total came to three hundred thirty million pounds sterling from each of the two ambassadors.
Combined, that payment was much larger than the amount of money they had gotten from Harry selling his gold from his previous dimension or even the gold from the cache that Jean had raided a few weeks back. With these funds in hand, they would be able to start really moving their company forward, their personnel director could start hiring, they could start building the company's offices and the environs around it, pay for everything else they needed to modernize Hogwarts, its grounds, and hire the teachers for it as well as several other long term projects. They could even buy the gear Jean wanted for her engineering workshop.
Neither ambassador was very pleased, however, seeing these deals more as losses for their governments than anything else. Out of simple corporate taxes, the income they could've made, from even a small amount of taxation on Harry's company, would quickly have made up for the amount they just handed over but they simply could not match the non-tax related incentives Britain could. Without the leaders of their government there, they were overpowered by Thatcher's bargaining strength. Neither could waive the corporate taxes entirely like Thatcher was willing to for the first two years, which was what had made them both finally back down in the last round of bargaining. Harry had forced that through, something that Emma was so proud of she could burst.
Harry however had something to assuage their injured pride. "I realize that neither of you are happy with the way today has turned out, nor I would not like you to go away angry. It turns out that Selene, the woman that caused such havoc here in London, had several caches of items that she had collected over her lifetimes. One of them was an art collection that we are still going through, clearing it of traps and other things. Two of them, however, I believe we can safely hand over to you as gifts to your government right now."
He turned to the King. "With your permission Your Majesty, I would like to call in one of my retainers to retrieve them."
William nodded, wondering what this was going to be about and then gave his verbal permission, which allowed Harry to call in a house elf. A little house elf appeared seconds later and, as everyone stared at the little creature, Harry asked it to get two specific paintings, the names of which caused everyone there to start in shock. "Could you get the two paintings labeled Le Pigeon Aux Petits Pois, and Lovers: the Poets Garden IV and bring them here?"
A moment later the little creature was back, the two paintings held in midair by its magic so Harry could take them one at a time, handing them over to the astonished diplomats, whose eyes had widened at the names. The Picasso had initially been held in an Italian museum and went to the Italian ambassador. The Van Gogh painting went to France since it had been at the Paris Museum before the occupation.
The Frenchwoman looked at Harry with reverence in her eyes. "This is amazing, Mr. Potter. This is an item of our heritage that we had long thought lost. I assure you that if you wish to keep the dialogue open with me to return other items of such amazing antiquity; my government will be more than willing to pay an honest price for them."
Harry nodded. "As soon as we can clear them of any dangers, we will be returning them to their owners, if we can, or sell them to museums at fair prices when we cannot. When that occurs, I may call on you for a letter of introduction but we will see."
She didn't know that Emma had decided to take one of the paintings for herself and had already purchased it from Harry. She rather liked the idea of having a Rembrandt on her wall. It would certainly be a discussion piece or it could be turned into a trade item with Paris in the future. Paris was a true art aficionado and would probably react as Emma did when Emma was faced with all the gold that Jean had found in Pakistan.
Both diplomats went away with stunned smiles on their faces, despite having handed over enormous amounts of money (in the form of checks) for something that would not in fact be in their hands for another month. Still, the paintings were an amazing show of good faith and their governments would be willing to put up with the wait, since the paintings alone were worth almost, or possibly even equal to, the amount they had just handed over. The waiting period would also allow their militaries to prepare for the influx of the magnificent potions anyway and would win Harry quite a lot of goodwill with those governments as well as the people eventually.
After the two diplomats left, Harry turned back to the King smiling a little. "Now, let's continue."
Eventually, he, Emma, and Margaret Thatcher were able to hammer out an agreement that all of them were happy with. Two years tax free with a fixed corporate tax of ten percent after that for ten years rising to twenty after that by two percent per year. The two years start-up would be stretched out to include any new company Harry and his people began, though any other company would be placed under the rest of the tax deal at the point they came in. No import/export tax for five years and a fixed distribution tax for the domestic product of twelve percent.
That last alone, once Harry began to sell to the civilian sector, would gain back most of the cost they would be paying for their first two potions drops. These the King bought now: two purchases of four thousand units of every potion, the first to be given to them in a month for use in their military hospitals and field units, the second the month after. That came to two billion eight hundred million pounds, an amount that made even Harry freeze for just a moment, though Emma merely smiled approvingly.
Just as Margaret and Harry were going to seal the deal however the King spoke up. "Of course, when the time comes we will be extending most-favored-nation status to you and will expect the same in return."
That phrase caused Emma some confusion but Harry stiffened in his seat his eyes switching from the Iron Maiden to the King quickly, searching his face but his voice was mild when he addressed him. "That is an agreement between nations, Your Majesty. We are making deals for corporations now."
"Do not play games with me, Mr. Potter." William said, leaning forward intently. "You and I both know what will eventually be required. No matter what governments of the world may wish, hate crimes will always propagate against those who are different, especially unorganized minorities. There will always be those who will lash out at mutantkind, most particularly those unfortunates whose mutant powers do not allow them to defend themselves yet make them look different from others. So I ask you again, Mr. Potter, do I speak to a subject or to a king?"
Harry looked at the old man, thoughts running through his head. This conversation sort of brought to mind the combat he had with the Elder God. Harry had never wanted to dominate or to control but he did want to lead, mostly by example, and he had indeed been thinking about the problem that the King had mentioned with what he called the Israeli Initiative. So he simply murmured, "A king by my own hand, perhaps, in the future."
"Than in the future, my nation will stand with you. I assume that both of us will profit greatly from it." And in that way, William tied the future of his nation to what he, very accurately, assumed would be a rising world power. The two men nodded, agreeing to that term, which was much more binding to them than any written document could ever be.
Not forty minutes later, the deals were signed and everyone was satisfied, even Emma was smiling somewhat to herself, as the group finally got up from the table. "Well, I think that went very well, don't you? Even if you are still keeping some of your plans for the future secret." she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
Harry shrugged. "It was a mere thought for the future, Diamond, nothing I have done so far has been to start that plan going, just yet. I'll fill you in on it when it's more than just a distant thought in my head. William really jumped the gun on that, though I have no doubt both of us will profit from it. Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment."
He left her side for a moment, moving over to the man whose features had looked so familiar to him. He had finally placed the face and he smiled, holding out a hand to shake. "Captain Britain, I'm happy to see you again. Did you get over your funk? I've also been thinking about ways I could help your sister with her eyesight and wanted to make an appointment in the next two weeks or so to stop by and see her."
Jean drifted over at that, as well as Ororo. Both of them had been impressed and had developed something of a friendship with Betsy, though. Besides calling a few times in the weeks after their battle against Selene neither of them had really had the time to follow up with her, but even that had tapered off as they both added to their workloads. Needless to say, Harry, as the busiest of the trio, hadn't either.
Captain Britain was looking grave as he looked at the man who had helped his nation and his sister. "I'm afraid that would be impossible, Mr. Potter. You see, she disappeared about three days ago. No trace at all. One moment she was in her room and the next moment she was just gone. No sign of anything coming or going on the grounds and, believe me, we went over everything with a fine toothed comb. We have no idea what happened to her."
Harry and Ororo exchanged a startled glance, while Jean frowned heavily. All three were wondering what had happened and feeling very guilty about having not gone to see Betsy before this. "I'll stop in and see if I can find any magical traces." Harry began looking back at the Captain. "I wish I could get to it right away but I have so many other things going on, in particular an agreement that I have made with a man who is rather prickly about such things, such that I cannot put it off further."
Captain Britain understood that and simply nodded. "I will receive you at our house at your earliest convenience, Mr. Potter." It was obvious, despite his attempt to keep a British style stiff upper lip, he was very worried about his missing sister.
Harry nodded and the group continued on their way exchanging worried glances, wondering what this could mean and what had happened to Betsy. For now, they were done here and left the castle with their moods worsened by the news about Betsy, yet upbeat about the future.