And now for the Harry Potter crossover nobody asked for!
I really did not expect it to grow into the monster it is now. It's almost twice as long as the longest chapter prior to this. That's why it took so long to post.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of the characters contained therein.
WORD COUNT: 2817
"Crucio!"
The metal-armed muggle on the floor visibly reacted to the curse. His body jerked, and every muscle clenched up. But not bloody once did he scream!
Sylvanus Rookwood (son of Augustus Rookwood and wand for hire) gritted his teeth and cast the spell again. "Crucio! Crucio, Crucio, Crucio, damn it!"
None of this was going to plan at all! It was supposed to be simple: travel to bloody America, fetch the Parkinson squib, and bring her back so her father could marry her off! With his elder daughter unable to conceive, the Parkinson family needed a pureblooded heir, or the family would die out, not just in name, but in blood. That was where the younger girl, the Squib who'd been sent away, came in. Unfortunately, the little bitch was proving difficult to obtain. Squib or not, she had a duty to her family, but she had refused, and had gone and hidden behind some muggles who had proven to be a surprisingly challenging obstacle. Hence why they had hired Sylvanus to retrieve her, healthy and unharmed, without getting caught, as there were a few pesky international laws that would get in the way.
He'd spotted Dahlia Parkinson – now going by the alias of Darcy Lewis – in the company of those same muggles in New York City, right where his tracking spell said she'd be. It had been a complex spell to cast, making sure that the spell would transfer from the latest letter (demanding her return to Britain) to her when she touched it, but now he was able to track the little whore no matter where she went. The spell had been sorely needed, because Dahlia and the three muggles had quickly finished eating their disgusting muggle meals at the outdoor café and got up and left not even a minute after his arrival, and then disappeared into the mass of people. (The sheer number of bodies in this city was mind-boggling, especially since most of them had to be muggles).
He followed his tracking spell to a side-alley, where he suddenly found himself under attack!
One of the muggles Dahlia had been cavorting with, a tall man with unkempt, dark hair, grabbed Sylvanus by the throat just as he rounded the corner and slammed him against the wall. Sylvanus raised his wand, only for the hoodlum to grab his right wrist and pin it to the same wall. Bizarrely, the hand he used to do so appeared to be made of metal.
"Who do you work for?!" the thug growled, "Why are you following us?"
Sylvanus felt no need to answer this mad, brutish muggle's questions. He spotted Dahlia crouching behind the muggle, partially hidden from view by a pair of overflowing rubbish bins. Inwardly, he sneered. How desperate Lord Parkinson must be to resort to marrying off a Squib who hid among literal trash in order to save his family line?
Her eyes met his, and then quickly fixated on his wand. Then her expression morphed from one of fear to anger. "Un-fucking-believable!" She stood up, already halfway across the alley by the time the last vulgar syllable left her lips. "How many times does Dederick need me to say 'No' before he finally figures out where to shove that betrothal?!"
"Darcy, stay back!" the muggle ordered, "We don't know what he's here for."
"If I had to guess, he's on orders from my douchebag of a sperm donor who wants me to shack up with his buddy's troll of a son." She looked Sylvanus right in the eye, though she stayed well behind her muggle attack dog. "Tell Dederick that I'm not crawling back to him now that he suddenly needs me. He kicked me out of his family, and I owe him nothing, much less a marriage to Marcus Flint! The Parkinson line can die out with him and Pansy, as far as I'm concerned!"
Sylvanus was enraged. "How dare you! How dare a little Squib girl such as yourself defy her father and Lord? You'll come with me, whether you want to or not, and he'll be sure to put you in your- ack!"
He was cut off mid-threat, as his attacker suddenly lifted him up off his feet, dragging his back along the rough brickwork. "No one's takin' her anywhere she doesn't want to go." Sylvanus couldn't help the thrill of fear that shot up his spine when he finally looked the muggle in the eye. He'd seen wild animals with less predatory gazes, and he felt with absolute certainty that this muggle would not hesitate to murder him given the slightest reason. And that by threatening Dahlia, Sylvanus had brought himself perilously close to giving him such a reason.
"FREEZE!"
The attention of all three in the alley was suddenly drawn to a fourth person. A man, to be specific, wearing a uniform that identified him as a muggle law enforcement officer, and aiming a gun at the brute who held Sylvanus captive.
"Put the man down," the new arrival ordered sternly, "and put your hands above your head – both of you!"
Dahlia put her hands up, but her companion did not. "He was following us, officer!" she protested, "He was here to kidnap me!"
The officer did not lower his weapon. "We'll sort this all out down at the station. Now, put the man down. I'm not going to ask a third time."
But Sylvanus was not going to wait and let himself be rescued from a muggle by another muggle, (especially not since the former gave no indication of being intimidated by the latter). His pride would simply not allow it. Thinking quickly, he cast a wordless Lumos Maxima (as the muggle's hand was still wrapped around his throat), shutting his eyes to avoid being blinded like the rest of them.
The muggle let go to shield his eyes, and Sylvanus dropped back down, hitting him with a spell that launched him into the opposite wall of the alley – just missing the rubbish bins, which would have been fitting. Then he sent a stunner at the law officer, taking his primitive but still dangerous weapon out of play, before finally turning his attention to his true target.
Dahlia surprised him, swinging and punching him in the face. He stumbled back a few steps before casting a full body-bind at her. She fell facedown on the filthy ground, a small, black, rectangular object clattering next to her. Sylvanus ignored the device, not understanding the significance of the words on its glassy surface ('PANIC FUNCTION ACTIVATED').
He grabbed the girl and flipped her over onto her back. Even with her entire body paralysed and her jaw clenched shut, she still managed to give him a look full of anger and defiance. "Personally, I don't think you or all this trouble are worth what you're father's paying me. So before I hand you over to him, I'll just have to find some way for you to make it up to me." Despite being a Squib, she was a very beautiful girl, and Sylvanus let his eyes wander over her form.
"DARCY!" Sylvanus barely had enough time to dive to the side as the first muggle came barrelling at him, hardly looking fazed at being thrown at a brick wall at speed. He came at Sylvanus with a knife, which the wizard quickly removed with a Disarming Charm. To his surprise, the blade was quickly replaced by another, as if it had been summoned into his hand from nowhere. Sylvanus was forced to dodge a second time, though he was unable to completely escape; the muggle just managed to nick his upper arm and draw blood.
When the muggle somehow produced a third knife after being disarmed of the second one, Sylvanus realised that he was better off cutting and running, taking his target with him, of course. An Impediment Jinx stopped the muggle in his tracks, giving him enough time to run back over to Dahlia.
He was going to grab her arm and Apparate away with her, when the sudden BOOM of thunder startled him. It was a bright, blue, sunny day, so the abrupt gathering of storm clouds from out of nowhere and the flash and boom of lightning and thunder directly behind him made him practically jump out of his skin and whip around to face the new threat.
To make things evens stranger, a new man descended from the sky – without the aid of a broom, mind you – and landed in front of Sylvanus, scowling and brandishing a large stone hammer. It took Sylvanus a moment to recognise him as one of the other muggles Dahlia had been dining with, but clearly this was no ordinary muggle, even more so than the first.
The large blonde man hefted his hammer. "Release my friends, sorcerer!"
But Sylvanus had no intention of leaving without his quarry. He reached back blindly and grabbed a fabric-covered wrist and Apparated away as the first man yelled from close by – closer than Sylvanus initially realised.
When Sylvanus re-appeared in the rented house he'd procured for his time in America, he realised right away something was wrong. For one, the arm he'd grabbed hold of was clearly moving and not under a body-bind curse. For another, the cry of surprise that accompanied their arrival was far too masculine-sounding to be coming from Dahlia.
Sylvanus dodged the third knife, summoning a chair – to which he'd been intending to tie Dahlia – in between himself and the interfering muggle. Then, with a cry of "Accio knife!" he promptly had to dive for cover as no fewer than six knives flew at him from somewhere on the other man's person.
That was it! He was enraged at the amount of trouble a mere Squib and her muggle friends could give him, and he channelled that rage into his next spell: "Crucio!"
A full twenty minutes later, he was about to take the risk of using a different Unforgivable curse. Despite his repeated application of the Cruciatus Curse, his unwanted captive was refusing to scream in pain, let alone give him information regarding Dahlia's place of residence and the unusual capabilities of anyone else who might get in between him and her.
The muggle, now firmly bound to the chair, smirked at him at one point. "There are more ways to inflict pain on someone," he said, "And I've been on the receiving end of torture from people who are far more creative than you. Well…" And there was that predatory look again. "Some of them were more creative than you. I've already killed some of those poor bastards."
Sylvanus, his anger building at this mere muggle's defiance, raised his wand again. He would force the muggle to infiltrate Dahlia's home and bring her to him (assuming the Imperius Curse was more effective on him than the Cruciatus Curse).
A swirl of sparks appearing in the corner of his eye stayed his hand, however, and had him whipping his wand around to face the new threat.
The orange sparks formed a ring hovering above the ground and facing him. Sylvanus didn't hesitate this time, firing a Stunner at the human-shaped silhouette coming through it.
To his shock, the red jet of light bounced off another, smaller circle of orange light that appeared suddenly. He had to duck to avoid getting knocked out by his own spell!
Another man stepped through the portal, his hands surrounded by the orange light. He wore a red cape that seemed to float in the air behind him and had a trimmed goatee, and though he wielded no wand, he clearly had some form of magical power.
Exactly what kind of people had the Squib actually managed to fall in with?!
"Bucky!"
Dahlia Parkinson slipped out from behind the man and ran over to Sylvanus's captive. Sylvanus received yet another shock when the muggle, 'Bucky', discarded the ropes with which Sylvanus had bound him. He opened his arms and allowed Dahlia to jump into them, and held her tight, not taking his furious eyes off of Sylvanus, even as his limbs shook from the strain of having endured numerous Cruciatus Curses. "I'm okay, Doll," he assured her.
Sylvanus had reached the end of his rope. "What the bloody hell is going on here?!" he raged, wand still in hand even if he had no idea what the consequences of casting would be, "What are you people?!"
Dahlia finally turned to glare at him. "If you stuck-up purebloods would just bother to get your heads out of your asses and stick your noses outside the magical world every once in a while, you'd know who the Avengers were. And please tell me you've at least heard of the Sorcerer Supreme!" She gestured at the goateed man, who looked rather irritated.
"I told you to wait until I brought him back," the so-called 'Sorcerer Supreme' scolded her.
Dahlia shrugged nonchalantly, also not looking away from Sylvanus. "So, what should we do with him, Strange? Call M.A.C.U.S.A. and have their Aurors pick him up?"
Sylvanus paled. The American Ministry was known for being much harsher in its punishment, and he knew that his British citizenship would be of no help to him. Being the son of a confirmed Death Eater, the Ministry would certainly not cause an international incident over him.
Strange scowled. "I am not dealing with those pretentious wand-wavers, Miss Lewis."
"I didn't say you had to deal with them! Just dump him through a Sling Ring with a note attached, or something!"
"They'll probably try to erase the Sergeant's memories of the incident."
"Let them try," Bucky growled.
Sylvanus sneered. "You lot don't know what you're playing at," he snarled, "You filthy muggles and Squibs can't do this to me! I am Sylvanus Rookwood, a proud pureblood, and I-"
"Oh, were you a Death Muncher like Augustus Rookwood?" Darcy snarled back, "That's certainly something M.A.C.U.S.A. will want to know! I heard they've got something even worse than the Dementor's Kiss for scum like you."
Sylvanus, incensed at her tone, swung his wand around to cast a spell at her, only for a silvery metal fist to slam into his nose.
Bucky glared down at the piece of crap on the floor at his feet. His hands – both of them – shook uncontrollably, an apparent side-effect from the pain spell that had been cast on him more than a dozen times, and he ached down to the very core of his bones, but he stayed standing from sheer will alone (and perhaps a little bit of leaning on both Darcy and the back of the chair).
"You know, this is the first time in a long time that I've wanted to kill someone who wasn't HYDRA," he told the other two faux casually.
Darcy tightened her hold around his torso. "That bastard isn't worth it," she told him, "His wand alone will probably be enough proof that he's committed crimes. Can you remember any of the incantations he used?"
Bucky swallowed, giving in to the need to sit back down. Darcy still didn't let go of him. "Mostly just one. The one that hurt a lot. He kept saying 'Crucio', whatever that one means."
Darcy paled. Then she stepped away from Bucky and kicked Rookwood in the ribs. Hard. "Fucking son of a bilgesnipe!" she spat, "How many times did he cast that on you?!"
Bucky shrugged. "Fourteen."
And then it was suddenly hard for him to breathe, because she was hugging him like she was trying to permanently fuse her arms to his body. "Just once would have been enough to throw him in prison for life! Are you okay? No, of course you're not okay, fourteen Cruciatus Curses in one go is not okay!"
He raised his trembling right hand to stroke the back of her head. "I'll be okay," he whispered, "This feels like crap, but HYDRA did worse to me than this. I'm just glad he grabbed me instead of you."
He felt her lips press to his chest through his shirt. "Let's just get him to the proper authorities before I do something really rash. And then I'll send an owl to Dederick, explaining to him just what will happen to anyone else he tries to send after me. The Parkinson family can kiss my ass."
I may consider continuing this crossover AU, but this is all I have for now. I'll try to keep it in mind when considering the rest of the Whumptober prompts, but no promises.
Next chapter's prompt is 'Manhandling', and now I finally know what I want to do with it!