Chapter 23
"Harry I think we have a problem."
"God this day couldn't possibly get any worse!"
"Harry you idiot! Why would you tempt Murphy?" Jean demanded as she whacked him round the back of the head. "What's wrong, Sadie?" She asked the mayor of San Francisco.
"You don't know?" Sadie asked taken aback. "It's all over the news! Mutant news… that fool Trask is leading a march from Washington down to San Francisco, City Hall."
"Can't we deny him access to the city?" Jean asked. "It's a power keg waiting to go off."
"That's not the worst part, the bastard is lobbying for legislation on mutant reproduction."
"Wow… I might just kill him on principal." Harry mused.
"Not if I get to him first." Logan growled.
"Please, just try and keep the mutant citizens peaceful and out of the way, I will do everything I can to put a stop to this." Sadie pleaded with Scott.
"Sadie, I'm not the mayor of mutants." Scott warned her. "Sure they look up to me but I have no legal hold over what they do."
"I'll have Amara and Jennifer get to work on the paper work for an injunction." Jean sighed as she teleported out.
"I doubt it will work." Sadie said sadly.
"We can have them charged with inciting racial hatred and violence." Harry shrugged.
"Harry, half of congress is behind Trask." Sadie explained.
"Better call up the world press then. Need to make sure we document this."
Fortunately for Harry there was no more excitement that day. The following day was another story.
Tony Stark came running up to him. "Harry, I have a friend-"
"Name and location."
"You don't want to know the details?"
"You can tell me en route."
James 'Rhodey' Rhodes no longer considered himself a human anymore. He was just a cybernetic soldier. He was living on borrowed time… not that he actually considered it living either.
Glenda Sondaval, Rhodey's childhood friend had been captured, tortured, raped and experimented on by a mercenary group called Eaglestar International in Aquira. Her estranged husband Parnell Jacobs, a former weapons dealer and now Rhodey's technical back up was on board an orbiting satellite freaking out at the state of his wife and how she had been treated.
Rhodey may not like the man all that much but he had to admit he respected that he still cared for Glenda.
Now he had two problems. One: Glenda was trapped in a box that was rigged to explode if tampered with whilst she slowly died. Two: The God of War had decided to face him.
He had no choice but to leave Glenda in the hands of Lieutenant Jake Oh and hope the man didn't do anything that made Rhodey want to kill him.
"Hold on Miss Sandoval, they're working on the codes now, we'll have you out soon." Jake said soothingly. He was barely keeping it together. He had joined Eaglestar in the hopes of helping people whilst earning money to send back home. The atrocities he knew had been committed on the woman trapped and dying inside the metal cargo container next to him were enough to make him defect to somewhere more civilised. Like North Korea.
"Just make sure that Rhodey doesn't kill them. He's a hero. He can't lose that." Glenda said weakly.
"What's your name kid?"
Jake span around to see an average height white male with black hair and green eyes standing in front of him.
"Who are you?" He demanded as he snapped his weapon up.
"Don't you watch the news?"
Jake felt his blood run cold. "Death!" He whispered.
"Relax, I'm not here for you or the lady in the box. Well, I am here for the lady." Harry corrected. "But only as a Doctor. Wait right here."
Harry proceeded to walk straight through Jake and through the cargo containers metal walls. Truth be told, Harry just enjoyed creeping people out by walking through them. Much to Emma's annoyance he and Kitty would walk through the busy halls between class changes whilst phased just to watch people's reactions. Of course Harry also used it to remind them to practice.
Mere seconds passed before Harry walked back out. "Miss Sandoval is safe. What are your plans, Lieutenant?"
"I've made my intentions clear, sir. I'm not leaving Miss Sandoval's side." Jake said firmly, despite his desire to piss his pants.
"Oops, I kinda screwed that one up for you." Harry said sheepishly.
Jake frowned but didn't have time for much else before Harry waved a hand teleporting him away.
Harry looked out on to the desert plains where the debris of numerous tanks and artillery lay having come face to face with James Rhodes aka War Machine and been found lacking. The humans were fleeing under the onslaught of blows between War Machine and Ares, the God of War.
It was about time Harry stepped up.
Now you couldn't just walk up to two individuals like Ares The God of War or The War Machine and ask them to politely stop… you could but you would likely wind up a stain on one of their boots.
Harry needed to actually get their attention and assert some authority.
Nothing says 'Listen up bitches!' like a multi-storey dragon.
"ENOUGH!" Harry roared as he landed heavily enough to shake the ground and cause the two warriors to stumble.
"Lord Death, this is my domain! There is no reason for you to be here." Ares was irritated by the interruption but knew better than to be disrespectful to the only being capable of killing him and making it stick.
"I have no intention of interfering with your duties as a god of war, Ares." Harry informed him, though he maintained his dragon form. "Though I advise you to be careful where you set your sights. Earth will soon be a world of peace and the only wars for you to fight will be with those who seek to break that peace from beyond the stars."
"Then you wouldn't deny me rights whilst I might still enjoy them."
"Of course not. But fighting with your Champion whilst he tries to do what you want is just ridiculous." Harry decided to revert to human form and he strolled calmly up to War Machine.
"I am not his Champion." Rhodey spat.
"Sorry to break it to you kid, but your are. Gods don't usually give their Champions much choice in the matter, they just pick the guys and gals who are already doing what they need and then empower them."
"'Tis true. You are the embodiment of a Champion of War, it is what drew me to you." Ares grinned.
"Then try talking to the boy!" Harry admonished the hulking Greek god.
"I am a fighter! A warrior! Words would not tell me-"
"Hold it right there!" Harry interrupted. "Now I know you weren't about to imply that a true general wouldn't use his brain to strategise and his words to rally his troops."
Ares' shoulders slumped. "I concede your point, Lord Death."
"Good, now help me get this ridiculous armour off our man here so I can heal him."
There was a sudden snap and crackle of energy and Harry found himself with a primed energy weapon up his nose. Literally.
"The armour stays." Came the firm and steady voice of War Machine.
"You would do well to stand down, Champion. Lord Death means you no harm, had he wanted you dead or-"
Ares stopped when War Machine suddenly collapsed.
"I did not think he would be so reasonable." Ares remarked in surprise.
"He wasn't, I just overloaded his systems and shut him down." Harry grinned. "But thanks for the assist."
"I thought you were unable to work with the mortals technology."
"People always seem to overlook the fact that I come from a world that was significantly older than this one. The technology we developed was beyond much of what people have here."
Ares tilted his head and then suddenly began laughing as he removed an earpiece and crushed it between his fingers.
"Something funny?" Harry inquired with a smile.
"Osborn is not pleased that you have taken the girl and my Champion. He is demanding that I bring you in."
"Tony tried that once."
"I know! I saw the news report. Most entertaining. Osborn is a foolish mortal, he believes you are nothing more than a god like myself. I have tried explaining it to him but his mortal mind cannot hope to comprehend."
"Just how much detail did you go into?" Harry asked warily.
Ares just grinned.
"Seriously!? Do you not remember what happened when your dad, Odin and I got together to discuss this sort of thing?"
"Aye! I also remember the state my sister Athena was in after she went to fetch my father." He laughed. "Very few can claim to have broken the Goddess of Wisdom."
"Ah, so you are trying to kill Norman Osborn."
"Not all wars are fought with physical weapons." Ares pointed out.
"Why are you fighting for Osborn? If you want wars and battles there are plenty of better options and much more righteous ones in the world." Harry asked.
"The Avengers, whilst being noble warriors, do not truly have the heart for battle. I grew weary of staying my hand from the killing blow only to have to face the villain again months later. Osborn at least offers the chance to battle to the end." Ares explained as he visibly sagged.
"You do realise that the bastard is working the bad guys?" Harry asked.
"Of course! The current team he has is made up of nothing more than murderers, thieves and rapists! But whilst Osborn is in charge there is a chance they will be kept in line."
"No, I meant that every time a crook or villain is captured he has them released before the end of the following day." Harry explained slowly.
"You jest?"
"I really don't. Look up a list of all criminals arrested over the past week and then try and find out where they are now. And don't rely on any reports from Osborn."
"Excuse me, Lord Death. I have some investigating to do." Ares said with a slight bow as he turned and walked away with his shoulders firmly set.
Harry returned to his infirmary to find the place in an uproar. Tony was by one bed with Pepper and Jean trying to calm down Rhodey who was pretty much just a cyborg torso with no limbs. Glenda was trying to fight Hank and get out of bed to help Tony and Pepper.
Josh was standing in the corner not sure what to do.
Harry walked up to Josh and decided to turn this into a teaching situation.
"Josh, first rule of your infirmary: It's yours, always stay in command. Observe." Harry stepped forward slightly. "SILENCE!" He roared. "This is a place of healing! You will keep your voices down and patients will remain in their beds!"
"We are trying to achieve that, Harry." Hank sighed. He had given up trying to reason with Glenda and reverted to his feline form. He was currently holding her in place casually with one big meaty blue paw.
"Rhodey thinks we are betraying him, he wants to leave but he won't let anyone heal him." Pepper explained.
"Fine. You-" He pointed at Rhodey. "-stay put we will discuss your situation in a minute."
He moved over to Glenda. "You all healed up?"
"I'm fine. Dr. McCoy and his apprentice have completely healed me and I am ready to go. Just give me a gun and take me back so I can kill the bastard who did this to me."
"I must disagree with Dr. Sandoval, Harry. We have stabilised her but aside from the horrific atrocities committed on her body, she will need counselling. Furthermore she was experimented on and we were unable to undo much of the damage at the genetic level."
"Is she going to drop dead in the next few hours?"
"No, we can continue to keep her alive and relatively healthy indefinitely, but she will need daily treatments."
"Arrange counselling sessions-"
"I don't need cou-"
"Then I'm sure the counsellor will agree with you. But this is mandatory, you won't be confined to anywhere and you can commute to the appointments if you want." Harry assured her. "In the meantime, Hank take her to her home and find some clean DNA. I can build her a new body and fix the problems that way."
"Come along Doctor, you heard the Almighty Spectre of Death." Hank instructed with mild patronisation.
"Mr. Rhodes- what the hell?" Harry asked blithely as he left Glenda in the care of Hank. He still hadn't reverted to his human form so he was probably worried she'd try and do a runner.
"I was there for a reason! Those bastards need to be taken down, I was close to getting proof of what they were doing and the names of those behind it!"
"You really think I'm going to let them get away?" Harry asked. "You'll be back out there soon enough, but you will do it with proper backup."
"I work best alone."
"Tough. The world is changing and you can either step up and make sure it goes smoothly and no one who doesn't deserve it gets hurt or you cause a fuss, get in the way and face my wrath."
"The world won't just-"
He was interrupted by Pepper grabbing his face and forcing him to look at her.
"Rhodey, Harry is not the bad guy. He's the only one helping us. He's never changed his stance and never done anything to hurt anyone who wasn't hurting anyone else."
Rhodey didn't seem convinced.
"Kid, you called?" Logan asked as he teleported in at Harry's mental call.
"Yeah, when I'm finished with Rhodey take him on a few missions with your squad."
"My squad?" Logan asked carefully.
Harry looked him in the eye and nodded. "Full access. Make him a satellite member but bear in mind Ares has chosen him as his Champion."
"If you say so." He sighed.
"Hold still Mr. Rhodes, I'm about to give you back your limbs."
"Pepper, you may not want to be here for this part." Logan warned.
"I'm not squeamish."
"Think about how many 'limbs' Rhodey lost."
Pepper blushed before making her excuses and leaving quickly.
"Should I be leaving too?" Tony asked worriedly.
"HARRY! THERE'S AN EVIL, MURDEROUS, TORTURING, TERRORIST, SUPERVILLAIN AT THE DOOR!" Dani yelled from upstairs at the main entrance. Using a sonorous… and the intercom.
"IS IT NORMAN OSBORN?" Came the reply in kind.
"YES!"
Said super-villain was fuming as he had turned up with his 'Avengers' and a news crew. He did not need this little bitch and her friend making such outrageous claims – he was reformed dammit!
Well… that's what his press release said.
"BE UP IN TWENTY!"
Norman pushed Dani out of the way and hit the intercom button. "This is official business Mr. Potter. We are not going to wait for you."
"Then make an appointment. *Crackle pfffht*"
"Listen-"
"He just blasted the intercom. He can't hear you. Forge is gonna be pissed!" Dani grinned.
"We have a court order compelling Potter to come with us. We also have a court order demanding that you hand over Franklin and Valeria Richards." Norman declared as he handed the paperwork over.
"One second, I need to call in our legal council."
A second later Amara arrived. "Dani I am very busy. I have a meeting in twenty minutes." She said testily.
"This loser wants Harry and the Richards kids." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder.
"Well I can't speak for Harry but-"
"You! You were the receptionist at the Baxter Building!" Norman snarled in realisation.
"I wasn't the receptionist." Amara said calmly.
"You were there!"
"Yes. But I wasn't the receptionist. I am legal council for the Richards family and the Fantastic Four. You were the one who came in and shoved weapons in my face making assumptions.
"Now, as I said, I can't speak for Harry but the Richards children are currently unavailable and this piece of paper won't help you one bit."
"You are refusing to cooperate?" Norman had an eager glint in his eye.
Amara just smiled wryly. "If you like I will be happy to tell you exactly where they are."
Norman didn't really want her to tell him. Not before he had a chance to make her suffer. But he had the news crew with him to make him look good.
"Very well, where are they?"
"In Wakanda with their Aunt Ororo and Uncle T'Challa. I recommend you don't disturb them though as the last I heard, T'Challa was planning on ripping out your heart for your part in setting up the ambush in which Doctor Doom nearly killed him.
"Of course this was all reliant on him getting to you before his wife did. I can't tell you what she planned though as it's not really fit for television."
"Very well, it seems the poor children are beyond my help for now. I will just have to appeal to the UN and international courts for their safety.
"Now if you will step out of the way we have business with Harry Potter."
Amara raised a hand pushing Norman back firmly. "I'm sorry, this is private property. Your court order does not give you the right to enter the building."
"It gives us the right to enter Mr. Potter's building of residence to apprehend him."
"Well there's your first problem." Dani snorted.
"Miss, you would be doing yourself a favour by leaving this to professionals."
"Danielle Moonstar is a member of the bar. As such, she is a professional and your tone is insulting. Especially as you do not have a law degree."
Amara gave Dani a nod so she continued. "First of all, it's 'Doctor' Potter. Not 'Mr'. Secondly, this isn't his place of residence."
"Then you are required to inform us where he lives."
"Wakanda, Atlantis, Breakworld, Sakaara, the Savage Land. Those are my favourites." Harry answered as he walked over. "I am currently investigating the various Skrull territories I conquered as well."
"You conquered the Skrulls?" The Cameraman accidentally asked in awe. The look from Norman promised a painful end to his day.
"Well, they tried to conquer us so it seemed only fair to return the gesture. Granted I was more successful but then again, I have actual allies."
"Mr. Potter-"
"Doctor." Amara corrected.
"Mr. Potter, you will surrender yourself to the HAMMER on behalf of the United States of America."
"On what grounds and charges?" Harry asked.
"Theft, terrorism-"
"You have proof and details of these accusations?" Amara interrupted.
"He stole a Hellicarrier. He stranded the agents on board on the island of Kaua'l."
"First of all, the island was populated, I even pointed them in the direction of the nearest airport only ten miles away. Secondly, I didn't 'steal' the hellicarrier." He vanished before returning a few moments later with a few pieces of paper.
"Here." He handed the corn-row haired monster sheaf of official looking paper.
Norman flicked through them, his eyebrows knitting together in agitation and confusion. "You seriously expect me to believe you bought a hellicarrier."
"Of course not! I bought SHIELD." Harry smiled.
"Whoa… how rich are you?" The imposter Avenger 'Ms. Marvel' gasped.
"I own entire solar systems, so… extremely."
"The United States does not recognise this upstart organisation." Norman spat. "Those hellicarriers were SHIELD property and I was appointed the Director of SHIELD. You will hand them over now."
"Actually, you were appointed the Director of HAMMER. An organisation created by the United States when they lost faith in the Director they appointed, Tony Stark. The UN didn't take kindly to the unilateral and un-democratic actions of the United States and when I offered to buy up SHIELD and all it's resources they agreed to appoint me the Director of SHIELD as well.
"They got their world peace keeping force without paying a penny."
Amara was rolling her eyes at the exceptionally smug attitude Harry was exuding. Dani was loving every second her lover made the bastard look bad.
"Before we go on, are we live?" Harry asked the cameraman.
He got a nervous thumbs up.
"Excellent." Harry hissed as he steepled his fingers. "Make sure your producers read this. Dani, hold this up to the camera."
Dani looked at him curiously but complied. She started laughing when she briefly glimpsed what was on it.
"I will need to see those first." Norman tried to intercept Dani but she just phased causing him to stumble through her.
"Those are private documents." Harry told him. "I will tell you what they say though. They simply say I own the camera, the cameraman's job, his boss' jobs, the studio, the vans… well… the whole damn station.
"I did mention I was extremely rich."
"Osborn! You are encroaching on Wakandan territory!"
They all spun to see a very angry King T'Challa arm in arm with his wife. Running happily into the arms of Harry were Franklin and Valeria.
"You were late!" Valeria admonished with a pout.
"I'm sorry, you remember Mr. Osborn?"
"Big poopy-head." Valeria muttered.
"Want me to run this varmin' outta town?" Franklin drawled as he raised the brim of his cowboy hat with his toy gun.
"Well, we're going to give him a chance to do the right thing first." Harry informed him.
"Ah, King T'Challa, the United States Government thanks you for turning over the Richards children." Norman smiled genially.
T'Challa raised an eyebrow. "Hand them over? To you? These children are wards of Wakanda until their parents return and are retrieved by them. You will not touch them. As I said, you are standing on Wakandan soil. Wakanda has declared you a terrorist and an enemy guilty of Regicide."
"This is not a Wakandan Embassy, so I am afraid that doesn't count."
"This is a residence of the Queen of Wakanda. As such it is decreed an embassy of Wakanda. You now have ten seconds to vacate the premises before I exercise my rights and kill you were you stand."
There was a snap and crackle and they turned to see Ororo standing there with lightning dancing between her fingertips.
"Nine seconds…"
Norman cleared his throat. "We-"
"Seven seconds…"
There was a hiss and snap as Harry conjured a lightsabre and handed it to T'Challa.
"Five seconds…"
Norma realised they were waiting actual seconds and not just counting numbers. He quickly turned and walked out. He didn't know if they would actually kill him but he didn't want to pit his Avengers against Potter – yet.
T'Challa handed the lightsabre back to Harry. "Thank you. I may ask to borrow it at a later date." He said as he glared at the now closed door.
"Any time. In fact, keep this one. I can always conjure others." Harry said as he handed it over again.
"This is really an Embassy of Wakanda?" Dani asked.
"It is, so long as Ororo or myself or any member of government or the royal family is in residence then it is Wakandan territory." T'Challa smiled.
"I actually feel much happier knowing I am not technically in America." Amara drawled.
"I dunno. Seems cool to me." Dani giggled as she walked up to the open door and began hopping inside and out side of the doorway. "See, America, Wakanda, America, Wakanda, Amer-"
"Dani, Harry did an impression of Mr. Burns about five minutes ago, you do remember what happened to Homer when he tried that?" Amara sighed.
"Yes, but there are no Marines outside the door."
Amara looked at T'Challa hopefully.
"It's annoying but… I spent a fair amount of time working with Spiderman." He shrugged.
"Rhodey, how do you like the operation?"
"It's SHIELD."
"Well, yes. But how do you like it?" Harry repeated as he joined the fully healed War Machine on the deck of the flying hellicarrier.
"I haven't seen Fury, Hill or Stark yet so that's a bonus."
"Isn't Tony your best friend?"
"Doesn't mean he makes a good SHIELD Director." Rhodey countered.
"Yeah, one of the ground rules I set for him was no more politics. It makes him nuts."
"What do you have him doing?" Rhodey asked curiously.
"He is the first line of law enforcement for super humans who go bad. He has the identities and details of all the registered super heroes in his head, he was trying to delete it by killing himself so Osborn couldn't get it but I just put some defences in his mind. Now he can't tell anyone unless I let him."
"And what do you expect me to do?"
"Same as you were doing. But if you go after hardcore evil guys try and bring them in alive. You can kill them but I can annihilate them from existence."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that they won't be a threat to whatever awaits them on the other side."
"And I answer to you?"
"Technically you answer to SHIELD. Steve Rogers will be your direct superior but I own the whole organisation."
"Are we still under a UN mandate?"
"Sort of. We are endorsed by the UN but we have our own rules."
"Anything you got planned that the UN won't like?"
"Kill Doom and conquer Latveria." Harry said firmly.
"You do realise that doing that is what got Fury canned?"
"Fury is the one planning it. He may not be in charge but he's willing to play ball."
"And the fact that he is probably putting in place a ton of contingency plans to take you out if he deems you a threat doesn't bother you?"
"Nah, he reminds me of one of my first teachers. Paranoid bastard. Was good friends with my dad. If you want to piss Fury off just walk into a room with him and yell 'Constant Vigilance!'"
"You really are nuts aren't you?"
"Does that mean you'll take the job?"
Rhodey looked at the grinning loon and decided he might as well go for it. He might be nuts but he did manage to get Ares to tone it down.