A/N - Another lazy chapter with not much happening, at least for Harry as other people have some things to do and there is a storm coming. There is a bit of my attempts of playing with Gambit's accent which may appear later on.

o-0-o

Beta - eri1551

o-0-o

Harry looked out of the window and smiled when he saw the familiar shape of Angel's Aerie appear from behind the hill. Figuring out where Warren wanted to have some fun away from the world wasn't the hardest thing to do.

"Surprised, or not really?" Warren asked, turning to look at him.

"Not really," Harry said with a smile. "I mean, there is a limited list of places where you could have wanted to have fun and I know that you love this particular mansion."

Warren nodded and grinned. "Also it is big enough to be able to survive so many people being inside of it, and so far away from the world that we can use our powers and not care about the amount of damage we cause."

"Or flirt with some people," Carol added and Harry looked at her. "I mean Jean-Paul, as he doesn't know when to stop and in this mansion there are more than enough holes to hide deep and let him pass past you."

"He isn't that bad," he said and she looked at him. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just that some of us found his behavior a bit crude and annoying."

"As if you weren't annoying," Harry chuckled and she glowered at him. "As well as quite good looking and nice."

"Not another one," she muttered and rolled her eyes. "I have enough of fanboys at school, thought you can behave and control yourself."

"Thanks, I guess."

"No problem, just don't expect much," she said. "At least not until I know you well, a lot of boys at my school seemed a bit nice, but then they proved that they are as bad as the rest."

"I'm not that bad," Harry pouted. "Ask Jean or even Rahne, if you don't trust me or Warren."

Jean turned and looked at them. "Carol, let him live as he isn't that bad and I know well as I saw the inside of his mind and there is no way to hide things. And besides, you can survive Jean-Paul or Warren, so how can you have issues with him."

"Thank you, Jean," Harry said with a smile in her direction. "At least you are a beacon of hope as Piotr won't wake up and is too deaf to look at me and too chivalrous to do something. While Illyana is probably buried in runes."

"No, I am not," Illyana angrily said. "I want to have some rest from all of this studying and magic."

"Don't you enjoy it?"

She growled and looked in his direction. "I do, but even I feel burned out after so long studying and I want to rest, so be kind and do not mention runes or several other things."

"Or what?" He asked with an innocent expression on his face.

"I'll burn that smirk off your face and make sure that it stays away," she growled, her eyes glowing a dark shade of red. "I like you and all, but be a lesser asshole at times and I will be a happier person and you will also be safer."

Harry frowned for a moment, but then nodded. "I think that I will accept your offer, I care for my beauty too much."

Carol chuckled at those words, making him look at her. "A boy that pays attention to how he looks is not something I expected to see, or to see too often."

"Someone needs to care about their looks to stroke their ego," Jean said. "And others don't need to as they look good enough even without trying to."

"That's unfair," Harry pouted. "I love being the center of attention, but in a more friendly manner than this, so let me live."

"We are finally here," Warren said as he stopped the car. He turned around and looked at Harry. "So you have all of the mansion to hide from them if you wish to, but don't count on my help as I don't plan to lift a finger to help you dig out of this mess. You wouldn't need to hide if you hadn't started it."

"Not a nice older cousin," Harry said and huffed getting out of the car. He opened the trunk, pulled out his bag and walked to the mansion, while whistling loudly. It was a fine time to start his more enjoyable part of the holidays, away from Sif and all of the training she made them do, here they would have nobody breathing down their neck and reminding them to keep working. Which meant a lot of time to have fun and enjoy themselves.

o-0-o

Fury looked towards the doors of his office when they opened he nodded as he saw Hawkeye, Black Widow and Banshee enter the room. They were people he needed to see about certain developments that were happening around the world. "Sit down," he said indicating three seats on the other side of his desk.

He stood up from behind his desk and walked to a set of massive windows that made up most of the outer wall of his office, he tapped them and their outer surface dulled and several images appeared on their surface. "The reason I have called you here is Operation Ghosts." He briefly smiled when he saw the looks of shock on their faces. "There are disturbing reports regarding Weapon X and their works, we suspect that they are attempting to kidnap mutants and experiment on them. I want you to meet him." He pointed to a large photo of an auburn-haired and red-eyed individual. "He is our double agent in Weapon X and if anybody is to shed some light on what is going on with them, it's him."

"His face seems familiar," Widow said and frowned. "Isn't he one of those annoying thieves from New Orleans."

"The same one, Le Diable Blanc or known under our codename as Demon, he caused a lot of chaos and is still relatively young, but don't let that fool you, he is one of the few people I truly respect and he knows how to fight."

"Director, do you have any idea who might be their target?" Banshee asked. "As I don't think they are going to target Xavier's as after the last attack it is a stronghold and we know how to fight back."

"Everything points towards lone mutants that are on the run or are ignored by their families, ones that won't be missed and ones that can be kidnapped without too much of an issue," Fury said coldly. "Your task is to gather information about Weapon X, find out about their base of operation and then we will strike at them. Strike fast and strong so that they don't have a chance to react."

"So it is a typical intelligence gathering kind of a mission," Hawkeye said and Fury could see something happening inside of the head of one of his best agents. "But if it was a normal data gathering, Director, you would have used normal agents and passive ways of doing it."

"There is no trace of them and we don't know where their base is, do we?" Widow asked.

"Indeed, Agent Romanov, as sharp as ever," he said with a nod in her direction. "We know exactly nothing about them and there are moles within SHIELD. I know that you are clear, so I won't send anybody else to spy on them as it is too important to risk a leak."

He saw them nod in understanding about how crucial and secret the whole thing was. He knew that he could trust them, the question was if they could get the job done and relatively fast at that.

"This will be all for this meeting, Demon is supposed to meet you in." He looked at his watch. "In sixteen hours in Budapest, when you will get there I will send you the exact location of the meeting spot, but for now you are dismissed. A plane is waiting for you at Dulles and inside you will find some of your equipment, the rest will be delivered to you in Budapest."

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he plopped down on one of the many comfortable couches scattered around Angel's Aerie living room and looked at Warren. "What are your plans for these two weeks?"

"Have fun and enjoy the time," Warren said and shrugged. "I want to be away from the noise of the louder part of the world and I know that you want to be away from Sif and her teaching methods."

"How do you know?" Harry asked as he focused on Warren. "I mean, I didn't tell anybody that I might have had a nasty meeting with her, but it wasn't that bad."

"What kind of a nasty meeting?"

"He got a bit drunk," Atalanta said as she entered the room.

Harry glanced at her and needed to keep his eyes from flowing out of his skull, she looked ethereal and even if he spent a lot of time with her, until now he hadn't noticing her charms. "As if you didn't get drunk."

"He asked about you," she said with a devious smile. "So I gave him the answer he wanted, nothing else."

Harry growled and looked at Warren. "Don't mention it at the Institute or I will skin you alive, am I clear?"

"Did I say that I would?" Warren asked. "I am merely curious what my little cousin did that and he doesn't want to admit doing it."

"Oh, he drunk a bit of mead," Atalanta said and added with a smile. "But I don't think he minds that experience, as he seems weirdly happy about it."

"It doesn't taste bad," Harry said and huffed. "And in my defense, I was goaded into drinking it by certain friend of us, so he is to blame. I'm as innocent as I always was, am and will be."

"As innocent as every teen is," Jean said as she entered the room. "I'm more surprised that you decided to break the rules as I don't remember you as such."

"Break the rules?" Harry frowned. "Technically speaking there is no drinking age on Asgard."

"But there is an informal one when it comes to mead," Jarl said as he slipped into the room after Jean. "You should have known it, same as it is on few other things."

"Is it a law, as in written?" Harry asked as he looked at Jarl. "Or is it a custom that everybody accepts, but there is no penalty for breaking it?"

"No penalty?" Atalanta asked with a wince. "Sif would be happy disagree with you, she made us run for a whole day, not caring about the fact that we were throwing up or dropping from exhaustion."

"That's harsh," Warren whistled and Harry looked at him. "I mean running for a whole day is already killing it, running beyond the point of exhaustion is even worse."

"Thank you dear cousin," Harry grumbled. "I really don't need anybody to remind me about those events."

"Someone needs to," Atalanta said with a smile. "After all we are your friends and you won't listen to others about your faults, so we need to remind you about them."

Harry sighed and looked at her. "Don't you have anything better to do than this?"

"You tend to listen to me more than anybody else," she said and Harry growled. "What? I'm only saying the truth."

"You change and twist it so badly that it is far from it," he said and glanced at Warren. "Can you tell me how I have survived with her living under the same roof and didn't kill her yet?"

"Because you like her?" Warren suggested with a smirk. "Or maybe she doesn't irritate you too much."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "You know that I will one day kill you?"

"You can try," Warren said and laughed. "But you won't do it, will you?"

"No," Harry said and frowned. "At least I don't think so, as I like you too much."

Warren rolled his eyes and laughed. "That's an answer I expected to hear."

"Anyways," Harry said and stood up. "I'm going for a swim, I need to burn out my energy."

o-0-o

Illyana rolled her eyes when she saw her brother getting thrown across the field and slam into the wall of the building. He and his ideas of spars and wrestling with Ulf were amusing at first, but now it got predictable and boring.

"Does this always happen?" Jarl asked as he joined her. "They seem to like doing it."

"Yes," she said and rolled her eyes. "It started when Harry took us with him to Asgard, now it happens whenever they see each other and have time. I know how to fight and can do it quite well, but this is getting a bit silly."

"Maybe something to distract you would help?" He suggested and he looked at her. "I mean, sometimes sparring is better than just watching someone else. So what would you say about a spar?"

She looked at Jarl and could see that the boy was sincere. She had also come to like him, even if she was able to only spend a small amount of time with him, she felt that he was a good person. Even if at first he was a bit withdrawn from the world, he was a completely different person when one came to know him. "I guess that we can," she said and stood up, "So what would you suggest?"

"Hand to hand?" He asked with a smile. "Weapons are messy and unkind, this is clean and more friendly."

"If you want to," she said as she looked at him. "Usual rules?"

"Usual," he nodded and smiled. "I know that you are better when it comes to technique and I know that I need to get better at it, while you want to get distracted."

She smiled and indicated at a free spot, walking there she discarded the hoodie she was wearing, followed by her shirt. She looked at him and saw that he had also discarded some of his clothes. "Ready?" she asked.

"Ready? I was born ready," he said and she charged at him.

"Good," she smiled as her fist flew towards his chest.

He raised his hand, caught her fist and she winced when his second hand charged forward and slammed into her chest. She was used to it, but even after getting slammed into various things it hurt as badly as the first time did. Maybe the pain was slightly smaller, but it was still there.

"Didn't you learn that charging into battle isn't the safest thing to do?" Jarl asked her as he pushed her backwards. "I learned that and even Harry managed to grasp the most basic idea of it: that it's just asking for trouble."

She tumbled backwards and landed on the ground, "I learned it," she said and growled. "It's just that it often works."

"'Rarely', would be a better word." he said with a smirk and walked forward.

She rolled away from him and stood up, her eyes focused on his body and moves. Waiting for any mistake she could spot and use. She spotted something that looked like a mistake and swiped her leg forward, hoping to catch him off guard and send him to the ground.

"Not bad, but it doesn't work on me," he said, simply avoiding her leg. "It works on some people that don't suspect it, but not on me."

"Then what works?"

"Getting creative," he said with a wide smirk and she growled.

Her attention was fully focused on him, watching out for every single trick and mistake. She grinned when she saw one and her right hand shot forward, aiming for his knee. She saw his eyes widen and move his leg, or at least partially, out of the way. However he was unable to do so fully and when her fist slammed into it he grunted from the pain.

"Better," he nodded approvingly and the next thing she remembered was a throbbing pain to her head and laying on the ground.

She groaned, opened her eyes and sat up. "What happened to me?" she asked blinking as she massaged the back of her head. "It hurts excessively."

"Yeah, sorry for that," Jarl muttered as he helped her get up. "I got carried away and slammed my fist too hard into you. I will try not to do it again."

"Don't do it," she growled and he smiled.

"Or what?" He innocently asked.

"You really don't want to see that happen," she growled and put her shirt on. "One that annoyed me even more ended up with two broken ribs and was embarrassed in front of the whole Academy."

"Okay," Jarl said and gulped. "I won't annoy you, at least too much."

"Good boy," she said and looked at him. "I like you, but sometimes you could be a nicer person."

"I'm charming as ever."

She rolled her eyes and snorted. "Then your definition of charming is different and mine is obviously better." She looked at him and later at her dirt covered clothes and body. "I need a shower or a bath… See you in a while."

o-0-o

Natasha Romanov muted out the sound of the engines as the plane flew towards the Old Continent and instead looked at Sean. "I know that you have some ideas about the place where Weapon X hid their base."

"I have," he nodded and placed a laptop on a small folded table between them. "Here," he said and typed a few things.

She looked at what was displayed and then it hit her, it was so obvious and out of sight. Old facilities of the Red Room were nothing to sneeze at. "I wouldn't expect Karkaroff to agree to house the thing, but the castle would work as a perfect cover. Nobody would look for those things below a school, but it works."

"And it makes entering it a pain," he said with a wince. "Children are used as a shield, we can't simply blast our way inside and need to work subtly. Which gives them an advantage."

She nodded in agreement and looked at the images displayed. "What about taking Durmstrang, locking the students out of the way and giving us an easy access."

He shook his head and she looked at him. "How are you going to keep them docile?" She arched an eyebrow and he sighed. "Natasha, they are teens, teens who are made to believe that magic is so powerful nothing will stop it. It took Fury over twenty years to make Ilvermorny accept the fact that there are things other than magic. The French took even longer, but the war had helped them and they decided that they are not going to be surprised by such alliances as magicals with non-magicals. So Beauxbatons is more balanced and gives one of the best educations when it comes to non-magical subjects."

"Right," she sighed. "Teens with guns, probably the worst kind of them as they know only power and are too dumb to know when to retreat. The last time I was looking around it I was almost caught by one."

"A sentry or did he simply decide to have fun outside?"

She was silent for a moment, her mind replaying the whole scene in her mind, trying to see the details that could be important. "I would have said that he just wanted to have fun, but then I didn't know that we might have Weapon X hanging around and those wouldn't have issues with using students as guards."

"Especially if they lack muscle," he said quietly and she looked at him. "I was the one that led the last assault on Weapon X around Voldemort's time, we made sure not to miss a single person that had even the slightest ties to it. I thought we got all of them, but..."

"But the current events suggest something else," she finished for him. "Also if they moved to Europe and Hungary or Romania of all things, they might have ties with the Red Room and that will be bad, really bad."

"How bad?" He asked quietly and looked into her eyes. "Natasha, I know that you don't want to talk about your past or the what you were forced to do, but it might be crucial for our mission and its success. Do you want to allow those children to suffer more at the hands of those bastards?"

She inhaled sharply and looked at him, glad that Hawkeye was somewhere else, most likely in the cockpit with the pilots. It took a lot out of her to regain her usual composure and calmness. It was what? Twelve years since she was forced to think about those things? If her mind was right it was something around that long and it still hurt badly.

Natasha slowly relaxed and looked at Sean. "Really bad, the Red Room was even more wile than Weapon X ever was. You know that in the Soviet Union it didn't matter that you killed thousands to get what you wanted. Here it was the same," she said and winced, old wounds opening. "We were beaten for the smallest mistake and were forced to kill those that failed..."

"What?" He asked, his eyes focused on her. "You were forced to murder fellow students? For what?"

"Yes," she said, very quietly. "We were forced to and the reasons could be trivial, failing in training or a bad look sent at a teacher or instructor." Her voice lacking any emotions and she looked at him. "That's how they had trained us and I fear that Weapon X might use some of their methods, especially if they recruited some of the former Red Room people." Her eyes widened as she realized something. "Now it makes perfect sense, that's how they were able to find me in Moscow."

"How?" Sean asked and looked at her. "I thought that you said it was an accident and that he was lucky."

She slowly nodded and sat silently, thinking how to put her thoughts into words. The dull noise of the engines being their constant companion, but was almost immediately pushed out of her mind. She finally slowly inhaled and released the air. " I have thought it was an accident because anything else didn't make sense and my friends told me the Red Room was gone and all of it's secret programs cancelled and facilities put on lockdown or used for normal military research."

"But?"

"But agents working for the Red Room were hired by Weapon X, it wouldn't be the most shocking change of colors done by agents and they would have known how I look, of what I am capable of and how to defeat me."

She saw him wince and a thin smile appeared on her lips. "I won't let them surprise me once again and then I wasn't watching for them as I thought that they were gone, also you and Clint will be with me so we should be fine," she said and looked at the things shown on the display of Sean's laptop. "Durmstrang will be a pain to infiltrate and secure for a strike team to enter after us. I have a feeling that they are not the sole nest of moles."

He looked at her and grimly nodded. "Yes, that would put everything in our basket and would be really bad for such an event as the one we are planning. Which doesn't leave a lot of options and will make a lot of people unhappy."

She smiled briefly, but it was a sour smile. "Yes and that's why they would recruit some agents there," she said and sighed. "Fury needs to know about it and we need to remember about them. Britain was a stronghold of Asgard's influence on this planet. So they might have a lot of things tucked in various places in that damned castle."

"Fury will be really unhappy, but he might be forced to order an assault on it."

"That's his problem," she said. "We have our own bag of them and let him worry about his, also pass this message to Director Hill as she is responsible for Europe and Wizards."

"She already hates me for the data that I got out of Karkaroff," he said and she smiled slightly.

"It's your job," she said and with a grimace she pulled out her laptop. For one last time she looked at him before she dived into the data she had stored.

o-0-o

Harry looked at the forest covered slopes of the nearby Rocky Mountains and smiled. It was good to be here. Among those jagged peaks, the trees covering every slope, the crisp mountain air and the sunlight pouring onto the ground he felt completely at ease and the fact that Sif was far away and in other dimension helped immensely. While he respected her, she was not the best person to be around.

"It looks good," Atalanta said as she joined him on the balcony. "Also, I can tell that you want to be away from Sif."

"In a way, yes," he slowly said and paused, considering how to explain it. "I know that she wants to teach us how to survive in the world and I know that she knows what she is doing, but sometimes she could be more laid back and forgiving."

"That last outburst of her anger was mainly thanks to you and Hrolf," she pointed out with a smile. "So it's your fault that she got angry at us."

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at her. "You won't ignore it and you will mention it until the end of time or even longer,won't you?"

"Someone needs to keep you focused," she said and smiled. "Also I like to annoy you, not as much as Ulf likes to, but it is fun."

"And to think that you are my cousin," Harry pouted. "I can't see any family resemblance between us, not a single ounce of it."

She smiled and chuckled. "Well, black hair are rather common in our families," she said after a moment. "After all excluding your father every other member of your direct family has black or dark hair. There is also the fact that we all understand Ancient Greek without a single issue."

He rolled his eyes and made her chuckle.

"You need to accept that we are cousins, even if we are different," she said. "But I don't think that you want to remember this little detail?"

He hesitated for a moment and shook his head. "No, I don't even remember for most of the time that we are related to each other."

"Yet we are related to each other," she smiled and looked towards the mountains in the distance. "You know that Hera will hate you for being my friend?"

"So?" He arched an eyebrow. "She knows that she cannot touch me either directly or through proxies without incurring the anger of my grandfather."

"I know," Atalanta said softly and corrected her hair. "It's just that she is a vicious person and if she gets an opening, she will use it to kill you or me or both of us."

Harry sighed and looked at Atalanta. "Can we not talk about those things? I want to have some rest from the snake pit of Asgard and the plots within plots which are a part of an even bigger scheme."

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. "I'm used to those games as your grandmother took it upon herself to explain to me the connections between us, the fae and the other mystical races and families of gods. Including who owes favors to whom and who has a grudge against whom, who has debts to whom and so on."

"That explains things," Harry nodded with a thin smile. "But still, don't think about it and it will be a lot better for all of us."

"Yes," she agreed with a smile. "So how long are we going to stay here?"

"Two whole weeks," he said and looked towards the mountains and the sun that was slowly moving across the sky. "I wanted to give you an opportunity to have some fun with me and my friends away from all of the court politics of Asgard and in a more relaxed place."

"I like this idea," she said and made him smile as the two of them looked at the landscape around.

o-0-o

Warren looked at Jean and smiled as she approached him. "You like your cousin," she said as she left a peck on his cheek. "Don't you?"

"He is a nice person," he said, trying not to get distracted by her. "Also he honestly needs this kind of holiday away from caring about everything and we also need them. We badly need them to rest and relax away from all the noise."

"Yes," she smiled and he saw her look at Harry and his friends that were having fun on the ground below. "And to think that he was forced to live with those creatures."

"Yes," Warren growled and looked at her. "The important fact is that he doesn't need to anymore and has a family and friends, us included."

"Touché," she smiled. "And I think that he is even more eager than we are to return to the Institute, after all we couldn't take everybody here."

"There's that," he nodded. "Still, I'm surprised that father allowed me to invite so many of them."

"He trusts you," she softly said. "He trusts you and wants to see how you deal with keeping things under control, after all you are nineteen and supposed to be the responsible one. So he wants to see if you are ready for something bigger."

"As if I wanted to," Warren said and rolled his eyes. "I already get a headache when I try to remember all of those details I need to know. And there is also being an X-Men, which I love much more than running a company."

"You know that many would have killed you just to have such worries? Or not if I should buy a car, but which one to buy."

"Jean..." Warren sighed. "Let me live, I want to relax, not brood about the future and you seem to be eager to make me brood as much as you can."

"Someone needs to keep you focused," she smiled. "As otherwise you get lazy and fall even for the simplest of traps, including that one on Asgard with Hrolf and mead."

He blushed at the memories and looked at her. "I didn't know what it was and how strong it was, so the fault is his, not mine."

"But you did it regardless" she pointed out, a happy expression on her face. "So the fault is yours, and only yours, deal with it, big boy."

He growled and looked at her. "Jean, are you siding with them against me?"

"No," she smiled and lightly kissed him, sending sparks of electricity across his whole body. "I just care about you and someone needs to keep you focused and that's what I am doing."

He felt his hormones wake up, which made him sigh. "How am I supposed to think and be focused when you keep waking up my hormones that won't behave around you."

"I don't know," she smiled. "That's your problem to figure out, not mine, not theirs but just yours."

He shook his head and took a couple deep breaths, trying to get rid of those thoughts, he enjoyed them, but they were bad for his focus and effectiveness. "I know what you suggest, but not now, now I want to keep my mind focused."

"If you want, I will let you," she smiled. "It's not like they don't know how to take care of themselves, they should be more than capable."

He nodded and stood on the balcony watching his cousin and their common friends.

o-0-o

Budapest, one of the oldest cities of Europe and the capital of Hungary, spread over the banks of Danube River, was definitely not a place where Natasha Romanov wanted to meet a contact that could have tails following him wherever he went. She sat at a table at one of the less shady looking cafés with Sean while Hawkeye went sightseeing and hunting for potential tails.

"Can you tell me why he wanted to meet in Hungary of all places?" she asked as she looked at Sean. "It is one of those countries where KGB and the Red Room were strong and they like to keep an eye on their agents."

"Because the other choice would be Romania or Moldova," he said with disgust in his voice. "Two countries where we might end up dead and I think that we can deal with a curious customer or two."

She looked at him and sighed. "If the Red Room was recruited by our lovely enemies, which would not be the biggest change of colors, then their agents will be harder to deal with."

"And that's why I suggested for Hawkeye to go hunting," Sean said and indicated with his head at a tall building to the side. Her gaze raced there and she almost immediately spotted Hawkeye standing on top of it. "He can see the café, the street and a lot of places from where our guests will come, if they come."

"True," she said and looked around, she spotted the one whom they were supposed to meet, but didn't show it. "He is here and he seems confident."

"Well, he has every single reason to be such," Sean said. "I once tried to hunt him down in New Orleans and failed."

"Oh," she nodded and looked at their guest.

He was a tall, lean teen, maybe nineteen years old with red demonic eyes and auburn hair, with his pale skin it make him look dangerous and a tiny bit creepy. He was wearing a long trench-coat and if she was right he had a lot of toys hidden inside of it.

"How may I help you?" she asked as her hand almost instinctively reached out to her pistol, safely hidden under the table.

"I think that Demon can help you," he said and sat down. "Fury knows how t'be convincin' and asked Demon t'help you."

Natasha rolled her eyes at the accent but nodded. "How sure are you that you didn't bring any tails with you?"

"I'm a thief chère, I know how t'hide and move unseen."

She looked at Sean who nodded in agreement, she didn't spot any of Demon's tails, but it was better to be safe than to wake up in a damp cell God only knew where. "So what can you tell us about your official employer?"

"So blunt, chère, I expected more from you," Demon said, pulled out a cigarette, lit it and smoked for a moment before answering. "Weapon X is a vile, vile thing and I joined it because I didn't have a choice. They promised t'repay my debts and protect me from my enemies, but now I will do everythin' to see them gone."

She looked at him and nodded encouragingly, he was young and it took a lot of courage to do what he was willing to do.

"They are catchin' mutants and experimentin' on them," he said quietly "Nothin' matters t'them and I want them gone. I saw them beat thirteen year old kid for complainin' because he was hungry, he survived it, but many didn't."

She winced internally and steeled herself. "We suspected, but we need data about the location of their base. If we don't get it they will keep doing that and won't be stopped."

"Under Durmstrang," he finally said. "They created a complex of underground chambers and corridors, as well as used the oldest part of the castle, forgotten by almost everybody. The Headmaster of Durmstrang is fully aware of it and even allowed some of his older students t'help Weapon X."

"That bastard!" Sean spat. "He knew!"

"Yes," she coldly said. "We can talk with him at a later date, now information is more important." She turned to look at Demon. "We want you to return there and try to gather as much data as you can, we will strike at them as soon as possible, but we need to plan it."

"How soon you are goin' t'attack?"

She glanced at Sean. "We will pass you a message as we snoop around, trying to learn as much as possible. We don't want to get surprised by them and if we fuck it up they most likely will kill everybody and bury everything deep underground."

Demon seemed ready to explode, but after a moment calmed down and nodded. "I don't like doin' it, but I'll do it."

She nodded and looked at Sean. "Do you think we need to learn more?"

"No," Sean said through clenched teeth. "I will need to speak with someone, but not you."

"Good," Demon smiled. "I wouldn't like t'lose my head."

"Then get lost," Natasha said. "The longer we are together, the bigger the chance someone spots you and tells your employer where you were and I doubt you want that."

"No," Demon said. He finished his cigarette and left them.

She waited for him to get away and she looked at Sean. "He was honest, I know that he is a thief and knows how to lie, steal and hide, but here he was honest."

Sean nodded and she could see that he wasn't too happy. "Who wouldn't be honest, those things need to be gone and if he is going to work with us, we should be able to destroy them for good."

o-0-o

Carol Danvers wondered if she should punch Jarl or not, she could tell that he was interested in her or at least attracted to her, but she disliked most boys. She saw far too many of them behave like mindless drones the moment they saw her, yet he seemed to be able to control himself. He also seemed as smooth as Harry was, maybe less and didn't spout useless trash as most drones from her school did. He was also attractive in some strange way and seemed like a nice enough person to.

"Why do you look as if you were about to punch me?" He finally asked, she blinked and looked at him. "I saw how Atalanta behaves before she is ready to unleash her temper and you were similar."

She was dumbstruck, she didn't expect him to read her so well. "No, I don't think so, you are too nice to attack and I don't think you will behave like a mindless drone that wants to get into my panties."

"No, I won't behave in that way," he said with a thin smile. "On Asgard we are supposed to know how to behave and control ourselves."

"So that's how Harry is so calm and composed most of the time?" she asked, trying not to look into his mesmerizing blue eyes. "He seems to be able to think first and act later," she said and grimaced. "Or for most of the time as he punched his cousin when he started to gape at me."

"Which cousin?" Jarl asked. "I always thought that he had only one cousin, Warren."

She sighed and looked out of the window, her gaze running over the far slopes as she tried to gather her thoughts. "I don't know the exact circumstances, but he has one more cousin, a cousin whom he hates, it relates to their past, he mentioned it, but I don't remember. So you will need to ask him, not me."

He looked at her and chuckled softly. "I think that you have guessed what happened between them and why they hate each other."

She looked at him and nodded. "Can we go for a walk?"

"Too many ears nearby?" He asked.

She nodded and led him through the maze of the corridors until they were in a room she chose. She slammed doors shut, walked to the window and closed it. Having done it she turned to look at Jarl. "Don't mention to Harry that I have told you this information, he might not like it, but he is too stubborn to openly talk about these things."

"So what happened to him?" Jarl asked.

"His cousin hated him because of who he is," she said. "From what Harry told me and what I guessed on my own, he landed in the care of his aunt and uncle who abused him."

Jarl looked sharply at her. "Abused a child?!"

"Yes," she said and looked at him. "It isn't known on Asgard?"

"No," he said and shook his head. "But I guess that different cultures have different ideas."

"Looks like it," she said. "As I said earlier, don't tell him about it, he is stubborn and won't appreciate it if you tell him that you know about his past."

Jarl grimaced and nodded. "I noticed and you like him too much to point it out, don't you?"

"Yes," she said and smiled. "But I have a feeling that you wanted something else from me, didn't you?"

He blushed and protested. "No, you only think so."

She rolled her eyes and muttered. "Boys..."

"What?"

"You are always so dense and don't admit that you like a girl, or you do the total opposite and behave like idiots," she bluntly said and made him blush. "So what is your answer."

"I... think that I like you," he finally said.

"Was it hard?" she asked.

"No."

"Good boy," she smiled. "If you behave nicely enough I might consider you as a good enough person to date."

"You might?"

"Did you expect me to drop everything and rush at the first good looking person I meet?" she asked as she corrected her hair and saw him follow her moves. "Also don't gape at me so openly."

"No," he said and blushed. "Sorry for that, you are just too beautiful not to stare at."

"You're flattering me, but it won't help you," she said. "Also I know you for a few hours, so I want to know you better first."

"Sure."

"Good you understand," she said with a smile and looked at him. "Can you leave me alone? I need to unpack and do a few more things."

He nodded a bit reluctantly and disappeared out of the room.

"He might not be a bad choice," she said as she watched him leave. "At least he knows how to control himself and seems gentle enough."

Having done that she looked towards her bag, wishing for it to unpack on its own. It wasn't willing to do it unfortunately, so she sighed in resignation and started to unpack.

o-0-o

Fury exited the elevator and walked down the sterile corridor, at the end of which was a pair of guards with heavy weapons ready to be used, behind them was a thick blast door that would make even doors used to protect bank safes burn from envy. He showed his identification card to the guards and they stepped aside, placing his eye in front of the retina scanner he placed his hand on the cold metal surface of the blast door. There was a moment of silence and then the scanner beeped in confirmation and with a gentle touch of his hand the door opened .

The moment he stepped inside he was met by a pair of wands pointing at his head, they were held by wizards that were the MACUSA's version of aurors. One of them handed him a small vial with a violet liquid inside, he drank it and felt their gazes on him. The moment he started to glow he would be killed. They looked at each other and then at him.

"Director Fury, you are who you claim to be," one of them said stepping aside.

He nodded in thanks, walked past them and towards the next blast door, which required the same process as the previous one. The moment they opened he looked around the cavernous room, which was just one of several excavated over six hundred feet below ground level. They were housing SHIELD R&D or at least a part of it.

"Director, welcome to Base Omega," Phil Coulson welcomed him. "I think that you will be happy with what they have created, last test was promising."

"Is it ready?" Fury asked as they walked through the room. "We might need a couple of them in the near future."

"Yes, Malleus Maleficarum works even better than we had originally expected it to perform. It's still a heavy piece of weaponry, but it works."

"How heavy? Is there any chance we will need to drop more than one to breach those wards?"

"Five tonnes of steel, tungsten and runes," Coulson said with a wince. "That is the normal version, the stronger one is twice as heavy."

Fury nodded and looked towards a pair of bombs laying on a table in front of them. They were massive pieces of metal shaped into the form of a dart, with two pairs of four control surfaces, those closer to the tip were small, almost non-existent, while the second pair was much bigger. At its end a small rocket booster was attached. As he took a better look he saw hundreds of shapes engraved on the metal's surface. "Kinetic energy and runes do the work?"

"Mostly kinetic energy, runes are there to force all of the wards to activate, so that when it slams into them, all of them go with it. Also some of them make a nice shockwave that should knock out anybody close to it."

"Sounds promising," Fury said and looked at it. "What's the catch?"

"We have only ten of them and we might get two or three more before the month's end, we are setting up an assembly line, but it will take time and the runes need to be inscribed by hand and cutting into tungsten is a challenge," Coulson said and paused. "There is one more option if you need to break the wards, but it is kind of a last resort."

"What?"

"Nuclear warhead, but it will waste most of its energy as it will spread in a nice ball, instead of slamming straight into the shield formed by a ward."

"And I will get hanged for usage of nuclear weapons with civilians nearby," Fury pointed out. "Not to mention that it will cause a huge storm that will destroy SHIELD, so no it's not an option. I'm not insane and if need be we can use normal bombs."

Coulson nodded. "We can, but from our experiments we will need truckloads of them, they made wards of similar strength as ones around Durmstrang and we needed three Lancers loaded up with the heaviest bombs they can carry to breach it."

Fury nodded and made some mental math. "Which would probably wake up everybody inside of it and be a really good warning that we are coming to pay then a visit."

"That's why we decided to design this thing," Coulson said tapping one of bombs. "They will do it more easily and faster, and won't cause collateral damage."

"Now the question is what we can use to carry it."

"B-1, B-2 and B-52 are the only choices, we tested it with the Air Force as they also won't mind having a weapon that can destroy wards, petty dictators love to hire wizards to help them keep power and sometimes these are needed."

Fury nodded and looked at the bombs. "Which means that we won't be able to keep them on the helicarriers and we will need to wait hours to get them delivered. We won't be able to keep any crisis a secret, which can be bad."

Coulson nodded and motioned for him to follow, they walked through the room, passed through one more blast door and entered a smaller area where a couple of engineers were quietly talking about something, huddled around something that looked like a rocket. A large one. "We are still working on it, but in theory it should work. It's not nice, it's not small, but it can be integrated with a helicarrier."

"Modified Tomahawk?" Fury asked as he took a better look at it. "Or something else."

"New missile," Coulson said. "It should be possible to give it a normal warhead so it can be used to blow a hole when we don't need ward shattering service."

"You got me interested," Fury said with a predatory smile. "Durmstrang won't know what hit them."

"They won't, sir, that's as much as I can confirm," Coulson said. "May I know sir, why you need it ready as soon as possible?"

Fury looked at him and considered if he should tell him about the information discovered by Widow. "Durmstrang is doing things that make me unhappy."

"I see, Director if that's the case I think there are a few more toys you might like. If you could follow me I can present them."

He smiled and with a nod followed Coulson, who showed him several toys that would make the wizards really, really unhappy or at least the British part of them.

o-0-o

Harry blinked a couple of times when a silver blur passed in front of him, he looked around trying to find the reason, his probably most annoying friend known as Jean-Paul Beaubier. "What do you want Jean?" He asked spotting him standing behind him.

"To talk," Jean smirked. "Just talk, mon chéri, nothing else."

"Yeah, sure," Harry snorted as he looked at Jean. "So are you aware that I have two furry guards that won't have a single issue with ripping your throat open and drinking the blood out of it?"

Jean paled and looked at Harry. "No, you never mentioned them, and I didn't spot them at the party."

"Well, it's as good as any moment for you to meet them," he clasped his hands twice and there were two plumes of smoke from which massive wolves emerged. Harry placed his hands on their necks and looked at Jean. "These are my guards or companions, Freki and Geri."

"They won't eat me?" Jean asked as he took a couple of steps away from them. "They look as if they wouldn't have a single issue with that."

"No," Harry laughed. "They are huge softies once you get to know them and they don't have bad intentions."

Jean gulped and nodded. "So could you kindly send them away?"

"Scared of just two wolves?" Harry chuckled. "Or something else?"

"No," Jean said. "Just not used to them and mon chéri, it's hard to talk when you have two pairs of eyes following your every move."

"Happens," Harry said and snapped his fingers. "Better?"

"Better," Jean smiled. "Are you aware that you are attractive and you make me drool?"

"I might be," Harry said and rolled his eyes. "But even if you look good, you do not outshine Carol, so don't expect too much from it. At least without somehow convincing me."

"Pretty please?" Jean pouted.

"I will consider it, but let me think first and leave me alone as I have a feeling that At wants to talk with me and she doesn't like eavesdropping."

Jean looked at him and later turned towards the corridor. "Of course, I'm gone," he said and paling rapidly disappeared.

Harry smiled and walked to his room as he knew that Atalanta learned from the time the two of them spent together on Asgard that she could walk right into his room most of the time. And in turn he could do the same when it came to her room. Sometimes it lead into embarrassing situations, especially in the morning or right after they got back from training as there was a high chance that they could walk in on the other dressing up.

"So what do you want?" He asked as he looked at her. "I mean, I know that you have something on your mind."

"To talk with you," she said and sat down on his bed, fidgeting a bit. "Harry, I know that you are hiding things you don't want to share and I know that you want to throw them out."

"I'm not hiding things," he said turning to her. "I'm perfectly fine and don't need to talk with you about them."

Atalanta sighed and looked at him. "We both were taught the exact same exercises and ways of hiding things we want to keep hidden. I know how you do it and I can tell that you are hiding things."

His eyes widened and he looked at her. "I don't have anything to hide from you."

"Sit down," she said, patting a spot to her side. "Harry, I don't want to hurt you or invade your privacy, but you used to trust me."

He sighed and looked at her. He could see that she was serious and winced internally, she is as stubborn as it can get and she won't leave this room without a fight, he thought and looked at the spot patted by her. Sighing dramatically he walked to it and sat down. "Are you happy?" He asked.

"At least some improvement on your part," she smiled and looked at him. "I'm worried about you," she softly said. "You are bottling down the emotions you are feeling and you can lose yourself to them."

He growled and glared at her. "Since when did I allow you to swoop around my mind?"

"You didn't-"

"Exactly," he smiled. "So don't look into my mind."

"I'm not looking into your mind or never have been," she said and he looked at her, some shock and surprise in his eyes. "I saw how you changed and I'm worried about you, Harry."

"I'm fine," he huffed and looked dangerously at her.

"No, you are not fine," she softly said and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We are as fragile emotionally as humans are, or even more. Don't tempt the fates as I don't want to lose you to madness and insanity, you are one of my few true friends here."

His eyes widened as he looked at her, she might have something worth listening to say, he thought and remained silent for a long time. Finally having done that he nodded. "I will hear you out."

"Good," she said and looked into his eyes, her golden ones looking into his emerald ones. "Can we move to the level of our minds and thoughts?"

"Are you sure?"

"Do you have anything to hide?" she asked, chuckling lightly. "Otherwise you wouldn't have even questioned me, normally you have allowed me to talk to you in your mind."

"No," he said and tried to fought a blush creeping up his cheeks. "I just don't want you to see some of my thoughts."

"Do you like me?" she asked, chuckling merrily. "Or is it something else."

"No," he blushed.

"Just admit it and allow me into your mind," she said. "I won't laugh at any of your feelings."

"Fine," he said and she smiled.

Atalanta closed her eyes and Harry almost immediately felt gentle probes touching outside of his mind. He pushed his shields out of their way and they passed into his mind. "It seems that nothing has changed here since the last time," she said. "So I don't know about what you are so scared."

"I don't know," he finally admitted. "So maybe you will help me get over with it?"

"I can, but first, can I look through your memories?" she asked and he wavered for a moment. "You know that you have probably nothing to worry about."

"We will see," he said as he felt her look through his mind. "Can I look through your mind? Since I'm allowing you to see mine, I think I should be allowed to take a look at yours."

"Sure," she said. "You don't have the same level power of telepathy as I have so touch my forehead and it will allow you to see them."

Harry looked at her and brushing some of her hair away placed his calloused and big hand on her forehead, it was warm and soft. When their skin connected he felt a spark of energy zap between them and he felt her mind just in reach. He pushed probes of magic into her and explored, feeling her emotions, thoughts and memories.

"How does it feel to be able to see my memories, thoughts and feelings?" He heard her ask, some amusement underlining her voice.

"Distracting," he said as a chain of thoughts passed in front of him. "I feel as if I am swimming in an ocean and don't know any direction."

She laughed at him. "You will get used to it, generally think about a phrase and say it in my mind. Things connected with it will fly to you, but watch out what you think as you might get what you didn't want to find."

"Anything is allowed?" He frowned.

"Yes," she said. "Just be careful about my childhood?"

"Why?"

She paused and he could see a wave of uneasiness wash over her. "Let's just say that it was not the best one, so I'm still a bit sore about it."

"That could be said about my own childhood," he bitterly laughed. "Just see it and you will understand."

"I will and I will be careful with you."

"Thank you," he said and focused on her own mind.

He called up her memories of her childhood and was almost washed away in their flow, they were strong and wild, flowing without pattern and loosely connected with each other. One thing that was common through all of it was fear. Fear of Hera, her plots, assassins and the future.

"How did you survive there?" He asked. "I would have been driven mad by watching out for an assassin."

"I could ask you the same question," she said and he looked into her eyes, they were filled with sadness and sorrow. "I saw your past Harry, I saw how you suffered at the hands of those filthy things and how you tried to get away from them. When we first met, I felt something draw me to you, and until now I was unsure why that was. Now I see.

"Why then?"

"We are similar. Two people sharing a terrible past. You had those beings, while I lived in constant fear of my grandmother and her reapers."

"I knew that it was hard for you, but I didn't know that it was that hard," he said and embraced her. "You are safe now and away from her."

"Yes," she said and smiled weakly. "Thank you, Harry."

"No problem, you also know about my past."

"Yeah, I know and I don't envy you," she said quietly as she let her fingers roam through his wings.

"Thank you," he smiled weakly and let his hands slid down her back. "It means a lot to me."

"As it means to me," she said as tears streaked down her cheeks. "You are my first true friend."

He smiled and wiped her tears away. "Don't cry, you are safe now."

"I know," she said quietly. "But I think it is a dream."

"It isn't," he assured her. "I'm as real as you are."

She smiled and pulled him into a kiss, at first his eyes widened in shock, but then he let the emotions control him and he forgot about every other thing. Only the pleasure mattered, his lips melted on hers, he felt her tongue probe his mouth and he pushed his own tongue into her mouth. It felt as if he was in heaven and only the current moment mattered, as if nothing before and after was important or existed. Finally after a long moment their lips parted as they were forced to take a breath, he panted heavily, sweat dripping down his forehead. It was something new that he rarely saw, it was the proximity and closeness that was new and the warmth. He looked at her and saw that her eyes were filled with happiness and pleasure. "It was... It was...," he tried to say.

"Fantastic," she finished for him. A large smile on her lips. "It was fantastic and you were even better."

"Thank you," he said and placed his hand on hers. "I think that you understand why I behave the way I do."

"Yes," she nodded soberly. "I also finally know what draws us together."

He only smiled and moved his hand along the curves of her back, enjoying their proximity and closeness. He saw her smile and snuggle against him, her normally impossible to read and see through mask shattered and he could see her enjoying it. He felt her hand move across his massive wings and he only smiled as she slowly moved through them, avoiding plucking out any feathers.

After a long moment of comfortable silence she looked into his eyes. "We also have other things to worry about and our friends might start to look for us."

"They can wait for a bit," he said and saw her chuckle.

"We spent half an hour here," she said. "That's long enough for some of them."

His eyes widened as he looked at her. "What?"

"Yes," she said sadly. "Maybe we can do it when we will have time, but now we need to stop."

Harry pouted but nodded. "You are right and it's not like we will be disturbed on Asgard."

"That's positive thinking," she smiled.

o-0-o

"Where were you?" Warren asked as Harry and Atalanta entered the living room.

He looked at them and frowned, there was something new about them, they behaved around each other in a more comfortable manner and were more relaxed.

"Just talking," Harry said, sheepish smile on his face. "Not much else."

"That's what you are saying," Warren said. "But still, you spent an awful lot of time doing it."

"Let them live," Jean quietly said. "They might decide to play with you and I don't think you will enjoy it."

He blushed a bit and nodded. "Never mind, just don't drop out of sight for so long."

"We won't," Harry promised.

"Good," Warren smiled and looked at them. "I guess that the talk was enlightening for you."

Their reaction was amusing for him and he almost immediately laughed as their cheeks turned beet red and they looked between each other uncomfortably. "Yes, it was," Harry finally said.

"Good," Warren smirked and watched them leave the room, almost running, blushes on their cheeks. Life was good.

o-0-o

A/N:

I think that one pairing is getting kind of obvious, but there will be surprises.

Wards and destroying them, energy is energy and for laws of nature it really doesn't matter what kind of energy it is, it just need to be even. Also there are runes written on those things, runes that took ages to develop and test, not to mention billions of dollars of investments, SHIELD might have also some help from Asgard who is interested in reining those wizards of Earth.