A/n: Had trouble with this chapter and thus, the delay. But on the bright side, I'm almost finished with the Thor arc of the story.
"This is interesting." Harry peered through the glass. It was much more than that. The systematic movement of machines- doing things on their own reminded him of the Weasley's kitchen. Molly Weasley did handle her kitchen so fluidly.
"Wait till you see our RnD department. We've got state of the art laboratory and scientists working round the clock, developing new products. You must've heard about our intellicrops, project." Harry nodded his head in amazement. This was a totally different side of Tony Stark he had never seen before.
'This is where all the creativity comes from.' Harry mused, seeing the passion in Tony's eyes. Harry was just happy to go with the flow, wondering if his friend's scientific mind would freeze if he saw the magical world.
"You see this area," Tony waved his hands at the bunch of scientists milling around. "That used to be weapons development. But now it's being replaced with research and breakthroughs in medicine."
Harry looked over, thinking about the security nightmare this would bring him, if he were to work with them. He didn't want an information leakage, or other companies knowing about his endeavor, just yet.
"So what do you think?" Tony asked. They were sitting in a large conference hall. Harry nodded his head.
"It's beautiful." Harry said. "You never told me you became the C.E.O." He said narrowing his eyes.
"Wanted to be a surprise." Tony said, smirking. Harry smiled, thinking about his stepping down from the company. He had painted a large target over his head and wanted to draw attention of Hydra away from his company.
"You don't seem to be doing much C.E.O'ing." Tony laughed nervously, thinking about the stack of documents lying on his table. Frankly, he was thinking about Pepper, the only one he still trusted with all his secrets and was debating over going through with the decision.
He'd lose his personal secretary but she'd get things done in the company.
"This seems interesting. But considering the amount involved, I'd rather not take risk to divert from the time tested process. However, I'll make one batch here." Harry said, finally.
Tony plastered a smug grin on his face and nodded in agreement.
"I'll require a grinder." Harry said nervously to the group of engineers taking down his every spoken word. "The kind you grind tomatoes and spinaches when you want a fine paste." It was odd and unnerving seeing someone paying a hundred percent attention to whatever you are saying and then picking it apart and adding questions of their own. It made you wonder if you were able to get your point across concisely or you were just beating around the bush.
The fact that his method of making 'medicine' was not known to anyone, it was a bit of both. They tried to ask him about specifications but when he didn't know what kind- they hadn't asked about any such specifications about any kind of machine again.
So far, he had made various motions with his hands to indicate crushing and cutting all the while wondering if it was possible to setup an automated lab at all. Tony was off, doing who knows what all the while regaling the duty to Mr. Richard Freedman the GM of the Stark Industries Automated Centre. Dr. Harkins was working on performing various experiments not far from the production area.
'I hope this gets over soon.' Harry sighed.
After two days, the machines according to exact specifications had been 3D printed. Surprisingly, it had been easy to make necessary modifications as Harry could see various 3-D models of the machines he would require. And so, the machines had lined up and were ready for operation. Harry had been adamant about a select group of people able to interact with the machinery and went a step further to create a 'black' room, in which he would add the secret ingredient.
The black room had these lights in between two glasses that made it impossible for anyone to see inside while Harry could keep an eye on the whole process. The whole process easily fit into a size of a small house and so there wasn't any constructional requirements in it.
"Lets give it a go." Harry said giving a thumbs up.
The machines fired up and Harry could see the water mixing with base ingredients while a simultaneous process was going on in the black room. He had selected a different method for this batch- a longer version versus the traditional one. The water heated to an exact temperature, passing through the pressurized container mixing with the other ingredients. The concoction was then gradually cooled down as it passed through the assembly line where it would mix with the magical Dittany plant which had its essence extracted. That mixing would happen in the Black room in which only he would work.
He watched it carefully as the both ingredients mixed giving a slight pink tint which should have been a colorless liquid. Harry figured it was due to the hibiscus flower, added for and pleasant smell and to nullify the slight irritation of the skin.
Harry made a small cut on his palm and let a drop on the cut. Slowly, the cut healed and Harry couldn't even feel the slight tenderness that remained behind. Harry emptied the borosilicate flask which contained almost two liters of this medicine into small containers of various sizes.
"It's like its spraying skin." The scientist mumbled as he held the small flask carefully observing effect on his skin again. You spray the medicine and the skin knits itself up- almost like it literally sprayed skin! Harry had come up with the perfume bottle idea as it gave a unique look on the traditional tubes which in which you'd see a skin cream.
'Hmm. SkinSpray.' Harry thought and smiled. It had a nice ring to it.
"So what do you think?" Tony asked, walking confidently to the scheduled meeting with the army generals.
"What do I think?" Harry repeated, confused. "…of what?" Harry increased his pace, matching that of Tony. Tony Stark seemed different. He seemed happy and yet seemed a bit tired. Harry figured it was work at office keeping him pinned down. He was a guy which liked to chase his own dreams and had financial advisors running behind him, tearing their hair out in frustration.
It made him wonder what he was doing nowadays- aside from what he heard in the news. A series of new deals in technological centers in Europe and Asia. He was in talks with people in the Energy Sector and helping in the conflict in war-torn zones. So far, Tony Stark was helping government stabilizing and building new contracts with their government.
An extremely profitable venture for him and consequently the United States of America. And so, it made him, Harry wonder what was he asking him about.
"About this business deal." Tony said, swiping his card and looking back at him.
"I think it'll go well." Considering the astonishing human experimentations he had heard about, the most recent one which broke Harlem he was sure that his brand of medicines would receive a warm welcome without many questions about its origin. Really who in their right minds would try and infuse gamma rays in a medicine!
No wonder the army had been banned from performing further 'tests' to such a high degree of human mutation. "You've told them what exactly?" He asked, curious.
"Wanted it to be a surprise. Rhodey's been calling me up constantly asking about my health and my sex life. Yeah-" Tony smiled seeing the surprised expression on Harry's face. Rhodey had been calling up so frequently that he had nothing else to talk about. Eventually they'd get drunk and then Tony had a unique experience of seeing Rhodey in a whole new light. Going on about patriotism and women together. "Dropping in hints of wanting to see my next big invention." Lately, he had all but given up about it scheduling an appointment with them instead.
"Do they know that this next big innovation has nothing to do with your Iron Man suit?" Harry asked cautiously.
"Of-course." Tony replied, exiting the vehicle near hangar's door and looking back at him. He had clearly said it was something bigger than his suit and it was going to save a lot of lives on the battlefield.
The dynamic duo entered the office and found army generals of various division standing there to greet him.
'All these people here to see my medicines?' Harry was amazed. Was this a typical response to anything that Tony Stark presented? He gulped and put on his game face.
Harry came out grumbling and now, Tony walked behind him scratching his head and laughing nervously.
"That went well." Tony said carefully, keeping his voice flat. Harry glared balefully at him for some time and then proceeded to walk purposely towards their van. All they did was to ask about Tony Stark's suit and also started negotiation to acquire the suit. When they came to know about the exact reason of their arrival they were not in the best mood.
Like a boy's mind fixated on the coolest toy on the market, so was the case with the Army. So it wasn't a surprise that the presentation didn't go as well as they had hoped.
"But we still got the deal!" Tony said, maintaining cheerfulness.
"Only after I added two more of my product in the mix." Harry shut the army van's door with more force than that was needed. He had to put up the Burn-Salve and the pepper up potion with it and to manage it on the fly. The Army seemed very interested in the pepper up potion seeing that it gave a second wind to soldiers to keep on fighting when it was necessary.
"Yeah. Speaking of those two, how many different ones you have?"
"I don't think the Army's interested in medicines as much as they are in your suit." Harry said, looking at the complex going back in the rear-view mirror.
"Of course they are! It's cool. I made it." Tony shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Okay… Okay. I know." He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Look! It's just a phase. It'll take some time for it to die down and people will go back to make important decisions in relevant fields. I think it's time to aggressively push this drug on the market."
"Okay." Harry said, cooling down but irritated all the same.
"What different kinds of medicines you have apart from those three." Tony asked casually. "Do you have like a bone-fix or something? Or like a pain-reliever like morphine or anti-depressant medications. Or do you have something against poisoning?"
"Yeah."
"Against poisoning?" Tony asked, hopefully.
"Uh-huh. What kind of poisoning are we talking about?"
"Toxic blood kinda poison. You know like certain components harmless but then mix into blood making it poisonous. Or when you are exposed to nuclear radiation and there is a bit of radioactive poison in your system. Not lethal at first but a person has been observed to die painfully at the end of it. There have been documented cases of metal poisoning."
"Tony." Harry turned his head seeing his friend giving a long winded explanation. His tone was casual but he was getting frantic.
"Metal poisoning is pretty common. I mean. You hear cases where there was metal impurity in the water and corporations getting sued over it. But what if metal was a radioactive one. What sort of poison would it be? A pretty dangerous one I bet. You should totally focus on that kind of thing."
"Tony…" Harry narrowed his eyes.
"It's pretty far-fetched and an elaborate idea but it's a sort of poison all the same."
"Tony…" Harry said, "What's this about?"
"Well you see Harry." Tony said, grabbing hold of Harry's shoulders. He looked scared as he said the next part. "I'm dying."
"No you're not." Harry said out loud, denying it altogether. Talk about dropping a conversation stopper. Harry had cooled the temperature in the van until they were back at Tony Stark's place. They had been going back and forth his conversation- Harry denying him at every turn and Tony getting more vehement affirming it so.
"Well the blood's getting toxic and its killing me, slowly. I have maybe six to eight months more." Tony said in a serious tone.
"No you're not!" Harry said adamantly. Harry could see the death creeping into aura of people. And there was no trace of it in him.
"YES I AM!" Tony shouted and continued after a long pause. "Look do you have something for this or not."
"If that thing is killing you than take it out." Harry said pointing at the blue circle on his chest.
"Don't you think I've examined that possibility? I've even tried finding replacement for the palladium core but nothing works!" Tony said, frustrated. "That tiny pieces of metal are making its way up the heart and it's keeping it at bay.
Tony watched his friend turn his back on him taking something out of his pocket.
"Get me a glass of water." Harry said, putting the bezoar on the table and crushed it into powder on a piece of paper.
"What is that?" Tony asked seeing the black-brown powder on the piece of paper. He picked it up the paper which had the powder lined up in a straight line and took a snort of it, before Harry could say anything.
"That's not! What the hell! Tony!" Tony blinked his eyes rapidly feeling that stuff go inside. "Would you just wait for a minute?" Harry shouted at him. Tony was busy taking out his metal poison detector and taking a sample of the blood. "God!"
"Great." Tony said seeing the toxicity level at 3 percent. "Give me… Give me a… couple of puffs and I'll be right as rain!"
"Oh no no no no." Harry emphasized, each one for a different reason. "That was all that there is!" He said wide eyed unable to believe that Tony Stark had just snorted a bezoar. A fucking BEZOAR! "You are going to do something about it. Apply whatever your science mumbo-jumbo you want to-to come up with a different thing powering your reactor. You will not be Iron-Man until you figure out a way."
Tony dipped his head and looked at Harry straight in his eyes.
"Yeah." He said quietly. "How are you going to stop me?" There was a tense silence where both men sized each other up. Harry had a sly smile on his face as if he held all the cards.
"I'll tell Pepper."
"Now wait just a second-"
The pale eyes stared above, devoid of any life and the man frowned at the sudden silence. Turning around, he walked up to his father wondering why there wasn't he coughing any longer. He looked at the glassy eyes of his father and it took a moment for the reality to set in. Shaking with the suppressed rage, he closed his father eyelids.
He had endured more than any man possibly could. This was the final push, and let all the anguish, the pain he had endured through came out in a roar. He screamed again and again, letting the rage consume him.
Tony Stark would pay. He would see to it.
A/N: I hope you liked my take on the magical medicines. Not everything has to go Harry Potter's way. Sticking a bit close to cannon but in a different way. Iron-Man arc will be over in one more chapter hopefully. Not continuing with cannon with this arc any longer.