And I'm back... Well, I'm home anyway,
This chapter was done before I left so think of it as a bonus!
Everything else will continue soon (need to catch up for work)
Edited by the mighty pazed!
Once again I own nothing! Just playing with someone else's toys!
READ! ENJOY! REVIEW! As it is the only form of payment any writer here expects!
Chapter 9
Nick Fury stepped out of the car he had rented in the city, under one of his aliases, and looked up at the house in front of which he had parked. Gone was his normal garb of S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuit and long black trench coat, in its place he wore a dark charcoal colored suit and dark blue silk shirt, along with a light grey tie.
The house in front of him was a classically styled two story stone English country home, well cared for, and quite charming. Walking up the stone paved walkway he couldn't help but admire the wonderful garden that began just inside the small stone fence, it was beautiful, possibly more so now in the moonlight, than during the day.
He paused, kneeling down to inspect a new growth ivy that was beginning to wind its way up the trellis. He smiled softly. It was too early for such growth, but who would notice such a thing here, almost two miles from the nearest neighbor?
He was under no delusion, he knew that he was being watched, and unless he was mistaken he had been ever since he turned off the main road. He had seen one of the curtains move ever so slightly in the still darkened house, after he had exited his car. So he knew that the home's owner was aware he was here. Everything he had done after that had been carefully choreographed to let the person inside know that he was coming here in peace.
A feminine voice wafted out of the darkness from some place in the general direction of the house. "Nicky? Why are you here?" it asked, softly.
Nick stood slowly, and turned toward the house. "You have a lovely home Jackie…"
He could just make out the woman's outline deep within the shadows of the building, as the moonlight caught purchase on a few strands of her long blond hair. "What I told your father the last time I saw him goes just as much for you little Nicky." She spat his name out with no small amount of venom. "Just as I told him, and I tell you now, GO AWAY!"
He clasped his hands, loosely, in front of him. "Jackie… I'm not here on S.H.I.E.L.D. business." He tensed slightly, as he lost track of her in the shadows. "But I do need your help…"
Her voice hissed quietly from someplace behind him, making him jump. "I don't care what you need!"
He spun to face the direction the voice came from. "Jackie! Please!" he pleaded. "I can understand…" he said as he scanned the darkness beyond the garden.
"You understand nothing! Little Nicky!" said the woman's angry voice from somewhere in the darkness.
Nick snapped to a stop, and stood stock still. He finally spoke. "You're right. I don't." He sagged a little. "But the longer I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D. the more I do have an inkling… But what I have lost will never compare to what you have… what my father's actions cost you…"
"If you understand any of what I feel, then you will leave!" her voice said from somewhere out past his car. "You and your like have left me alone up until now, you can continue to do so!"
He turned again, searching the darkness. "I said this was not S.H.I.E.L.D. business, Jackie… and it's not!" he said, becoming agitated. "I do, however, need to ask you for your help! Just hear me out! That is all I ask! If you don't want to help after that, that's fine… I'm hoping that at the very least you can give me some more information about the situation… Please, Jackie!"
He heard the door of the house creak open and the click of a light switch, suddenly the walkway was flooded with illumination from inside. "You have until I finish my evening tea," said the woman as she walked inside with her back to him.
As he stepped inside he could not help but look around. The home was warm and inviting, though it somehow did not seem quite real. As if it was all in some way stage dressing for a movie or television production, every piece chosen to tell the story of a well to do family living a nice peaceful country life.
Just off the front hallway was a study, with a heavy oak desk dominating the far side of the room with a heavy leather chair sitting behind it. The desk was filled with paperwork, some of it looking as if it had been recently abandoned, as if the person had been called away suddenly to deal with another task. It looked every bit like the office of whoever owned the house. If it had not been for several inconsistencies, including the placement of the pens vs. the pen holder and the way the pages had been placed, he may have even believed it.
To the other side lay a sitting room, couch along one wall and a pair of chairs, facing the other way across a beautifully carved coffee table on which sat several magazines, as well as an abandoned book, lying open face down. The inconsistencies in that room were no less subtle but still showed that his host had set it up. At least these two, and possibly more of these rooms were nothing more than a facade.
Deciding to keep these observations to himself, he followed the sounds of softly clanking metal toward the kitchen.
The woman he found there, filling a tea kettle, was petite, standing no more than five foot five, with a slim athletic build. Her hair was a beautiful shade of blond that matched almost perfectly with the shimmering gold dressing gown she was wearing. She looked as young and as beautiful as the first day he had seen her some thirty odd years before.
After she placed the kettle on the stove, she turned to face him, her deep blue eyes looking at him sadly. "You don't have much time, what to you want Nicky?"
Fury nodded. "I need information," he said, as he leaned against the doorway. "What can you tell me about the Ministry for Magic, Vold..."
Before he could finish the name she had crossed the room in a flash of gold and had her hand over his mouth, keeping him from finishing. "Don't say that name!" she hissed, "I like this house! And have no intention of having that psychopath, or his people, come here and fight me to keep it from being destroyed!"
He looked at her through his one good eye, his face showing his confusion. "I don't know how you know about magic, or the fact that he's back," …she slowly removed her hand, and stepped back... "but he has placed a Taboo on his name; saying it will alert them and they will dispatch the snatchers to capture or kill whoever spoke it."
"They can do that?" he asked.
She went to the cupboard next to the sink and took out a cup and began rinsing it in the sink. "They can, and did. I don't care how you know about the Ministry, so I won't ask, but they had it set up not long after they managed to take it over… The Ministry building is now his seat of power."
Fury nodded his understanding. "Then I was right to come to you, you seem to keep up on what is happening with the magical people."
She shrugged. "I keep tabs, yes. I don't have much of a choice. If they found out about me I could spend the rest of my life locked somewhere in the Department of Mysteries being dissected over and over while I healed. I can't risk them finding out about me any more than I can some others."
He smirked and grunted a small chuckle. "Department of Mysteries? Really?"
She picked up what he presumed to be her cup from the drying rack and placed them both on the counter next to the stove. "Don't laugh. Their name may not show much imagination but they are as dangerous as they come! And they are ruthless when they think it is something they can use! I swear they could have given Hydra a run for their money, only they don't use science… not that that slows them down," she said while staring at the kettle, as if willing it to boil.
Fury's smirk changed into a scowl; if she equated the two then he had no doubt that the comparison was accurate. "Alright, I need to know about them too, as well as everything you know about Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger."
The blond looked up at him. "Potter and Granger?" She shrugged, and turned around leaning against the cabinet. "They are undesirables number one and two; they've been missing for several months… So they made it across the pond?" It was her turn to chuckle. "I thought they were in hiding, probably someplace on the continent, because if he had them their bodies would have been paraded all over the Alley then hung at the gates of Hogwarts, their old school." She turned back to the stove and smiled, as the whistle began to blow. "Well good on them!"
She placed a tea bag in each cup, and filled them with water as Fury spoke. "Through an odd turn of events they did make it, yes, and those same events brought them to my attention…"
"As well as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s," she said, handing him a steeping cup.
He shook his head, and refused the offered sugar and milk. "No… I deleted everything about them from the records… Something else happened as well… You knew we found Rogers?" he asked.
She nodded. "I saw the footage of the invasion… I never thought I'd see that costume again."
He took a sip from the cup. "Well, he and the others, the Avengers… found... Harry and Hermione in some woods in northern England not long before the invasion. Rogers and the others had captured Thor's brother Loki, and were bringing him back to Headquarters… and there was a fight. Both of the kids were injured, Harry quite badly…. Rogers had to give him a transfusion… It changed him," he said when he couldn't think of a better way to put it.
The woman's face darkened, and she drew in a deep breath. "His magic… It activated the formula?" she asked.
Fury sighed. "Tony Stark and Bruce Banner think that was part of it, but there were other factors as well… there were other substances in his blood, things they still have not identified."
"Potions, most likely," she said. "I don't know much about them myself but… they are effective, from what I have observed."
"They were organic, but have resisted all of their testing." In a way he did feel bad about not telling her all of what Stark and Banner suspected including the addition of the Infinity Formula, but any secret of the Super Soldier formula needed to be protected, especially what they suspected about it being jumpstarted by the energy field of the Tesseract during the invasion.
She set her cup on the counter. "So you are protecting the boy?"
Fury sighed. "Not just him, her as well… We don't know how, but during the invasion she somehow absorbed some of the Hulk's abilities…" The woman's eyes widened. "Only she seems to have kept her intelligence and personality even if she is seven foot tall and green. The Avengers have… kind of adopted them, and want to help Harry, when he comes back here."
Her eyes grew wide. "He's planning on coming back?"
Fury nodded. "He is, but at the moment we, the Avengers and a few others we have hand picked, are trying to help them deal with the changes they've undergone, as well as making sure those changes are not life threatening."
"Well, if he does come back, I wish him luck," she said between sips. "His opposition has been solidifying his hold on the populace, 're-education camps' seems to be the term that his people have settled on for what they are doing to those they deem as undesirable." She sighed. "They've rounded up as many non-magic-born as they can find, and have begun doing the same to some others that refused to join the coup." She shrugged, as she continued. "It won't be long until he turns his sights toward the continent. The only thing that has been holding him back so far has been the occasional sightings of Potter, but that won't keep him from acting much longer…"
Fury cringed when he heard about the re-education camps. "So, he's gone that far." The woman nodded, a solemn look on her face. "And… these camps…"
She shook her head. "Not that bad… not yet, but it is still bad, and it's just a matter of time. He put a woman, Umbridge in charge of them. If she has her way… it will be Auschwitz all over again."
"God…" He looked at her. "And you haven't told anyone?"
She looked at her hands sadly. "Would you believe the eighteen year old girl just about to head off and start Uni?"
"Jackie…" he began. Only for her to cut him off.
"I couldn't do anything! I didn't know you were even a member of S.H.I.E.L.D… and I don't have any contacts in the government anymore not since…" Her voice trailed off.
"Brian." He said for her. As much as he wanted to comfort the now crying woman, he didn't move. "If it's that bad I need to know everything."
She nodded, and turned toward him. "I know…" she said dabbing at her eyes with a Kleenex she produced from one of her robe pockets. "I'll tell you what I can."
With a loud exhale Harry dropped the front of the Jeep and a small cloud of dust flew up from around the tires. "That's it…" he said, breathing hard.
Steve nodded. "Forty-four reps this time. Not bad," he said as he made a note on the tablet he held in his hands.
Harry straightened, and shook out his arms and legs as he caught his breath. "H-how many did you do?" Harry asked.
Steve smiled. "While Natasha had you running? In the same length of time? Seventy five… it was a good light workout."
Harry's eyes widened and he shook his head as he stepped away from the lift bar that had been attached to the frame, only to hear his best friend's voice as she took his place. "Boys, always measuring the size of their… Biceps." As she lifted the front of the Jeep Rubicon with one hand and curled the heavy vehicle's weight easily. "I could probably do this all day," she said, with a huge smile on her face.
Harry chuckled. "Yeah, but you couldn't keep up with me on the run could you?"
She glared at him, as she set the Jeep back down. "Only because they made me climb up the cliff this time instead of jump!"
Steve smiled at the pair. "Alright that's it for now. We need to get back up to the cabin. Tony, Bruce and Dr. Fleming will be here soon and they want to talk to you."
It had been almost a week since they had arrived, and even with the changes they had gone through the time spent here had been good for the pair of teens, though Hermione had postulated that it may have had something to do with being away from the locket as well.
An hour later they were standing outside the cabin as Tony, in his Ironman Armor and a Quinjet came in for a landing. Once greetings had been completed, they made their way inside and arranged themselves around the living room putting the teens toward the center.
"Well, you will be happy to know that everything seems to be okay so far with both of you," began Dr. Fleming, as she used her tablet to show two sets of files on the large television. "Granted we are working with some uncharted ground with both of you, Hermione even more so, but all of the indications so far, are quite promising."
She swished the page toward the right and Hermione's chart filled the screen. Dr. Banner stood and walked up next to it. "Adrenal levels seem to be within expected parameters, or at least within the equivalent of normal given your Hulk state, as are all of your other blood chemistry levels. Your form appears to be stable," he said smiling and turning toward her. "Even under stress. Though at this point these are only preliminary findings, it does look promising."
Hermione sagged back into the couch, it groaned slightly under her now much more considerable weight, relief flooding her body. "A-and do you still think I may be able to change back?"
Bruce chewed on the earpiece of his glasses for a moment, lost in thought. "I wouldn't think that it was impossible…" He shrugged. "From what I have seen, your body now is completely within a normal human range, only at a Hulk scale. If you can find a way to 'flip' the trigger that caused the change back the other way…." He nodded. "Then yes, I do think it is possible."
She looked even more relieved. "And does any of this help with your condition, Dr. Banner?" she asked, hopeful for the kind man.
Again he nodded. "While our circumstances are quite different, and my residual Gamma exposure much more severe, it does give me hope, hope that at the very least I will be able to have more… direction over the Hulk… at this point only time and more study will tell."
Dr. Fleming flipped to the next page as Banner sat back down. "As for your injuries… the ones sustained just before the invasion, and any further ones from the fight in the tower… they are gone… not healed, but gone!" A pair of x-rays appeared side by side on the television. "On the left is the original x-ray of your arm, and on the right is one we took two days ago. No calcification over the break, and no sign of it in general… We found shards of a potion vial in the debris… was that the bottle of Essence of Dittany?"
Hermione nodded. "I put it in my sling… after I stunned you and the other woman…" she said sheepishly. "I'm sorry..."
The doctor waved her off. "It's fine. I understand now, and may have done the same in your place. Though I would like the chance to study any of your potions, and see if they could be used to help more than just wizards."
Hermione shrugged. "I would, but… it would need to be discussed with your Ministry for Magic."
"That is unlikely," replied Natasha. "Hermione, I know that you have been expecting them to show up at any time… but the truth is no such thing exists here," she said sitting forward and placing her elbows on her knees. "I have talked with Director Fury, at length, about what we know about magic and the truth is it's not much. While we do have several enclaves of magic users they are more along the lines of a sort of healer or witch doctor, your people call them hedge mages."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, their eyes wide, then back toward the red headed woman. Hedge mage was a term for an untrained witch or wizard, one that was only taught whatever the family knew; at home it was mostly because a family was exceedingly poor. It was Hermione that spoke the question they both had. "Why?"
The woman shrugged. "We don't really know, and what we do know has only led to speculation on our part, but there is no known group in contact with any branch of our government, or any other, or the European Wizards, and what magic is known to be used here has little resemblance to the style you use."
Harry looked down at his hand. "So… no one uses a wand?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No, not any we know of. Talismans, fetishes, rituals, and potions… Wands and staves are talked about in stories, but not used… at least not the way you do."
Clint chuckled. "Makes sense, in a way, if you think about it. Most of the country was settled by puritans, and later by the poor. It seems likely that that was the case for the magical as well… well, at least the poor part. I don't know, are wizards religious?" he asked.
Hermione chewed on her lip. "No… all the time we were at Hogwarts I never heard of anyone going to church… How about you, Harry?"
He shook his head. "I think my parents were married in a church, or at least some of their pictures are from in front of the church in Godric's Hollow … but that may have been something my mum wanted."
Dr. Fleming brought the discussion back on track. "As for you, Harry, you seem to be doing well also. Whatever the third compound in your system is, it doesn't seem to be doing you any harm... but it is still difficult to analyze at the moment." Harry smiled at that. "I would like to continue monitoring you both in the future however, with Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner's help," she said.
Harry nodded. "As long as Hermione is ok with it, I am. Thank you Doctor."
Hermione shrugged, "It's most likely for the best, we have no idea how our situation may change in the future."
Tony sat forward at that point. "On that note, Harry I asked for your wand back, once we knew it would work, to make some modifications," he said passing a metallic box across to the young man, its deep blue shining under the lights of the room. "I reinforced the handle with the same alloy I used to make the outer shell while still leaving enough areas bare for your skin to come in contact with the wood. Hopefully, you won't need to worry about it snapping off at the handle if you get in another tussle."
Harry slid the case open and picked up the deep blue metallic wand that was laced with a deep red crisscross pattern, and cast an 'accio' toward one of the books lying on the counter. In an instant it flew across the room and into his waiting hand. "That's great Tony! Thank you!"
"No problem Ace," Tony replied, as he passed another box toward Hermione, this one in deep metallic purple.
She took it from him gently, placed her thumb on the raised area in the center and with a whirr and click it slid open. Inside lay her wand, only now it had a deep purple metallic casing of its own. She lifted it gently from the foam insert, and gave it a wave; purple and red sparks flew from the end as a warm welcoming feeling came over her.
Tony smiled. "It took a little looking around, but I found the only sample I had left of the stuff my dad made the Boy Scout's shield out of… The trick was getting that stuff to melt again, I burned out the ARC reactor at the tower doing it… and that was for barely more than four grams of the stuff. I have no idea how he managed to make his shield out of it," he said gesturing to the blond man. "I don't think Big Green could break that now."
Hermione's eyes grew wide when he gestured for her to try. She cringed as she took it in both hands and tried to bend it.
It didn't so much as flex.
"Just don't try that with his," said the dark haired man. "Sorry, but I just don't have any more of that metal," he said to Harry. "And I'm not sure I could repair much more damage to that wand anyway. I used all the smaller pieces of wood when I impregnated them into the Nano-tubes… It was kind of a one shot thing… so one miracle per customer."
Hermione cast her own 'accio' spell at another book on a shelf and smiled as it sailed to her hand. "Thank you Mr. Stark…"
"I keep telling you it's Tony, Ms. Greengenes," he said cutting her off. "Besides… I kind of owe you two… it was kind of my fault this happened to both of you."
Harry chuckled. "What? Helped us find some amazing new friends that will come help us save our old ones? It seems like that is working out in our favor," he said, a smile on his lips.
Hermione agreed. "The Potter factor, if something weird can happen it will."
Steve looked at Tony. "They're going to need suits."
Tony nodded. "I've got an idea or two."