Maxwell Dawkins is a man who understands the importance of secrets. He prided himself on knowing everyone's around him without giving away any from his valuable collection. It was this quality that led him into being in the employment of the man known only by his name and reputation; Charles Huxley.
It was this man that Maxwell left his secrets too. He or anyone else he knew had ever seen the face of his employer. For most of the organisation and its members, Maxwell was the face of the organisation and it was times like these that Maxwell loves his job as go-between for his mysterious boss and everyone else. He had very good news.

Walking down the handsomely decorated corridor Maxwell allowed himself a second to admire the apparent wealth on display before letting himself into the office.

"I have good news" he said.

A screen flickered on the wall and the image of a man shrouded in shadows appeared.

"How good Maxwell?"

Resisting the urge to grin like an idiot Maxwell kept his strong jawed face smooth.

"The best sir." he replied.

The man on the screen straightened and asked,

"Are you sure?" his boss's voice slightly louder with the increasing hope.

"The evidence seems to all point to the right conclusion. The subject is currently unconscious and being held in our facility in America. Magnus managed to get the subject from Malta undetected." Maxwell replied.

Leaning forward and pressing his hands together Charles Huxley managed to express his excitement and anticipation with his face hidden by shadow.

"Who has Magnus got working on the subject?" Huxley asked.

"He called in the best, Elsdon, Musgrave and Hedley" he said, "I have also been told that they are keeping the subject under sedation until they are sure they know how to suppress any abilities shown" Maxwell finished.

Huxley stood and walked behind the chair on the screen .

"He has done well, as have you Maxwell". Huxley stated.

Maxwell Dawkins recognizing his dismissal stood, thanked his boss and left the office, allowed himself a small smile before preparing himself to continue thier work.

Not far from the supposed home of the mysterious Charles Huxley was a dusty and deserted old storage shed. It wasn't very good at what it was originally built for but it more than accommodated for the needs of the precious few who knew of its existence. It was under this shed that three scientists had been working non-stop since they received the call out the day before. All three had accepted without hesitation. To do otherwise was foolish and could possibly lead to a early death. Besides this project would undoubtedly be the biggest either of them would ever work on.
They had all the equipment money could buy and they were very prepared to use it on the subject.

Fern Elsdon was the only female on the team though her two male workmates were in no danger of being distracted from their jobs. With her thin blonde hair pulled back harshly to reveal pointy features and cold dark eyes un-surrounded by wrinkles. Her face was not smooth from youth but from the seemingly permanent expressionless look she wore.

At this moment it was Fern Elsdon's job to constantly watch the subject for any changes so as the fingers on the subjects right hand began to twitch she turned, hawk like, and sent a message to her co-workers pagers.

Harry felt disconnected. Almost like he knew he should be panicking, or thinking about something important, maybe he was meant to be doing something? Whatever it was, he couldn't just couldn't do it. Subconsciously he reached for his wand. Anything to chase away the heavy darkness that pressed down on him. Maybe a patronus would work?
He couldn't open his eyes.
He couldn't feel his eyes.
Can you feel your eyes normally?
His brain felt like pancake mix. Where was he?
With a bang a door opened. The sound cut through his thoughts like a steak knife through butter. Voices. There were definitely people here. With a rush feeling cam back into his body and his confused and sluggish brain protested at the amount of information it had to process.
An eye was wretched open and a burning light was shining into it. Weakly moving his arms to stop the unwelcome light he found himself trapped. Not by his mind this time, but by straps. He felt the same straps on his ankles. He fought with his mind to keep his eyes open when the light went away.

"Subject is awake and fighting sedation that would keep a human twice his mass down. Incredible." A masculine voice said from behind him in an awestruck tone.

"Musgrave, should we increase the sedation?" another voice, masculine but less assured questioned.

"No" a different voice. A woman answered. "I do not believe the subject is lucid"

Small feelings of worry were starting to enter Harry's fog filled mind. He needed to get past it! How to get past it? His wand. He needed his wand.
His heart started pumping as he slowly became more aware of the situation. With an involuntary groan he pushed himself into a sitting position.

Without his glasses all he could see was white. White floors, white walls, white door, white lab coats and a table, a white table that he was strapped to. He was going to get a sore back if he stayed on this for very long, the absurd thought floated across Harry's mind.

There were people, scribbling away excitably and staring at Harry.

"The subject shows a remarkable resistance to the sedative, we can only guess as to how far his abilities go."

Subject, Harry thought, he was a subject. An even worse thought came to him, abilities. Oh dear Merlin they knew about his magic.

As Harry was sinking further into unconsciousness after an increased sedative hit, Nick Fury was getting more and more frustrated.

Nearly two days ago in a remote and completely unremarkable spot in Malta their scans had picked up a burst of energy similar to that of the rainbow bridge but not, according to Jane Forster, not the exact same.

Shield agents had been sent to investigate but nothing showed up. All there was to show for the energy spike was a shallow crater, there wasn't even a hammer.

So Fury, frustrated with dead endings growled at some scientists paid a ridiculous amount to keep a close eye on the scanners and sent more agents to Malta to find him something to work with. As so far nothing at all had come up Fury turned his thoughts to the tesseract. That at least was a little more positive, things were going well. Maybe a visit with Selvig would give Director Fury something positive to focus on.

Harry emerged from the fog an indecipherable time later to get the feeling back in his limbs, with a vengeance.

Pain

Forcing his eyes open he struggled to find the source of the shocks surging through him. His wrists and ankles burned as his protesting body heaved against the restraints. Biting his lip to keep from screaming the blood ran down his cheek as he bit too hard. Electricity. That was what was surging through him, causing his muscles to seize painfully.

The pain stopped and he gasped, a feeling of relief came as he sank back onto the table.

"Session one: no reaction out of the ordinary" and expressionless voice seemed to come from all around. "Increase voltage for session two, commencing in two minutes". The voice said. A feeling of dread filled Harry; they were torturing him for his magic. He could practically hear Voldemort laughing from whatever hell he was in.

"Who are you?" Harry shouted. His voice coming out slurred.

No one answered and in two minutes electricity ran through him again. He groaned in pain and started panting, arching his back. His magic was close to the surface but he hardly notices when the lights started flickering in response to his distress. The room trembled violently and the electricity cut off.

"Unexplained electrical failures and localized seismic activity caused by session two in response to electricity. Not close to the amount of energy released at subjects location. Increase Voltage for session three commencing in two minutes." The same voice said.

Harry thrashed uselessly on the table, attempting to apparate but without his wand he was stuck. Trying his wandless magic, he focused on his arm strap but his concentration was being cut off by panic.

He started screaming after the fifth session.

There you are, I was working on another one :)

Sorry about the torture, shouldn't be too much more of it... poor Harry.

Also our first sighting of Avenger stuff, Yipee!

It should move along a bit quicker now, I'll see if I can get the next chapter up nice and quick