Ugh ugh ugh so pathetic. Sorry for the late update, everyone. RL gets in the way so much... I really don't mean to be such a pathetic updater. .
Anyhoo, despite the lateness, this was uber-fun to write. I also used the book for this one, so don't be surprised if you recognize some lines, I thought it added some realism to the story ^^;
Thank you as always to my reviews and followers and favoriters! You guys are and always will be awesome :)
Enjoy!
After Fury signed off, and Loki was reluctantly let up from under the chairs, it was a quiet ride. Tony kept his eye on JARVIS's magic scanner – he knew they were almost there when JARVIS reported something that most closely resembled a bubble of liquid energy.
Not a great sign.
They stopped just before the barrier. Luckily for them all, this barrier was physical as well as magical, so they could see it and stop before tripping any voodoo warnings like last time.
The barrier was in the form of a wrought-iron gate, winding around a wide property with an over-the-top manor set in the middle. The manor was where Harry's signal was coming from. Of course.
Tony disembarked with the rest of them, feeling his exhaustion with every step. He was good at ignoring discomfort, but this was pushing it, even for him. That wasn't the worst, though – Loki knew just how burned-out he was. He really really hoped the god of lies wasn't about to try to take advantage of that. Then again, Tony thought, grinning behind his mask, if he did, Tony knew he'd have permission to kill him then. That almost made the exhaustion worth it.
Almost.
The motley group of superheroes stopped in front of the gates, and Tony fell back with the rest of them as the front of the gate suddenly formed into a nightmarish face, which demanded in a booming, clanging voice, "State your purpose!"
"I don't think so," Tony said, lifting his hands to blast the gate, but Thor beat him to it. Giving a wild battle cry, he raised his hammer. Lightning lanced down from the sky and surrounded the now-glowing Mjolnir. Still roaring incoherently, he brought his hammer down onto the gated face.
Tony lowered his gauntlets and watched as the lightning destroyed whatever magic was lurking within the gate. The metal face disintegrated, and Thor pushed the burned gates open. Seeming supremely unimpressed with his little stunt, Thor hefted Mjolnir and said shortly, "We may enter."
"Show-off," Tony muttered.
Even though Thor had clearly fried whatever magic was in gate, he felt horribly exposed as they crept toward the manor. Thor was a glittering beacon in his Asgardian armor, as was Captain America with his spangle. He knew that his red-and-gold getup wasn't exactly subtle, either. He could only hope that they were too busy inside to look out the windows.
Apparently, the baddies inside were a little on the busy side – somehow, miraculously, they made it to the door without a single attacker. But now what?
When no one made a move, Tony ducked down and peered inside one of the windows. What he saw sickened him.
The crazy witch Bellatrix was involved again – she was standing beneath a brilliant crystal chandelier, looking down at a weird long-fingered creature. The thing was running its creepy hands over a sword while Bellatrix watched. Hermione was lying at her feet – and she wasn't moving.
He quickly took stock of the rest of the room. A blonde-haired man and woman were standing beside the fire, and JARVIS quickly registered they were wand-carriers. A younger blonde boy was facing away from them, also with a wand. An overly hairy, fanged man sat in the corner, chewing on his claw-like nails – Tony didn't trust him, even before JARVIS said he had a wand.
"Well?" Steve said tightly. Caught up in the scene, Tony forgot that he was supposed to be relaying information. He glanced at his team. Natasha and Clint were glued to the other windows, saying nothing. Thor was tense, lightning still fizzling on his hammer. Bruce was nervous but clearly trying not to show it. And Loki was still as stone, his face serene and calm. What, did he think they would leave him out of the fighting or something? Tony grabbed the god and shunted him in front. "Come on, shield," Tony growled, then turned to everyone else, keeping his voice as quiet as he could. "That bitch Bellatrix is involved again. She's got some critter with a sword, and I think she killed Hermione."
Tony ignored the shocked responses and refused to be affected by what he just said, continuing. "Four other wizards with wands, might be more, couldn't see, but JARVIS couldn't find out anything else."
"We can take them," Clint said, nocking an arrow. Natasha readied her gun while the Captain hefted his shield.
"If you find Ron or Harry, get them out of harm's way. We need wizards on our side." Everyone nodded, then Tony said, "On three. One –"
Thor had no patience for petty countdowns. Roaring his war cry again, he brought his hammer down on the doors, beating them off their hinges. Tony swore with his choicest swear words – which were colorful indeed – but everyone had no choice but to follow.
Tony had a moment's satisfaction of seeing Bellatrix's astonished face – she stood openmouthed, her hand pressed against her forearm for some reason. Then her wand was in her hand, and the battle began in earnest.
Clint immediately climbed the grand staircase, disappearing somewhere above, ready to rain hell down on the Death Eaters. Tony shot two arc reactor blasts and deflected the spells that arced toward Clint, and the archer escaped unscathed. He didn't see where Natasha went, either because she was so short or so fast, he didn't know. And Loki…
S**t.
He didn't see the god of mischief anywhere.
But there was no time to focus on the god's untimely disappearance. Thor's pride had been injured by Bellatrix, so of course he charged her first. Tony was intensely glad he'd wised up some, using the eerie lightning from his hammer to deflect her spells. Steve hovered beside him, ready with his shield to deflect any spells that got past Thor's guard. Then Thor surprised Tony - he actually managed to land a blow, sending Bellatrix skidding across the floor.
And then a green jet of light lanced past Tony, inches away from his chestplate. Tony quit watching Thor's buttkicking session and focused on the long-haired blonde wizard who'd tried to kill him. He smiled as he saw the man cringe. This man was no Bellatrix. Though Tony had to be careful about what weapons he used, so he didn't bring the house down, he was more than a match for this surprisingly cowardly man. After the man clumsily deflected three of Tony's flares, Tony laughed and brought out the big guns. He shot a spray of bullets as a warm-up - One of them lodged in the man's shoulder. Giving a very un-manly cry, the man stumbled, cracked his head against the fireplace, and slid to the floor unconscious.
"That was easy," Tony said with a shrug, turning back to the battle.
Unfortunately, that little incident pissed off the blonde-haired man's wife. She charged him with her wand, and Tony again missed death by inches.
He was really getting tired of that.
As he fought, JARVIS registered movement behind him – he was about to risk it and turn when JARVIS recognized the blonde boy, but he was not attacking – he'd run out to the courtyard. As brave as his father, Tony thought dryly to himself as he parried another green blow. What a family of cowards.
This time, though, Tony didn't get the pleasure of humiliating the wife. As he ducked beneath yet another green laser, the blonde woman shrieked and fell – Natasha stood behind her. Her taser-gloves were still sparking. Tony didn't envy the now-unconscious woman - she must have gotten one hell of a shock. With a nod in his direction, Natasha took off to help Steve, who was embattled with a scarred man Tony didn't recognize.
And then he realized – that blonde boy had run out to the courtyard and gotten reinforcements! Three new baddies had joined the fight. Damn.
Tony had hardly taken two steps towards his next target before a new voice cut through the din. "Expelliarmus!" Cried the voice, and it was a voice that Tony recognized. Tony whirled around and saw Bellatrix's wand flying through the air. It was caught in the outstretched hand of Harry Potter.
Harry and Ron had joined the battle, which certainly made things more interesting. As Harry ran past, Tony felt a strange humming, and knew that the boy wizard had cast a shield charm on his suit. Nice of him.
Tony took two potshots at one of the Death Eaters, feeling emboldened with two wizards on their side. But the triumph was short lived.
"STOP OR SHE DIES!"
So Hermione wasn't dead after all. That would have been good news, but Bellatrix was holding the unconscious Hermione in front of her, with a short silver knife held against her throat.
"Drop your weapons," She commanded. No one moved. Tony took aim at her, but JARVIS informed him that, regrettably, two Death Eaters stood behind her, ready to protect her. Trying to shoot her would probably just kill Hermione, which certainly wasn't a good plan.
Well, damn.
"Drop them," Bellatrix shouted, "or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!"
And she pressed the knife against Hermione's throat, causing scarlet beads to run down her skin.
She'd left no choice. Unless the Hulk decided to appear – and where was Bruce, anyway? – they were just asking for trouble and death. With a great sigh, Tony lowered his gauntlets. To the side, he saw Natasha and Steve do the same. He heard a clatter, and saw out of the corner of his eye that Harry and Ron's wands had dropped to the floor.
Bellatrix gave a maniacal laugh. "Good!" She leered. "Draco, pick those up! The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches!"
This was just getting better and better. Voldy was coming? Now? Maybe his sudden appearance would at least cause enough confusion to get a few people out safely.
"Now," Said Bellatrix softly, glaring around at them all, "Cissy – Cissy?" When there was no response, she looked around and found the blonde lady, crumpled by the fireplace. She gave a screech of rage – but the sound was strangely metallic…
Then Tony realized – her scream had masked another noise – the crystal chandelier was falling, with Bellatrix and Hermione directly below. Bellatrix screamed, dropped Hermione, and made to throw herself out of the way, but Tony hit her with a well-placed arc reactor blast. She staggered backwards, directly beneath the chandelier. He saw a flash of blue and knew that Steve had rushed in and dragged Hermione to safety. The chandelier crashed to the floor in an explosion of crystal and chains – the blonde boy, Tony noticed with relish, had been standing much too close. Shards of glass and crystal were flying everywhere, and Tony grinned as he saw the boy howl and clutch his suddenly bloody face.
And all was chaos again. One of the Death Eaters from the courtyard had revived both the blonde man and woman, who rejoined the fight with violence – though Tony noticed they steered clear of him. Good.
He'd turned to find a new opponent when he thought he saw a flash of leather and metal, along with a ridiculous horned helmet.
Oh hell no.
But it was Loki, free of his magical bindings and flitting on the edges of the scene. Tony looked, found Thor, and grabbed the hulking Thunder god. "Did you let Loki out?" He demanded, gesturing wildly to where Loki was skulking in the shadows. Thor looked surprised. "Yes," He said, raising his eyebrows.
Tony stared and willed himself not to blast several holes through the roof. "And… why… did you do that?" Tony said through his teeth.
"He said he could be of use," Thor said, and then he had the indecency to shrug, as though letting loose a crazy and vengeful god in the middle of a battle was of no consequence.
"Said he could be of use," Tony muttered, shoving away from Thor. If they survived, Thor was going to pay for that. Big time.
Tony looked around for the crazed horned god. He was somewhere on the second level… Tony had just enough time to worry for Clint when he heard yet another new voice – yet he'd definitely never heard this one before.
"You must not hurt Harry Potter," A high, thin voice squeaked. He looked up, around, then finally down, locating the source of the noise.
This new thing was even weirder than the long-fingered creature, who was currently unconscious in the corner of the room. This new thing was small, hardly came up to his knees. It was about the size of a small child, but if it was a child, it was the ugliest child Tony had ever seen. It had ears like a bat's wings, eyes way too big for its head – those eyes would look big on a cow – and was wearing at least a dozen pairs of socks, which all clashed horribly with his maroon sweater, upon which there were a bunch of bright badges. He had his hand out as though it was a dangerous weapon, his finger pointing E.T. style at the blonde woman.
All and all, Tony didn't know what to make of the newcomer. And, judging by Steve's and even Natasha's openmouthed reactions, they didn't know, either.
"Dobby!" The blonde woman screamed. "You! You dropped the chandelier -?"
"You must not hurt Harry Potter," The thing – a Dobby, whatever that was – repeated boldly. "Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"
The blonde lady shot a green laser right at him. Tony deflected the bolt himself. The Dobby might have a serious hero worship problem, but if he liked Harry so much, then he was probably worth saving.
Unfortunately, whatever the thing's plan was to save them, it wasn't going to be so easy. The fight began again. Natasha turned to fight the blonde woman, Steve was dueling the blonde man - Clint was raining arrows and keeping two Death Eaters cowering in a corner. There was a yell, and he turned to see the blonde boy tussling with Harry. Harry managed to grab back two of the wands the boy was holding. The blonde woman shot a curse at Harry, which he deflected, and then the fight began anew between the blonde boy and Harry, fighting for the last wand. They were moving too much for Tony to get a clear shot. Hoping that Harry could care for himself, Tony raised his gauntlets and approached the cowering Death Eaters, looking forward to erasing the scum forever -
A red burst of light came soaring from nowhere and hit Tony squarely in the chest. His suit went rigid as the arc reactor fizzled and overloaded. It flickered feebly, then went dark, and his suit without power was just so many metal pieces. Tony toppled backwards as his screen went black. Two seconds had passed, and now he was crippled and blind on the floor.
But he could still feel – he could feel the ring of fire inside as the shrapnel imbedded within his chest crawled eagerly towards his heart. There was no arc reactor, no magnet, to keep them at bay. The rest of the team was so busy trying to save their own lives that they probably wouldn't notice him lying on the floor in the corner. The Death Eaters sure as hell weren't going to tell anybody.
So this is how it all would end. Not in a noble deed, losing his life while taking out a dangerous enemy… no heroic sacrifice, taking out a nuke and saving Manhattan. He didn't even get to die protecting somebody. He was just going to die, die while lying in the corner of a dusty manor. The Death Eaters were probably laughing at him right now.
And there was not a damn thing he could do about it.
You win, shrapnel, he thought weakly as he felt the ring of fire contract, edging ever closer to his heart. What bitter irony it all was. The shrapnel, in endangering his life, had brought about Iron Man. Through his arc reactor and his suit, it had brought out a better Tony Stark than the man with no shrapnel in his chest had been. And yet, after all that, after everything he had fought through and lived through, the shrapnel was going to take his life.
How depressing.
There was nothing to distract him from the ever-increasing pain within his chest. Nothing to distract him from dying. He tried to remember the last rites, what to do or say, but he really doubted he'd ever known what the last rites were… so that was shot.
And then a distraction came, but it was not the sort that Tony hoped for. He felt rough wrenching on either side of his helmet, as though someone was trying to rip it off.
Whoever it was succeeded, and the front of his helmet was ripped off. The sight that greeted him was so unpleasant he tried to shut his eyes, only to find that he couldn't. The spell that had fried the arc reactor had also fried him – he couldn't move an inch. He couldn't even move his eyes, so he was forced to stare upwards into the face of the too-hairy death eater. He couldn't look away as the man – if it was a man – bared his teeth in a fanged approximation of a smile.
"I never did like shelling my meat," The man said in a throaty growl, bathing Tony in a vomit-inducing scent of fur, sweat, and raw meat. Each smell was disgusting in their own special way, but mixed together it produced a stench so nauseating it should have been outlawed. The man grinned wider, displaying bloody fangs. He continued to grin as an awful sound began – the sound of clawlike nails dragging across the outside of his suit.
Tony went from dreading death to wishing the shrapnel would hurry up. Dying by metal shards was almost certainly preferable to being eaten alive by this atrocious man-beast.
"Quite depressing for your little friends, I expect," The man said, and Tony was forced to listen. "To find nothing of you but a bloody shell?" His nails gouged deeper into the suit as he spoke.
Tony longed to say something snarky, or at the very least spit in his face, but the stupid spell still held him stationary. That seemed unfair – he didn't even get to go out on his own terms.
The man stopped in his gloating, and his head moved out of Tony's eyeline, leaving Tony staring at a bit of the man's midsection. Not exactly the last thing he ever wanted to see in the world.
Something red dripped onto his suit. Automatically, he tried to look, but of course could see nothing.
Two more drops joined the first. The Death Eater before him sagged slightly, and Tony saw the golden point of a spear protruding from his chest. Tony stared in amazement as the spear was shoved even farther through the Death Eater's body – the man gave a low gurgle, twitched once, and was still. The spear was retracted, and the man who had wanted to eat him crumpled and fell sideways.
In his place stood Loki.
Loki – of all people – had just saved him? Had he already died, and this was God's idea of a prank?
Crazy though it was, it seemed real. The god of lies was standing before him, clutching the bloody scepter. It wasn't the scepter Tony was familiar with, but long and golden, with a diamond pointed design on the top. The point was wickedly sharp, though Tony had already seen that in action.
Loki bent to Tony's level, his expression unreadable. Then he placed the tip of the still-dripping scepter directly onto the arc reactor.
Tony felt yet another surge of panic as he saw green magic flare around the point of the scepter. Did he save me to enslave me? He couldn't help thinking to himself. It hadn't worked the last time, but the god had certainly learned a hell of a lot more about technology since then.
The shrapnel was very close to fulfilling its deadly deed, he could feel it – it would be over soon. Even if he turned into Loki's personal flying monkey, it would only be for a minute or two. Not enough time to do much damage… he hoped.
The green light flared even brighter. He willed the shrapnel to hurry the hell up and finish him off before Loki could use him.
He felt an awful shock, then heard a familiar sound – that of a humming, functioning arc reactor. The fire within his chest faded. His arc reactor was working… and he could move again. His thoughts still seemed to be his own, which was good, but he tried to scramble to his feet before Loki could do whatever else he planned. He blinked – his eyes were very pissed at the fact he hadn't blinked for several minutes – and struggled to his feet, his repulsors re-charged and ready.
Loki examined him for one second with that same, unreadable look, then disappeared, back into the fray.
Tony was alive, uneaten, and still in control of himself.
All thanks to Loki.
How messed up was that?
There was no time to freak out over it, not with a battle still going on. Fully intending on cornering the god later, he quickly tried to take stock of what he'd missed while out of commission.
The two Death Eaters he'd been after in the first place were dead, skewered with Clint's arrows. Clint himself was nowhere to be seen. Bellatrix was back up and fighting, taking on three people again – Thor, Steve, and Natasha. Bruce was still MIA, which was worrying. Hermione was still unconscious, lying by the long-fingered thing, with Ron hovering protectively over her, wand out. And Harry was behind a sofa, trading blasts with the blonde boy. The boy wasn't looking anywhere but at Harry. Rolling his eyes, Tony knocked him out with a single repulsor blast. Harry nodded his thanks, but seconds after roared with pain, clutching his head. Before Tony could go forward to see what had hit him, an earsplitting crack echoed through the room, and a dark-cloaked figure appeared in their midst.
Moldyvort had appeared.
Oh, shit.
Whew. Lotsa stuff!
I'm gonna see if I can just write chapter 11 tonight, so I don't leave you guys hanging D: I really don't mean to.
Recap for people not quite into Harry Potter, or because my writing was too obscure again-
So. Just in case I didn't make it clear - this is Harry Potter Canon Malfoy Manor. Harry pressed his panic button the moment the Snatchers appeared outside their tent - it took the Avengers awhile to get to them, so they ended up in Malfoy Manor by the time they arrived. And also, recap because obviously I couldn't use names, Tony doesn't know who the hell they are.
Blonde guy is Lucius Malfoy, Blonde woman is Narcissa. Blonde boy is Draco. Hairy monstrosity was Fenrir Greyback. Fenrir did die, but the Malfoys are all still alive. The reinforcements that Draco got were the three snatchers that were out in the courtyard - two of them were killed in the corner by Clint, Scabior, the other one, is still alive and skulking around someplace.
Aaand... I think that's everything, 'cept to say Voldy's back and he's pissed and this is gonna be good... or bad, depending on your point of view xD
As always if I made a derp, you don't understand something, etc. just post in the reviews and I'll do my best to answer! :)
And twistyguru, I'm not going to give anything away, but what you requested before in the reviews... it inspired me. It's gonna happen. Just sayin'! :)
Thanks for reading!
