15 – All Falls Down

Harry glanced at Steve as they stood side by side on the jet, Loki sat silently in chains behind them. Romanov was in the pilot's chair, with Barton sat beside her. Thor had taken the seat across from his errant brother, and was deftly striking his hammer against his palm. Janet was grinning as she repeatedly shrunk down, poked Loki's cheek, and zipped back to her original seat. The Asgardian rebel scowled at her each time, but said nothing. Steve glanced at Harry briefly before returning his glare to Loki.

Harry sighed. He'd never really been much for this teammate stuff; in Hogwarts, he'd had help from his friends, but usually he had been the one to finish the job. Over a decade with the Dursleys had taught him the dangers of blind trust. Steve was different however; he wasn't like Harry. The captain, for all his battles, had never had to deal with trust issues, had never been betrayed. He had a feeling he would have to start treading carefully around Steve Rodgers. Edwin wouldn't thank him for shattering his old friend's faith in humanity after all.

"So," the young wizard began, uncharacteristically subconscious as the captain glanced at him, "you fought well out there. Always jump out of planes with no parachute?" He chuckled, smiling at the captain, whose lip curled upwards slightly. Harry grinned.

"He does smile!" he shouted happily. Steve snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Is everything a joke to you, Tony?"

"Only the funny things; you'll be happy to know I am capable of occasional bouts of seriousness."

Steve sighed, muttering something that sounded distinctly like Starks under his breath, before glancing once more at Loki.

"So," he began, turning his attention back once more to Harry, "is it always this easy in the future?" the smile slipped off of Harry's face as he too glanced at the demigod. He was hoping it was his imagination, but if he wasn't the only one to have noticed...

"No," he grinned at Steve; time for some good-natured ribbing, "then again, you were pretty quick on your feet down there, after all; you know, for a fossil." Steve turned away, walking over and sitting down next to Janet. Harry snorted as he sat next to Thor, watching the latter's brother who merely stared back at him, blue eyes gleaming. Harry smiled slightly at Loki, before leaning back in his chair.

"We have to stop meeting like this, wouldn't you agree Loki? We don't want to make a habit out of me handing you your arse now do we?"

"Oh no, Stark, we certainly can't have that," his grin turned predatory as he leaned forward to whisper in Harry's ear, "after all, I don't want to end up like Riddle, now do I?"

Harry's breath hitched. "Oh yes," Loki continued, "agent Thomas was very talkative when it came to you; is Thomas really his real name, though I wonder? Or did he also take a pseudonym, Stark?" he pulled back, sitting in his own chair once more. He grinned at Harry, stretching his arms as far as the chains would allow, and raising his arms placatingly as Steve moved to restrain him once more.

Thor glanced between them curiously. "What did he say to you?" he asked cautiously. Still glaring intensely at Loki, Harry shrugged.

"'Oh, look at me, I'm a lunatic, and I'm taking over your planet' the usual crap" Harry stated, still shaken. Clint snorted as Loki grinned at Harry leaning back in his seat once more and closing his eyes.

Steve stood, making his way over to Harry. he sat beside the wizard, peering at him for several moments before turning his gaze towards Loki sitting casually across from them, humming a faint tune under his breath.

"What's the song Rockstar?" Barton called over his shoulder, even as he helped Romanov pilot. Loki ignored him, still staring straight at Harry across from him. Steve, who had been glancing at the shield on his lap, glanced up.

"God save the king," he replied, faintly, as he glanced between Harry and Loki. Harry felt his breath hitch in his throat. He knew; he wasn't sure how, or what, but somehow, Steve had figured it out. He just wasn't sure how much it was. Confronting him on the jet wasn't an option, considering their present company, but Harry would need to find out what Steve had guessed, and reassure him he was no threat. If for no other reason than for Edwin's sake.

Janet tilted her head as she watched the super soldier. "Alright there, cap?" she asked with a cheerful grin, "looks like you've seen a ghost. That, or you're really desperately trying to hold one in." Steve's head snapped up to meet her gaze.

"Fine, Miss. Just confused about a couple of things". Janet nodded.

"Not to worry," she replied, gleeful as ever, "Tones and Hank will figure all this out," she grinned at Loki as she poked him in the cheek.

"D'you hear that, god boy?", she asked patronizingly, as though speaking to a particularly naughty puppy, "Tony and Hank are going to figure you out". Still staring at Harry, Loki smirked.

"I'm going to gut you last, woman. And I'm going to enjoy it."

"aha".

Harry sighed.

"Wasp, don't antagonise the alien god please"

"But Tooooney, he was so boring! Easy, I barely got a go at all!"

'Too easy,' he thought grimly 'that's what worries me most'.

- HPIM –

"And after helping SHIELD with Loki, they could get my dad off our backs, which means we might be able to finally settle down and get married. Bruce? Bruce?" she rolled her eyes as she pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and huffed. Bruce wasn't listening to a word she was saying; he had rolled out of the bed and trudged over to the glass infirmary wall. A strange procession was walking past them. Tony and Captain America were walking ahead, wasp was at the back, behind the two SHIELD agents, chatting amicably with the huge blonde 'Asgardian' it was the figure in the middle of their bizarre group, behind Tony and in front of the spies, that had seized Bruce's attention however; a dark-haired figure in black and green leather, chained and cuffed. He tilted his head to glance at them, blue eyes gleaming as he smirked at her boyfriend, and mouthed something at Bruce she did not catch.

Bruce slammed his fist on the glass, and the entire room shook as Betty jumped out of her seat in shock. Bruce stalked out of the room, as she called his name, rushing after him.

- HPIM –

She frowned as she stood silently, watching Stark and Rogers hand Loki over to the waiting SHIELD agents for detainment. She didn't know the captain well, certainly not as well as she'd come to know the billionaire, but it was clear there was something wrong here; Steve Rogers, whilst great at many things, was terrible at hiding his emotions. There was some issue here between the two heroes, and she felt confident in placing money on the fact it had nothing to do with simple testosterone or fragile male egos. She'd certainly seen enough of those to know this wasn't that.

As fury entered the room to stand beside the two man, watching Fury silently, she stood to attention.

"Stark, I know you're an expert on the tesseract after studying it so extensively. I want you to take a lab and see if you can track it down. Romanoff, show the good captain around the ship."

"Sure thing, boss. This way cap."

Together, she and the veteran left the billionaire and Fury with the insane would-be conqueror.

"Where to first, Cap?"

"Wherever I can get something to eat and room to think."

"Mess hall then. C'mon."

- HPIM –

Harry rolled his eyes as he tossed his jacket on the handle to the door of the lab; for a high security agency, SHIELD sure seemed content to let he and JARVIS run wild in their files. It was almost too good an opportunity to pass up, if the cube wasn't his primary concern. Of course, that didn't mean the AI couldn't download the files to decrypt later, of course. He plopped down into the chair they had set up in the centre of the lab, rolling it towards the main computer. He booted it up, hooking JARVIS into the systems.

"Contact Edwin first, this will be quicker if we have him to help catalogue all our data on the cube. And contact the infirmary. See if Bruce is up for lending a hand." In response, the screen flickered, and Edwin's concerned face met his own.

"Are you alright?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure yet. Things aren't adding up over here. Loki surrendered too easily. Last time, he was all but kicking my ass, and Clint's."

"You have gotten stronger since then. Perhaps he was not sure he could take you and Steve at the same time, especially with Thor as well. Don't forget he would have known you and his brother handled Doctor Banner."

"That's the other thing, Ed. Steve's acting strange." Edwin frowned, removing his glasses as he rubbed his eyes.

"Do you think -?"

"He's onto us? Yeah, he's worked something out, I'm just not sure what yet. I feel horrible, Edwin, he's your friend, we have to tell him. At least some of it."

"Good," came a sharp voice from behind him, "because I've got some questions, starting with this one; who's Riddle?"

- HPIM –

The girl was infuriating. She was prattling on about SHIELD, Banner, and her father. It was giving him a headache. And he had more important things to concern him than puny Banner's love life. Ever since Banner had birthed him as a child in response to his father's abuse, he had served his role as protector and hated his host for chaining him down in his psyche. Then, the accident.

Somehow, for reasons beyond his understanding, when Banner's experiment failed, he had awoken to protect him from the radiation. Instead of killing them both, the gamma had been absorbed into his cells. Since then, he had possessed incredible power, as the strongest being on Earth. And yet, despite that strength, he was trapped; trapped in a prison of Banner's own making. The coward had buried him even deeper in his subconscious even sought to rid himself of him, by means of a 'cure'. Puny Banner did not understand the simple truth; he could not be cured, because he wasn't a disease. Like it or not, they needed one another to survive. The puny coward would have been smashed years ago without him, though the mild scientist had his own uses. It was easier to hide when you didn't walk around constantly as a huge green bestial wild man, for one. As strong as he was, the idea of constantly living on the run from those who wanted to kill him for the threat he posed to their fragile little world did not appeal.

So, for the sake of convenience, he had stood quietly by and tolerated. Tolerated being abused and feared by his own maker. Tired being imprisoned and sealed within a body that was rightfully his own. Tolerated Banner's weakness. No more. Loki had seen to that, and now Loki would pay the price. He smirked cruelly as Banner's – his – eye's pulsed green, and the puny soldiers, seeing his host shaking and screaming to keep him in check as he stalked towards them, turned and ran in terror.

"HULK SMASH PUNY GOD!"

- HPIM –

They stepped into the mess hall already seated at one of the tables was Miss Janet and her husband, Doctor Pym, across from her. The doctor had thrown a lab coat over his suit and removed his mask. His wife was still wearing her own full costume. Steve beelined straight for the couple, not even bothering to check if Romanov was still following him. Wasp spotted him approaching, and waved in her hyperactive way. Pym tilted his head back around over his shoulder.

"Captain" the other man greeted.

"Doctor. I was hoping to speak with the two of you, if you had time."

"Of course,", the doctor nodded.

"Eh…What's up Doc?" Wasp blinked. Steve sighed.

"You're friends with Stark, right?"

Hank nodded. "He's closer to Janet, I'd say, but yeah. For a few years now."

"You like him then, I take it."

Janet nodded. "Tony's great. He's a good guy, and he doesn't take himself too seriously." She looked pointedly at her husband.

"How well do you actually know him?"

"Reasonably well, I'd say," Doctor Pym replied, "maybe not so well as Edwin, Pepper, Happy, or Luna, but definitely better than most. Why?"

"Loki mentioned something strange, and I was hoping you could fill me in; who's Riddle?"

Hank frowned. "I've never heard the name before, I'm afraid." Janet tilted her head.

"Now you mention it," she replied, "Tony once said something strange to me after he first became Iron Man, though it wasn't to do with anyone named Riddle." Steve gestured for her to go on.

"I never really thought about it," she stated, glancing at her husband, "but when Pepper was kidnapped by Stane, he called her Hermione." That was all Steve needed to hear. He turned to the spy, who had made her way over to them with a coffee cup in each hand.

"I want to go to Stark's lab next. You two coming." They glanced at one another warily before nodding.

Romanov led them down the hall and up several flights of stairs before gesturing to the open lab space. Stark was facing away from them, deep in conversation with Edwin.

"I feel horrible, Edwin, he's your friend, we have to tell him. At least some of it."

"Good," Steve replied, "because I've got some questions, starting with this one; who's Riddle?"

Stark rolled the chair around to face them, he and Edwin staring at the four of them in silence. Janet slowly stepped forward to stand next to Steve, clearly uncomfortable.

"And, why did you call Pepper Hermione?"

The billionaire sighed, running a hand through his shock of black hair. He glanced warily at Edwin before turning back towards them.

"There is a lot I need to tell you. I should have told you three a long time ago, really" he glanced at the others as he spoke, before turning back to Steve.

"The truth is, I wasn't born Tony Stark. My real name is – "

The helicarrier beneath them shook violently. Steve placed a hand on Janet's shoulder to steady her. A bloodcurdling scream rent the air.

"HULK SMASH PUNY GOD!"

- HPIM –

The flying fortress shuddered and lurched dangerously towards the ground. The force of the tremors threw Fury off his feet, and he smirked watching the thus far unflappable stoic little human rolling around on the floor like a toppled barrel of the allfather's finest ale. A second tremor rocked the ship, agent Thomas 'apparated' as he called it into the cell block, glancing at fury for less than a second before striding calmly towards the controls for his cell.

"HULK SMASH PUNY GOD!" Loki grinned; the beast was free.

"Show time".