Harry Potter x Avengers Shorts
Synopsis: This will be a fic of a fic so to speak….my Harry Potter from Chs. 26-29 & 32 of my Ficlet File (Daddy Sang Bass). This will be a series of short interactions or conversations Harry has with various characters as he interacts with them having settled into New York City sometime in the past after taking a break form touring the multiverse as a trans dimensional divine being.
Chapter Setting: Earth, Main MCU
Characters: Harry Potter, Marvel, O/C.
Disclaimer: No profit is sought, or accepted, in the publication of this fanfiction. It is purely being written and shared for enjoyment; no remunerations are accepted or expected by the admit to having been on a Harry Potter X over kick the last few years, and will try to give special thanks to authors who inspired me on my bio page. Until then, however, if you see something similar too another author of this genre, please point it out to me and I will check my notes as to whether or not I could have accidentally modeled my characters, names, places, events after another.
Please enjoy and review with your comments, critiques.
Chapter 01: Tony Stark
Prior to his abduction by the "Ten Rings"
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2006, New York City, USA, Earth # 199999-Marvel
Tony Stark, at 36 years old, was on top of the world. He was the majority shareholder in the weapons and technology conglomerate his father had founded during the Second World War, he'd lived a life of privilege, and had more money than God. As he sped through the streets of New York in his most recent supercar toy on his way to some meaningless event that Obadiah had set him up to make an appearance at, he was unprepared to have the wheel jerk suddenly as a tire blew.
Given he'd been drinking, heavily, prior to making his way to the event, he overcorrected fairly severely and wrecked out hitting a hydrant, nearly flipping, and partially crashing through a building as the car ricocheted and came to a stop in some forgotten alleyway between brownstones in lower Manhattan.
As his horn blared, his vision darkened. He had just enough consciousness left to note that his engine was revving which he struggled with all his remaining energy to kill before he passed out.
#*^% Plantation Potter Meets the Billionaire Playboy #*^%
Inside H.P. Curiosities, Treasures, and Herbal Remedies, Ltd., the building Tony had unintentionally partially breached with his vehicle, Harry Potter, the proprietor barely known to his neighbors, stirred from his upper story apartments and quickly disappeared only to reappear just as the car that had breached his western wall killed its engine.
"For the love of God and all that's hole-y….this shop is Queen Ann….not Swiss!" he blustered as his cane shimmered into being at his side. Taking the magical artifact he stepped through the rather large hole and immediately he gave a quick wave from the cane as a perimeter muggle aversion ward came into effect followed by several quick repair charms for the damage to the street, the buildings, before finally he opened the vehicle and went to examine the driver.
Casting a few medical charms he saw the man was not seriously injured but needed a bit of attention, he cast a few charms to remove him from the now restored vehicle and floated him through the slowly repairing hole in his shop and laid him gently in the guest seating area before healing him.
His ever-faithful eternal companion and head butler of Elderwood, Pascal the Cajun house elf, popped into being with an emergency medical kit he'd long ago designed and kitted out given his own history which had been immensely useful to him in the lifetimes he would occasionally spend as a healer or traveling doctor.
"Mastah's bag…..hmm," the old elf said looking disdainfully at the no-maj that had interrupted their supper having caused the security alert wards to absolutely shatter the peace and serenity of Elderwood.
"Please make sure the curtains are drawn and that we're clear from the streets," Harry said looking to the expansive windows that showed clear views to not only their neighbors but potential pedestrians as well. "Well shit….a punctured lung. This will hurt the poor bastard," Harry said with a tut and tisk as he flicked his hand at the large carpet bag that opened causing several rows of ready-made potions to rise in racks for him to examine.
"Let's see," he said as his cane shrank back into a wand and he began casting more detailed medical scans. Enervate," he cast gentle causing Tony to wake with a start and gasp of pain.
"Calm down kid," Harry called out. "You've punctured your lung, broken a few ribs, and you have some gnarly internal bleeding going on top of a concussion. Please try to sit still. I'm going to set your ribs then work on your lung," Harry said to the now panicking man as blood was coughed up as he tried to speak.
"Kids these days," Harry said shaking his head. "Tranquillitas," Harry cast causing Tony's body to go limp as his conscious control over his body was muted. "Didn't mean to cast a full body but time is a bit of the essence kid; sorry about that."
Tony's eyes widened in mute horror and confusion as lights, smells, and occasionally pain clouded his vision. Odd, vile, tasting concoctions were poured down his throat over the next several minutes and suddenly breathing started to become much easier, he stopped choking on blood, and with some word from the strange man, something like "fine-ate," he felt control over his body return.
As he panted, drawing in less gasping breaths as more time passed, and as his pains gradually left him, he slowly began to sit up.
He noticed his odd savior, dressed in tweed three-piece suit that almost screamed crime against fashion but the odd young man wore it so well the thought passed from his mind.
"If you've got questions, you've got about 30 minutes to ask them before I have to remove your memories of this unfortunate event young man," Harry said turning around as he finished stocking the empty vials back in his bag which began packing itself only to vanish as Pascal popped in to take it away.
Looking around in fear, Tony took in the odd shop and position he found himself in.
Then the words of the stranger settled in.
"I'm sorry…what did you say?" he demanded.
"I'm freer with magic in this dimension, no organized ministries or magical governments to deal with on this version of Earth, but all the same I don't want my shop subject to odd rumors. I'm happy helping out my neighbors and the weary folks drawn to this shop by the enchantments I've laid on her…I don't need anyone knowing about the overt magic of the place. Subtle charm and passive magics work much better in the long term for making an impact on a community after all," Harry chuckled as he took a seat.
With a wave of his hand the fireplace across from Tony sprang to life, and with another ghostly writing began to form over his head providing strange glyphs and symbols with various colors his host somehow seemed able to understand.
"Who? Where?...huh?" Tony asked as Harry snapped his fingers and a coffee service appeared on the table before them.
"Drink up kid and I'll share a short story with you while you stabilize before I have to put you back in your car," Harry said gently.
"That's a hard no from me thanks," Tony snapped. "I'm trying to process your claim about erasing my memories. What are you?" he asked as Harry magically poured himself a coffee which he doctored as he liked it before it floated into his outstretched hand. "What did you do to me?" he said feeling fantom pain in his side as he looked down and saw blood littering his shirt.
"Can't have that now," Harry said as with a snap of his fingers Tony's clothes vanished to the laundry at Elderwood.
Tony shrieked very femininely and tried to hide his bits while Harry chuckled.
"Oh calm down kid! I've sent your clothes to be laundered and repaired. We can't have you covered in your own blood without any injuries now can we? If you're really so squeamish," he said rising from his chair and walking over to a small section of the store in the distance where some articles of, seemingly second hand, clothing were located. He returned shortly with very plush robe and pair of slippers he laid at the young man's side.
"Feel free to put those on if you want while we wait for your cloths to be laundered….shouldn't be more than 15 minutes," Harry said with a shrug once more taking the coffee he'd left sitting on air as he retook his seat.
After quickly dressing Tony once more sat down as he was too tired to run, he turned once more to his captor? savior? host?
"I'm Tony Stark…I'll give you a million dollars right now if you let me go," he said quickly.
A frown marred Harry's brow as he considered what the young man was saying.
"Stark…where have I heard that name before?" he asked before rising to one of the massive bookshelves that flanked the fireplace as he pressed a spot on a shelf and suddenly the entire bookshelf began rotating dozens of times before stopping and displaying hundreds of positively ancient and expensive looking tomes that were leather bound. Quickly scanning the spines that Tony couldn't discern Harry plucked a book, seemingly at random, and returned to his chair ignoring the steaming coffee once more floating within easy reach.
"Stark, Stark, not of Winterfell….I'm assuming you're native to this universe?" Harry asked over the top of the book which floated before him obscuring a majority of his upper body from Toy's view.
"Of course I'm from this universe…which other could there be?" he asked derisively.
"An infinity of infinite others sparking from the font of creation," Harry replied simply as he continued to flip pages ignoring the shocked and panicked look of his visitor. "You're not a senator are you? No…wait, it's not the 1800s anymore…silly me," Harry said as he scanned biographies within the bound volume. "Wait…is Tony short for Anthony?" Harry asked as he banished that book and summoned another.
"How do you not know who I am? My father won World War II for America. Stark Industries is the largest firm in military and civilian weapons manufacture and design. I've personally got patents for everything from high tech to automotive to my name. I'm one of the youngest certified geniuses ever found. I'm one of the richest bachelors in history!" Tony sputtered.
Harry looked over the book and looked over Tony and made a face.
"Meh…never heard of you. When you've had my life, unending and infinite as it is, you tend to slip on the minor details of the universe you presently occupy. I only just remembered we're out of the Industrial Age when I saw your car," Harry said with a dismissive shrug.
"What are you?" Tony asked as what he was being told began to settle in.
Harry took a few moments to continue flipping through his book until he found what he was looking for, seemingly, and he took his time reading.
"What are you and what have you done to me!" Tony shouted as he jumped up.
Snapping the book closed suddenly as it was banished back into the massive wall of shelves, Tony fell back onto the comfortable couch when Harry pinned him with a look.
"Once upon a time," Harry started slowly, "I was a mortal wizard from a universe remarkably similar to your own. I was born with the spark of creation," he said cradling his beloved wand lovingly, "magic," he said almost reverently as a far away look came into his eyes. "I was the only survivor of a terrorist attack which killed my parents when I was nearly two years old, and marked by prophesy to end the terrorist's reign of horrors for my secretive community of magicals. I was marked by Death. My magic grew over time and I eventually ascended past my mortal limitations and even then, after countless lifetimes, I outlived my universe. Since then…since then I've been traveling. Moving from universe to universe to learn the higher mysteries which bind a universe together and all universes in the multiverse as one grand construct from the spark of the first universe coming into existence. Wherever I go, I try to keep a relatively low profile and help people…it's in my nature after all," he said with a chuckle as once more he returned to his coffee.
"When I came to this universe," Harry said once more, "I'd left behind quite the adventure on a world driven by war, religion, and fairly primitive magic, and when I found myself here, on this spot sometime roughly in the late Lithic Era, I settled down. I mostly have been a traveling healer or soothsayer in the Americas but once the continent was colonized I've been content to operate my little shop in various forms across the world," Harry said with a smile.
Tony's mind raced at the possibilities.
As one of the chief innovators and majority shareholder of his company, he was privy to many secrets of the US and allied governments and knew of the existence of meta humans though they were believed to be exceedingly rare and most often volatile or dangerous….but the man sat before him was claiming to be something, potentially, more.
"So no," Harry said suddenly as he once more magically refilled his coffee as pastries of various types suddenly appeared on the table which he encouraged Tony to partake in to build his energy stores, "I didn't know who you who you were prior to crashing into my store and home Anthony Edward Stark, Jr., but having checked your profile in my handy-dandy Biographical Book of Names…I must say I'm fairly….disappointed by how mediocre you are."
Taken completely aback, Tony dropped the pastry he'd tentatively bitten into.
"Oh don't be shocked kid," Harry said waiving off the look Tony was giving him, "once you've met your first warlord or enabler of genocide…meeting others really isn't that impressive. I vaguely recall having met your father just outside of Prague in 1944…or was it Prussia in 1921….the point is kid," Harry said once more sipping his coffee, "you're just another maker of death, pain, misery, and disease. Humans aren't remotely unique in creating ever more vicious means to sate their bloodlust, and I'm sorry to say the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree of wasted potential with your bloodline."
No one had ever spoken to Tony like that. No one ever did anything but sing the praises of his old man. He'd hated his cold, distant, and unloving father…but he had respected all he'd done, what his intellect, his genius, had done for the world.
"Now hang on…you think the world would be so much better if pops or I had stepped back and let HYDRA take over? You think I enjoy making weapons? I don't revel in bloodlust Gandalf, I build deterrents that keep the enemies of America and Freedom at bay," Tony said as righteous indignation flowed through his veins. "My dad, and his legacy, keep the world safe!"
Harry looked at the clearly raging emotions flickering over the young man's face before he sat back and burst into laughter.
"What's so funny!?" Tony demanded.
Harry finally calmed down as he checked his watch and once more went to the stacks, caused them to rotate a huge number of times, before he came back with a glowing, book which he tossed to Tony.
"What is this?" he asked opening the pages and seeing moving illuminations, foreign script he couldn't begin to understand, and as he flipped highly advanced technology, ranging from robotics to methods of intergalactic travel, to generating a stable quantum singularity to provide infinite power …. If the sketches were anything to go by.
The more he focused on the strange text, numerology, and drawing the more he seemed to begin to understand. For minutes he focused, flipping pages, trying to commit as much to memory as he could, before book disappeared from his hands and returned to its place in the stacks.
"Why'd you do that! Do you know what even a fraction of that could do for this world!?" Tony began to argue until his protests died in his throat upon seeing Harry shaking his head.
"What do you care about the good of the world merchant of death? Most of what I've just shown to you, within a few decades, you could learn on your own if you truly gave a damn about your fellow man. You've been an adult for some time now, and you've had the potential to radically change the world at your fingertips since your childhood. You don't care about making the world a better place. You care about partying, running from the legacy of your daddy, and wanting to drown in whatever bottle or hole that will fill the ache in your heart," Harry said dismissively. "There's nothing I can do to change that Tony. You're a man without purpose, without drive, where every care of your life is muted because of your wealth, privilege, and lack of fucks to give," Harry finished bluntly. "Besides…you won't remember any of this in the next 5 minutes," Harry said as Tony's clothes suddenly appeared at his side. "Get dressed and then I've got to modify your memories Tony. I don't know how you made it past my wards, but only the worthy or in severe need were ever supposed to be able to find this place and disturb my peace."
Tony, looking between the bookshelf, to Harry, to the rest of the shop which, the more he looked at it, seemed to stretch revealing hundreds, even thousands, of additional square feet of space with curious, cabinets, and racks of all kinds of items and goods.
A few heartbeats passed before Tony finally responded with a. simple, if quite, "No."
Harry set his coffee cup and saucer down on the table before him. "You really don't have a choice kid; I'm trying to observe the niceties," he said with a dark look overcoming him as he couldn't remember exactly where he'd first heard that term but knowing the foul feeling it left in his mouth was wrong.
"Yes I've been wasting my life. I've been an arrogant shit, but it's not as straightforward as all that," Tony said standing up and pacing in the fuzzy robe and slippers Harry had given him earlier.
"I can't unilaterally change the direction of my company. I don't control the entire board, and I can't act against the interests of the investors. There are laws in place," he said bitterly as though quoting someone himself, "and I've got nearly 2,000,000 employees worldwide to consider, not to mention binding contracts with the US Government and allies that prevent me from doing anything but filling orders. Most of the non-lethal R&D the company's had over the last two decades has been because of me. I fought for and helped set up the Stark Recovery Foundation that helps rebuild in the wake of war, famine, or natural disaster around the globe. Apart from Bill, I'm the single largest and most consistent donor to vaccine development and distribution in the world, and I've partnered with Monsanto to develop the safest and most reliable, disease resistant strains of foods in the world. I've pumped more money into AIDS research in the last decade than the entire G8 combined!" Tony began raging. "And all of that, is because of my father's legacy which I don't revel in…I drink to escape the haunting of the death I know we're responsible for…" Tony trailed off as he sat down and buried his head in his hands.
Harry, taken aback and feeling the genuine sincerity shining from the man's soul, took a long hard look at the young man before him, then looked over his shoulder to see the shop was reacting to his presence….a sure sign Tony was meant to be there.
"Oh for fuck's sake," Harry said as he finally saw greatness lay ahead in the kid's destiny.
Tony looked up in confusion at the exclamation.
Rubbing his face tiredly Harry waved his hand and suddenly Tony was back in his expensive suite and clothes.
"Alright," Harry started slowly. "We're going to take this slowly. Number one: your memory is going to have to be modified…not erased. It can't be helped kid, for the safety of this world it can't become widely known even a bit of all this," he said waving his hand around, "exists. We're past the point of you seeing and experiencing a quaint little curio shop…and some of the magic of the items in here has already began migrating toward your soul which will inevitably draw you back in the near future. I won't erase your memory," Harry said holding up his hand to silence Tony's arguments, "instead I'll modify them. I'll have to bang you up and place you in your car again…demolish some of the street, but the alcohol is completely out of your system and you're welcome for my fixing the rather rough state your liver was in. Go easy on the sauce from now on kid," Harry said with a pointed glare. "Number two: It seems the shop has something or somethings that will help you along in your life….and the whole reason I'm here is to help folks after all…." Harry said trailing off.
A flicker of something….hope?...came across Tony's face as suddenly books began assembling in a neat pile before him the complete works of Asimov, all first editions, were first to be presented.
"Normally you'd 'stumble' across these unique finds and we'd haggle over a small price to pay for their true value," Harry started as a few more books made their way once more to the coffee table which had been magically cleared by an unseen Pascal, "but we're on a bit of a schedule as I'm sure you're due somewhere," Harry said flippantly.
Tony's eye was suddenly drawn to a book titled "The Completed Artificial Intelligence and Stabilized Positronic Brain: How to design and code a successful Android, by Dr. P. Augustine Bettany," appeared suddenly, alongside "The Blueprints to a Sustainable Future, by Jacque Fresco" sat beside it. Finally, a portable hard drive, of all things, appeared confusing the young man.
"You'll find dissertations from dozens of scientists from several worlds, very similar to this, you could use to change your ways and this world if you choose to pursue their research," Harry said in reply to the raised brow as he conjured a small chest and stored the items within before locking it with a key he'd conjured and presented to Tony on a necklace. "I've given you information in there that will allow you to one day revolutionize Earth society as you know it….and if you're worthy, and truly do wish to change your status a monger of death, the box will present itself to you," Harry said waiving his hand causing the box and its contents to be banished (unknowingly) to Tony's home lab. "The key will be your judge, and ultimately, it will be the literal key that can change humanities future if you put the work in. I suggest you focus on it now, and imprint it into your long term memory."
Tony began looking over the old fashioned platinum skeleton key on a chain with the lamp of knowledge at its base.
"The store does it better if this happens organically," Harry said waiving around, "but I'll ensure you take significance from your wreck and desire to change your ways….I'm giving you a chance Mr. Stark. I'm giving you a new slate and whole new choices to make."
"What's the point of showing me all of that if you're not going to let me have it?" Tony popped off before he could stop himself.
With a sigh Harry replied, "it's not me who will keep you from anything Mr. Stark…you have to be sincere in your desire for change, and to clean house, before you're ready for these higher mysteries…but I expect I'll be seeing you again," Harry trailed off after recalling what potential he'd seen in the man's soul. "Choices define us…and these new choices will give you a chance to leave your father's legacy behind and create your own."
Before Tony could question further both men were distracted by the sudden appearance of a small box which Tony quickly opened to find a perfect cube of seeming diamond the size of a silver dollar resting on a velvet cushion.
"What's this?" Tony asked focusing on the strange object not noticing that Harry had drawn his wand once more to check his vitals.
Harry took a moment to search his memories and reached out with his mind to connect to the diamond to verify it was what he believed it to be.
"That is an early Shabogan Archive…it contains the cumulative lives work and knowledge of a master of spatial and quantum engineering. If you can ever design a system to read it…you'll advance human computing by at least…..2,000,000 years. If you can decode its knowledge…you'll change humanity's evolutionary trajectory…no clue why the shop thinks you'd benefit from that," Harry said as he cancelled his monitoring charm as Tony stuck the seeming diamond into his coat pocket.
"But what about…" Tony trailed off as Harry quickly cast a memory modification charm to implant memories of a wreck, his stumbling into Harry's shop, and Harry calling emergency services for him as his phone had been destroyed…as well as his "browsing" the shelves after Harry patched him up and gave him an herbal tea to calm down. The knowledge he'd made several purchases of books and a faux diamond curiosity with seeming ancient origins and rumors it contained the knowledge of ancient gods buried itself into his memory….as did his desire to do better than his life had been so far.
Harry quickly popped out and set the scene for the wreck and called emergency services and sat with Tony on the stoop of his shop awaiting the ambulance.
After the young billionaire had been taken away Harry returned to his now darkening shop once more condensing into its "default desktop" of a small curio and herbal shop.
"He's young and impulsive," Harry called out into the ether where he knew the heart of the consciousness which managed the near infinite dimensional space housed in a living metal shell Elderwood had become. "We help where and who we can with minimal intervention. That…was pretty fucking overt old friend!" he said as he ensured the doors were locked before disappearing once more to his rooms two floors above.
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2007, Stark Industries, New York City, USA, Earth # 199999-Marvel
Tony had had an eventful year since his car wreck. For six months since the accident he'd not touched a drop of alcohol, and in the further 6 months since he'd limited himself to a two drink maximum only when in a group setting. He'd needed the mental clarity and focus as he'd been driven by some inner desire to more closely take over the reins of Stark Industries.
Initially, it had seen him focusing on new weapons and the creation of the Jericho Missile System, but the completion of the project designs and seeing it beginning to be implemented left a bitter taste in his mouth…for the last 9 months he'd been pouring over old files from his father's time during and after the war and he'd been oddly focusing his attentions on the arc reactor the idea of realistic utopia. The sudden re-discovery of a treasure chest of literature and literal horde of knowledge from a hard drive he didn't recall having before he bought the curio from the little shop he'd wrecked into gave him new drive…new purpose.
For weeks after the accident his dreams had become plagued with strange, and oddly morality based, dreams. He'd almost broken down and seen a shrink when the dreams had pitted him against his father in the burning wreckage of Stark Industries when he'd finally taken a deep look at his life, his drive, his desires, and what he wanted to do with his life. He settled on the notion of wanting to do better and do something to counterbalance the worldwide impacts of Stark Industries. He'd taken a break for a month and traveled the world in his quest for enlightenment and to find purpose.
He'd toured the poor and square states of the US before moving on to sparce populations in Canada and then to the slums in Central and South America, before jetting off to India and finishing off with the sprawl and challenges facing Cairo. He learned quite a bit about what problems, apart from war, were facing his fellow man and he resolved to do better and to make his own homeland and shining example of what could be.
He'd met with trusted friends and advisors and asked them to be brutally honest and assess the true weaknesses that threatened the future stability and security of America based on the problems he'd observed across the globe, and the number one answer which he'd gotten, almost uniformly, was energy dependence and the looming threat of long-term climate change. It was an answer that every single developing nation was all too familiar with as a constant struggle. It was a problem he'd experienced from Lowndes County Alabama to New Delhi….people needed stable, reliable, and climate neutral, if not positive, basic utilities like safe clean water, reliable energy sources, transportation, the internet, access to stable housing. If he could address the problems in the developed world, and make it economically feasible, he could translate his ideas to developing markets and capture them.
He'd also begun examining all of the curios he'd acquired after his wreck and one day, as the light caught the seeming faux diamond he was using as a paperweight, he could swear his home computer network registered a strange data signal coming from it…it resulted in his examination of theoretical computing and data storage and he unlocked the knowledge of the gods themselves from the now known Shobogan Memory Archive. It lead to his developing entirely new computing technologies he quickly benefitted from personally by upgrading his Malibu home. … it also became a deep secret he held close.
Obadiah had initially been concerned by Tony's radical shift in focus and had initially feared Tony's sudden interest in the running of Stark Industries, but Tony's development of the Jericho and shift to seeming civilian interests to help "diversify" the his portfolio for mixed military and civilian interests, had the man off his back and even his blessing to invent to his heart's content…initially.
He, and his associates, had become very concerned when Tony had bought the old World Fairgrounds and was concerned when whispers of billions being pumped into the dump of a property finally reached his ears though which led to the current, impromptu, meeting where he stood beside a construction hat wearing Tony overseeing the demolition of the old as he peppered him with questions about what he was doing.
"Tony, I don't get it….this property is….why did you buy this kid; everyone from the City Council to Albany is beating down my door wanting to know why they're losing public spaces," he said looking at the boy he'd mentored most of his life. "Help me help the board to understand. They're beginning to ask questions. It's going to get out you've purchased these and that this is a Stark initiative."
"With my own money as part of a new company I'm staring up separate from Stark Industries Obie," Tony glibly replied.
In the distance explosions rang out as building were imploded as heavy machinery continued to bulldoze old pathways and dig up lead pipes. The old world was being destroyed to make way for the new as Tony saw it.
"But what are you doing kid?!" Obadiah asked in frustration.
With a sigh Tony looked at him before turning once more to observe the demolition. Slowly, he started to reply. "I've been a kid for too long Obie. Dad gave his life to ensure America was the safest country we could make it, and what have I done but piss away money and fuck my way through most of the first world? Ever since the accident…I could have died too…just like dad…..like mom…I want to leave behind my own legacy Obie. I've done a lot of soul searching and I want to protect America in my own way. This…this is going to be the future…and it's going to make me trillions," he finished without further explanation.
"Kid I love you like a son, but you're slated to sink over 2 billion dollars into this project…whatever it is, and the Board's on my ass wondering why you need fabrication labs, manufacturing centers, and enough plasma generators to make anyone in the know think you're setting up a rival company!"
"It's not weapons Obie!" Stark cut in angrily. "But…it will certainly have military applications and help us protect our homeland. I'm going to do something that will ensure American independence and freedom to last 1,000 years. From here, from these testing grounds and my own personal laboratory, I'm going to invent things you can't even begin to imagine. So what if I'm sinking a pittance of my own fortune into this. Last I checked, I have nearly 150 billion in my personal accounts that the board gets no say over how I spend!"
"But I do kid! I owe you, and your parents, a responsibility to look out for your interests…not to mention I have to ok these massive expenditures from the Stark Trust! What in the hell are you sinking your future into!" Obadiah demanded.
"Trust me Obie! Sign off on this, and trust me. You want hypersonic AI guided missiles? What I learn from this….it can make it happen. You want fully autonomous robotic super soldiers? Give me a decade after I get this lab up and running. You want a world spanning AI that can find and neutralize threats before they present themselves on the world stage….back off. I'm building the future here. It's a radical departure from what dad built….but it will honor his legacy without replacing it. Christ Obie get off my back and believe in me."
Thoughts raced through Obadiah's mind as to how Tony could do what he was claiming, but given some of the invoices he'd managed to get a peek at, some of the stuff Tony had ordered….he knew if anyone could do it he could.
"I'm sorry kid," Obadiah said backing down a bit. "It's just I still see a scared teen sometimes when I look at you, and then sometimes I see a brilliant scientist who has undiagnosed ADHD suffering from PTSD. I just don't want anything to blow up in your face kid."
"I'm not a kid Obie," Tony said as the noise of demolition ramped up.
Obadiah was startled to see one of Tony's old robots suddenly roll over with a tray of lemonade grasped in its arm clamp.
"Lemonade?" Tony asked as he took a glass and filled it from Dum-E.
"If you can do even half of what you're saying kid…I want in," Obadiah said taking a glass Tony poured.
"Not yet Obie…for now, I'm keeping this close to my chest. This is going to remain a closed corporation I solely run and manage; no offense old man, but sink or swim this is going to be my legacy," Tony said with a smirk.
"Kid you don't know the first thing about running a business. You need me to help you. You're going to need staff, administrators, and a whole army of personnel. You don't know the first thing about any of that!" Obadiah said with a scoff.
"I don't yet Obie….but I'm learning. We're learning," Tony said with a huge grin without elaboration.
#*^% The Playboy Discovers his Passion #*^%
Three months from his meeting with Obadiah found Tony sitting in his small fabrication workshop in his Malibu mansion as he typed away furiously at a computer with screens flashing furiously between cascading levels of code.
A print file labeled 1998 – Project: J.A.R.V.I.S., a memo he'd made to himself years ago as a project file to make a natural language user interface computing system, a true virtual intelligence building on his work with Dum-E and U from his time at MIT.
"Come on damn it! Learn!" Tony said as he typed away furiously as code windows popped up and closed seemingly at random as his JARVIS file tried to compile and come online.
From a corner of the room, in a clean area, massive servers started to come online, which caused Tony to start clapping in approval as he stepped back quickly from his desk with a cry of triumph.
"Hell yeah!" Tony said as his surround sound speakers began crackling with static and rising in volume before his screens all crashed out leaving just a slow steady crackle in their place.
Far in the corner of the former garage, now stood a bookcase laden with science fiction books from Asimov, treatises on coding, and computer design, and a book by Jacque Fresco prominently displayed. Books of patents were open on work desks from Eddison, Tesla, Bell, and dozens of sketches and designs for power systems, advanced water filtration systems, sewage processing plants, and even a massive sketch of the arc reactor was sketched out next to equations on a white board.
Tony waited with bated breath before finally, his computer rebooted….one screen at a time and a new operating system took the place of the Vista hellscape he'd always hated and ragged Bill about incessantly but the sarcastic response he always got back was "don't like it, build a better one."
He…Hello, a heavily modulated almost Microsoft Sam voice called out from the speakers suddenly.
Tony looked on in surprise and not a small amount of pride. "Hello Jarvis! Happy Birthday!"
There was silence for a moment before all the monitors once more turned on.
Birthday…the annual marking of the emergency for a human from the womb celebrated almost universal by all cultures. The marking of the passage of time for an individual from the date of their birth. Is today my birthday? Who are you?
With a smile Tony replied, "I created you. I am your companion, and you are mine…and together Jarvis, we will change the world."
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2008, A.E.S. Global Innovations, Ltd, New York City, USA, Earth # 199999-Marvel
Tony ended up pouring an additional three billion into his pet project and nascent company called Anthony Edward Stark Global Innovations, or A.E.G.I., and over the year his complex was rapidly coming into being. Nearly half of a massive tower, rising 2,500 feet into the air would house his own private residence and laboratory/fabrication facilities for his own experimentation on the top 50 floors, with mixed office and residential (guest) space on the remainder. There were dozens of manufacturing and fabrications shops, and facilities of his own design for energy and utility production, and utility distribution for his own subordinate companies set to launch he was planning.
He has space sketched out to design a broadband cellular network, on which his own proprietary design of high-tech phones and devices could securely operate, he'd taken an old property his dad had bought from the OSI and converted it to a secured space upstate for the launching of his own satellites to establish high speed internet and secured communications to expand for both private and public use from the most landlocked and neglected rural communities to the most remote regions of the forests and deserts of the world.
So far he'd worked tirelessly on improving, and expanding, on the Arc Reactor technology his father had designed and which remained solely in the Stark Family Trust's portfolio and drawing inspiration from Tesla…he hoped he'd cracked the designs for true wireless energy transmission and distribution.
Likewise, he was running wild with "green tech" including a simultaneous project he'd developed to pair with his reactor designs that would allow for a "micro" desalination plant, as well as a water works he intended to slowly expand to eventually clean the Hudson and remove all of the toxins from the river that no one had deigned to address thanks to plans he had for autonomous robotics that were going to revolutionize both the workforce in manufacturing automation and submarine activities.
All of this was because he'd mastered and created Jarvis. His new, and most reliable, friend was able to perform over a trillion tasks at once and with the breakthrough he'd made in computer design in quantum computing, his functionality was growing exponentially every day…as was his personality matrix becoming more human.
Already he'd been approached by Apple, Microsoft, IBM, and a host of others to lease the designs for certain tech he'd already patented and was producing out of his Malibu lab for installation in his New York facilities after he'd submitted a few things like a datapad, cellphone, and tablet pc he'd submitted to an international trade show.
All the big names in big tech were scrambling to make sense of his operating system, which was in fact JARVIS, and no one could match the function of these designs. His announcement, to hype one of the subsidiaries of AESGI, AES Computing, Corp., had sparked a new "war" among the biggest names in tech to try and match the form, function, and capacity of his own designs…and none came close. He would within a year be literally markete a tablet PC that was a single pane of clear glass, touch activated, and which ran on voice command (optional) and could integrate with any Bluetooth or RFD device. All of this because of Jarvis.
He'd come to appreciate the potential of his masterwork so much he'd honored him by giving him an upper crust British accent like his former butler and bodyguard that had passed in his late teens.
While the massive space he'd purchased in the City had been radically changed, there were still park lands and green space, a compromise he'd been forced into by the City Council, his dream was finally coming to fruition, and he was certain that his inner drive to do better, to be better, and to give back would be a great legacy. If he could expand on the arc reactor as he'd been sketching out and expecting…he planned to eventually design and market electric vehicles to help ensure the country wouldn't be reliant on foreign oil ever again. He planned to perfect his technologies for civilian use, and environmental benefit, but the idea of tanks, planes, and even ships powered by a scaled down arc reactor or arc reactor backed grid…it would ensure America's safety for generations once he leased the tech back to Stark Industries for trillions in future governmental contracts and maintenance agreements.
Mr. Stark there is a call for you from Mr. Obadiah Stane. Shall I out him through to your cell? Jarvis called from a speaker in the temporary office on the construction site Tony had reserved for himself and his own purposes.
"Go ahead Jarvis!" Tony called out as he took his phone, an AES Mark-II smartphone….basically a small pane of his smart glass encased in a protective housing for the components.
"Obie!." He said accepting the transfer, "How are you old man?"
Tony the brass is ready for a demonstration of the Jericho and the lab coats say informal testing in Nevada has concluded. We're looking at about 3 months for a field demonstration in Afghanistan. Colonel Rhodes has insisted that you personally meet with the brass…seems they're having a hard time believing the Jericho can possibly be any better than an FAE. It's your brainchild and the Board wants you on scene to answer any questions from the military.
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as the sound of construction still would occasionally drift in from the closed windows in the small trailer housing his "office."
"Who's on the line," his executive assistant, Pepper Potts, called out walking into the room from another suite in the trailer.
Pepper has been a godsend to him in helping him coordinate all of the various startups he was incorporating under the umbrella of AESGI, Ltd. So far she'd been able, with minor assistance from Jarvis, to manage the regulatory hurdles required to set up the dozens of companies and acquire the permits necessary to build what he'd envisioned.
"It's Obie Pepper," Tony replied. "Look Obie that's not going to work for me…we've got a big launch scheduled around New Years and I just don't have the time."
Kid look, its great and wonderful you're trying to branch out and diversify your portfolio, but you're still a major asset at Stark Industries…and as the majority shareholder you owe fiduciary duties to this company too. It's a 3..4 day trip max Tony. In and out, answer some questions, take a few photos, wine, dine, and woo then get the hell out and you can be right back on site for your little project in Queens.
"It's not that simple Obie.."
The hell it isn't kid! I'm all for you changing the world. Pepper was kind enough to show me pictures of a sketch you have for that new high speed train thing…whatever it is…still don't see how it can possibly be a train with no track….Look! the point is, this is one obligation you can't dodge Tony. It's before Christmas, so if you don't dick around you'll get back in plenty of time for whatever you've got planned for New Years.
"Why can't we just send a few coats from R&D…they actually built the damn thing…I just designed it!?"
Kid we need you to answer the questions and you're the best pitch man this company has. I know dick about this high tech shit. Give me a gun…I'm good. I can talk about armor plating and the Stark Retrofit and Remanufacture process in my sleep…but fuck me if you think I can answer one question about variable yield delivery or target lock precision guided onboard gynometrics!
"Gyrometrics; I'm fairly sure you just implicated my bomb has a need for an OBGYN Obie" Tony said with a sigh and a chuckle.
See! You've got to go kid. Leave the admin to me, but I need my best salesman on this. This contract is worth 30 billion over the next 5 years. They want to immediately press them into service for Afghanistan…and we need footage for the press tour. We're talking about expanding operations in New Mexico by three lines for 24-7 production to meet the expected quota kid! I can't leave or send anyone else to oversee that mess. The damn desert Democrats are throwing up all kinds of roadblocks to expanding our Roswell Base…it's a fucking nightmare and I've not had a solid shit in a week.
Grossed out, but well used to Obie's oversharing of the effects of the stress of running his company on his body, Tony finally capitulated.
"Alright Obie. I'll get it done. Just coordinate with Jarvis. Gotta go!" he said unceremoniously ending the call without waiting for a reply.
"Hey Jarvis!"
Yes Mr. Stark.
"I want you to start reviewing protocols to oversee production and construction here while I'm gone. I'll need constant updates to ensure the cyclotronic mass collider is completed so we can begin reactor construction…and keep a check on the refineries in Birmingham…we need to ramp up production orders for Cogmium and Cavorite for the energy delivery and data transmission towers. Increase production orders across all project files by … twenty percent."
Project files updated and orders placed sir. Shall I delay production trials of the Neptune Mark II prototype until you return?
The Neptune was the first autonomous underwater robotic multifunctional housing for Jarvis to integrate with and was planned to be used to map the bed of the Hudson and Tony predicted, could be used to continuously monitor and work on specialized projects underwater at crush depths for most other submersibles. He so far had three designs already in production to work in teams which Jarvis would control.
The Mark I was designed to focus on the dual purpose of underwater surveying and provided continuous three dimensional graphing and sonar functionality as a project command module without need for human supervision; in effect, it would serve as a control pod for Jarvis to be in continuous link with the companion Mark II and III designs, while also providing real time information and insight into a given work zone as to hazards, or modify project goals based on onboard sensors.
The Mark II was designed as a generalized worker capable of lifting up to 100 tons with a waterjet, near totally silent, propulsion system that the Navy was already demanding he test for future scaling for their various submarine and surface vehicles.
The Mark III incorporated a massive decontamination system and reclamation processing plant for water and solid matter that would allow for 2 million gallons of sea or salt water to be cleaned, filtered, and cycled per hour, and up to 1,000 tons of toxic sludge or pollutants stored aboard it and converted into artificial diamonds that were processed into data storage, capacitors, and various other components for his revolutionary quantum computing technology.
While all three could work underwater at sufficient depth to not impact surface traffic, they were each capable of operating on the surface in the event of an ecological disaster or at any depth really.
"No…go ahead and keep on schedule with all tests. The Mark III won't be completed until February and our real testing will come once we can test all three units operating in tandem.
Tony and Jarvis continued their discussions for some time into the evening and planned out his travel schedule now that he knew it was needed before calling Pepper in to brief him on his newest obligation to his father's company and his unexpected Christmas travel plans.
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2008, H.P. Curiosities, New York City, USA, Earth # 199999-Marvel
Harry, no matter how old he got, no matter how many worlds he visited or how foreign their cultures and histories….loved celebratingChristmas.
He'd gone all out this year and had multiple, small, trees decorated with various themes inside his shop and even had a couple midget Christmas trees in the planters on his steps. He had a roaring fire continuously, and the smell of fresh baked cookies, magically spiced wassail, and various pine scented potion based candles were bringing in hundreds of weary souls from the street every day.
Inside the shop dozens of his neighbors milled about, lounged by the fire chatting or visiting, and even a few were shopping as Harry's annual Christmas Exhibition was well underway.
He provided a space in the corner for the choir from St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal to fill his shop with music, and they were amazed to see this year he'd been gracious enough to somehow provide them with a digital organ console that, from hidden speakers, filled the entire space with the sounds of various pipe and theatre organs from around the world, the sounds of an orchestral accompaniment, or even a piano.
His seasonal employees, all local teens off school, were frantically ringing up purchases, wrapping presents, or serving various herbal remedies, raw or pre-made, or various teas and coffee, as the impossible amount of people milled about the massive space but none seemed to notice.
In the corner and angel tree continuously grew with donations being taken in all denominations of bills for St. Joseph's Orphanage to be presented to the Mother Superior that ran the facility at their New Year's fundraising talent show for the children.
Each time one of the homeless of the city wandered into the shop, drawn by the smells and sounds from the street, one of Harry's employees would catch Harry's eye and with a sad smile and nod from him the employee would welcome the poor soul off the frozen streets and into the basement where there was, for some reason, a shower and dormitory facility with industrial kitchen being ran each day of the cold months for the needy. There always seemed to be room and somehow Mr. Potter always seemed to find an "old set" of brand new and very warm clothes to gift to the less fortunate that were always somehow brand new and a perfect fit for each individual…even the women and children.
The churches always seemed to find volunteers to help Harry out and even though he sold many curiosities and "herbal remedies" that few would consider "Christian," his positive impact on the community couldn't be denied and his overt Christianity and personal and profound testimony couldn't be denied.
"Mr. Potter you've got to tell me what you put into these delicious cookies!" Old Mrs. Stevens, a widow from three doors down and initially a vocal opponent of his shop in their neighborhood cried out as she sat in a comfortably couch by the fire regaling old friends about the neighborhood, Christmases past with her dear George, and how her grandson just got accepted into MIT.
Harry continued ensuring that glasses of wassail or hot teas were refilled and the buffet he'd set up for various cookies and homemade snacks, each infused with a touch of magic designed to warm the body and strengthen bones, in the case of the cookies, or act as a natural cleanser that would remove toxins in the body and strengthen internal organs in the case of the drinks.
The older members of the community quickly caught on to how much better they felt after HP Curiosities began throwing a holiday party and all eagerly looked forward to the various celebrations Mr. Potter would throw for the locals for the major holidays.
"If I told you that Mrs. Stevens, I couldn't say they're as good as mawmaw made cause an actual grandmother would be making them!" Harry replied with a laugh as his mixed southern and British drawl, replied as most seated around the fire chuckled.
"I don't suppose you could," the elderly woman said graciously accepting a top-off from him. She couldn't prove it, but every drink she had of the delicious liquid seemed to sharpen the features of the room she sat in even though Dr. Gupta had told her she had macular degeneration.
Harry continued to mill about and occasionally drift over to listen to the choir sing carols or selections from Handel's Messiah until he suddenly felt a presence that drew his undivided attention.
From across the crowd Harry was able to see a part in the crowd and suddenly a golden robe clad individual began walking toward him.
Placing his tray of cookies and snacks on a side table Harry gripped his cane in support as this person could cause a lot of harm to the mortals if they were to engage in hostilities if what he could sense was accurate…and he knew it was.
Making his way to the individual, a bald woman now that she'd drawn her hood down, Harry attempted pleasantries.
"Welcome to HP Curiosities! I'm Harry Potter and this is my shop. Could I interest you in a glass of wassail or a snack? Or…was there something in particular you were looking for today Ms." He finished trailing off as his cane practically thrummed in the back of his mind ready to unleash Hell on any that would dare threaten its master or his interests.
The choir started up once more, this time with a soloist singing In the Deep Midwinter.
As the haunting strains of the soloist, paired with the organ, resonated through the shop the strange woman smiled and without word graciously accepted a glass of wassail.
Once she'd received her drink Harry, still nervous for the mortals, invited the mystery woman to join him deeper in the shop, an invitation she accepted without verbalization.
Harry quickly navigated the crowd and began leading the woman down a long corridor, past the storeroom, and opened another door on a back hallway that led into a hallway that was impossibly long before turning into a hallway lined with high end antiquities and finally welcomed the woman into a massive study with a roaring fire, comfortably and plush leather lounge furniture, and along a back wall where massive windows, somehow, were showcasing scenes from Central Park.
"I'm taking it as a good sign you didn't attempt to attack my guests or myself upon your entry, nor while we walked through the various dimensional compression fields linking the various spaces I know a being of your power should have been able to detect," Harry started without preamble as he took a seat in an overstuffed leather wingback by the fire and welcoming the stranger to sit beside him.
The woman smiled and sipped her wassail and smiled in reply.
Harry studied the woman and looking beyond her physical form he saw that she was ancient…by mortal standards….and there was some extradimensional tether linking her aura to an extradimensional source….but as far as Harry could tell it was within this local universe's cluster of the multiverse.
"Find anything interesting?" the woman asked with a warm and cultured British accent. "Ingenious use of magic in your punch…am I detecting hints of mint and…honeysuckle dew?"
Harry took a few moments to think through his response as the woman continued to sip her drink. "Very astute and discerning palate Madam," Harry replied. "The wassail contains a few herbs and ingredients that don't detract from the taste that, by their function, assist in cleansing most impurities from the body and major organs."
A raised brow from the woman saw Harry continuing on as he suddenly felt like he was in another Alchemy lecture with Professor Dumbledore waiting for him to give a detailed answer on the transmutative properties of Gerhardt's Process in creating the Elixer of Asclepius.
"I grew quite accustomed to universal healthcare during my time in the UK and these poor souls would go bankrupt to get half the care they need to ease even a fraction of their bodily ails Madam," Harry said justifying the use of magic on the mortals without their knowledge. "I can assure you that nothing I'm offering is dangerous or made with malice if you're from some local magical society….given enough doses even the small taint clouding your aura could be removed without ill effect."
Suddenly the mystery woman's eyes narrowed slightly before she relaxed and set her drink down. She began speaking without preamble as she settled back into her own chair, deceptively calm.
"I've been monitoring your presence here since my associates first reported your activities to me in July. I must say the spells concealing your establishment are quite impressive….but what are you?" she asked with a touch of steel in her voice.
Harry's cane suddenly stood erect at the side of his chair an ethereal growl at the hard tone the woman had suddenly taken and as she began channeling magic in preparation to stop Harry if he should present a threat to her.
"Calm down Azrael. She's not a threat to us right now…only the mortals…and she'd never leave these halls if she tried anything," Harry said placing a calming stroke down the carved mane of the Rougarou wand.
Harry loosed his grip on the tight reigns he held which concealed the breadth of his aura and suddenly the mystery woman was literally blown over as cascading waves of power, dwarfing even those of Dormammu literally blew her back before Harry quickly regained control over his magical essence and once more it nearly vanished from the woman's senses.
She rose suddenly as mystical fans of magical energy were drawn.
"I'll not ask again," she said a little wide eyed as Harry calmly sat by the fire. "What are you?"
Harry rubbed his brow and without gesture the overturned and damaged chair was repaired and righted. Slowly he answered hoping the woman was learned enough in magic to understand him.
"I am an ascended traveler not native to this cluster of the multiverse. For at least the last….seventeen…eighteen….somewhere around there given how long it's been now, maybe nineteen universes if you count this one, I've been a traveler learning what I can, acquiring interesting items, but mostly knowledge and helping all in need or who I could. In my first life, I don't even want to guess how many human years ago that's been now, I was a mortal wizard…and a child of prophesy born in Britain and raised in Tennessee. Since then…I've become more."
With each revelation the woman's eyes grew.
"I've never suffered evil to prosper, and always worked to better the least of these. My own personal code doesn't condemn the nature of darkness, as not everything can be of the light…only that which seeks to oppress, corrupt, or consume without remorse, mercy, or contrition. I wasn't joking when I said the taint in your aura could be removed Madam…given time and a proper magical dosage, you could be completely cleansed of the darkness from the extradimensional tether you have."
The magical constructs suddenly disappeared as the strange woman walked around the chair and once more took a seat.
"You're serious, aren't you?" she asked. "Not even Dormammu had a presence as vast and unending as you allowed me to glimpse…and he rules the entirety of the Dark Dimension growing stronger each year as he consumes ever more realities and realms. Any yet…I can't sense any connection you have to any other realms…what are you Mr. Potter. What are your intentions to this universe?"
Harry, once more taking his cane and placing it across his lap, considered his answer before he suddenly rose. He ignored the reflexive tensing of his guest and walked over to one of the glass encased cabinets and opening it, he took a worn leather album from a shelf and returning to his seat passed it along to the woman.
Feeling the worn leather, examining the faded design on the cover of some type of crest, she opened the book and saw moving photographs, some black and white, some in color. It was a magic she'd never experienced or heard of before.
"Moments in time from before my birth, to my first extradimensional travels as an adult and newly ascendant deity," Harry said she slowly. "Toward the back you'll see my first travels beyond my own universe and Earth in a galaxy known as the Eye of Adas. The other volumes," he said indicating each of the massive cabinets around the room, are memories and moments capturing precious memories and moments of eternities of experiences. Each person was a new opportunity to learn something new, each friendship … I treasure."
The woman continued to flip through the album showcasing his early life pre and post Hogwarts in his home universe, and she listened closely as she observed the being's origins.
"What I am is unique. I am blessed and cursed to live, and in doing so I travel…sometimes for pleasure….sometimes for adventure. Mostly, I seek knowledge and new experiences on alien worlds or cultures. I seek to understand magic and the nature of divinity as I help out who I can, where I can, building friendships that are generational in nature. I am me. I am not an enemy by design or nature without provocation. I have been known as "The Ascended One," "Second in Creation," "God's Emissary," "The Master or Avatar of Death," "The Chosen One," "The Font of Magic," "The Architect," "Omega," "Lead Tenor," "Choir Master," and my favorite: Harry to my friends and family." He said with a smile as he twirled the magic wand-cane in his lap.
"Maeve," the woman spoke quietly as she stared in amazement as photographs which had captured the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, a dark time in Harry's mortal life that saw the resurrection of the abomination and the death of his schoolmate Cedric Diggory…and lead to the eventual death of his first crush during the ensuing war the abomination caused.
"Beg pardon?" Harry asked leaning forward.
"My name," the woman spoke quietly as she stared at the photographs. "The last person who knew my name died when the Romans sacked my village…that was the first time I ever drew on the power of the dark dimension…unknowingly at the time. I'd always known I was a sorceress…the village elders had trained me in the hopes I would become the leader once our clan elder passed. That's when I first met the Sorcerer Supreme….when those Romans were being disintegrated atom by atom…I reveled in it and he was quick to bind me and took me on as an apprentice. I've never before admitted to anyone that I'm older than the careful narrative I've crafted over the last 700 years Ascended One," she spoke reverently and with a deferential tone.
"Give it time," Harry said with a smile, "and I'm sure you'll be calling me Harry Maeve. Do you feel a bit more at ease now?"
"I do Ascended One," she replied as she continued to flip pages, likely showing his life on Alderaan if he recalled the divisions of that particular volume clearly.
"And what is your role in this reality if I may as Madam Maeve?" Harry asked as Pascal popped in startling the woman slightly before he placed a tray of fresh treats and a flagon of spiced wine on the coffee table before serving each of them.
Accepting a small plate and glass from the diminutive creature that shown with magic, Maeve sipped the spiced wine and could feel the magic infused calming her and somehow she felt the darkness continuing to leave her. The oppressive weight of Dormammu's grasp began to leave her and for the first time in nearly 1,500 years she felt the follicles of her body being cleansed of the taint that had long prevented her from being able to grow hair…a sacrifice she'd willingly made in exchange for a better understanding of their dark foe.
"I am the Sorcerer Supreme," she replied finally turning her attention solely to the being before her. "I am the guardian of the Earth Realm against all threats of a magical or mystical nature. I train my sorcerer brethren in how to wield the mystic arts. We are the first, and last, line of defense against a cold and dark universe and those which control it from changing the scales of fate…and your presence," she said suddenly becoming serious, "is an anomaly. A deviation from the set course of fate that is highly regulated by He Who Remains…I cannot imagine you are part of his plan nor can I understand how it is you have evaded being culled from his Sacred Timeline. Certainly your interaction with the Young Stark was not meant to be. You have both escalated events that were meant to happen, and caused a sharp deviation from the normal prescribed and scripted course of events that comprise his sacred timeline," she finished with some heat. "I have seen this universe pruned millions of times and in my role as Sorcerer Supreme … I experience each instance…yet your arrival should have been detected immediately and it wasn't. I assumed you were one of his long-term embedded agents…yet clearly you are not."
"My dear woman," Harry said with a smile, "I arrived in North America sometime around 8,600 years ago. I've been wandering this Earth ever since…occasionally there are those who claim jurisdiction over so called "time-locked events," but after a very productive meeting with an absolute genius outside of time….we've settled our differences. We aren't friends….neither are we enemies….if we're discussing the same individuals," Harry said with a wave of his hand as one of the large tomes he'd accessed when he'd treated young Stark several years back.
Flipping through pages, Harry finally settled on a chapter discussing the Time Variance Authority and his personal notes from his interactions with Nathanial Richards also known as He Who Remains. As he read through his bound notes and observations more of the interactions returned to his memory.
"And what exactly does a Sorcerer Supreme do?" He asked as he finished reading through the detailed accounts of the treaty negotiations he'd had with Nathanial after a rather involved confrontation that had shattered the protective magics of the TVA and sewn chaos throughout the time bubble in the quantum realm where his little fief was located for a millennium at least. Harry still occasionally would find looping operatives frozen in their last moments in various places and rooms he rarely accessed and which they'd managed to breach within his beloved Elderwood and with a thought banished the book back to its place in the rotating library system.
Maeve sat back and contemplated her answer as Harry gave her his full attention.
"I am tasked to oversee an ancient order of sorcerers who seek to maintain order, stability, and the naturally ordained course of events in this Earthen Realm. I find and train exceptional individuals in how to harness the natural energies of the universe to combat incursions from the lower realms or parallel plains of existence; of maintaining the mystical shield that protects this planet, as a nexus point in universal history, from incursions by those which would seek to consume it."
"Like this Dormammu fella," Harry said cutting in only to get a nod from Maeve.
"I oversee dark and dangerous knowledge in the hopes it will assist in combatting the threats of the dark acolytes who sell their souls to share in the corrupting power and act as agents of the darkness," she finished as she refilled her own wineglass with a gesture.
"Have you discussed any of this with your lieutenants? Surely your small connection to this darkness would eventually be discovered and if my travels have revealed anything to me, it's that those who preach a gospel of light and dark, absolutes with no gray areas where the two meet….don't tend to end well." Harry asked.
"No Ascended One; I…I have always born this truth as my own burden." She replied quietly.
Harry nodded in silence as with a thought the chair Maeve sat in morphed into a couch. Standing he took the photo album from the coffee table and flipping to the end showed Harry standing in line with dozens of beings, men, women, and even children in a massive temple like structure.
"This is from my second lifetime in what I came to know of as the Galaxy the locals called the Eye of Adas. These two young men were known as Revan and Malak…two members of a semi religious order that were able to utilize the unique eddies and currents of their local universe, not magic, to cause interesting reactions by warping reality on a localized basis. They were the best of friends, raised from birth as brethren on a planet not their own after being removed from their parents and home planets once their genetic abilities were discovered by their order. There was a war there, and the politics of the day saw pressure applied from their governing council refusing them the choice of interceding as their own morality demanded. Billions of lives could have been saved had they or their order received the full blessing of their leadership to choose whether to put their training and skills into practice. A Galaxy wide government was facing an actual threat of war, conquest, and death on a breathtaking scale by an entire race being manipulated by the order's enemies…those who had at one time been joined within the same brotherhood of Revan and Malak but were expelled as their desire to more fully experience their mystical abilities as anathema, heretics, and dark. It was a cycle of conquest and destruction that continued to plague this galaxy for the next million years. The so called darkness always found acolytes, war on a galactic stage was always fought, and quadrillions died until finally, in a penultimate battle, the so called good and evil caused the destruction of the eldritch eddies and currents of their universe that rendered all organic matter inert in their home galaxy."
A faraway look came over Harry's face as he flipped through the album.
"Have you aver seen an entirely dead galaxy Maeve? Have you ever experienced the anguish of knowing that for the rest of eternity, if I hadn't other means, I and my companion family members, are the only life in creation?"
A serious look overcame Maeve as she considered the sorrow clearly underpinning Harry's words.
"No Ascended One…I can't fathom such an existence."
"Secrets are necessary in life," Harry said slowly. "Sometimes for something as simple as making a party memorable, sometimes so essential as national or universal security….but secrets of such magnitude are never meant to be held by a single individual…to make the secret worthwhile, and the end result just, there have to be others involved…to make the lie moral there has to at least be a debate as to the choice and outcome which make the lie necessary. There has to be a gray area Maeve…even now, the more drink and food you consume, the less of a taint you maintain….but for someone of such power and responsibility, as well as command training a militia in all but name to combat darkness…you should trust your disciples enough with the truth, and the whole truth so that when the secret is eventually revealed the dogma you no doubt instill will not cause them to turn against you…where will the Earth Realm be then if you and your brethren are destroyed from within?"
Harry sat the book down and with a call to Pascal he requested a memory stone be delivered.
A blank one suddenly appeared on the table beside the album.
"I am willing to help you if you will allow me Maeve," Harry said slowly, "to copy your memories so that others will be able to view them, in full, and unvarnished…including this conversation. They will be able to see the burden you've born and put your past actions into context in a safe setting. They will see that you are not corrupted by the darkness you drew upon, but it will ultimately be up to you to explain your actions and to who. Will you allow me to help you Sorcerer Supreme?"
A silence passed between them for a time until Maeve spoke again.
"You would allow me to expose your existence to my students?" Maeve questioned.
"My existence is not a secret Maeve….only my abilities and peculiarities. Honesty has always been a good choice to make both to ourselves as well as our closest allies and family. You've taken on a maternal role for people I'd imagine given your story…how would you react if your mystical maternal figure suddenly told you she regularly partook in heroin after spending your entire relationship with her preaching against recreational drug use?"
Maeve looked to Harry sharply before she relented … protest to the comparison dying in her throat.
"I…I would feel betrayed and assume that the darkness was not truly a threat or dangerous if she continued to use it," she said sitting back and freely admitting her own thoughts. This was not what she expected to be discussing when she'd originally envisioned an encounter with the mysterious power reported to her. "I would want an explanation as to why she'd done this when her whole life had been devoted to combatting, when so many good men and women…her….her children," she said voice breaking as tears welled in her eyes, "had been lost."
She finally broke through as emotions overcame her and Harry slid beside her and comforted her.
"Its so horrible Ascended One," she cried with tears freely flowing. "To know that I'm drawing strength and life form the darkness so many of my children have died combatting. Yet I had no choice. I was the first to seal the realm from Domrmammu. So long as my life force remained, my spell strengthened. Because of the energy I drew from the Dark Dimension….it served as an inoculant for my spells to recognize and neutralize the true threats which Domrmammu presented. Only his acolytes, because of their own unique magical energies, were able to slip through this absolute protection from an incursion."
Harry took on a look of understanding. "You didn't seek to simply extend your life and influence…it was necessary to protect all of creation within this realm…why couldn't you just explain that to your advanced students, your children, once they were entitled to the information?"
With sniffles abated by a conjured handkerchief from Harry, Maeve sat back and stared into the fire.
"I did not. I've taken no pleasure in living this accursed life," she said slowly. "It denied me the ability to ever have my own family. That was my sacrifice…I am the last of the Kinship of the Grove Ascended One, and I couldn't just burden my children with my own failings…my weakness…my burden. They are all innocent, deserving of my full and continued protection. No one else should ever have to bear this burden…and to keep him out…even though we have to battle his agents…it's a small price to pay to allow their families, friends, and clans to thrive in their ignorance…for life to go on. I was…ashamed…to even think of revealing this to them for fear they would rightly end me in their rage against the dark and remove this protection from all the rest of creation. The potential hurt they would rightly feel…I judged that as a worthy consequence for the benefit it gave."
Harry placed a palm on her hand and wandlessly cast a powerful cleansing charm designed to remove the remainder of the taint from Maeve, as well as made a few changes to her biology.
In a flash of light, a druidic beauty was suddenly sat before him. Flowing red hair cascaded in curls framed a warm face and eyes of emerald green met him with wonder shining from them.
"I have purged the taint without removing or corrupting your spell. I've modified your biology to filter the corruptive effects of the Dark Dimension…if you ever have to visit a modern hospital, they'll likely freak out that you now have four lobes in your brain and several hyperactive glands connected to your brainstem that are not human in origin. You'll live as you have, as long as you desire to maintain your spell, but now you can assure your children the full Maeve, the untainted Maeve, is now whole and hale." Harry said with a smile. "I suggest you find a local hospital and build a chart now so there are no shocks or experiments in the event you're critically injured in some battle with Dormammu's agents."
Harry once more returned to his own chair and summoned a pipe from his stores which he quickly packed with a deliciously scented vanilla tobacco and began puffing as Maeve contemplated everything that had just happened.
"How would it work," she asked slowly as she took the odd looking and irregularly cut stone.
"A spell would isolate and copy your memories you associate with Dormammu, and this conversation, and to share them you need only allow those you choose to touch the stone and speak a trigger word…it can be anything you set it as. They will live your lifetime of memories in an instant and learn of your burden and these changes…if that is their choice," Harry finished softly as he puffed away.
Maeve sat in contemplation until Pascal arrived and presented her a small box containing hand rolled cigarettes having sensed her own desire for a smoke.
Summoning fire in her palm Maeve lit up and began joining Harry in obscuring the clarity of the room.
"I would do it Ascended One," she said calmly and with resignation.
"Harry," he spoke with resolution. "I am Harry to my friends. My magic wouldn't have drawn you here personally if we were a threat or to be anything but friends Maeve," he responded with kindness. "Now let's make you a memory stone and then get back to the party," he said taking the stone and passing it to her.
Once completed, as the duo made their way from the cozy study, Maeve stopped him as she saw endlessly stretching corridors.
"Are there really temporal agents still lurking about your domain?"
"They're quantum locked in replicas of the rooms or places they invaded. Last census the elves counted just shy of 2,000 souls perpetually locked in a looping narration culminating in a faux "final charge" in some setting within a sufficient space to set the appropriate mood between Nathaniel and his forces," Harry said with a smirk.
Maeve threw a sharp look from Harry.
With a chuckle he replied and kept walking, leading her out of the maze of expanded spaces until they exited a "back-room" and once more mingled among the masses. "I discovered his actions to maintain his sacred timeline and although cruel and in some respects despicable in their acts, he and his initial motivations were good...he recognized the danger allowing this reality to branch into the larger multiverse would face. He, like you, made a choice long ago to bear the burden of evil…ending entire realities, but in doing so he preserved all life in this universe. He prevents truly evil and unredeemable versions of himself from breaching the walls his defensive measures create. The version of Nathaniel leading troops to war within Elderwood is not the one which left these halls…the one contained here was a hold-over from the multiverse war that was more…violent and ruthless than He Who Remains."
"We are safe then? … why not simply end their existence?" Maeve asked as they once more began mingling among the, seemingly more dense, crowd.
"It's a fixed point that allowed me to initially interact with the native Nathaniel and come to our accord. It's part of the fixed timeline he maintains now…not to mention I learn more about our local variant and his motivations…by keeping them alive and active in a closed loop, the spells which conceal my presence from Nathaniel and his agents can be maintained over this shop and those I interact with."
A look of comprehension came over the Sorcerer Supreme as she considered the possibilities of selective spells and the benefits it could provide.
The two continued to mingle and chat among the crowd, all the while the memory stone continued to stabilize in the deep and protected pockets of the powerful, and now humbled, woman.
***To Be Continued***
Author's Commentary –
I'm posting this both in my fictlet file and as a 2nd posting on my new profile on Archive of our own…same username, no spaces.
A Note Concerning my writing style:
As I've said in prior stories, my style isn't planned writing….I go at this as though I'm watching an episode of my story, then try to faithfully transcribe my imagination onto the page.
It's rough, some is crass, and some is gross…just as is actual life.
Thank you all sincerely for playing in my sandbox!
Original Chapter Date: 01/01/2022
Polished Date: 01/08/22; 01/09/22.
Reviews are welcome, and appreciated. Please feel free to share this story file with your friends, chat groups, etc. I welcome all constructive criticism.
Page Count: 29
Word Count: 14,070
