I can hardly believe the response this has been getting. Thank you all so much! This month has blown every other month out of the water in terms of reader view count.
I can't believe it's only been a week since I last updated. It feels like longer somehow. Student teaching is great, and the drive isn't bad either.
Whoops, I just remembered Muggles can't even see Hogwarts because of a Muggle-Repelling Charm. I think it said they see ruins, or suddenly remember they have something to do so they leave. I mean, I guess Bucky was very focused on leaving, but he definitely saw the castle.
Also I'm pretty sure using all that magic against Bucky would violate the Statute of Secrecy... maybe I'll have that come up later.
Judging from the fields and mountainous terrain surrounding them, as well as the accents of some of the customers of Honeydukes, the Asset James estimates he is in Scotland's highlands. Still in the United Kingdom, but not in England where the mission had started.
Every step is tense as the Asset James waits for HYDRA agents or the enemy asset to converge. It is easy to disappear in the mountains, but he is certain he is being followed, tracked, hunted.
GET TO THE BASE. BATCAVE.
Harry the Handler has not provided sufficient intel for locating the base. The Asset James does not know where Gotham City is located in relation to Scotland.
HYDRA and the enemies with weaponized sticks who called themselves witches and wizards are not the only dangers the Asset James needs to protect Harry the Handler from. He listens intently to the scurrying and scampering in the mountains, constantly on the lookout.
After 7.6 minutes, Harry the Handler asks why everyone had shouted his name. The Asset James replies "You are being hunted by many organizations."
The boy frowns, clearly wondering why anyone would be after him. "You won't let bad guys eat me?"
"Anybody cannibals will have to get through the Batman James." This promise means less when he is defective, when the enemies possess weapons that he is powerless against.
"Are you able to paralyze the enemies, as they did to the Batman James." the Asset sees his handler's confused expression and amends "Make them not move."
"I can't beat them up." Harry the Handler whispers. "But you can."
WEAPONIZED STICKS ARE TOO POWERFUL. THEY IMMOBILIZE THE ASSET.
That is the problem.
"You may need to protect yourself if the Asset James is compromised. It is malfunctioning, and may become inoperable before it is maintained, corrected, wiped." The Asset Jame's voice stays flat and submissive, even as the body tingles with phantom pain at the thought of correction and the Chair.
"But you're a hero. You haf'ta win."
The Asset glances at the weaponized stick disguised under a pink umbrella. The enemies had greater control of their abilities than his handler- was that due to the weaponized sticks themselves, or age and experience.
He slowly hands the umbrella over to the handler, who holds it as warily as an inexperienced civilian would hold an explosive. "You might be able to stop the enemies with this."
The boy slowly opens the umbrella with the weaponized stick, pointing it upward. The leaves above them rustle in the absence of wind, then fall from their trees despite it being the wrong season. Harry the Handler drops the umbrella with a terrified expression. The Asset James folds it up again, and tucks it away.
He picks the boy up and resumes walking. If the boy cannot fight reliably and the Asset is defective, they must avoid another encounter with the enemies at all costs.
"Who's the Boy Who Lived?"
The Asset James suspects it is a boy who survived an assassination attempt. He wonders if HYDRA had sent the Soldier to kill the boy and his family. Had he defected then as well, spared the young boy? He does not remember but surely HYDRA would have corrected that malfunction before sending him to bring them the boy. Clearly, they hadn't.
After 20.5 minutes, Harry begins to wriggle to be set down, staring intently at a snake basking in the sun on a log.
Studying the dark, zippered pattern on its gray back, he holds his handler out of reach. The snake is likely venomous.
PROTECT.
The Asset James wants to continue to hold his handler out reach of the snake's fangs. Snake bites are not quite cannibalism, but they are to be avoided. The boy has shown enhanced healing, but the Asset James is unsure if that extends to venom.
Still, he must obey. He watches the boy crouch near the snake, watching but not touching.
Suddenly, the boy begins to hiss.
The snake waits and hisses in what appears to be a reply.
Harry the Handler looks back at the Asset James expectantly, waiting for an answer to some question he does not know. Not knowing sends a chill through his body, though he does not show any outward signs of it.
REPLY
Failure to answer his handlers always results in punishment.
"You'll leave her alone?" the boy asks, presumably about the snake. He appears more confused than angry about having to clarify the question. The Asset James nods.
The boy hisses with the snake some more, looking around in excitement.
The snake slithers away, and Harry stands up, turning back to the Asset James, who waits for correction or a briefing.
"Can we go?" Harry asks, as if he needs the his soldier's permission.
"The mission is to get to the Batcave."
The boy points at the snake, which has stopped slithering, almost as if waiting for them. "She says there's caves."
"The snake said it." The Asset James phrases it as a statement, as if he is merely repeating the briefing, even though the voice in his head sounds confused. Is the boy imagining it? He dismisses that thought. It is not his place to question his handlers.
Harry the Handler stumbles slightly as he follows the snake over a rock. The Asset James ensures his handler does not fall as they walk for 5.4 minutes, at a much slower pace than the Asset James is accustomed to.
Harry the Handler stares dubiously at a small cottage. "Under there?"
His face falls after a few more unintelligible hissed sentences are exchanged, and he doesn't follow when the snake slips away. The Asset James remains by his handler.
Harry the Handler assesses him and asks "You don't like snakes?"
"That snake appeared to be an ally, not a threat."
"Why didn't you talk ta her?"
"The Batman James does not understand hissing."
Harry the Handler gives a look that says the Asset James was not paying attention, that he'd failed to notice obvious intel. It is a dangerous look to see on a handler's face, no matter how young.
"We talked... normal." Harry the Handler frowns in confusion. "Jus' talking like now. You hear-ed it, right?"
He had heard it, but had not even recognized that as being a language. The Asset James does not consciously remember learning any of the languages he is fluent in, but he remembers everything from this mission and knows Harry the Handler had not briefed him on a way to communicate with snakes.
He's malfunctioning more and more.
The handler does not comment on his defective performance, instead giving a briefing on the conversation. "She didn't know Gof-fam. Or that I'm Harry."
The inner voice questions how a snake would know any of that.
"The snake was not a reliable informant," the Asset James surmises.
"She said she can bite da bad guys if she sees them, but you already beat-ed 'em up."
THE ENEMIES WERE NOT ELIMINATED.
"The enemies will still pursue you. You need to get to a safe base. The Batcave." He surmises from the handler's dubious look at the cottage "The Batcave is not under there."
"He has the biggest house in the world."
That would have been useful intel to have been briefed on earlier, the Asset James thinks, while observing an elderly couple sit down to dinner in the cottage. The clock behind them shows it is 1732.
Harry the Handler's stomach growls as he looks at the meal, but he makes no comment about wanting food.
The Asset James could break in, incapacitate the occupants and set up a temporary base to retrieve intel vital for the mission. Harry the Handler could eat.
Someone could notice the couple's absence. The children or grandchildren occupying numerous photographs on the wall could call, alert the authorities when their relatives do not answer the phone. The Asset would easily disappear by the time authorities arrived, but it would still leave a trail for their pursuers.
NOT AN IDEAL BASE
One photograph of three little girls sends images of brown hair and youthful smiling faces flashing through his mind. An ambush of young girls shout "Bucky!" as they run to someone who is not him. Other girls fighting, firing guns. Lined up at attention in front of the Soldier.
The Asset James tears his eyes away, forcing his thoughts back to the present and ignoring the voices in his head. He resumes walking, while Harry the Handler tries to stifle the noise of his stomach with his hand.
"We could ask a 'nother snake." Harry the Handler's tone suggests he expects the idea to be immediately rejected and scorned.
FIND A SNAKE
The Asset James finds another cottage first, 0.7 km down the road. A safe base is more important than a snake, even as an informant. The dark windows and absence of a vehicle indicate it is unoccupied. The occupants could have simply vacated the premises temporarily.
Breaking into the cottage is simple. He leaves the lights off to avoid detection, never ceasing to listen for the sound of a car returning. He will be able to disappear undetected before they enter the house.
The refrigerator is empty. It is unlikely anyone resides here currently. The Asset wonders if it is a safe house for an agent somewhere. He does not remember any HYDRA safe houses in Scotland.
He finds a box of wafers and a jar of peanut butter in the pantry. As the Asset James arms himself with the kitchen knives, Harry the Handler quickly begins spreading the condiment on the wafers, arranging them on a plate and pushing it toward the Asset James.
The Asset James eats mechanically. Handlers typically have him consume nutrients intravenously.
Both the voices in his head fret about the handler.
Harry's gotta eat too.
THE HANDLER REQUIRES SUFFICIENT NUTRIENTS.
He cannot cannot order his handler to eat, so he says "Proper nourishment is necessary for optimum performance and survival."
Watching the boy eat, and catch crumbs with his small hands, fills the Asset Jame's chest with a strange warmth. It is the mission, to ensure his handler's safety, but that is not usually accompanied by warmth. The boy's smile increases the feeling.
The Asset James is still not used to this feeling, despite its occurrence over the days since finding the boy in the cupboard. He is not supposed to have them.
He searches the cottage for snakes, and, after receiving permission from the handler, slips a shirt on under the dusty black robe and ties a cloth around his mouth and nose, obscuring his face. He should not have allowed the enemies to see his face in the first place. He should have eliminated them, but they are too powerful.
Next, he starts up a computer. He is not sure when he was taught to use one but he is certain this technology had not been around the entire time he had been the Soldier. It must have been invented sometime when he was in cryo, and the new, unauthorized voice in his head won't shut up about "the things they make nowadays." It sounds awed, excited.
The computer is still not fully powered on after 3.9 minutes. The Asset James observes the handler arranging magazines on a coffee table.
The boy suddenly jabs a finger at one magazine with a mansion on the cover. "It's here!"
The Asset glances at the mansion depicted. It seems far too large to function simply as living quarters, so the handler's assessment that there is a secure base stocked with everything they could possibly need inside is logical.
There is likely even a chair, where the Asset James can be maintained, can be rid of the unauthorized voice and visions. He will be wiped before once again being given the mission to protect Harry the Handler. The mission will be more successful without his malfunctions.
"It's Batman's house." Harry the Handler declares, though the cover reads The Home of Tony Stark. The Base of Iron Man.
The Asset James realizes his handler cannot read. Should he correct him, or is the magazine printed lies? It could be a trap, a test of his loyalty and trust toward his handler.
"That says Iron Man." The Asset James awaits punishment, but none comes.
Harry nods, accepting the correction. "He has to know Batman! They're both superheroes. Do you know them, too, 'cos you're a hero?"
"No," the Asset James replies, simply. Something about the name Stark strikes him as familiar. A former target? A former handler?
He suddenly remembers, when killing the occupants of the car, the woman had shouted the name Howard, while he killed the man. The Asset had killed the man, set it up to appear he had died at the wheel. How had he forgotten? He is supposed to provide accurate mission reports.
That mission is irrelevant to the name Stark, he thinks. He was not told the target's names, does not know why the name Howard would be connected to Stark.
Flipping through the magazine, the Asset James sees photos of the interior of the house, a couple red-and-gold suits of armor that almost rival the prosthesis in their design.
"He can prob'ly fix your star arm." the handler suggests. "He has a flying robot suit. Dudley said. But he didn't buy drills from Uncle Vewr-non so I got a beating."
The Asset James clenches the damaged prosthesis, wanting to strangle Vernon Dursley again. No, he wants his death to be slower, more painful as he is slowly eviscerated.
VERNON DURSLEY IS ALREADY ELIMINATED.
He knows this, knows he should not want things, even if the want is to successfully eliminate a target.
Still, the Asset James fumes. Nobody should treat his handler in that manner, and punishing the boy for something he didn't even do-
Sounds familiar, doesn't it, pal?
He ignores the voice, which speaks nonsense. The Asset deserves every punishment it is given.
He snaps his attention back to the task, noticing the computer has finally booted up. After a few searches, the Asset James surmises that Tony Stark is perhaps the most qualified person alive to fix the prosthesis, judging from all the technological innovations the man has invented.
The new voice won't shut up about those suits, either. They look highly efficient, obviously weaponized. The Asset James nods in approval.
He searches for the Batcave as well, but that information appears to be classified. Everything claims it is fictional, and there are drawings as well as photos of a man dressed in a dark, bat-eared hood and cape.
The Asset James turns to his handler. "The mission is to have Tony Stark- Codename: Iron Man- repair the prosthesis and provide intel on the location of the Batcave."
Severus does not simply walk in a random direction from Hogsmeade in search of the boy. That is what a foolish Gryffindor would do.
Severus's headache pounds in his head. This should have been over when they finally brought Harry to Hogwarts, but now he's chasing after them again. How many times are they going to play this game of cat-and-mouse?
He summons the invisibility cloak, which he should have brought in case they'd been ambushed when entering the Whomping Willow or in the Shrieking Shack. Severus blames his lack of sleep and the mountains of new information for the oversight.
Even exhausted, he plans. His thoughts feel slower, which is not ideal. He wonders if The Trace could be used to track the boy, but Potter is not the only underage wizard in Hogsmeade, and there is no guarantee he will use magic in the near future.
He uses the same owl trick to track them down to a cottage in the surrounding highlands.
Severus observes the boy and the soldier flipping through a magazine containing muggle, non-moving photographs of an elaborate mansion.
Severus knows better than to engage the Asset again. The man is clearly more the Winter Soldier than James Buchanan Barnes, despite his past. He could, of course, immobilize the man again, except he had escaped even that. Severus wonders if Potter had used accidental magic to free the man.
Severus remains under the invisibility cloak, and casts Expecto Patronum. The silvery doe runs silently toward the cottage, leaping through the closed window and landing in front of them.
He watches the soldier tense, reaching for a knife, but the boy stares at the doe in awe. The boy slowly reaches out to touch the glowing animal.
Severus could speak through the Patronus, but them hearing his voice would definitely not end well. Instead, the doe turns away and slowly heads for the door, gesturing for them to follow it.
Potter stands up, gripping the magazine as he follows the symbol of his mother. The Soldier trails behind him, silent, like a deadly shadow.
As they exit the cottage, Potter shows the doe the magazine. "We wan' ta go here. Iron Man's house. Can you help? The snake didn't."
Severus briefly puzzles over the snake comment. Surely the boy can't speak Parseltongue, can he?
Severus makes his Patronus lead the pair over to where he stands hidden under the cloak. Glancing at the magazine in the doe's silver light, he sees from the captions that it is indeed Tony Stark's house depicted in the photos.
With the combined protection of the Winter Soldier and Iron Man, surely the boy will be safe and no longer Severus's concern. He's not entirely sure Dumbledore has the boy's best interest at heart, either. He'd taken a vow to protect the boy, but if Dumbledore placed him with Petunia Dursley in the first place, there's no telling where Harry will end up next.
Severus grabs onto the boy and man and apparates before the Winter Soldier can throttle his invisible attacker.
After more of that horrible, twisting tornado feeling, Harry squeezes his eyes shut. He manages to not throw up this time, but only barely. His stomach churns and he tastes vomit in his mouth.
He doesn't want to be in the castle again. That doe wouldn't hurt him like those nasty bad guys, would it? It had seemed so gentle and warm and Harry trusted it immediately, like a long-forgotten memory.
Opening his eyes, he sees Iron Man's house, which looks even bigger in real life than on the magazine. Perched on the edge of a cliff, it looks like it could eat the Dursleys' house for breakfast. Harry thinks the difference between this house and the Dursleys' is like the difference between Dudley and himself. One is incredibly large and looks like it has everything; the other is small and plain.
He bites his lip worriedly. Why would Iron Man let a worthless boy like him in his house?
To his immense relief, his Batman James is still with him this time. He isn't being dragged away by that other man. Harry clings to his robe, just in case, whispering in awe. "We're here."
His Batman James climbs through an open window with Harry in his arms.
Suddenly a voice appears out of nowhere. "Freeze, intruders. Identify yourselves."
Harry freezes, glancing around and seeing no one. He feels his Batman tense next to him.
"Alfred?" Harry asks slowly. The voice sounds like Batman's butler, and speaks the same way Harry does (both Batman and his Batman Jame's voices sound different from anyone where Harry lived with the Dursleys).
He's always imagined cleaning and cooking with Alfred would be a lot better than doing chores for his aunt. He doesn't think Alfred would yell at him as much, even though he's worthless, and he'd even get to see Batman.
"I am Jarvis, not Alfred." the voice doesn't sound angry, but Harry's Batman James still looks like he's about to fight. "Please state your business for trespassing onto Mr. Stark's property."
Harry glances at James, who remains silent. Harry isn't sure why they're talking about business now, but he blurts out without thinking "My uncle tried 'ta do bus-ness with him. He works at Ger-unnings. But Mr. Stark didn't get any drills so I got a-" he shuts his mouth hastily.
"You are drill salesmen?" the voice- Jarvis, not Alfred- asks. He has that same tone that Harry heard Alfred use on the telly, he's not serious but he's not laughing either.
"I'm not interested!" another voice calls out, and Tony Stark walks into the room. Harry recognizes him from the magazines his Aunt read. She loved to gossip about his latest "scandalous fling" whatever that meant.
"You see, I've got all the top-of-the-line tools, and I really don't need any crappy drills from Grunnings-" Mr. Stark's eyes widen at Harry. "Hey, since when did Boy Scouts start selling drills? Where's your uniform, kid? Don't you need a uniform with badges and stuff? Why are you in my house instead of on my doorstep? Jarvis, did you let them in?"
The man says this all very fast, barely pausing for breath.
"I did not let them in sir. They entered through the window."
Mr. Stark looks at James. "Okay, wow, you look like you're two seconds away from murdering me. Who are you?"
"The Batman will not harm you if you cooperate." James speaks flat, like a robot again.
"Did you just call yourself Batman?" Mr. Stark looks like he's shocked and trying not to laugh at the same time. "Because you're wearing the mask the wrong way. You know, he covers his eyes and leaves his mouth bare, but you've got your mouth covered like some kind of western bandit."
"He's not the real Batman." Harry scoffs before he can stop himself.
"Yeah, no kidding, kiddo." Mr. Stark mutters.
"A huge bad guy broke his arm." Harry explains. "Can you fix it?"
"Sorry, no can do. I'm not a doctor." Mr. Stark says, and Harry feels his Batman go even more rigid. "I've got the best doctors in the world on call, I could get one of them to help, but-"
Harry frowns, hoping he doesn't mean the witch doctor. "Robot doctors?"
"Robots?" Mr. Stark grins, suddenly interested.
"You haf' ta fix his robot arm. Please. The bad guys broke it. He's a hero like you."
Harry looks towards where the arm is hidden in the sleeve. James stares back at him, then quickly sheds the robe and pulls up the shirt sleeve. His eyes shift over to Mr. Stark and he says "Fix the prosthesis and provide the coordinates to the Batcave."
Mr. Stark whistles, practically bouncing with excitement at the sight of the metal arm. "Well, would you look at that beauty? Guys, you came to the right place. I can't wait to get my hands on that arm."
"Sir, I'm not sure this is a wise decision-" Alfred, no, Jarvis starts to stay, but Mr. Stark cuts him off.
"Can it, Jarvis. How often will a chance like this just come by?" Mr. Stark grins and beckons them with a hand. "Follow me, I'll get started on that arm, so long as you don't kill me first."
Yay, Tony shows up! This should be a lot of fun.
The snake Harry was talking to was an Adder.