Come Together Chapter 6 - Stark
AN:
Oni: I had to go back and fix the chapter, as I had written it a haze in the middle of the night due to lack of sleep, but oh well, life's a learning curve.
Tom: This chapter has been edited for plot mistakes and the link, grammar, punctuation, and spelling may still be lacking.
Oni: Thanks for the confidence boost, Tom.
Tom: Oni does not own Harry Potter or the MCU.
Oni: ANNNNNND ONWARDS (for the second and hopefully last time for this chapter)!
It was nearly eight o'clock in the bloody morning as Tom and Captain Rogers strode down the hidden passageways underneath London, making their way to Howard Stark's laboratory. Captain Rogers was wearing his official American army uniform, the same one he had worn the night before, while Tom was dressed in his best muggle clothes, which closely matched the transfigured outfit the he had temporarily used for the last few days. He was able to purchase a set of regular clothes after the incident with the pub, Bucky and Rogers helping him to not appear to be a complete idiot when it came to muggle clothes.
"So you've decided to drop out of school to fight?" Rogers asked with no condescension in his voice.
"I can always return to school, Captain Rogers." Tom replied simply, "I can only fight in the War once."
They walked in a comfortable silence for a while, Tom following the tall soldier through the white corridors filled with shelves, paperwork, and people bustling in and out. It was truly a muggle version of the Ministry, though Tom would bet that those who worked at the Strategic Scientific Reserve were far smarter than the Ministry idiots. Though perhaps these people were more like the Unspeakables, which made a lot more sense in his mind as soon as he thought of it.
A blonde woman in a military uniform was sitting down, reading the newspaper. Thankfully, Tom noticed as his blue eyes flickered to and fro the pages, there was no mention of the pub fight the day before, only the heroic actions of Captain America freeing hundreds of prisoners.
"Um…" Rogers mumbled, before raising his voice, "We're here to see Howard Stark."
"He's busy at the moment, he should be here shortly." the woman quipped without looking up.
Once she did, however, she had the same glint in her eye as Walburga Black. Tom shuddered at the memory. As young as the girl was, somehow she got it into her head that she was going to marry the Heir of Slytherin. A large portion of corridor time was spent actively avoiding the Slytherin girl as much as he could.
"Read about what you did." the woman said in a sultry manner, holding up the paper so that Captain Rogers could see his face on the page.
"Oh! The...yeah!" Rogers stuttered nervously, obviously uncomfortable with the tone of voice, "Well, that's you know? Just doin' what needed to be done."
It was like Tom was invisible, and the wizard surely was not going to let Bucky's good friend fall into the clutches of this blonde woman (too much like Walburga, retreat! Retreat!). He slid his wand out from under his sleeve, both hands behind his back. The woman got up from her place at the table, sitting on the desk in what Tom assumed was supposed to be a sensual manner.
"Sounded like more than that. You saved nearly four hundred men." she insisted.
"Really, it's not a big deal." Rogers answered, and Tom could tell that he meant it.
"Tell that to their wives." the woman rebutted, slowly walking up to Captain Rogers.
"Uh...I don't think they were all married." Rogers said, swallowing uncomfortably.
It was obvious she was making the poor man nervous. As inconspicuously as he could, which wasn't much considering that Captain Rogers was too busy trying not to run away from the woman that was intent on catching her prey. He waited for the right moment, attempting to catch Rogers' eye. Blue eyes with a hint of green met glittering blue that seemed to shift from deep to bright, and conveyed the message of 'HELP ME' very clearly. Tom nodded from behind the woman, a serpent ready to strike.
"You're a hero." she purred out, leaning closer.
"And you're a twat," Tom muttered under his breath, "Petrificus Totalus!"
The blonde woman in front of him had a stricken look on her face as her arms and legs suddenly snapped to the side and she fell forward. Rogers was able to catch her and lean her on the wall like a wooden board. He turned to Tom with relief and curiosity.
"Thank you." Rogers breathed out, "And what was that?"
"Full body bind jinx. Useful in certain situations. It'll wear off in a few hours, but I'll cancel it once Mr. Stark comes along."
They didn't have to wait for very long. A minute later had Agent Carter coming round the bend to greet them, a smile on her face as she saw Rogers. She took a couple steps forward before she noticed the blonde woman paralyzed and still. An eyebrow arched on her face, staring at the two of them. Rogers grinned sheepishly at her, scratching the back of his head while Tom was openly smug.
"She was going for someone that wasn't hers, and Captain Rogers was too polite to hit a woman." Tom told her simply, cracking a grin, "I had to improvise."
Agent Carter rolled her eyes at Tom, though the smile never left her face. She told them that Howard Stark was ready for them, and led them into the man's laboratory. Tom shot a Finite Incantatum as he nearly rounded the corner, freeing the blonde woman who fell to the floor with an audible thump, and a shuffle of clothes told Tom that she managed to get up on her own just fine.
Howard Stark ended up being a man in his late twenties with dark, slick back hair and a thin mustache. Agent Carter left the three males and marched towards her next destination. By the time Tom noticed that Rogers and Stark had already trailed away, the two were already in a conversation about the blonde woman's actions earlier.
"But I didn't know she would go and do that!" Rogers all but yelped.
"Nor should you, pal." Stark replied easily, "The moment you think you know what's goin' on in a woman's head, is the moment your goose is well and truly cooked. Me, I concentrate on work. Which at the moment is about making sure you and your men do not get killed."
The scientist casually walked over to one of the tables, where a strange, lumpy dark sheet laid.
"Carbon polymer, should withstand your average German bayonet. Although, uh, HYDRA's not gonna attack you with a pocket knife."
Tom assumed this fabric was one to go inside the Captain's new battle uniform, as he highly doubted the soldier wanted to continue wearing the elastic outfit he had at the moment. Stark continued to move along the side tables, knocking his fist upon the shield that Rogers had used to rescue Tom and the others.
"I hear you're uh...kinda attached?" Stark continued with a raised eyebrow.
"It's handier than you might think." Rogers defended, looking back at the slightly battered shield.
Stark seemed to give Rogers an incredulous look before pointing to some rather strange looking shields, each with a vastly different design and metals. Tom was absolutely fascinated, and wondered what each of them did.
"I took the liberty of coming up with some options." the young scientist started, "This one's fun. She's been fitted with electrical relays. It'll allow you to-"
"What about this one?" Rogers interrupted, picking up a circular shield.
It appeared to be a traditional shield, but it looked to be made out of silver. Judging from the weight, however, it was impossible. Silver was far heavier than this shield, which gleamed in the light. It's metallic sheen appealed to him, though it's two concentric inner circles design was a little too simple for him.
"No!" Stark said, "No! That's just a prototype."
"What's it made of?" Rogers asked in curiosity, examining the shield closely.
"Vibranium." Stark answered, "It's stronger than steel and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent."
Vibranium, that was a metal Tom had never heard of before. He supposed its vibration absorption trait was what gave the metal its name. Its properties sounded incredibly impressive, like the Diamond of metals. Tom wondered if he would be able to either somehow procure this metal or use magic to mimic its effects, because this seemed highly efficient.
"How come it's not a standard issue?" asked Rogers in confusion, obviously not realizing that this was probably a rare substance.
"That's the rarest metal on earth." Stark replied almost incredulously, confirming Tom's suspicion, "What you're holding there? That's all we've got."
Rogers turned to Tom, holding his shield up in front, smiling like a loon.
"Hey Tom, what do you think?"
It was only then that Stark realized there was another person in their group, and his eyes widened.
"Wait, I've never seen you around before. You an agent? The Cap's assistant, maybe?"
Tom raised a single eyebrow at Stark, before sliding his wand out of his sleeve. He highly doubted that the Ministry had traces this far underground, considering that no warning had been given after his jinx in the blonde woman, and so had no qualms firing offensive spell after offensive spell at the Captain. Spells that disintegrate targets, explosive spells, transformative spells, everything that could effect the strongest of metals. Some spells bounced off the shield with a resonant bang, flying across the room to hit and destroy other items in the room, while the shield managed to absorb some of the more dangerous spells, including the transfiguration ones.
"Crucio! Bombarda! Avada Kedavra!" Tom cried, and the shield absorbed it all.
"What the hell was that?!" Stark yelped, clutching the table in surprise.
Rogers looked at Tom with wide eyes as the wizard caught his breath, lowering down the shield slowly.
"…Was that a test?" he asked quietly.
"Yes." Tom replied breathlessly, sliding his wand back in his holster, "And that shield passed with flying colors. You could storm Nurmengard with it and still be unaffected."
Rogers and Stark then spoke at the same time.
"Thanks…but what's Nurmengard?"
"Ok really what are you?!"
"I'm a wizard, Mr. Stark, which is why Agent Carter told me to come meet with you." Tom told the inventor with a smirk, before a frown returned to his face, "Nurmengard is a prison in the mountainous range that borders Germany and Czech. It's where Grindelwald keeps all his political enemies and other people of interest that were in his way."
Tom watched as Rogers paled at his words. His mind began to tick, trying to find the reason for this reaction, before Agent Carter showed up.
"I see you've found a shield to call your own?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, and Rogers nodded grimly.
"We have a problem, I need to get the map with the known HYDRA bases." he told her in his 'Captain' voice, his mouth set in a serious frown.
"Then let me show you where we've put the smaller version of it." Agent Carter replied, matching his tone.
Rogers handed Stark a slip of paper.
"Also, I had some ideas about the uniform." he told the scientist before turning around again.
"Whatever you want, pal." Stark said with a bewildered expression, taking the slip of paper and pocketing it.
Agent Carter and Captain Rogers then promptly left the laboratory, leaving Tom and Stark incredibly confused. Stark, who seemed to bounce back quickly, turned to Tom and extended his hand.
"So you're a wizard, huh? Like, the thing you pulled out was a magic wand and the lights you fired were magic spells?"
"That's correct." Tom answered, shaking the man's hand, "I am Tom Riddle."
"Howard Stark, but I think you already knew that. So, about this whole magic thing…"
"So this blue stuff is solid Magic?" Howard asked, nervously eyeing where Tom was levitating the blue speck extracted from the HYDRA core.
"That would be correct, though I have never seen such a thing before, it is undoubtedly what it is, and Grindelwald wishes to seize its source from HYDRA." Tom explained, inspecting the piece, though only Howard noticed that Tom's eyes had the exact same shade of it.
"Sooo, this is one of those backstabbing bad guys kind of deal?"
"Yes."
It had been two hours and neither Agent Carter nor Captain Rogers had returned yet. Perhaps the Captain's urgency sparked a meeting, which is why they were held up. In the meantime, Tom and Howard got to know each other a little better, shooting out magical and scientific theories and the like, both brainstorming the creations they could make with the other's expertise. It was then that Howard had decided to show Tom the strange matter that Captain Rogers had procured from the HYDRA base, which led Tom to explain the basics of magic and current war mingled state it was in.
So here they were now, in a sectioned off part of Howard's lab, studying the small piece of solid magic that the scientist had managed to isolate. It made Tom wonder what was the source of such magic, and how he could get his hands on such a thing. Whatever it was, it must be immensely powerful. Tom's eyes gleamed at the possibilities, not going unnoticed by Howard.
"So you plan on getting it from them." Howard asked nonchalantly, his hands fiddling with some sort of radiation meter.
"Yes, I do." Tom told him, carefully levitating the piece back into the makeshift stand the inventor had made.
"For what?" was the question then asked as beeps began to emanate from the machine.
"…..Who knows? Whatever this source is will open infinite possibilities to what can be achieved with both magic and technology. In the Wizarding World this item would be locked up in the Ministry as they decided on how to use it for their own purposes. With the right runic arrays they could allow muggles to use magic, which is precisely why they would want to hide such a thing. I cannot let this happen." Tom explained, allowing the piece to hover above his left hand.
"So how about you tell me how these Runes work, how do they channel this magic stuff?" Howard replied, his eyes still watching as Tom hovered the glowing piece right above his ring.
"I see where your mind is headed, and yes, runes usually channel magic from its surroundings, but if you have a stone saturated with magic, they will draw energy directly from that instead. Were you to place this solid piece of magic in anything with a rune array, the runes will draw from its apparently infinite wells of magical energy, powering whatever task the runes were made to do." Tom explained, noticing a curious glint in Howard's eyes, and motioned to his ring where the Stone's rune was glowing slightly, "This is an ancient magical artifact, one that has been in my family for many generations. It is the Resurrection Stone of Cadmus, and it appears to channel magic from the world beyond to bring back wisps of those who have crossed there. Without the rune, this Stone would not work."
"So then, if we stuck say, this piece of glowing solid magic encased in a stone of some sort into the middle of a piece of metal and crave runes all on the metal, it's possible to mimic the properties of Vibranium?" Howard murmured, who had put down the machine and was writing something onto his notepad.
"In theory, yes." Tom mused, "Are you willing to give it a try?"
"Only if you're willing to help out." Howard shot back, knowing full well Tom' answer.
"But of course, as long as I get to keep the final product."
"Plan on using it in the field, huh? You got yourself a deal."
Tom and Howard were shaking hands when Captain Rogers and Agent Carter returned with the map, grim looks on their faces. The wizard and the inventor looked up to see them with perplexed expressions.
"Sorry I'm late." Rogers started, laying down the map on a cleared table, "We had a meeting discussing something and got sidetracked."
"Your words about this Nurmengard sparked some interest, Mr. Riddle, and I'd like to get some answers." Agent Carter continued, pointing to the map, where there were pins marking certain areas, "Could you please point out the approximate location of Nurmengard?"
Tom loomed over the map, studying it intently. His eyes widened. Where Nurmengard was located was already pinned. What was this map looking at? None of the other pins seemed to correlate with magical places, and they were scattered all across Europe. Ah, Rogers had said something about known HYDRA bases before he left, could this mean that Nurmengard was considered a HYDRA base?
"You have it pinned already, here. At this spot in between Germany and Czech." he answered with a raised eyebrow, "What is this map used for, Captain Rogers? You seem rather distraught."
"This is a map of all known HYDRA bases. I pinned down every mark I saw on the wall of the HYDRA base that we escaped from. As you can see, Nurmengard in on here as well." Rogers explained, his face grim.
Howard and Agent Carter also had serious, worried expressions on their faces, but Tom was not to be moved by such things.
"As I told Howard before, Grindelwald is only using HYDRA to get to whatever power source Schmidt is using. He is not working with them. His prejudice against muggles will prevent him from properly working together with HYDRA. It's why the facility in Austria only had two wizards there. They believe that HYDRA can do nothing against the, because they have magic and HYDRA does not. This is a common outlook for most wizards anyway, which is why none have joined the allied forces." Tom said in exasperation, "They may seem like a united front but they are not."
"And what about you, Tom? You don't seem to hate…muggles." Rogers shot back, confused.
"Oh, I was just like them when I was first captured in the HYDRA base." Tom laughed out, to the people in the room's horror, "I thought muggles were all backwards idiots that needed to be crushed under the might of the Wizarding World, as it was muggles who forced us into hiding in the first place. But then I saw HYDRA for what is was, and I met Bucky, Dugan, Jones, Flasworth and Dernier. It changed my perception of you lot. So now I'm helping you, because we have the same goal, in the end. To stop HYDRA and Grindelwald, and make sure the world does not have to bow to their regime."
"And after you help us with that?" Agent Carter asked suspiciously.
"Go back to school, Agent Carter. I did drop out to help you, after all." Tom replied smoothly, "But truly, I'm not quite sure. They said I'd make a good Minister of Magic, but politicians are all corrupt these days, and there really isn't much I'd be able to do there once word of me attacking Grindelwald's followers leaks into the inner circles of the Purebloods who control the way our little World works. I'd be branded as a blood traitor for working with muggles like this, not to mention a blatant and horrendous breach in the Statute of Secrecy…"
"Why do you even need a Statue of Secrecy?" Rogers asked in polite confusion.
"Because, Captain Rogers, we magicals were hunted by muggles, for fear and jealousy take hold of men so easily." Tom explained a little sourly, "To avoid conflict and war and persecution, we simply hid ourselves away from the muggle side of the world. In turn this led the Purebloods, that means exactly what you think it means, to control the Wizarding World as it is now. So we continue to hide from you, and yet many believe themselves to be above you, as I once did. It is difficult for those young wizards and witches without an old pureblood name to find their foothold in that world, so I'm quite sure it will be difficult for me as well, even if I am the Heir of Slytherin. The class system prevents many things, Captain Rogers, and the hard work that I've put into making a higher ground for me has been for nought with my actions yesterday."
Tom linked his hands behind his back and sighed, standing tall. Saying his problems out loud might not have been the best idea, but he needed them to trust him. These people also needed to understand why the Wizarding World isn't going to help them win the fight in this war, too busy with their own sheltered lives and protective wards.
"…Very well, Mr. Riddle, you have made your point." Agent Carter finally said after a moment of silence had passed between them, "I will report this to Colonel Philips. Thank you, Mr. Riddle, for sharing this information with us."
With her heels clicking on the concrete floor, Agent Carter made her way to where he assumed Colonel Philips was, her form fading away around the corner just as the men around him come to their senses. Tom kept his eyes away from their faces. He did not want to see the pity that was most likely there.
"…Right." Rogers eventually said in bewilderment, "I'll be gathering the other guys for lunch. Are you coming, Tom?"
"I will meet you there, Captain Rogers, there's a little more I have to do here with Howard, but I will join you momentarily." Tom murmured softly, thankful that they weren't going further into the previous subject.
At this, Rogers simply nodded before marching out of the room. It was Howard that then turned to Tom, notepad still in his hands.
"So, are there any designs that you had in mind for the magical knockoff Vibranium shield?" was what he asked, causing Tom to chuckle a little.
"Magical knockoff…well, yes, there is a design I'd like to see implemented. It's a stone and metal array commonly used for magical shields back in the medieval times, along with a couple of family insignias. Should scare Grindelwald and HYDRA." he answered with a tone of mystery, chest already lightening.
"Right then." Howard replied, rubbing his hands together, open notepad between his fingers, "Lets get started then!"
"Hey Tom! We're over here!" shouted the excited voice of Bucky, waving the teenage wizard over to where he, Captain Rogers, and his former cellmates were sitting at the diner.
They were seated next to two larger tables put together, forming an eight seated table. The empty spot was on the end, with Bucky sitting next to it and Dugan seated across from it. Tom gracefully took his seat at the table, folding his arms across the counter. The group seemed to be looking at him expectantly.
"So what did you talk about with Stark?" Bucky asked in curiosity.
"Well, we are currently trying to come up with what Howard called a 'Magical Knockoff Vibranium', using runes, stones, metals, and that odd form of solid magic that Captain Rogers managed to steal from HYDRA's facility in Austria." Tom murmured lowly, to quiet for eavesdroppers but loud enough for the group to hear.
A couple people chuckled at his wording, while others looked intrigued, mainly the Captain and Bucky. Rogers stared at him in dawning understanding, while Bucky reached into his pocket for something. When he pulled out his hands, they held a sleeping Jormungand, snoring gutsy and mumbling things in his sleep.
"He's been sleeping all day, it's probably too cold out here in England for him, but I guess it's better than the Alps?" Bucky said aloud, handing over the sleeping asp viper to Tom.
Tom gratefully accepted the sleeping snake into his arms, which began to wake up. Jormungand groggily looked up at his master, slowly coiling around Tom's shoulders before falling asleep again. He wasn't as talkative as Nagini was, which both a blessing and a curse.
"So, about this shield design, what does it look like?" Rogers asked after he was sure the snake was back to snoozing contentedly on Tom's shoulders.
Tom took out a folded piece of paper and opened it up, carful not to rip it. In neat pencil was a circle, grey scribbled and a label signifying that it was to be a steel shield with a silver coating. Three concentric circles, much like the Captain's own Vibranium shield, were drawn inside the original circle, though the inner two seemed to have been erased. Runes were inscribed in darker pencil around the rim and between the first (outer) circle and the second circle in beautiful and dangerous arrays for lightness, hardness, sharpness, unbreakability, with room for more. Inside the inner circle were two simply drawn green colored snakes, intertwining around each other to form an 'S' and looping their heads around their own tails. The small, square-diamond shaped opening in the center of the two snakes was shaded in completely.
A couple of people whistled at the design, including Bucky.
"So, I get the snake theme, but why that design? Does it mean anything?" Bucky asked after a few seconds of staring at the drawing.
"Yes, it is the Slytherin Coat of Arms, as you may have derived from the shaped they form, but they also have another meaning. It's the symbol of Loki, the god of mischief, who is the Slytherin family's patron god. Since we are dealing with unknown power in the hands of a man who believes himself to be a god, I thought it fitting to invoke a god's insignia in defiance of that idea." Tom explained with a wide smile.
"And what about this black diamond for then?" Rogers asked in curiosity, tapping the shape at the center of the entire shield.
"That's not a black diamond, it's an indentation." Tom answered with a smirk, tapping the ring on his finger where a diamond shaped stone was inset into the gold, rune glowing slightly, "For this."
AN:
Oni: Again, apologies for the re-posting of the chapter, but its been fixed and so I hope ya'll like it!
Bucky: Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!
Oni: And I'll see you next time, my pretties!