Chapter Twenty-Five: Runaway

Helene's brain seemed to be screaming at her and she couldn't concentrate. She didn't know if it was because of what she had just encountered with Wells or because New York was just loud as always.

Crap, she had apparated in the city with a naked Bruce. How could she had been so stupid? Where the hell was her mind today? She looked around to see if anyone had seen her apparate, but the muggles seemed more distracted than usual today and she didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Helene!"

Helene looked up and saw Tony in his suit and her shoulders relaxed. "Tony, you're here."

"I'm here," he said removing the mask, he pulled her close and Helene allowed herself to be hugged by him. She hadn't realized how badly she had needed the hug until that moment. "What the hell happened? You were gone and then Bruce got you, your little friends at the ministry want to take him by the way. Probably to kill him or to lock him up in some kind of witch chamber."

"Well, we can't let that happened," she said with a grimaced. "We need to take him to the tower. Get some clothes on him, but Tony there is something that you need to know. What Bruce did today-he didn't know what he was doing. He was being mind control by Wells with the Golden Pyramid that's why he had all those outbursts, it was Wells that was controlling him. He was posing as Dr. Reynolds. He was controlling Fury too, that is the only reason that he hired me."

Tony paled as he looked from a passed out Bruce to Helene. Even though he had known Helene for months, he sometimes didn't seem to grasp what magic could do. "Are you sure?" she nodded. "Well, then how do we get rid of him?"

"We don't do anything, the people with the magic get rid of him," Helene said tightly. She could see that Tony's jaw tightened with disapproval and annoyance. He was scared, Helene could tell that much from his facial expression. No, he wasn't just scared he was terrified.

Helene softened, "Look you need to get Bruce to safety because the Ministry will get him."

Before Tony could respond a bullet hit his suit, of course it couldn't hurt him thanks to his suit. "Shit." Both of them looked towards the Muggle who had tried to shoot Tony. He was holding a gun, but he had zero facial expressions.

"Tony," Helene said, she recognized that blank look on his face, the same look that Bruce had, had. "That man-I think the muggles of the city are being mind controlled."

Tony didn't respond, he grabbed Helene and Bruce and headed towards a safe area. "How can he do that? You said it takes an incredible amount of magic to control one person, how can he be controlling the entire city?"

The color drained from Helene's face as she started looking around. "Wells said that he had placed the Golden Pyramid somewhere in the city where he could do what he wanted in one swipe."

"Any idea where that is?" Tony asked, impatiently. Helene could hear Steve asking for back up over the intercom from the suit. Helene shook her head. "Wonderful."

"The Empire State building or whatever is called." Draco said as she stepped towards them, Helene had not even realized that she had been there. Her blond hair was in a messy ponytail and there was some dirt on her cheek. "That is the tallest building in New York. It is possible that Wells placed the Golden Pyramid there to mind control the Muggles. We better hurry before he moves it."

"Helene, you and Draco can't go there by yourselves, what if Wells is there?"

"It's only going to get worse, Tony. Besides you're needed here. We'll call for back up if necessary. But we need to take care of this now." She said softly as she caressed his face. "I'll be fine. I promise."

Tony hesitated before he nodded. "Oh, all right give me a kiss." Helene smiled as she kissed him softly on the lips. He put his mask back on and flew back towards where the Avengers were.

"You sure about this?" Helene asked Draco as she looked towards the Empire State building."

"No," she answered truthfully. "But to be honest, we are running out of options. Aren't you going to get Weasley and the Muggle to help out?"

"No," Helene said. "They have kids, not to mention that they are busy with trying to control the mind control population. I guess it's down to you and me."

"I never thought I would hear you say that."

Using their brooms Helene and Draco flew towards the empire state building and saw a small Golden Pyramid on top. With caution, Helene made sure that there were no protective spells or dark spells surrounding the pyramid. Helene put her wand in her back pocket. "All clear." She said with a small frown. "Everything seems normal, Wells didn't put a protective spell or anything."

Draco snorted. "Typical, the guy is overconfident." She looked at it. "So that's the tiny thing that is causing all this turmoil. That's pathetic."

"Now, we just have to figure out how to stop the mind controlling." She tried to move the arrow to the neutral standpoint, but it wouldn't budge. "Oh, come on you stupid thing."

"There's writing on the bottom," Draco pointed out as Helene turned up the pyramid to get a closer look. "Red is reborn. Engulfed in flames. A thousand lives in one. What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"It's a riddle," Helene said. "We need to figure it if we want to move the arrow. What could it possibly mean?"

"Fire?" Draco guessed.

Helene shook her head. "Fire doesn't have a thousand lives." She and Draco came up with a few more suggestions before coming up blank. Helene suddenly remembered about the conversations that she had, had with Dumbledore years prior about Fawkes. "Phoenix. Phoenixes are red, they are covered in flames, and they are reborn." They heard a small click and Helene managed to move the arrow to the neutral side. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Helene placed the pyramid on the floor and pointed her wand to it.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked confused. "We need to return that back to the Ministry."

"Why? So it can get stolen again, no thanks." Helene pointed her wand again. She was going to use the redactor curse and destroy it once and for all. "I might as well get rid of it right now." Draco looked like she wanted to argue, but kept her mouth shut. "Reductor."

The silver sparks coming from her wand jumped against the pyramid, but instead of becoming dust the silver sparks seemed to hit her back and engulf her in brightness.

-End of Chapter Twenty-Five-

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