The jet was up and running by the time the pair were ready to go.

Slapping the metal hand away from his waist for what felt like the umpteenth time, Harry made his way out onto the runway and towards the trio watching them.

"It's about time!" the blonde next to Natasha yelled out, the igh winds making it difficult to hear anything. "What took you so long?"

Coming to a stop in front of the others, Harry rolled his eyes as he felt the mechanical arm sneak its way around his body once more.

"Harry had to dress," Tony's voice rang out, a smug grin threatening to slipt his face in half.

Pushing the taller man away, Harry pointed his finger at him in warning, before turning back to the blonde and smiling.

"It's good to see you with us, Clint."

"Clint?"

Grinning back, Clint stepped forward and embraced the wizard. "It's good to see you too Harry. It's been way too long."

"Since when has he been Clint?"

Disregarding the confused and slightly jealous genius, Steve waited for the friends to let go, before addressing the group as a whole. "We need a plan of attack, and Tony if you say that the plan is attack, I swear I'm going to hit you over the head with my shield."

Motioning a locking movement with his fingers, Tony fluttered his eyes at the Captain and beamed. Wishing that he was tall enough to wack the brunette over the head, Harry fell back into soldier mode, allowing his mask to fall back into place.

"Do we know where Loki and the Tesseract are?" he asked, the last pieces of his emotionless mask falling into place.

Disturbed but not surprised by the sudden change, Steve nodded. "Tony's theory is that Loki took the show to Stark Tower."

"Then that's where we go. How are we going to draw him out?"

"I'll go in," Tony exclaimed, holding his hands up as the rest looked at him like he was crazy or trying to show off. "No-one knows my tower like I do! I can talk my way out of anything; and apart from Harry, I'm the only one here that doesn't have to take the elevator. Besides that, my suit's running on twenty percent, and even if it was just Loki we were facing, I'd rather have a fresh change thank you."

Nodding at the suggestion, Steve pointed at the metal man and glared. "You fly to the Tower and see what you can do to stop the Tesseract. If that doesn't work, smoke out Loki. We'll follow you in the quinjet, Romanoff, you're on guns. I'll call in Thor on the way, he can meet us there."

Bowing their heads in agreement, the group one by one, moved into action. Grabbing Harry's arm just as he moved to board the jet, Tony spun him around and lifted his face plate.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, knowing that the other wouldn't have changed his mind, despite how much he wanted him to. "You could stay here and run the ship for Fury."

Letting his mask fade for a second, Harry laughed lightly at the suggestion. "I'm going Tony. Someone needs to keep an eye on your arse."

"And what an arse it is." Smiling down at the chuckling man, Tony sobered. "Kiss for luck?"

Leaning up, Harry placed a soft peck on his husband's lips. "You don't need it."

"So, you and Stark? You didn't tell me about that last time we talked."

Leaning against the quinjet's wall, Harry watched the archer as he smoothly piloted the bulky machine across the sky.

"Last we talked, I thought he was dead," he shrugged, not wanting to dwell on the fact.

Knowing the other man well enough to know that he didn't want to talk about it, Clint turned to the redhead beside him and grinned. "I never introduced you two did I?" he threw back over his shoulder. "Nat, this is Harry, Harry, Nat."

"We've met, Barton."

Shrugging his shoulders, Clint threw a smug grin at the redhead. "I was out of commission. I can't be expected to know these things."

Rolling her eyes at the archer, Natasha flicked a few switches before turning to face the brunette hanging over their shoulders. "How did you do it?"

Raising an eyebrow, Harry tilted his head. "Do what? A lot's happened in the last twenty four hours, you're going to have to be a bit more specific."

"How did you save Coulson?"

The jet fell into a tense and uncomfortable silence. Noticing Steve place the map of New York he had been studying, down, Harry slowly slid onto the chair behind him and folded his arms.

"What makes you think I saved him?"

Scoffing, Natasha shifted around so she could see the man behind her. "Many things," she admitted, picking at a piece of lint on the seat. "Fury wouldn't have called you in unless there was something special about you, and when I was pinned under that pole, there was no way you could have moved it by yourself. From the way Coulson acted around you, I could tell that you two were close, and if I was there and could do something about it, then I would have."

"Is that way you got stabbed?"

Frowning at the tinny voice coming through the qunjet's speakers, Harry moved to straighten his back out. "Tony, don't you have something to be doing?"

"I'm nearly there," Tony's voice echoed. "And don't change the subject. Did you nearly die because you were playing hero again?"

"I wasn't playing hero," Harry sighed. "Coulson went after Loki, and I followed for back up. It was the same thing that anyone else here would have done."

"You nearly died! That's it, Romanoff cuff him to the seat, he doesn't leave that jet till we're finished."

"Tony-" The warning was clear in his voice, and if Clint's shudder was anything to go by, than it was one to heed.

"No." Tony's stubbornness shinning through. "Just because you're a wizard doesn't mean that you get to throw yourself into the thick of things the moment danger raises its ugly head."

Harry could have happily decked his husband in that moment. Ignoring the noise that was still coming out of the speakers, Harry glanced over at the shell shocked Captain and less surprised, more satisfied, assassin.

"I thought Fury told you," he muttered honestly, his husband's voice finally dying down.

"So what?" Steve queried, retrieving his jaw from the floor. "You make things disappear and stuff like that? Like a street performer?"

"There's a bit more to it than that Cap."

Turning to face the assassin, Harry eyed her with suspicion. Raising an eye brow in return, Natasha shrugged.

"Coulson gave me your file last night," she admitted, turning back around to the control panel. "I just wanted to hear you say it."

"I knew before anyone," Clint spoke up, lifting his arm like he was in a classroom, waiting to be called on for an answer. "Even Coulson."

"You walked in on me in the shower," Harry answered, relaxing back into his chair, now that the tension had eased off a bit. "The only reason you knew first was because you got blasted into the wall by it."

"Man that's ba- wait, he saw you naked!"

Chuckling at the man's indignant shout, Harry sent a small smile to the still somewhat confused Blonde sitting across from him, before closing his eyes. They weren't too far out, and if he listened to his instincts, then they would tell him to rest while he could, cause when they landed, all hell was going to break loose.

Tony was the first to arrive on the scene.

Eyeing the pain in the arse machinery that did not have clearance to be on his rooftop, Tony knew before he even lifted his hand that the repulser wasn't going to do a thing. Stabilizing himself once more, Tony caught sight of the cause of all this and growled. The dick was the reason he had nearly lost the one person he would rip the world apart for, and like hell he wasn't going to get his pound of flesh in repayment.

"Tony," Harry's voice echoed, filled with determination and a hint of worry. "Don't go doing anything stupid. Our main priority is to stop the Tesseract. Tony?"

Paying no attention to the voice, Tony kept his eyes on the green clad god, even as he stepped onto the landing pad and the iron suit was disassembled.

"Are you planning on surrendering?"

The haughty tone rang through the open space like a gong. Stifling the crawling sensation he felt go along his skin, Tony placed his customary 'eat-shit' grin on his face and made his way to the bar.

"Actually I plan on threatening you."

Scoffing at the idea, Loki used the staff to point at the ledge he had just come from. "You should have left your suit on for that."

"Perhaps." Making his way around the marble counter, Tony felt a spark of happiness when he found two copper bracelets exactly where he had left them. "Would you like a drink? I'm going to have a drink."

Turning around to check his liquor supply, the genius barely contained the rage he felt against the god, his hands shaking even as he picked up a crystal decanter with an auburn liquid inside. Whiskey?

"You have already lost," Loki spoke, his giddiness radiating. "You are defenceless. Nothing can stop me."

"Perhaps. Or maybe the Avengers," Taking a quick swig of the liquid; yep defiantly whisky, Tony glanced up and almost chuckled at the look of confusion on the serpent. "Oh, that's what we call ourselves. Earth's mightiest heroes, and all that jazz."

"Yes, I have met them."

"I will admit, we have a little trouble with traction in the beginning," Tony nodded in agreement, placing his glass down on the counter and using the same movement to pick up the bracelets. "But think about it. We have a man with breath taking anger management issues, you're brother; a Norse god of thunder, a legend that actually lives up to the legend, two highly trained assassins, and you, have managed to piss off every single one of them."

"I have an army!"

"We have a Hulk!"

Stepping around the bar, Tony slowly made his way down to the fuming god, and got as far into his face as possible. Let it never be said Tony Stark didn't take pleasure in pissing people off. "Don't you get it? There is no version of this that you come out on top. There is no crown, no throne. You can try, but I'll tell you, even if we don't save the world, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it!"

The possibility of the furious god throwing him out of the window was one that had passed through his mind, but not one he had overly enjoyed. So when he found himself falling through the air with a million shards of glass, Tony mentally thanked whoever looked out for him, when he felt the Mark VII wind its way around his body.

Slamming on the thrusters just as the pavement got a little too close for comfort, Tony shot back up into the sky and towards the blue light now pulsing above his tower. Watching as the very fabric of time and space tore in the atmosphere above him, Tony could only think of one thing.

"Army, right."

Watching thru the window as New York came into view, Harry fiddled around with the com device in his ear and sighed. The lack of power in his suit had caused Tony to hurry ahead of them due to the off chance of suddenly falling out of the sky.

The fact that the last they had heard of the Billionaire was him muttering something about plan B, was not overly comforting. Stomping down the itch to just apparate to the building and see what was going on, Harry jumped unnoticeably when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I just got word from Thor," Steve announced from the wizard's side, causing him to flinch slightly. "He is just about to arrive at the tower. He said that the Tesseract had already activated and Iron Man is currently engaging the aliens."

Nodding, Natasha flicked more switches as they came up to where the skyscrapers became higher, and flying became more difficult. "So what are we doing?"

Eyeing the scene ahead, Steve took a second to think, before pulling his mask on and grabbing his shield from the seat he had placed it on earlier. "We're aiming for Stark Tower."

Bowing his head slightly, Clint turned a corner just as Natasha clicked on her com device. "Tony? We're here."

"What took you so long? Did you stop in at a drive thru on the way?"

It was testimony to how serious the moment was, that no-one did as much as roll their eyes at the remark; despite how tempted Clint was to reply.

"Ok," Tony's voice huffed. "Where are you?"

"Corner of Fifth."

"Alright, pull up along Broadway, I'll line them up for you."

Almost taking a building out by the suddenness of the turn, Clint sped down the street. Natasha clicked a couple more buttons and switches, before grabbing the joystick between her legs. Watching all of this in slight fascination, Harry noticed that they were almost at the end of the road, when a flash of red and gold sped past their nose, followed by a hoard of flying creatures.

Firing upon the waxy looking creatures, Natasha sneered at the lack of avoiding on their part, halting any further firing as they tilted upward to avoid the nearest building. Following the Iron Man back around, Clint steered the metal beast around the city centre till they made it to Stark Tower.

"Nat?"

"I see him."

Whirling the machine gun around to face the two Asgardians fighting upon the roof, Natasha took aim at the silver tongued serpent and fired.