Enjoy!


The complicated, magical, bomb-riddled bank heist started in a way most might not expect – with the Avengers plus one wizard sitting in an empty field.

However, to anyone who happened to see the field, it looked just that – like an empty field. There was no indication that 8 people were currently sitting, standing, or pacing back and forth across the yellowed grass.

Since it seemed a bad idea to have the majority of their forces sitting like brightly-colored targets in the grass, the wizards had worked their magic again. Hermione rapped each of the Avengers over the head with her wand – the strange spell turned them all into the equivalent of human chameleons. Though not truly invisible, their skin changed to match exactly with the scenery behind them. Pretty effective, in other words.

But Tony presented a bit of a problem. Not Tony specifically, but his shiny new magic-proofed suit. Any magic – friendly nor not – bounced right off. Tony grinned beneath his mask. Sure, it was inconvenient, but the thrill of beating magic was not about to wear off anytime soon.

The wizards fretted and fussed for awhile, until Tony lost patience and thrust a sheet at them. If the spell could be cast on regular metal, then it could be cast on fabric, too. Harry and Ron threw Tony grateful looks as Hermione rapped the sheet and threw it over Tony. His vision was certainly impaired, but Tony could see through it, and that was the important thing.

With the Avengers and Ron set in the field, Hermione Disapparated, carrying a freaky-looking black dress and a bottle of polyjuice potion with her. Harry and the creepy little goblin trailed behind. Soon Hermione was a mirror image of Bellatrix, with Harry and Griphook invisible by her side. Staggering slightly in her high heels, the pseudo -Bellatrix proceeded to enter a dank, shabby-looking bar.

Tony, of course, was sitting under the sheet in the field – but the miniscule camera floating along after Hermione showed him everything.

Tired of things getting lost in translation, Tony had made two miniscule cameras, magic hardened and covered with a thin layer of ordinary metal. The metal was covered with that handy Disillusionment charm as well, and voila, total spy coverage. One camera was floating along behind Hermione, whereas the other was currently floating by his shoulder. The tunnels looked bad enough in the drawings – pockmarks and caves and other tunnels everywhere, where anything dastardly and/or evil could be hiding. So this little camera was under JARVIS's control, to keep an eye out where he couldn't.

Along with the extra eyes the cameras provided, Tony also doled out magic-hardened earpieces. (He was really loving the whole magic-proof thing.) Audio contact? Check. One-sided video contact? Also check. Sure, Hermione couldn't see anything the Avengers were up to, but hey, you couldn't have everything. Considering the time crunch, Tony thought they were reasonably prepared for what they were going to do.

He was also sure he was going to drop that opinion immediately once they actually entered the tunnels.

"Good morning," Tony heard Hermione politely say to the bartender, Bellatrix's harsh voice sounding unusually high and soft. Tony watched the bartender stare with wide eyes as Bellatrix-Hermione walked past. The eyes of the disheveled-looking patrons followed her as she left.

Tony rolled his own eyes. "That was lacking a little fire and brimstone, sunshine," Tony said to Hermione. "You're Bellatrix . Effing. Lestrange. Crazy murderers don't usually say 'good morning' like little schoolgirls."

"All right, all right!" Hermione snapped crossly as she approached what looked to be a perfectly blank and solid wall.

"Much better!" Tony commended. "But now you're talking to yourself. Not a good public image, that."

"Then how about you stop talking?" Hermione suggested innocently.

"Hmm… " Tony pretended to think about it. "Um… nope. Sorry. And you're still talking to yourself, by the way. Not even Bellatrix is crazy enough to be holding one-sided conversations."

Hermione muttered something unintelligible, her face set in a scowl. In Bellatrix's face, the expression looked formidable indeed – which, of course, was why Tony was taunting her in the first place.

Hermione whipped out her wand and tapped one of the ordinary-looking bricks on the wall, just above some overflowing trash cans. Tony was less surprised and more intrigued at the mechanics this time as he watched the archway unfold – the bricks folded back smoothly, taking the cans with them. The entire mess disappeared on either side like curtains being drawn from a stage. Very theatric – he supposed it would have been too easy to just have a hidden door or something. Hermione walked confidently through the gateway, with Harry and the goblin presumably following. The camera just barely zipped through before the bricks abruptly closed in on themselves, slamming back together with a foreboding-sounding bang.

"Close shave, JARVIS," Tony noted.

My apologies, sir.

As the camera darted forward to catch up with Hermione, Tony almost wished the camera had gotten caught behind the wall, for the images showing now were nothing short of horrifying. His viewpoint rotated slowly, taking in the street as it followed Hermione's walk towards the enormous marble building that was undoubtedly their destination. But Tony hardly glanced at the impressive structure – he was much too busy staring, shocked, at the squalor in the streets.

Tony had always assumed that, with magic and all, the wizards took care of their own. He'd thought that magic would at least reduce suffering in their general public. But as he looked down at one of the great wizarding sanctuaries, he could see that he'd been very, very wrong.

The shop fronts were dark and uninviting, many sporting hastily boarded-up doors or smashed windows. Below a sign showing a faded image of an ice cream sundae, a door creaked slowly back and forth on broken hinges. Skid marks from the doorway were clearly scraped in the grime, as though someone had been forcibly dragged away.

And to top off everything, posters were plastered on every intact window – all bearing the same face, a face Tony knew well. The visage of Harry Potter glared down from every store, with the words 'UNDESIRABLE NUMBER ONE' emblazoned across his chest.

"What… happened?" Tony managed to choke out, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

"What do mean, what happened?" Came Steve's concerned voice immediately. Oops. He'd forgotten he was the only one with the video feed. Quickly, he caught the team up to speed as to what was happening. Then Ron supplied the answer.

"You-Know-Who happened," He said bitterly.

Hermione continued up the dismal cobblestoned alley. Beggars were grouped in the doorways of closed stores, garbed in little more than rags and begging piteously for gold. One man had a bloodstained bandage wrapped around his eye. As Hermione walked by with her head determinedly held high, the beggars melted away, disappearing quickly back into the grimy shadows. All except the bloodstained man, who stood his ground, staring with hatred at Bellatrix.

Uh-oh.

Sir, the bandaged man appears to have malicious intent directed towards Ms. Granger's current identity. He is moving to intercept her.

JARVIS spoke to everyone, and it was Steve who spoke up first. "Now's not the time for manners, Hermione. Stun him and get out!"

Ever the soldier, but a flash and bang wasn't the best way to sneak in anywhere unnoticed. "Quietly," Tony added.

Hermione whirled just as the man shouted, "My children! Where –"

The rest of the sentence was lost as he toppled over backwards, stiff as a board.

"Full-body bind," Hermione moaned. She hadn't moved from the very obvious scene of the crime. Though the spell had been silent, the stunned man in the middle of the road was a pretty big sign of foul play.

"You're not Bellatrix," Tony said quickly. "You can't help – you don't know where his kids are, do you? Get going before those charming Death Eaters swoop down."

Hermione grimaced, but turned and walked briskly up to the bank, clearly doing her best to look haughty and unconcerned.

Tony was on edge the entire time, but Hermione managed to make it up to the bank's main counter with her disguise intact. There was a scary moment, where it seemed like the goblins knew something was amiss, but thanks to a few mind-controlling spells by Harry, an elderly goblin took up their case, brushed everyone off, and took them down into the tunnels.

The tunnels. They were just as dark and labyrinth-like as Tony feared. But Tony hadn't factored rickety carts into the equation – Hermione and the elderly goblin loaded up and the cart took off immediately, rocketing forward and taking hairpin turns at ridiculous speeds. Tony sure didn't envy anyone in that cart.

For a few glorious moments, it seemed like everything was going right. But then, of course, everything turned south.

The first clue was the big waterfall falling directly over the track. The huge stream of water seemed to come from nowhere - before anything could be done, they went barreling right through it. The magical water turned Bellatrix back into Hermione, and the old goblin came back to himself.

"The Thief's Downfall!" Cried a disembodied voice, presumably Griphook's, but it didn't much matter – a second later the cart upended and sent them all screaming towards the ground.

"Hermione!" Tony cried, which of course did nothing – but that was exactly what Tony and the rest of the Avengers could do. Nothing.

Luckily, Hermione kept her head, waved her wand, and they landed gently, as opposed to splatting. But though Harry quickly re-mindcontrolled the goblin, the game was clearly up. Gringotts knew there were intruders. Time to give them more to deal with.

"That's our cue, guys," Tony said, standing and manually selecting in his HUD which bombs to blow first.

"The screams were a pretty good clue," Bruce said dryly.

Seconds later, explosions rent the air as planned blasts blew deep holes within the earth. Three holes for the Avengers, four more in various decoy locations. Tony still couldn't quite get over just how enormous the underground repository was, with tunnels snaking in every direction for miles and miles. As Tony dropped down the shaft, he hoped their little renovations wouldn't cause a massive sinkhole or anything. That would be the opposite of helpful.

Tony's camera followed him as he plummeted downwards. A few repulsor blasts were needed to connect to the main tunnel – the camera floated ahead of him to check for any running goblins. When none appeared, Tony walked through the newly made hole – and had the pleasure of seeing himself walk majestically through the smoke, the mysterious-looking runes glowing powerfully through the haze of dust. The strongest was the circle etched tight around his chest, the runes shining so brightly they nearly outshone his arc reactor.

Majesty aside, he was essentially a walking flashlight, so he hung back. The rest of the Avengers gathered around, and Tony set off two more decoys for good measure. Then JARVIS snapped the digital scan of the goblin's maps into his HUD, located Hermione's camera, and set his target with a blinking red dot. "Nice touch, JARVIS," he commended his AI.

Thank you, sir.

Tony knew the Avengers were assembled beside him, but other than slight flits of moment, they were all but impossible to see. Though he'd left his camouflaged sheet in the shaft, theirs had staying power. He switched to thermal viewing to keep a better eye on them. Loki, he noticed, ran noticeably cooler than everyone else, including Thor – he stored that knowledge away for future questioning.

They'd made it. They'd actually gotten into Gringotts. And though they could hear sirens in the distance, no one had run up and tried to kill them. Tony considered that a good sign.

"Right." There was a rustling, and Tony saw Steve move to the front of the group. It was a pointless move – no one could see him but Tony. But whatever.

"Hermione, we're in. Keep going towards the vault. We'll meet up with you."

Steve was in his element, directing his 'soldiers' towards the best course of survival. "Ron, up front. Use your Muffliato to cover our sound – keep that spell cast. Otherwise, you're the stunner. Stun, not kill. These creatures aren't our enemies," He said.

"We know, Mr. Righteous," Tony said – the longer they stood, the more likely they were to be discovered. "Keep it going."
Steve actually listened, continuing without a pause. "Tony, you're navigator. Stick tight with Ron and keep an eye out. The rest of you, stay tight and stun anything that moves."

"Aye-aye, boss," He heard Natasha say – her words were followed by an ominous sparking noise. No one liked stunners like Natasha.

"Uh, my arrows aren't stunners, Steve," Clint said as they started to move forward.

"Then don't shoot them, Clint," Bruce said logically.

"Goblins can't use magic," Ron spoke up. "If they get close, just kick them or something. But be careful – they have knives."

Leg-height knife wielders? Well, that was just lovely. At least Tony was safe in a metal suit of armor. He felt kind of bad for the rest of them.

They weren't actually as far away as Tony had feared – close enough, in fact, that Hermione stopped and waited for them to catch up. Griphook refused to divulge any of the hidden dangers of Gringotts, but they'd heard more than enough to know there was safety in numbers – especially when those numbers included a few gods and several superhumans.

The tunnels were as winding and confusing as the maps had made them out to be – and worse, not meant for foot traffic. It meant difficult traveling, scrambling over rocks and crumpled stalagmites. It certainly slowed them up some.

"These goblins do not take kindly to visitors," Thor said as he scrambled awkwardly forward. Just how much they hated 'visitors' soon became painfully clear - though Tony didn't know the exact trigger, suddenly sirens were blaring loud in his ear, echoing in every direction. An oozy mist seemed to leak from the very pores of the rock – there was nowhere to escape to. For one horrible moment, Tony feared the mist would kill on contact – but then JARVIS affirmed it was not poisonous. That was a relief. But the mist was not pointless – when it finally dissipated, everyone was still alive but very, very visible.

For a moment, everyone was relieved that nothing worse had happened – then there was a sharp quake beneath them, sending everyone flying off their feet. The ground ahead of them shifted, twisted, and rose – and a huge deluge of rocks came plummeting towards them.

Shit. Of course they weren't going to get off so easy. The damn bank had already tried to make splatters of Hermione and Harry – failing that, now it was going to bury them in boulders. Spectacular.

Luckily for them, the Avengers were better prepared for this sort of thing than your typical treasure thief. Clint immediately shot one of his rappelling arrows into the air – it burrowed deeply into the tunnel ceiling. Grabbing Natasha, he reeled himself up and safely out of the way, where they both hung like a strange stalactite above the rampaging rocks. Steve was climbing the sidewall somehow, quickly getting out of range.

Thor took safely to the air, bringing a terrified-looking Ron with him. Tony took to the air as well, grabbing Bruce from the ground as he did so and bringing him along. Loki had somehow beamed himself to the other side of boulderslide and was calmly watching the avalanche.

The rocks trundled harmlessly by. Tony expected them to continue bashing their way down the tunnel, but a gaping hole opened in the bottom of the tunnel. The rocks poured into them, crashing with a deafening bang… then the tunnel floor sealed itself, and they were left with a smooth way upwards towards the vault they wanted.

"Well, that was exciting," Tony said, landing and setting Bruce down. He squinted upwards at the dangling assassins. "Someone want to cut down the piñatas up there?"

After everyone was safely on the ground, Hermione's panicked voice crackled through their speakers. "RON!" She screeched, sounding terrified. "Is everyone okay? What was all that noise? What happened?"

"Ginger's fine, Hermione," Tony said. "Just a rockslide. No big deal."

"No biggie," Bruce seconded, dusting rock dust from his hair.

They travelled more quickly now, though. This booby trap happened to play to their strengths – the next might not.

Thankfully, luck continued to play for their side. The dot on Tony's HUD grew ever larger, then Hermione, Harry, and the goblins came into view. After briefly rejoicing that they hadn't all died, they turned and faced the lighted tunnel ahead. Toward the vault…and quite possibly certain doom. Considering what had happened so far, Tony wasn't particularly excited about what was in store next.

"A question, goblin," Thor said as they headed towards the vault. "Those boulders were meant to kill. You would truly kill any intruders that dare venture in this place?"

"You are thieves," Griphook said flatly. "Thieves who deserve whatever nasty fate befalls them," He said with a disturbing smile.

"Why make us visible, then?" Natasha asked.

"So we may see the fools who tried and failed to enter our vaults. It is much easier to remove spells and enchantments before rather than... after," He said with an unpleasant laugh.

Creeps. Tony shook his head. "Okay, topic covered, we got it. Back to the bank heist?"

They continued on in silence, at a brisk pace but perhaps a little slower than they were capable of. The chance of boulders or avalanches or other fun booby traps at any turn did make the walk less appealing.

Still, some weren't so fearful. "Cowards," Clint taunted as he sped ahead of their pace.

"I would not do that, human," Griphook called, but Clint had already turned the corner. Two echoing footsteps, then –

"Holy shit!" Clint's voice echoed both down the tunnel and in their earpieces.

"Who's the coward now?" Tony asked sardonically as the rest of them sped to catch up. Tony turned the corner, ready to taunt him some more… then he saw what Clint was looking at.

For once, Tony agreed with the archer.

"Oh. Shit."

A gigantic white dragon barred their way, its maw open, low menacing growls building in its throat. Smoke was furling from its nostrils. There were thick shackles around its legs, but, being a dragon, it's claws certainly weren't the only weapons in its arsenal. Tony eyed the smoke with trepidation. Yep, smoking nostrils probably meant it was a fire-breather. Its eyes were strangely milky and unfocused, but Tony had a feeling its fire didn't need to be too precise to be effective.

It looked like the Middle Ages got something right after all. Dragons weren't the stuff of dreams – or nightmares – but quite real and happily employed in guarding banks. He thought he'd gotten a handle on the whole wizarding world business, then they throw f**king dragons to the mix. What was next? Trolls?

"What the hell do we do?" Clint demanded.

In answer, Thor strode forward.

"I can fight such a beast," Thor said confidently, but luckily the dragon intervened before he could do anything stupid. Roaring as soon as Thor moved, the dragon sent a jet of fire in their direction, sending them all running back up the passageway. "We have a means of controlling it," Griphook said with a glare in Thor's direction, taking a cloth bag from the old goblin and passing out strange hammer-looking items to everyone.

"I must fight him with this?" Thor said doubtfully, looking at the tiny instrument.

The goblin did not deign to answer – instead, he shook the object. It immediately made a loud, unpleasant metallic noise. Back up the tunnel, the dragon gave a piteous moan.

"It expects pain when it hears the noise," Griphook said, with a kind of vicious enjoyment. Indeed, there was fiendish amusement on the goblin's pointed face as he shook the noise-maker. The dragon whined again, and now Tony noticed the vicious slash-marks across its face and body.

Everyone grimaced but followed suit, and soon the chamber was filled with a hideous metallic din. The creatures gave a screeching roar and retreated quickly, hunching against the side of the cave. The chains that tied it to the floor rattled as the beast shook with fear.

"That's barbaric," Hermione said, stopping and staring at the cowering dragon. "Yep, it is," Tony said, ushering the witch ahead of him. "But let's deal with animal activism when we're not in the middle of a bank heist." Hermione scowled but followed the others.

It wasn't that Tony was okay with seeing that kind of suffering – quite the opposite. Sure, it was a monstrous fire-breathing dragon, but even it didn't deserve to be hacked at with swords on a daily basis. Besides, a rampaging dragon before their theft would just be an added difficulty… but a fiery half-blind dragon staggering about after they'd grabbed the Horcrux? Tony could think of few ways to better cover their escape.

And despite the dragon having no qualms about eating all of them for lunch, Tony was going to see if he could include the dragon in their escape plans. Sure, the beast scared the shit out of him, but it still didn't deserve to be in a hell like this.

The more he learned about them, the more Tony realized – goblins, on the whole, were really just little pricks.

Still rattling his metallic noisemaker, he joined the others in front of the vault. Harry pointed his wand at the old goblin, causing him to raise his hand and press it against the door – it melted away at his touch.

"Quickly, quickly!" Griphook urged as the dragon gave a roar behind them. Everyone quickly shuffled inside. Tony just barely glimpsed a cavernous room, filled with the dull glint of many metallic objects – then the door reformed with startling speed, blocking the light from the dragon's pavilion and plunging everything into darkness.


Whew! Not over yet!

Next chapter will be up in about two minutes :)