Unified Theory

Chapter 11: The Curse

"You owe me for this, big time," Tony Stark said from beneath his Iron Man suit as he and Harry, in the Gryffindor suit, maneuvered a reactor into place at Godric's Hollow.

"Story of my life," Harry frowned as they set the generator down and worked the connections together.

"Interesting way you wired it up for travel and reattaching it to the building," Stark said as he examined the wall Harry was working at. "Like plugging a battery in and taking it out," he looked closely at it.

"Eyes up, the deal was for broom tech in exchange for this, unless you want to change the deal?" Harry looked at Tony.

"As tempting as that may be, I think I'll stick with the broom charms," Tony replied shaking his head. "Just so you know, the people on my crews haven't come up with anything for you, how have your people done?" Tony asked as the two of them walked to the exit and out of the room.

"Not good. We thought we had a lead, but it will take too long to make and even then," Harry shrugged. "Even then we have no idea if it will work," Harry added as the door opened and closed behind them. "Thanks for trying though," Harry shook his hand as they took an elevator up a few levels to the roof. "We boosted the power output on the suit itself, shields are about 25% of what they were before, but it should keep me going until March if we are lucky," he explained as they walked to the edge of the rooftop.

"Anything you need kid, you know I'll you give you a hand," Tony patted him on the back with a loud clanging noise.

"I know," Harry nodded. "At least I got some time to try to fix it and find out where Malfoy is hiding before it finally craps out and kills me," Harry shrugged. "See ya around Iron Man."

"See you around Harry," Stark nodded before taking flight.

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"I got your message earlier," Hermione greeted Sirius from behind her cluttered desk. "I also got word from the Prime Minister about Tony Stark making a visit, care to fill me in?" she asked as the ghost rolled his eyes at her.

"We needed another Arc reactor to get the B-site going, Harry made a trade with Tony and they got it set up," Sirius admitted. "As near as we can figure, the people that got through before, they were sneaky bastards," Sirius frowned. "They somehow snuck seven agents into our business over the years without alerting us, best we can figure is that they had severe mind alteration spells done at some point to counteract the oaths and Veritaserum we give on interviews and acceptance," he explained.

"And the wards?" she asked as he handed her a folder.

"The spies must have been draining their blood at regular intervals to build up stockpiles, we tested the residue from where Ron and Harry questioned them and it matched the exact blood of a spy," he smirked at the word residue. "They were bloody mad, they replaced their entire blood supply with that of the spy in order to gain entrance to the wards," he frowned. "We have adapted the wards at the B-site; there is a centralized entry and exit point, no apparation and such inside the complex anymore. People coming to work have to come through the checkpoint and leave by the same way," he sighed.

"Any more contact with the men who attacked the bank and drew out Agent Zero?" she asked.

"Nothing, we know Zabini was among them, but we can pretty much start picking names out of a hat from all the Death Eater families that disappeared and I'd bet money on them being in league with Malfoy," Sirius admitted. "Any word from other governments on getting them to give up where they are hiding?"

"They haven't given them up for war crimes by now, I doubt they will ever," she frowned as she examined the papers in the folder. "This is how the weapons work?" she asked as she looked over the hand written papers. "Harry needs to work on his handwriting," she chuckled.

"Yeah, well he wrote them up this morning, was busy last night," Sirius explained as he looked over the desk at the papers. "The power source is where Harry wants to track them, the models that were stolen were for law enforcement, so they were built to magically tap into the local power grid and draw energy from that," he explained as Hermione nodded.

"And you figure you can monitor the power grids around England to find them?" she eyed the ghost who whistled innocently. "Of course, you already are monitoring the grids," she rolled her eyes.

"To be fair, we own some power companies, the ones we were planning on integrating with Arc reactors in the future," Sirius pointed out. "But yes, we tapped into the whole grid, they aren't here, or if they are, they are very good at hiding their tracks," he explained. "We need to break into the grid for other places to find them," he mentioned as she turned to a new sheet of paper.

Hermione frowned and ran her hand through her hair immediately as she read over the list. "This is so illegal," she sighed.

"If it makes you feel any better, we'll make sure you are never connected with it," Sirius suggested.

"Fine, just get results, I want those weapons out of Malfoy's hands quickly," she replied after a moment. "How's Harry doing, Gabrielle and I forwarded him all the information on the stone we could gather after last weekend," she asked.

"Well, after seeing how long the stone would take to make, he appropriated Neville and Luna to work with Dumbledore and Snape until it is finished," Sirius said calmly. "He adjusted his AK field too, we think it will hold out until the stone can be completed, so long as nothing crazy happens," he knocked on the desk.

"Something crazy is always happening with Harry," Hermione muttered to herself.

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"So, you thought about Christmas yet, if you're going to tell Teddy anything?" Sirius asked Harry.

"It's a bloody month away Sirius," Harry frowned as he stared at the computer in front of him, watching the power readouts across various parts of Europe.

"Harry, he may not be your blood, but he is your son, it's something you should tell him, you know, since you might not be around for another Christmas," Sirius watched Harry scowl.

"I'll think about it, what did Hermione say when you told her we needed to hack into the international grids?" Harry looked over at Sirius.

"She said don't get caught," Sirius smirked.

"We're Marauders, we don't get caught," Harry chuckled then froze as his eyes narrowed on a part of the screen. "Pads, do you see that?" he asked quickly.

"Tracking it now, bringing up the area's power drain records for the past few months and looking for any big changes," Sirius rambled as the screen flipped between dozens of pages of data. "Something's going on, can't be their main base, but the power consumption for the last week is off the charts, maybe a training facility," Sirius mused as Harry walked out of the room to his emergency exit as his exterior rapidly changed to red and gold metal.

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"One minute until arrival, activating invisibility charms," Harry spoke as he scanned the area in eastern Germany, approaching the building they had identified earlier. "Whatever they have here, it's warded pretty good Sirius," he said as he landed softly and looked at the readout inside his helmet.

"Just be careful Harry, your shields won't last long at the state they are in," Sirius reminded him as he monitored everything from Godric's Hollow.

"I'll be fine Sirius," Harry whispered as he examined a ward before deactivating it with a small burst of energy. "Think anyone noticed that?" he asked before he picked up shouting from inside the warehouse. "I'll take that as a yes," he muttered and backed away against a wall, hoping no one would walk into him.

Close to two dozen men exited the building quickly, half armed to the teeth with Muggle weapons, the others with the stolen technology from Marauder International. Harry frowned when he recognized Malfoy's familiar voice and hair. "Malfoy," he whispered inside the helmet.

"Spread out, keep your eyes open and be ready to fire," Malfoy ordered as the men spread out. "Come out, come out, wherever you are…" he heard Malfoy sing as several men laughed. "We know you're here, we felt the alarm go off," Malfoy looked around in the fading daylight. "Now the question is, who are you? The Aurors around here are all paid off or sympathetic to our cause, so you are foreign," Malfoy motioned to one of the men who lit off a smoke grenade. "Let's see what you look like…" he muttered as the smoke began to pool on the ground and swirl in the breeze, clearly outlining Harry's invisible form.

Harry was cursing inside his helmet as he dropped the spell to conserve power, knowing full well the Muggle way to spot invisible or disillusioned wizards. "Well, this isn't totally unexpected, Potter's little toy," Draco laughed as the men trained their weapons on Harry. "I suppose I should properly introduce myself," Malfoy glared at Harry.

"I know who you are, Draco Malfoy," Harry replied in the disguised voice. "You're behind the attack on the Hogwarts express and the attack on Marauder International," Harry kept facing Draco, but was scanning the others with his sensors. "I knew some of the people your agents killed," Harry added.

"I guess trying to buy you off won't do much then, will it?" Draco sneered. "A pity, I was hoping Potter himself would come instead of sending his toy," Draco shook his head. "No matter, the hero won't be able to resist, once you are gone," Draco waved at his men. "Kill him, let me know when it is finished," he ordered before walking back into the building.

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"Harry, get out of there now, with your shields at low power, you won't last five minutes," Sirius shouted at the screen in his personal lab. "Who the hell!" he yelled as the door opened behind him admitting Ron Weasley. "Oh…hey Ron…" Sirius turned back to watch what Harry was doing.

"Why is my wife cursing your name with every other breath?" Ron asked as he walked up to Sirius and looked at the screen. "And what is this?" he frowned the screens, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Well, we figured out where we think Malfoy took some of the weapons and got Hermione to green light sending Gryffindor in," Sirius sighed after looking at the screen. "And that is Harry targeting Malfoy's men that ambushed him," he explained.

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"Nice to see you again Nott," Harry taunted his old schoolmate. "Acquire targets, lock on with concussion grenades and banishing charms," he said into the helmet.

"This time we have the advantage, no more tricks Gryffindor," Nott pointed his spell gun at Harry's chest.

"I'm all out of tricks," Harry raised his hands calmly. "I'm not playing anymore," Harry grinned inside the mask as he activated the spells that shot the concussion grenades all around him. He shot forward, backhanding Nott to the ground as the grenades staggered and disabled some of the others. He felt the bullets hitting him from behind, flipping his wrist back to where they were coming from and shooting a pair of stunners.

"Find me the damn targets Sirius," he shouted as he flew up to the closest rooftop, taking a glancing blow from a spell on the way. "Damn it!" he swore as he saw the power in his shields drop to almost nothing. He looked over the side, hearing several rounds of bullets impact helmet. "Pads, you got anything?" he asked as he walked around the rooftop.

"We're working on it," Harry heard him reply.

"Who is we?" he asked as he stuck his head out and ducked back. "Bugger this," he swore, looking over the side and blasting several Reductos at a couple of armed men. "Bringing up localized magic sensors, hopefully they can get some reading on the spell blasters," he commented as he played with the sensors. "I got seven weak signatures, probably the spell blasters, and two larger signatures, Nott and Malfoy, you see anything else Sirius?" he asked as he slowly moved to a corner of the building before it exploded in a fireball.

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"Harry!" Sirius yelled as he disappeared from his seat and actually entered the computer.

"What can I do Sirius?" Ron asked as he took the vacated chair and looked over the panels in front of him.

"Headset to your right, get it on and do what Harry says, I have to monitor his system, just do what we tell you to," Sirius replied via the headset he had put on.

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"What the bloody hell was that?" Harry groaned as he struggled to get free of the pile of rubble that was the building he was standing on earlier. He turned on the helmet light, seeing himself trapped on all sides by rubble. "Anyone here, Sirius?" he asked into the helmet.

"I'm here Harry, Sirius said he had to go active support, whatever that means," Ron replied in his helmet.

"It means the suit got buggered, I need you to bring up my diagnostic screen so I can know what is wrong, hit these keys as I say them," Harry listed off a line of commands until his screen changed from the view of the rubble to display a view of the suit. "Wonderful," Harry groaned as the display faded after a moment and he felt a shake in the rubble. "Sirius, I need you to talk to me here, what's working?" he frowned as he used the suit's enhanced strength to wiggle and make a little room.

"Shields are shot, AK field is holding up, you need to get out of there now Harry," Sirius shot back to him. "It's a bloody setup, that building just exploded underneath you," he pointed out.

"I am aware of that," Harry rolled his eyes. "Ron, how many magical signatures are left out there? It will be on the right side of Sirius's screen, my helmet display is more or less shot," Harry explained.

"There's a red 4 and a green 12, that what you were looking for?" Ron replied.

"Yeah, unfortunately," Harry frowned, twisting his head, trying to get his half of a display to show him what was past the rubble. "Ron, I can't see for shit, what are the sensors showing past the rubble?" he asked.

"If I am doing this right, they're all over you Harry, if you come up, you'll be a sitting duck," Ron replied.

"Pads?" Harry asked as he brought up a weapons display.

"He's right, they're sifting through the rubble and they have more reinforcements showing up every minute," Sirius responded. "You need to get out of there Harry, you have maybe three feet of rubble before they get to you," Sirius told him.

"I can barely move, if I blast my way out it will drain the AK field even more," Harry frowned. "Okay, I have an idea, Ron, do exactly as I say," Harry ordered.

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"Okay, I hit it Harry, the timer is showing 30 and counting down," Ron responded. "Mind telling me what I just did?"

"Not much, just timed all my grenades that I've been packing down by my feet to go off at once so I can use the blast to get out of the rubble and fly home," Harry laughed in the earpiece.

"You sure that's safe?" Ron asked as he watched the numbers tick down.

"Not at all, in fact it is probably a very bad idea," Harry admitted.

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Harry grimaced as the grenades went off and the blast wave shot him horizontally through the rubble until he was freed. He righted himself as he left the rubble and blasted into the sky quickly, taking stock of the situation. "Pads, is that a bloody tank?" he asked as his display lit up as the tank fired, knocking Harry in the chest with full force.

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"Bloody hell, initiate emergency retrieval protocol," Sirius said loudly as he popped up next to Ron. "Ron, gonna need your help when he gets here, come on," Sirius ordered and motioned Ron towards Harry's private medical area. "Engage emergency retrieval protocol," Sirius ordered as the air on an examination table shimmered and Harry popped into view.

"Harry, you okay there mate?" Ron asked as he took in the dented and charred armor, concentrating on the chunk of the Gryffindor suit the size of a football that was absent, allowing him to see the real Harry's black AK-suit underneath.

"Peachy, let's hurry and get me out of this," he groaned as several pieces of the suit began to automatically release and Sirius instructed Ron how to remove the ones that did not. "Sirius, how the hell did he get a bloody tank?" Harry frowned as he helped Ron work on taking the suit off.

"Best guess I have is from old KGB agents, it looked Russian from what I saw of it before your cameras cut out," Sirius frowned.

"Germany, KGB agents, is it a stretch here to say they are using people from Durmstrang?" Harry winced as he shrugged off the remains of the armor that was covering his chest.

"Sounds about right, I'll see if I can get any faces from the video you got before things went bad," Sirius nodded and disappeared.

"KGB? Really?" Ron asked as he kept removing metal from Harry.

"Well, they were rumored to have been experimenting on wizards during the 50s, one of the many things Binns didn't bother to tell us in History," Harry shrugged. "And with them being able to manipulate my machines and get around my bloody wards, they have to be well versed in combining magic and Muggle technology," Harry frowned.

"How bad is the suit?" Ron asked as he helped Harry remove the last bit of armor, besides a small armguard Harry kept on.

"Shot to shit is my best guess," Harry frowned as he fiddled with the armguard. "Power reserves are nearly gone, everything I have is diverted to the AK field keeping me alive," he eyed a small light up panel on his arm. "Suit itself is in bad shape, think I'm going to have to cannibalize the Harry disguise to get the Gryffindor working again," he froze as they heard the door open.

"What is going on here Harry?" Gabrielle asked as she took in Ron's wide eyes and Harry's scowl.

A/N: Sorry to say, last time I let people vote on what I write next, lol. I am planning on 4-5 more chapters in this story maximum, unless I get struck by inspiration as I crank them out. Looking back, I should have done Super Soldier or Butcher's Bill before this, since frankly, they have far better plots and are easier to write. But anyway, I won't leave this story unfinished. I know how I plan on dealing with Harry's little problem, I know how the battles are going to take place, the only trouble is getting the time to write it, since this was the least liked of my story ideas.

Anyway, I will be trying to write more to get this done and get onto bigger and better things. Next up after Unified Theory is Super Soldier, which I am looking forward to a lot, and then I plan on doing Butcher's Bill as I do my Sweeny Todd spoof, to keep my mind properly screwed up. After that, who knows… I got some other x-over ideas, but not gonna bother until I finish the ones I have promised already.