"It's been a while Captain," said Adrian from the door.
Steve blinked and looked at the doorway. The voice was somewhat familiar, but it was more mature now and the kid he remembered was much scrawnier.
"Dr. Andy?"
"It's Adrian, or Crow if you have to call me something. Fury's asked me to clean out Europe of a particular nuisance calling themselves Death Eaters...and I see you've heard of them."
"Minnie owled me a few weeks after I woke up asking for help. She heard from one of her lions that I was back and able to fight. She said it had gotten really bad," said Steve.
"I heard you had contacts in the Magical Europe. Here's the deal... Fury said that I could bring you in on this mission since you've been there previously. A way to break the ice and get back in the game, as it were."
"What sort of support do we have?"
"Have you heard of the vampire hunter called Blade?"
"A hybrid who specializes in sword combat. What of him?"
"A few covens have overstepped their mark, so I'm bringing him in as well. We'll also have a full load of weapons, at least three fully trained magical agents, and a doctor on hand during every mission with an overstocked medicine kit for anything we encounter. Oh, and in the event of werewolves I've got a bit of a surprise for them," said Adrian with an evil grin.
"You got re-certified recently, didn't you?" asked Steve.
"Yup."
"So what's the surprise?"
"Are you aware that the Packs all worship Loki and Fenrir like gods? And that they pay tribute to the 'great wolf' every time they convene?" he asked.
"So?"
"So I happen to be in contact with someone who knows which realm Fenrir is on, and wouldn't mind letting him out on Earth just to give them a good scare. He's a big puppy, really, with a tendency to chase things he shouldn't and drool over everything. Can you imagine what Greyback would do when he's confronted by his namesake?" said Adrian smirking.
Steve almost felt sorry for the werewolf packs. Almost.
Adrian got off the plane he had been assigned by Fury (along with the words that if he destroyed it then Adrian was going to pay for the replacement and all the equipment on it) and doublechecked his gear.
They were supposed to be greeted by one of this so-called Order of the Phoenix, the only group to even bother trying to fight back. After their leader was killed and their main base raided, the fight just seemed to leave them. Learning that their poster boy was a fake had dealt an even worse blow.
Adrian swept his eyes around the tarmac, only to come up short. He cast a quick spell to check the area, and again, nothing. Not even a cheap disillusionment charm or a tacky invisibility cloak.
He heard a crack, and someone came from around a warehouse. He palmed one of his upgraded battle fans into his left hand.
A werewolf. These idiots sent a werewolf to greet them? Did they not know that nearly every man and woman on the plane would be armed to the teeth with at least one silver weapon?
"Sorry I'm late. Had to confirm that there wasn't anyone waiting to ambush us," said the werewolf, "I'm Remus Lupin."
"One of Greyback's victims as a I recall. Don't look so alarmed Mr. Lupin, none of us on this craft have any prejudice against werewolves... now if you were a vampire on the other hand you might have to watch your step around Erik, but..." said Adrian.
"I take it that you are Agent Crow?"
"Son of the Widow and known pain-in-the-ass. Now, do we head straight for your current base or should we convene on the plane ride?"
Lupin blinked, unsure of what he meant.
"This particular craft was outfitted and enchanted with runes so that it won't react negatively to spells. If I have a base to work with, I would prefer not to leave it unguarded or open to attack when I can simply shrink it and keep it on the move," Adrian clarified.
Loki had been intrigued by the idea and had helped find the cause of the magic/technology issues they had. Apparently magic tended to overload or fry the technological aspects like some sort of EMP... they just needed to shield that specific frequency like they did on Asgard.
Adrian's division was already retrofitting a lot of their projects with the new wavelength so that they could be a lot more efficient.
"Our base is classified," said Remus.
"Not really. Minnie has told Steve the general location, and it would be simple for us to fly there. It's not like these idiots you're dealing with can track us with the retro-reflective panels we're testing out," said Adrian.
"Minnie?"
"Steve's contact. She's one of the people who asked us to come help, and has been keeping Sub-director Smith informed of the problems you've been having from this dark lord of yours."
Remus blinked.
"You look like you need a stiff drink."
Adrian ushered him in, and Remus nearly bolted when he saw Blade.
"What is he doing here?" he asked in horror.
"Erik agreed to help when we asked if he wanted to put the fear of himself back into the covens. He's been getting restless apparently," said Adrian dryly.
Remus looked at Blade with no small amount of nervousness. Mostly because he was fully aware that the man used a very sharp silver katana.
Adrian found it hilarious that the hunter called Blade was considered the devil or the boogeyman among the vampires. They used tales of him to scare their children into behaving.
It took them ten minutes to find the current base for the Order, and two to get everyone out and shrink the plane so that it could be put into one of Adrian's pockets. Remus was staring at him oddly.
"Where's your wand?" he asked.
Adrian snorted.
"In Russia we break our wands once we complete our training in whatever field of magic we study. I broke the one I was using at the time when I was sixteen, and then went to study how to forge my own weapons for the rest of the year. The only conduit I use is a staff that's outfitted with a blade. Much more effective."
It was actually his original wand from Loki that was made of Yggdrasil wood and fur from Fenrir and scales of Jörmungandr that was expanded into a staff. He broke the wand he had bought in Britain during his time there during his 'graduation' ceremony.
He never did like using that holly and phoenix wand anyway.
Remus choked.
"You're Russian?"
Adrian turned to face him.
"You have a problem with Russia?" he asked.
"It's just half of the Death Eaters recently have been Russian," said Remus.
"Huh. So they got in," said Adrian.
"They?"
"Some of the more violent members of the family. They didn't want to listen to me so I told them they either behaved or they acted as informants. Since it's highly unlikely that the Death Eaters will think to translate a text message written in Russian, not that they could, we have a good source of inside info. Of course these ones I sent in were the dregs, those who have to prove they are still worthy of bearing the family crest before they embarrassed us," said Adrian with a wave of his hand.
"That's rather cold. Aren't they your family?"
"Only by adoption, and besides, we're a rather large Russian clan. So big in fact that there's a branch of it in Rome. If we avenged every young idiot who did something stupid, then the bloodshed would never end. Better they do something useful before they get themselves killed," said Adrian flatly.
There was a reason why the Romani clan never complained about the fact Natasha was a known international assassin. They just didn't care. She was but one girl in a family of hundreds. If she got herself killed in such a profession, it wasn't their problem unless she did something to damage the Romani name.
It was part of the reasons why Natasha still spoke to them. And where some of her attitude towards regimes came from. If S.H.I.E.L.D. fell today she wouldn't cry a single tear so long as Clint and Adrian were fine.
"Get in! Do you want the Death Eaters to find us?!" barked Moody, a retired Auror even Adrian had heard of.
"Stuff it. Do you really think that these imbeciles you're dealing with have enough brains between them to hide from a thermal scan of the area? The only ones in a ten mile radius, if that, are you and this little group. Russians would never dare do something as foolish like playing at war," said Adrian flatly with a cold glare. Moody met his eyes and was the one to look away, a glimmer of respect in his one eye.
He liked this kid.
Adrian and his small group walked into the base, and almost immediately the wizards and witches had their wands aimed at them.
"For Valhalla's sake, pack it in! What is with you Europeans and this blasted stick fascination of yours?" he demanded in a Russian accent. That didn't make many drop their wands. Some of them got rather twitchy.
"Steve!" said a voice from the back. It was feminine, old, and had a Scottish lilt.
"Minnie!" said Steve, hugging the woman openly, to the shock of everyone present.
"So this is the woman you've been chatting with? Dr. Adrian Romanov, also called Agent Crow. We're here to deal with this pest problem of yours, since your people seem to have trouble killing despite all the things they've done," said Adrian flatly.
"Doctor?" spoke another. This was much younger, but still female. Adrian found a bushy haired brunette.
"Crow is our medi-wizard as well as our leader in this mission," said Abigail.
"Nonsense! No medi-wizard is under the age of thirty!" said a plump red-haired woman.
"First off, that only applies to medical wizards in Europe. In the REAL world if you have the intelligence and ability, not to mention the gold to pay for it, it doesn't matter how young you are. Secondly only an idiot would ignore the original purpose of a time-turner," said Adrian flatly.
"The original purpose of a time-turner?" asked the brunette.
"People who didn't want to spend too much time studying or take too much time getting their work done. It took them five years to find out how to do it, and another three to stabilize the original mixture. It then took them four years to get it funded into mass production. Russians tend to be rather pragmatic when it comes to new things."
Seeing the looks on their faces, it was clear where they though the time-turners originated. Bloody British.
"So. Where are there bases and when do they tend to congregate there?" asked Adrian. He wanted to end this as fast as possible.
Moody snorted, before he listed the known bases. Blade perked up at the mention of the ones inhabited by the covens. However all this stress was causing his Thirst to act up, so he popped in one of his blood pills.
So much easier than his old serum.
One of the wizards noticed the pill and had his wand out.
"You let a vampire in?" he said wide-eyed.
"For the love of Valhalla, are you really that dense? It seems we brought you in not a moment too soon Blade, if they don't even recognize you on sight," said Adrian.
"This is Blade, the hunter?" said Moody sharply. He had somewhat recognized him, but it had been rather dark.
"Just point me at the covens. By the time I'm through with them, they'll be leaving Europe in droves," said Blade with a cold smirk.
"Who or what is Blade?" demanded the brunette.
"Blade, the half-vampire hunter. He is someone who had the unfortunately luck of nearly being turned into a 'mundane' vampire shortly before he was born, but his mother was so close to term that it was never completed. As a result he became a hybrid who hunts other vampires to...repay...them for the attack on his mother. I called him in because he was bored and I heard that several of the covens had been getting above their stations, so to speak," said Adrian.
Snape, the only known spy in the Death Eater ranks, first meeting with Adrian could have gone better. Much, much better.
He saw Abigail practicing her forms alone, and made a snide comment about muggleborns within her hearing, unaware that Adrian had walked in for their daily sparring match.
Part of their partnership meant that Abigail got her exercise in by sparring with Adrian and improving her forms. Adrian didn't tolerate people badmouthing his family, friends and most especially not his girlfriend.
So he broke the man's arm without caring what the wizards thought about it. A quick silencing charm kept him from alerting them to the fact Adrian had taken offense to his comment.
Moody smirked when he saw Snape's arm and the fact he was spelled so he couldn't scream from the pain.
"I see you've meet our new reinforcements," said Moody. Snape glared at him.
Snape was glaring at Adrian with pure hate in his eyes.
"Next time you insult girlfriend, I'll do more than break your arm and make it impossible for to scream for help," said Adrian flatly, his Russian accent very thick. They had to get someone else to fix Snape's arm.
"Who the hell is this brat?" demanded Snape.
"Adrian Romanov, son of Black Widow. Ah, I see you've heard of my mother."
"You called in the son of that woman?!" said Snape in horror.
"Definitely heard of my mother. If you insult Abby again, I'll show you exactly how much I've learned from her," said Adrian chuckling.
Snape paled even more. He almost looked like a vampire, but Blade wasn't getting antsy around him so that meant he was just a shut-in.
"What exactly did he say to make you break his arm?" asked Granger, the bushy-haired girl.
"He called her a mudblood, and while you lot seem to have forgotten the origin of that particular term, I sure as Helheim haven't," said Adrian flatly.
"Anyone with eyes can tell she's a muggleborn!" snarled Snape.
"She's a first-gen, which is the proper term used in civilized countries. Only you idiot Brits seem insistent on using those ridiculous made up words. And maybe if you weren't so caught up in this bloody purity crap, you Brits might be respected outside of your little country again! Hogwarts is considered one of the worst magicals schools to graduate from! You get laughed out of any decent jobs once you leave Europe!"
"What do you mean the worst?" hissed Granger.
"It's so outdated and tied up in your little 'house' system that it fails to educate the students properly, the dungeons alone are a health hazard since there's no decent insulation and from what I've heard of your menu, it's geared straight towards a full-on heart attack since the only sport played is Quidditch, which has only a small number of people playing and the fans are quite rabid."
Hearing him tear down their school made quite a few of them bristle in anger.
"And don't get me started on the classes there. The only decent ones are Transfiguration, Charms, and surprisingly enough Potions. Though the number of potionmasters and healers coming out have dropped like a stone in recent decades," said Adrian.
Minerva perked up at hearing her class was one of the few ones he approved of. Somehow she didn't think he said that to cater to her ego though.
"Now, what exactly is his purpose?"
"He's our spy," said Moody bluntly.
"Double agent? From what I've heard from the others, he's either not a very good spy or you people haven't been reacting appropriately to the threat level these inbred morons present."
"More like both," muttered Moody.