6 – The Iron Monger
She was walking out of the office when it happened. Her Stark phone began vibrating like mad. She rolled her eyes, reaching into her pocket. They had agreed years ago; a personal phone from another company for everyday affairs, and a Stark phone for emergencies. Shit the call button. Edwin's frantic voice reached her from the other end of the line.
"Miss Lovegood," the butler spoke, sounding out of breath.
"It's me, Edwin. What is it?"
"The house is under siege. Paramilitary. Mr. Longbottom is holding them off. I need to aid Mr. Potter".
She frowned, rushing for the nearest alleyway to apparate from. None of this made sense. They had had attacks and kidnappings before of course. Afghanistan had only been the latest in a long line of those. She slipped into the alley between the hospital and a rundown corporate building beside it. "What's going on?" she asked.
For a few moments, Edwin was silent. When he spoke, his next words were surprising.
"In Afghanistan. The attack on the terrorists, in Gulmira. That was Harry." She let out a sigh, rolling her eyes slightly.
"Why am I not surprised?" she muttered. Edwin chuckled.
"He's saving people thing, as Miss Granger calls it?"
"Yeah," she replied, "I guess that's why. Okay Ed. I'm coming to help Neville now. Hang tight, yeah?"
With that, hanging up, she twisted on the spot, apparating just outside the house. The sight that met her eyes was horrifying. It was just like after the battle of Hogwarts. Rubble everywhere. Nothing but destruction as far as the eye could see. Fire burned the stone and bricks. There was blood everywhere. The doors, which had been blown off their hinges, lay shattered in the foyer. She frowned. She had rather liked those doors. No doubt, she thought bitterly, the house itself would be a complete shambles.
Flicking her wand out of her pocket, and transfiguring her shirt into Kevlar, she stepped cautiously into the foyer. Shouts sounded to her left and right, and she ducked at the sound of gunfire. A bone breaking curse to the left struck the first of the two guards in the skull. He fell flat against the cracked wall, no longer moving. Her loved ones were in danger; this was no time for half measures. The second rushed forward, hurling a grenade as he went. She flicked her wand, striking the explosive device mid-flight with a blasting hex. The explosion that resulted pushed both her and her assailant back, throwing her onto the floor and the soldier into a pillar. She winced slightly as Hermione's favourite Corinthian cracked and slid towards the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces.
Luna let out a soft groan. The other woman wasn't going to thank her for that one. She slowly picked herself off of the ground, and flicked her wand towards the man lying on the ground. Her cutting cutting curse slashed his throat. Thick warm blood gushed out from the wound. The young witch rubbed her back slightly, letting out a groan. Yep, she thought drily, the Nargles would make sure she felt that in the morning. Now then. Time to find Edwin and their wayward herbalist.
-HPIM—
The lights of the city shone below them as they soared towards the company headquarters. Janet shot off ahead, shrinking down to act as a scout. This was all new territory for him. Since creating the suit, he hadn't been in a situation like this. The armour was damaged already, about to go into a fight. He was flying blind without Jarvis for guidance, and he didn't even know how much power he had left. An explosion rocked the armour, and he fell towards the ground. The missile had struck one of his rear thrusters, shorting it out and throwing off his balance. He was falling fast. The ground was rushing forward to meet him. Without Jarvis, he had no way of switching the thruster back on.
Harry slammed roughly into the cement, letting out a groan as he slowly let his head fall back towards the concrete even as the rest of his body was jerked unnaturally forwards. That was going to sting tomorrow, he thought blankly. He heard rather than saw Janet landing beside him.
"Nice catch, Wasp", he muttered drily.
"Yeah," she replied weakly, helping him to his feet. "sorry. Guess I wasn't paying attention as well as I could have been".
She rubbed the back of her neck.
"Tony", came the shout from the top of the building. Stane was standing there. Or at least, he assumed it was Stane. It was hard to tell, what with the monstrous misappropriation of his suit. Janet raised an eyebrow.
"seems a little too over the top for you, Starkie-boy". He snorted.
"Mine wasn't so ostentatious. Clearly, she's had some work done around here," he gestured to the chest area of his own suit. Janet laughed weakly as stane – because, of course it was Stane, who else? – called down from the roof.
"You come up here. Without your friend. No Funny business, you hear? Otherwise, I'll have my guys blow the building. With Pepper in the basement". He and Janet glanced at one another.
"Alright then, boss," she spoke, glancing at Stane standing above them. "What's the plan?"
Harry stared down at his boot. "I can't fly up there. But we don't want to piss him off. He's probably serious". She nodded slowly, glancing up at the roof. She stepped forward cautiously.
"Stane," she shouted, "you took out Tony's thruster. He can't fly, so I need to bring him up okay?" Stane watched them both silently for several agonising moments.
"If you leave as soon as he's up here, I'll keep the place in one piece." Janet nodded.
"Alright then," she called back, "we're on our way up". She turned to Harry. "You right with that?"
He nodded.
"Not like I've got much choice until Ed gets me back online." He tapped the side of his head, and she smiled.
"Ok then, how's about I head down stairs and get Pep out of the pickle she's in? You can deal with this fool. I know you want to kill him yourself." Harry nodded.
He'd started this how thing looking for Howard Stark's killer. Now he had found him. And he'd almost Killed Harry himself as well as Hermione at least once. Killing Obadiah Stane sounded mighty good, right about now. The other man had gone and made it personal; as far as Harry was concerned, the former chief operations officer had it coming.
Janet lifted him slowly off the ground. it was slow going, with the weight of the suit pulling them down. Stane stood silently, watching as they approached. Eventually, they were level with one another. Janet dropped him on the roof, flying off as he stood up to glare at his former COO.
"Yeah," he told the other man, stepping forward, "needless to say; you're fired."
Stane laughed. "Don't worry about me, Tony. This time I'll have a new job. Yours, you arrogant little piece of garbage."
With those words he let loose a barrage of shots from the chain guns on his wrists. It was all Harry could do to activate the shield charm runes to stop the blast. He felt the pull of the magic draining his strength. He quickly withdrew the spell, allowing the magic to seep through his hands like water through a sieve.
Still, the barrage of fire came, slamming against the suit. Sure, he thought panicking slightly, he and Edwin had designed the suit to take hits, but nothing was invincible. He let out a grunt, shooting a blast from his repulsor. The shot glanced off of the shoulder, shattering one of the gatling guns. It didn't stop the fire, but it slowed it down. Just enough that he could act. Without warning, he rushed at Stane, driving all the weight of the suit behind him. He even activated his repulsors for more velocity. Almost as soon as he began moving, he stopped, coming to a sudden halt as they came together. The roof gave way beneath them, and they fell towards the ground.
Stane pushed power into his own repulsors, lifting off from the falling concrete. Harry wound an arm around his opponent's neck, gripping as tightly as he could. As they flew higher and higher, harry clung tightly to Stane's neck. He refused to let go, even under the thunderous barrage of strikes the larger suit's gauntlets rained down on his back. He let out a slight grunt, slamming his hands against the helmet. With a shout, he released his repulsors' energy, shattering the face plate open and exposing Stane's eyes. Obie, no Obadiah – never Obie, never again – let out a snarl, and drove his gauntlets into his chest.
"You little punk," he snarled, "you just fried my targeting matrix".
Harry chuckled drily, despite the continuous force of trucks slamming down on his chest.
"Fuess you'll have to eyeball it then, you schmuck. That's what you get for trying to murder my family, though".
A final hit slammed down on his torso. He curled into it, forcing his legs to extend outwards, applying pressure to the chest piece of Stane's abomination. He wound both his arms around the auto-cannon, and pushed his legs out as far as possible. He fell to the ground, the smoking gun, torn from the shoulder of the suit, lay limply in his hands.
For the time being at least, it seemed as though Stane was going to give him a break. He coughed, his rattled lungs forcing out air as he lay on the ground, letting out a pained groan. There was a strange flickering light coming from the other side of the courtyard. All told, Harry thought proudly, he'd done a pretty good job of keeping the fight to one place. Suddenly, there was a familiar, welcome voice in his ear, and the HUD flickered slowly to life.
"Sorry it took so long, sir", Edwin stated in his dulcet tones, "I had to hook the computers back up. Old eyes, you know". Harry couldn't help it; he broke down into peals of relieved laughter.
"Never, Ed. Never".
-HPIM—
She crept off through the halls of the house, taking down the soldiers wherever she found them. She'd picked up Neville's fallen wand on her way. Apart from the lost leg, there was no sign of his body anywhere. She hoped, by the blood stains, that he had been alive when they grabbed him. Her timing had been perfect, and the lights had switched on as she made her way down stairs. Edwin's voice called through the speakers.
"Miss, I suggest you get moving, the soldiers won't take wrong to get their way down here. Though there aren't too many remaining, and with my direction, I imagine you should be able to take care of them."
That had been a while ago, and now, he was directing her to Neville. He assured her that, indeed, her friend was still alive. That had been enough for her to hear, and now, she was leaned against a half-shattered pillar, listening to the last few soldiers preparing to loot Harry's custom car collection. She winced slightly, imagining Edwin swearing somewhere above her. He and Harry had spent several years putting this collection together, and the older Brit was justly proud of their work.
She took a deep breath, stepping out from behind her cover. They still hadn't noticed her, caught in their work as they were. She fired an imperious curse at the closest one, directing him to attack his fellow. Normally, she wouldn't use an unforgettable, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The soldier lunged at his friend, stabbing the lit cigar he had been chewing on into the back of the other one's neck. With a pained shout, the other man spun around, swinging at his companion.
She dashed down, ducking into cover between two cars. As discreetly as possible, she signalled to Neville, who nodded. In their struggle, the two men had fallen into one of the open topped cars, and swearing could be heard from within. She pressed Neville's wand into his waiting hand and helped him sit up. From inside the car, they heard a shout.
"No, Freddie! Don't!" The voice implored. Slowly, the man who had been chewing on the – no doubt stolen – cigar lifted himself out of the back of the car. He shook his head in an effort to clear it, and stared at his reflection in the window. Neville cleared his throat.
"Hey, Freddie," he called. The other man spun on his heel, "Chew on this".
He fired a blasting hex, catching him in the mouth. The body spun through the air, slamming into the back of the car, and crumpling the metal. Edwin's voice broke the stifling silence.
"Well. Don't know who's going to pe cleaning that up, but I promise you this; it won't be me."
She and Neville blinked, staring at each other for several moments. The pair burst into peals of laughter, her head leaning on his shoulder. After a few moments, Edwin joined them, the three chuckling together at the ridiculousness of their entire situation. As they settled, Luna let out a sigh. She took several breaths, patting Neville on the shoulder and resting her head once more against him.
He smiled down tiredly at her, neither one with the energy to move. "Thanks for saving me," he whispered, smiling down at her.
She grinned up at him.
"Don't mention. Your Wrackspurts are the only ones mine can stand".
He blinked silently for several moments, smiling slightly. Without warning, he chuckled once more.
"Oh Luna," he whispered, "you amaze me, you know that? Don't ever change." And just like that, brushing a hair behind her ear, he leaned in and gently planted his lips against hers. She gasped slightly, though after a moment's hesitation, she responded in kind. Winding her arm around his neck, she deepened the kiss. A surprising development, she thought to herself as they separated, but a satisfying one at that.
-HPIM—
She slipped through the doors to Stark Enterprises. Flying past the guards at the size of a bee, it didn't take her long to take them down with her stingers. Stane really should have employed smarter goons, she thought bluntly. Landing in front of the tied down Pepper she grew back to her original size. The assistant gaped at her, letting out a stunned squeal. Janet quickly severed the ropes binding her friend and helped her up. Pepper pulled free of her grip.
"What the hell are you?" she gasped, staring at her in horror.
"Oh, right," Janet replied, slapping her forehead. She removed her goggles. "It's me, I'm here to help rescue you". Pepper stared at her for several seconds. Then without warning, she sprung forward, throwing her arms around her in a tight embrace.
"Easy, Tigress," she laughed, "I still need to breath."
Her friend blushed, pulling away from the hug. "sorry about that," she murmured softly. Jan laughed. "It's alright," she told her. Pepper nodded, then stopped.
"Wait, what are you doing here? And what's with the –" she held her hands together to signal her smaller size.
"It's a long story. Involving Tony."
Pepper rolled her eyes, "of course".
-HPIM—
He sat up and looked around. Stane was knelt on one knee across from him. A series of reporters had arrived, setting up behind hastily assembled barricades. Urgently, he waved them off as he pushed himself into a standing position. Stane was shouting at him.
"You idiot", he was saying, "the suit won't work. What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
He still wasn't moving from his kneeling position on the grass. Harry strode over to a fallen stop sign, retrieving it from its resting place. Signalling for the reporters to hang back, he made his way cautiously towards his fallen opponent. What was going on with Stane's suit?
"Edwin," he asked softly, "what's the go with this? Any ideas?" it took a few moments for Edwin to answer. Eventually, when his response came, it wasn't reassuring.
"It appears, sir, based on the lack of motion, and flashing lights, you may have damaged his reactor. It is set to explode, if I had to guess".
Harry swore. He rushed forwards, grabbing the behemoth by the arms, and dragging it into the air with him.
"Edwin," he ordered, "put everything we've got into the servos in the arms and the thrusters."
"But sir, we don't have much left. We're running on axillary back-up power. This reactor wasn't built for that sort of strain".
Harry rolled his eyes, grunting with the strain.
"Just do it!" he shouted at his friend.
"Very well," was the butler's subdued response. Harry felt the speed pick up, and the weight slacken as he adjusted his grip. The continued beeping of the arc reactor in his ears was strangely soothing. Of all the ways to go, he thought darkly, this was hardly the worst one. Still he continued to rise, bringing Stane up and over the city. His grip slackened, and as the power in the suit died, he realised he was about to drop the other man. Glancing around, he spotted a half-built skyscraper along the sea front, far enough from the rest of the city that the explosion wouldn't harm anyone. Except for him and stane, that was.
"Ed," he began, smirking slightly, "how fast can you have that building bought for me?"
"It's done sir." Harry nodded, aiming for the top of the tower.
"Good. Oh, and don't wait up for me, will you?"
With that, he pushed Stane towards the basement. As he watched his screaming foe falling towards the earth, his HUD switched off, and the thrusters died.
"Oh yeah," he muttered, "that's a thing". The suit fell from the sky, hurtling towards the ground. As he slammed into the ground, Harry Potter felt a wave of heat and force slam against him, and knew no more.
-HPIM—
He woke up in a small, pristine Hospital room. Hermione and Edwin were seated by the side of his bed. The two looked up as he groaned, opening his eyes. Edwin, who noticed him first, tapped Hermione on the shoulder. She spun around, glaring at him. He smiled sheepishly at her.
"What, no hug for your poor boss?" he rasped.
Her glare darkened even further.
"That was you". She snapped at him, hand outstretched ready to strike his cheek. "In Gulmira! The suit, that was you!"
He nodded slowly, though quickly stopped. Even moving his head hurt. Her glare lessened. She ran a hand through her hair and let out a wary sigh.
"I suppose I can forgive the stupidity. Though I'd hoped you would have gotten over this recklessness by now." Harry shook his head.
"Evidently not", he replied, as he squeezed her hand softly. Hermione groaned as she ran a hand through his hair.
"You'll be wanting to shave," she told him. He frowned, raising an eyebrow.
"Why? How long was I out for?"
Hermione squeezed his hand reassuringly before Edwin answered.
"A few weeks, sir". Harry stared at him in disbelief, before snapping his gaze onto Hermione. She nodded. He winced.
"Sorry," he croaked, patting her hand. "I know I probably made a mess of it all, huh?" he told the pair, looking sheepish.
Harry's two friends glanced at each other awkwardly. He tilted an eyebrow upwards. Hermione lowered her gaze.
"Show him", she shifted uncomfortably in the seat.
Edwin slowly passed a folded-up paper to him. He slowly reached out to grab it, already having a few ideas what might have been on the front page. He placed it on his lap, unfolding it cautiously as he did so. The paper was dated the morning after his battle with Stane. There, taking centre place proudly on the front page was a photo. A photo of him with his armour destroyed and his face-plate shattered completely, lying by his side. He could vaguely remember ripping it off when a piece of jagged metal caught on his cheek.
"It was a miracle you survived," Edwin was saying, "you only took a few cuts and scrapes to the face, a few broken ribs, and you punctured your heart and lungs. From what Luna said she had to put you in a magically-induced coma".
Harry nodded slowly to show he was listening. He skimmed quickly through the article. They mostly talked about how he'd saved the city by moving Stane before the explosion. There was some speculation on why the latter had gone rogue, but not much. They had dubbed Stane the 'Iron Monger' and granted Harry himself the name 'Iron Man'.
He folded the paper up once more, tossing it off to the side.
"Well," he stated cheerily, "at least it's not hyphenated like boy-who-lived".
Hermione whacked him across the chest. He let out a grunt at the contact, though he grinned at her and winked at Edwin.
"See how she abuses me, Ed? Look what I'm forced to deal with". His butler shook his head imploringly.
Harry grinned, "You know, it's not actually Iron, the suit. Technically, it's a Titanium-Nickel Alloy, with –" Edwin shook his head once again, and Hermione glared at him.
"Don't be so glib. I will hit you again". Harry nodded.
"I'm sorry. I just figured, seeing as I'm alive – "
-HPIM—
That night, with a sling around one arm and a cane in his other hand, he was helped into Stark Manor by Edwin. Considering the damage to his house, they had elected to return to New York. That had suited Harry just fine. There was more room to work in the manor anyway. They stepped into the darkened foyer. The first alarming discovery was the lack of power when they hit the lights. Next, was the lack of response from Jarvis when Edwin called for the AI. There was movement near the back of the room. Stepping into the moonlight came a tall, dark-skinned figure. He wore an eyepatch over his bald head, and glared at the pair of them. Harry instinctively stepped in front of his friend. The stranger moved to sit on the couch, gesturing for them to take the arm chairs across from him. Neither of them moved. He shrugged.
"Suit yourselves then. Not a bad showing, Iron Man". He stated, watching them closely. Harry frowned, wishing his new suit was done and ready to go. He reached for his wand in his back pocket.
"I wouldn't bother. I won't be here long enough to come to blows. I just want to talk. Offer a deal. That fine by you, Mr. Stark? Or should that be Potter? Accounts differ".
Stunned, he and Edwin glanced at one another. Harry glared at the intruder as they took their seats across from him. He smiled.
"Alright then. So, talk."
A/N:
And that concludes Arc 1 of Harry Potter: Iron Magician, Forging an Iron Wizard, next chapter will be the interlude between Arcs, then after that comes Arc 2. Thanks for sticking with me this far, but we've got a way to go yet. Sorry to end like that, couldn't resist. Got the re-work for Arc I done, praise Merlin.
Cast list for Arc one Characters
Tony Stark / Harry Potter / Iron Man – Luke Evans
Pepper Potts / Hermione Granger – Amy Adams
Happy Hogan / Neville Longbottom – Matt Bomer
Dean Thomas – Chiwetel Ejiofor
Luna Lovegood – Evanna Lynch
Edwin Jarvis – Jeremy Irons
JARVIS – Paul Bettany
Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger – Jeff Bridges
Janet Van Dyne / Wasp - Gemma Arterton
Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow – Scarlett Johansson
Nick Fury – Samuel L. Jackson