Dia duit! Conas atá tú? - irish :3 IM TEACHING THE WORLD!
So anyway, this chapter was really hard to write for some reason. Took two whole days DX And it's reeeally long -_-
"Potter, turn them back," Fury ordered, rolling his one remaining eye. Harry scowled at him, but complied, albeit reluctantly.
"Is your curiosity satisfied?" he asked the two men sarcastically, suppressing amusement caused by the twin looks of shock, "Do you need any more evidence?"
"NO!" Thor bellowed, obviously traumatised from his time as an amphibian.
Stark was blinking rapidly, gazing at Harry's wand uncomprehendingly, "That's not possible. I was a frog. Impossible."
Harry raised his wand, but Fury interrupted before he could curse Tony again. "Did you not just say you had 'stuff to do'? As soon as you catch Loki, you can be on your way, Agent Potter."
Harry gave him a nod, and propped his booted feet on the table. "Fine, I'll stay here while the others get their jet ready." He waved his wand over his clothes, repairing and cleaning them.
"Time is of the essence, Potter," Fury growled, but stopped when Harry pointed at his chest and then at the wing still splayed behind him.
"Nick, I just got stabbed and almost beaten to 'death'. I'm going to have to fly alongside the jet 'cause it'll crash if I get on it. For that, I need a working wing. Unless you wanna carry me there?"
"Everyone but Potter, get ready. You leave in ten minutes."
As they hurried away, Fury dug a small device out of his pocket, and handed it to Harry, who took it warily. "What's this?"
"A new version of our SHIELD communicator. Hypothetically, it should function even on your person. It rejects all energy from outside sources. It should be unaffected by your magic."
Harry placed the small device into his ear. "If this blows up my head, I'm slapping you in the face."
The Director laughed, and held a microphone up to his ear. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
Harry yelled out, and fell off of his chair, cursing wildly. "MERLIN! YOU BROKE MY EARS! Why is it so loud?!"
"Next time, Potter, try not to mentally scar my employees. The consequences won't be pleasant."
"Banner," Romanoff yelled from the front of the plane, "Where does that thing say Loki is?"
"Stark Tower!" Banner called back, "Whatever he's going to do, it'll happen there!"
"Why my tower?" Tony whined, flipping up the visor of his helmet so everyone could see his pout.
"Maybe because you're the only one of us with a tower?" Steve replied.
"Yeah, it must suck to be poor."
Barton and Romanoff, who were piloting the plane, were the first ones to notice the appearance of the portal.
"What the fuck," Barton breathed. Natasha said nothing, but Barton's words summarised her thoughts. A flash of black at the corner of her eye caused her to turn her head.
"Looks like Grim caught up."
Harry's voice came through the earpieces of everyone in the team. "The Tesseract has opened a portal. Hostile alien life forms sighted. Land and head towards Stark Tower. We need to contain this and close that portal as soon as possible. We need to find Selvig, as he's the one behind the Tesseract harnessing technology. Captain, organise your team and deal with the civilians. Things are about to get bloody."
The Avengers all exchanged glances, each of them wondering who would survive the battle to come.
Harry flew towards the Tower as fast as he could. He gritted his teeth as he watched hundreds of reptilian-like creatures exiting the portal. He cursed himself as he flew. He had never been to Stark Tower before, and so he couldn't apparate directly inside. He contemplated flying straight into the portal, and seeing if he could shut it down from there, but dismissed those thoughts when he saw what was on the other side. It looked like open space, and he decided that he would rather not experiment on whether or not the Master of Death could function in such a place. No, he needed to find Loki. If he took down the leader, the rest of the army would have nothing to fight for. It had worked with Voldemort.
His thoughts were interrupted by his senses going haywire. Death was coming. The deaths of numerous residents of New York City.
But only if he did nothing.
"Damn it," he snarled to himself, and hurtled towards the ground, furling his wings tightly to his back, wincing as the previously broken one protested such vicious movement so soon. Searching the ground below him, he spotted the first aliens to pass through the portal, the Chitauri, if he remembered correctly, land on the ground, raising foreign weaponry in order to strike down innocent people.
Harry hit the ground, his wings unfurling at the last second, slowing his landing. A shockwave of light shot out of the Elder Wand, and all Chitauri in the vicinity fell to the ground, deep gashes gushing blood decorating their bodies. What a delightful spell Sectumsempra was...
Harry charged forward, firing spell after spell at his enemies. Every single one struck its target, and a feral smile made its way to Harry's lips. The Chitauri, seeing the threat they faced, regrouped, and began firing their guns at the wizard. A simple Protego blocked the tiny missiles, and Harry enlarged the shield so as to protect the people huddled in the shops lining the street behind him. With that, he leapt out from behind the shield's safety, countless spells leaving his wand, sometimes even two at the same time. Enemy after enemy were felled by Harry's magic. It was fun, finally using all the offensive spells Harry had learned over the years, and Harry lost himself in the frenzy of battle. Death followed him wherever he went, the sight of him and his raven wings causing his enemies to experience fear they had never thought possible.
"Grim!" a voice called from directly behind him. Harry whirled around, his wand already pointed at their throat. He managed to stop himself before a spell left his wand.
"Rogers, don't sneak up on me,"
"I thought you were going after Loki? Stark says he's in the Tower. Look, you're wasting time here, we'll handle the rest."
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Fine, I'll head to the Tower now. Wasn't my fault I got distracted. Speaking of distractions," he said, looking over the Captain's shoulder, and pointing at Stark, who was flying around the corner of a skyscraper, "Your friend found one." A massive creature flew out behind the armoured man, causing Steve to spin around and ready his red and blue shield.
"Dear God..."
"I'm sure he'll handle it," Harry asked with a smirk.
"I don't think a suit of armour will help against that thing."
"Maybe not," Harry shrugged, "But the Hulk might."
With a ferocious roar, a huge green blur shot passed the two men, and charged the alien monster before them. Tony flew past them in the opposite direction, landing a short distance behind them now that his task of leading the monster to them was completed.
As it flew closer, the Hulk bellowed out his challenge, and the monster changed target, aiming for him instead. It flew down, its huge mouth opening to tear the Hulk to shreds. Instead of that happening, the Hulk jumped onto its head, slamming huge fists into its skull, crushing its brain and halting its progress. The beast, now quite dead, fell from the air, crashing into the ground with an almighty thud.
The team could only gape at the scene before them. None of them had expected the Hulk to take the monster down that easily. Even Harry could not help but gawk at the green creature as he turned around, and lumbered over to them, looming menacingly when he stood before them. An animalistic growl left his lips, and Harry saw that whatever control Banner had inside to direct the Hulk after their enemies was waning.
"Good job, Banner," Harry said, stepping forward, "Think you could take out some more?"
"Potter, back away slowly," Tony murmured, questioning the sanity of SHIELD's supposed 'best operative'.
Harry ignored him, choosing to continue staring into the Hulk's eyes. He saw recognition flicker across the Hulk's face, and knew that he was recalling their last encounter.
"You help us out, and we'll have no problems. Attack us, and I'll end you," Harry said, his voice growing dangerously soft. The Hulk glared at him, lips curling into a snarl, before he nodded jerkily. Harry nodded back. "Alright Cap, Fury said you're the leader of this group of misfits, and Hulk here has decided to play on our team. I'll let you designate jobs and such. See you after I mutilate Loki." With that, he took to the air, leaving Steve and Tony standing before the massive Hulk.
Steve cleared his throat. "Stark, let's get back to work. You take the air, and I'll take the ground."
Tony gave him a him a mock salute, "Sure thing, Capsicle."
Steve then turned to the Hulk, and pointed at him. "Smash."
The feral smile he got in return was terrifying.
Harry headed for the Tower, once again back on track. The huge portal hovering in the sky far above it caused him to shiver in disgust. He could feel the energy coming from it. The base energy wasn't ultimately evil, but paired with whatever energy the aliens had used on the other side, it was enough to make his flesh crawl. From what he could see, the machine on the roof was protected by a strange force field. It would undoubtedly cause pain if he came into contact with it, so he would leave finding a way to stop it until after he had dealt with Loki.
Speaking of the Asgardian, Harry watched as he and Thor had what appeared to be an argument. Harry was a second away from landing when he saw Loki stab a hidden blade into Thor's side. Without further ado, Harry shot the green caped villain with a blasting hex, causing him to crash into the huge windows lining the balcony, catapulting him straight through them. Harry caught Thor as he staggered, clutching his side, and the sound of glass shattering filled the air.
"That bastard," Harry hissed, his voice distorting slightly because of Parseltongue, "I'm going to kill him." He carefully lowered Thor to the ground, casting a quick Diagnostic spell, and breathing a sigh of relief when seeing the wound wasn't too serious. He cast a healing charm before he straightened up, and began to march in through the broken window.
"Wait!" Thor called hoarsely, "Do not kill him! This wound is barely a scratch, and he is my brother."
Harry paused for a moment, "Loki has invaded my planet, harmed my co-workers, tried to murder one of the few people I care about, and he stabbed me with a pointy stick. I'll do whatever the bloody hell is necessary to stop him." He continued inside. "I will deal with your brother, Asgardian. Go help your team."
Harry entered the room, advancing forward in a crouch, his wand at the ready. He could not help the soft crunch that the broken glass made under his booted feet, and so he paused, straining his ears, attempting to locate Loki through hearing alone.
This awareness was what gave him the spilt second he needed to dive out of the way of a blast from Loki's staff. He was glad that he did, as he was unsure how he would react to it. Getting stabbed by that thing was by far the most painful experience of his life to date, and he was pretty sure getting shot by it couldn't be much better.
"I knew it would be you who came to fight me," Loki said softly as he came out into the open from where he had been hiding. "But it is much too late. My army will defeat your pitiful friends, and I will become ruler of this wretched planet. All will bow before me," he pointed the staff at Harry, "Even you, Master of Death. It is not too late to change your allegiance."
"I don't think so, Dorki."
Loki snarled, "Then you will die along with those wretched 'Avengers'. None can hope to defeat me. I am a GOD!" He fired again at Harry, and Harry once again dodged, causing the blast to impact upon the wall. He was quite concerned as he observed the wall disintegrate into dust. That didn't bode well from him if he was hit by it.
Rolling to his feet, Harry fired a medley of spells. Loki raised his staff, and fired a blast into their midst, causing Harry's spells to fail, or be struck of course. Harry growled, and continued shooting at Loki with every spell in his arsenal, constantly dodging attacks from Loki.
"What's wrong, Loki? Is your magic so weak that your only hope of victory is that staff? Pathetic. And here I was hoping for a duel. I guess I should not have expected anything else from the likes of you."
"I am NOT pathetic! I am the rightful King of Asgard! ALL SHALL KNEEL BEFORE ME!"
Harry contained the smirk that tried to creep onto his face. He had not expected such manipulation to work. Loki was a powerful foe already, and adding the alien weaponry, Harry would have difficulty in stopping him quickly. If Loki were to lose control of his temper however, as he had done, he would become less rational.
And easier to defeat.
With a yell of fury, Loki began to fire his weapon chaotically. Harry dived and swerved, now able to advance on the Asgardian as well as avoiding his attacks. The only thing on Loki's mind was the destruction of Harry Potter. The only thing Harry was thinking about was getting Loki away from that staff.
During the pause between one of Loki's attacks and the next, Harry struck. Lashing out, he smashed a fist into Loki's face. He grimaced as he felt Loki's nose break, and blood gushed over his hand. He then kicked Loki's feet out from underneath him, causing him to fall. Loki tried to catch himself as he fell, but his broken nose caused his eyes to tear up, and he lost his balance.
As soon as he hit the ground, Harry kicked the staff out of his hand, sending it flying across the room. Loki sent a burst of magic at Harry, who leapt out of the way. During the distraction, Loki managed to flip himself to his feet, and quickly summoned decoys of himself with which to confuse Harry. The Master of Death was not so easily tricked, however. He could sense the difference between the live Loki, and the magical fakes, and so ignored them as they tried to confuse him, instead focusing on the one that was running in the direction of the fallen staff.
With a flick of his wand, the marble floor undulated and transformed into stone arms, wrapping themselves around Loki, holding him in place. Harry then hit the Asgardian with Petrificus Totalus, and his eyes widened slightly as he felt Loki immediately begin to fight it. However, he would not escape. It was now time for a few words.
Harry stalked over to his enemy. With another wave of his wand, the decoys were dispelled. Planting himself firmly in front of the glaring Loki, Harry asked, "How do we close the portal?" He removed the spell from Loki from the neck upwards so that he could speak.
"There is no way," he spat out, "The Chitauri cannot be stopped. You may have beaten me, but you cannot defeat them in their entirety."
"You're their leader, are you not? Call them off," Harry narrowed his eyes dangerously, "Before I make you."
Loki returned the glare, but faltered slightly, "I can't."
"What do you mean, you can't?"
"They take their orders from a different master. I could no more call them off then you could die of old age. Looks like you failed."
Harry hissed out a few curses in Parseltongue, before returning his attention to Loki, "You have no idea how much I want to kill you." Loki's eyes widened. "… But I won't."
"Why? I am your enemy. Mercy is a trait of fools. At least let me die with honour, knowing I have been bested in battle."
Harry ignored him, leaving the emotional crap for Thor to deal with. Loki was Thor's brother, not Harry's. He pointed his wand at Loki, and shot out a beam of red light. Loki immediately lost consciousness, and Harry proceeded to manipulate the marble hands until they formed a cage around the dark haired man. Pleased with the results, he cast some unbreakable charms on the marble, and wards that would stop him should he try to escape. Loki wasn't getting away a second time.
Satisfied with his work, Harry warily approached the staff that was lying on the floor across the room. Examining it, he could not help but admit that it was rather beautiful. Then the memory of being stabbed with it crushed those thoughts. Cautiously, he bent to pick it up. Upon his skin coming into contact with it, his hand began to burn with excruciating pain. Harry yelped, and pulled his hand back, glaring at the weapon. He got the feeling it didn't like him.
Raising a hand to his ear, he said, "I've dealt with Loki. The staff is in my possession but I can't pick it up. Anyone near Stark Tower? It's time enough to close that goddamn portal."
"It's your lucky day," a voice said from behind him. Harry whirled around, and once again found himself restraining himself from attacking an ally.
"Romanoff, how did you get on the balcony?"
"Got a lift," she said flippantly, gesturing at the aliens flying around on what appeared to be jet skis. "I heard your call. Where is it?" Harry pointed at the ground behind him.
Romanoff strode over, then crouched to examine the staff. Without warning, she scooped it up, weighing it in her hands. "Hmph, that was easy."
"Well it doesn't try to maim you whenever you try to pick it up," Harry growled grumpily. Natasha raised an eyebrow, and turned to examine Loki's prison.
"Nice work. How'd you knock him out?"
"Magic," he said with a smirk. She stared at him, unimpressed, before making her way out to the balcony.
"Building's power is down, and the stairs have collapsed. We're going to need to fly up there. Well, if you're able to in the presence of the scary staff?" Harry scowled, and took hold of her upper arms, before unfurling his wings and taking off from the ground. Five seconds later, they were on the roof, and Harry let go of Romanoff immediately. He really didn't like that staff.
Without warning, a man shot out from behind the machine, firing a gun. Harry pushed Romanoff out of the way, a bullet catching his arm, before firing a stunner at the man who he now recognised to be Dr. Selvig. The red light struck him directly in the chest, and Selvig collapsed to the ground. Romanoff ran over and checked his pulse. "What did you do?"
"I just knocked him out," Harry said, as he prowled around the machine that was causing them so much trouble. He held out a hand, and was rewarded with the same pain the staff had zapped him with. Grumbling to himself, he quickly pulled back his hand. Stupid alien tech.
"Barton woke up after I knocked him out. Can you wake up Selvig? It's possible he made that thing with a kill switch."
Harry apparated across the roof so he was beside her, causing her to jump. He cast Enervate on the unconscious man, and watched as he opened possessed blue eyes, only to see them revert to normal after a few blinks.
"… What happened?"
"Dr. Selvig," Harry said, wasting no time, "How do we shut down the portal?"
"The Tesseract… it can't fight against itself…"
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Well that helps."
"Potter, the staff. Doctor, did you create a way to stop the portal?"
"Yes. The staff can get through the defences and shut it down. I'm so sorry… I couldn't stop myself…"
"Romanoff, get ready."
She nodded, and held a hand up to her ear, "We found a way to close the portal. We have to use Loki's staff. Everyone ready?"
"Just close it!" came the strained voice of the Captain.
"STOP!" came another voice.
"Nick?" Harry questioned.
"A missile has been fired," Fury announced, "And it's heading right for the city. You have a little over two minutes to stop it. Potter?"
"If I try to tamper with it, it could cause it to go off!" Harry yelled, "I could try to contain the blast, but there's a high probability that that won't work."
"I'll deal with it."
"Stark," Steve said, "Don't-"
"I said I'll deal with it." There was a grunt, "Okay, I got it. I'll send it through the portal. Give the Aliens a 'Welcome to Earth' present."
"… Good luck."
"Ooohhh, Harry, dear, I didn't know you cared."
On the roof top, Natasha prepared herself to close the portal, while at the same time watching Stark as he directed the missile towards the portal.
Up and up he went until he flew out of sight, through the tear in the sky.
"Stark!" Harry yelled, "It's through, let it go!"
All they heard in return was the buzz of static.
"Stark," Steve tried, but again with the same result.
"I have to close it," Natasha growled out.
"Wait! We can't leave him in there!"
"It's Stark or the world, Potter!"
Harry glared at her, before closing his eyes in defeat. "… Do it."
And she did. Immediately the portal began to shrink. All around them, aliens dropped to the ground, dead, and Harry figured the missile had detonated. His eyes searched the sky, waiting for the flash of red that signalled Stark's return. The portal grew smaller and smaller and then-
It was gone.
Harry felt his heart clench in despair. He had failed again. Someone had died, and he was responsible. If only he had gone instead, Stark would still be alive. He should never have agreed to work with other people. He only caused death.
"Look!" Steve yelled, "He's back!"
Harry heard cheering through the ear piece, and he felt intense relief. He strained his eyes until he spotted the distinctive red form zooming towards the ground.
"Wait, why is he still falling? He should be flying by now? Is his suit malfunctioning?"
Harry didn't wait for an answer. He shot into the air, flying as fast as he could towards the falling Iron Man. As soon as he was near, he grabbed hold of Stark, and furling his wings, he sent them plummeting to the ground. The fact that the suit was failing to react from direct contact with Harry meant that it was most likely broken. Wasn't it powered by the same thing that kept Stark alive?
Harry landed near the Captain, Thor, Barton, and the Hulk, who immediately sprinted over, Harry and Steve crouching down beside the unmoving form. Steve removed the cracked visor from Tony's face, and realised the billionaire wasn't breathing.
"Shit," he swore, and was just about to take of more of the suit, when the Hulk roared at Stark.
Tony's eyes shot open and he jumped, blinking rapidly at the sight of the concerned faces looming over him. "Jesus!"
"That was a stupid thing to do, you bastard," Harry growled, masking his emotions with an indifferent mask.
"What can I say, Tony replied with a cough, "I'm a hero."
"So modest," Clint said sarcastically, sporting a grin. "Good thing Grim was around, otherwise you'd be a smear on the pavement."
Tony was still breathing rapidly, and he closed his eyes, allowing the back of his armoured head to collide with the ground with a thunk.
"Well, thanks for that. Remind me to give you a manly hug when I have the energy to move again. Now we can be the bestest of friends forever."
Harry straightened abruptly, "You should all head back to base. Romanoff is probably already on her way over here. I'll bring Loki back to his cell."
"Oh no you don't," Tony said, struggling until he was sitting upright, "I want to get shawarma. You're coming with us."
Harry ignored him, turning to address Steve, "You should bring him to the Medical Bay. Same for the rest of you. Get yourselves checked out before Fury decides he wants to debrief you."
Harry began to walk away, planning on apparating. He was just about to leave, Stark Tower visualised in his mind, when Tony called out, "Potter, on behalf of your team leader, Mr. Steve Rogers, I'm ordering you to attend our Shawarma celebrations."
Harry spun around. "Excuse me?" he demanded dangerously.
"You know what I'm talking about. Shawarma: lamb, chicken, turkey, beef in pita or wrap bread, chopped or shredded vegetables, pickles and assorted condiments. You deserve to come out with us to celebrate. After all that's happened, I'm pretty sure we all consider each other friends. That makes us shawarma buddies."
"I still do not understand what this 'Shawarma' is," Thor interrupted with a frown.
"I don't need friends," Harry growled, his face contorting into a scowl.
"What's Coulson then?"
"Shut up, Stark."
"Come on, when was the last time you had some fun?"
"I don't have time for this," his scowl was now a glare, "This isn't my only mission. I told all of you before we left. I have stuff to do."
"Grim," Clint said in disbelief, "You just helped prevent an alien invasion. You can relax for a few hours."
"As much as I hate to order you around, Fury did say you were a part of the team. You're coming with us," Steve smiled.
"No I'm not."
"Potter, this isn't an option. You're being abducted, and you will be force fed shawarma if it comes to it," Tony proclaimed.
"You can't stop me from leaving," Harry hissed.
That was when a pair of large, green hands wrapped around him, preventing any movement. Harry struggled for a moment, attempting to manoeuvre his grip on his wand so as to curse Stark, when a puff of air, caused by the Hulk beginning to growl, mussed up his already perpetually messy hair.
"Good Hulk!" Tony called.
Harry stood there for a moment, unable to move an inch because of the tight grip the Hulk had on him, and outnumbered by muggles, a giant green monster and an alien. To top it all off, he was tired, he had been shot in the arm, and he was covered in grime from the battle.
"What did I miss?" came a feminine voice. Harry strained his neck in the tight grip, and watched Romanoff make her way down the street. She paused for a moment when she saw what her team members were doing. A furious Harry was in the grip of possibly the most dangerous creature on the planet that was capable of killing giant alien creatures with one 'smash', and then rest of the team was standing in a semicircle before him, all smiling victoriously, and perhaps a bit evilly.
"We're kidnapping Harry. He said he didn't want to celebrate with us, so Hulky threatened to crush him. You in?" Tony asked.
Natasha smiled slightly at the sight of most dangerous agent in all of SHIELD scowling mulishly, his bottom lip jutting out. She shrugged, "Sure. I'm hungry anyway. Where are we going?"
"To get shawarma!"
Natasha wrinkled her nose at this, but said nothing.
"Let me go," Harry hissed, "I have to bring Loki back. I DON'T WANT SHAWARMA."
"Of course you do, my British friend, you just don't know it yet. Hulk, would you mind not transforming back until we have Potter successfully tied to a chair?"
The Hulk growled agreeably. Tony began walking down the street rather slowly, and he gestured for the others to follow. Harry gave a grunt of surprise as he was hoisted into the air by the Hulk.
"Let me go," Harry ordered, "Or I will kill all of you."
"No you won't."
"I refuse to work with any of you imbeciles ever again." Natasha shot him a warning look, but he ignored her.
"I am under the impression you will not have a choice," Thor chuckled in amusement.
Harry fumed silently as they continued down the road. His last chance at salvation came with the sound of his ear piece being activated.
"Potter, is everything under control? Where is the rest of the team? We found Loki and Selvig in Stark Tower," Fury said in his ear.
"Nick, your psycho team kidnapped me," Harry snarled, "Order them to stand down. They won't let me leave."
"Hmm, that's too bad," Fury mused, "Well, the immediate threat has been dealt with, so the team can do whatever they want for the next couple of hours before debriefing."
"Fury, I need to find the source behind the problem," Harry told him, referring to the murderer behind the town massacres, "I don't have time to deal with your insane, shawarma obsessed employees." That was the last thing he said before Natasha plucked the communicator from his ear. "Give that back. Now."
Romanoff just smirked, and kept walking.
"I hate my job. I hate my job."
Okay, not my best chapter mostly because I had to follow some of the actual movie plot and I prefer to just make stuff up as I go along. Hopefully a new update will be up in the next three days or so. Thanks for all the great reviews, it really makes me think about including more amphibian transformations XD Review if you want, and Happy New Year Eve Eve!