Disclaimer: Don't own.
"Voices over comm units"
Chapter Twenty One
Harry scowled at the... things pouring from the hole in the sky (and he repeats, a hole in the bloody sky... just so we're on the same page). He and Tony looked at each other, and aim their transportation upwards to meet the army head on.
Harry doesn't notice the tall blond man look at him in disbelief and relief. He knew that the World-Traveler could not die, not in the classical sense, but is glad to know he did not move on.
He lands heavily on the platform to meet his brother, feeling as if a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.
Harry shouts over the wind, "Tony! You've got communications in that metal contraption, right?!"
"Yeah!" Tony's voice was amplified by the speakers.
"Well then tell the others that I'm alive and here! We can't afford to have them seeing me and possibly pausing at a fatal moment because they thought I was dead!"
Tony would have hit himself in the face if he could, and was glad that the other man had thought of it.
"Hey boys and girls, you'll never guess who just joined back up. Harry the undying wizard. He's here with me. I repeat, Potter's alive and kicking ass. Do you copy?" He wheeled off into the comm system.
A wavering female voice (and had he ever heard the indomitable Agent Romanoff sound like that) answered, "Yeah, we copy Stark... though we're not sure how to react... But we're on a three and heading north east."
"Just get your happy asses here and get to fighting. What did you guys do? Stop at a drive through? Swing that park, Harry and I are gonna lay 'em out for you."
He nods to the wizard, and motions what they're going to do while the man sends a green beam of light at one of the Chitauri that sends the alien spiraling to the ground.
The other man grinned in exhilaration, truly in his element in fighting what seems insurmountable odds, and pulled his broom into a turn, maneuvering it in front of the path of the plane along with his comrade just long enough for the aliens who had followed them to get close enough that they were unable to get out of the way quick enough when both he and Tony dropped like stones, leaving the Chitauri in the line of fire.
Steve froze when Stark's voice told them from the console of the plane that Harry was alive. That was impossible! He said so himself that when he died on one planet, he reappeared on another.
But then the man he knew alternatively as Harry and Glen dropped right in front of the nose of the plane, and he almost shouted because it looked like they were going to hit him... but he saw the grin and the glimmer of mischief that had made the man his chief trap expert in the field over seventy years ago...
And he was alive! He was alive... which most likely meant one of two things. Either something had happened on the way to the next planet... or Fury had lied to them.
He and the Director were going to be having a serious conversation if he survived this alien invasion.
And with his old comrade at his back, he had very little doubt that Loki wouldn't win, army or no army.
Bruce had to keep taking the potions that Harry had given him, as they were wearing off quicker since... since he died.
And the effects were less noticeable, he just felt calm, but sad, where as before he felt a bit out of it and happy. It was probably his anger at Loki killing Harry, the first person who knew his secret and did not flinch away from him on contact, his first true friend after the accident, that burned through the elixer's effects.
The Hulk had a target, and he would not be denied, no matter how drugged he was.
But the elixer was why he did not visibly react when the news that Harry was not dead came through.
And something in his chest loosened at seeing that smirking face and dancing green eyes for a moment just before the Chituari he led to that position were torn apart by a hail of bullets.
Harry was alive... but that still didn't let Loki off the hook.
Harry's hand eye coordination had not deteriorated since the long ago days when he was a seeker, and just got better with the hundreds of years during which it was used to its fullest. Which is the only reason he caught the strange looking thing Tony tossed to him. He raised an eyebrow at the man, and the Iron Man pantomimed putting it in his ear.
The wizard complied, feeling a bit foolish. He felt like he was putting some sort of beetle in his ear. But he was not disappointed with the results, if the curse words in a several familiar voices that spilled from the device were anything to go by.
"We gotta get back up there."
"Cap!" He shouted in surprise.
The man looked up, probably to see where he was, and paled. Harry looked up too, as it obviously wasn't him that garnered the reaction. He almost wished he hadn't.
"Merlin's moldy shorts! What is that?!" Harry cried as he saw the things that were coming out of the portal after the Chitauri. The front looked a bit like a turtle with really big sharp teeth, and the rest of the body that slithered from the hole in the sky resembled a centipede.
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Cap's voice sounded a bit unsure. Maybe he thought the plain crash made him hit his head?
Tony's voice answered. "Seeing. Still working on believing. Interesting choice in expletive there, Harry."
Harry looked at the thing, which was as they spoke spilling out more Chitauri from its sides. "Later, guys. Has the latest dose of Calming Draught worn off yet, Bruce? We might need the help of the Other Guy."
"Not yet." Bruce's voice answered.
"Alright, just keep us posted. Shall we go after the ugly behemoth, Mr. Potter?"
Harry grinned. "I think we shall, Mr. Stark."
"JARVIS, find us a soft spot."
Harry wanted to ask who Jarvis was, but was too busy flinging spells at the Leviathan. They were all absorbed, like it was a nightmare mix of a basilisk and that tentacle horse thing that Hel had called a Fryte.
Tony was beside him, blasting it with everything he had. That just seemed to make the thing mad, as it turned in a lumberous manner to follow them.
"Fuck fuck fuckity fuck! Well, it's following us! What now?" Harry shouted.
"I'm still working on step two!" Tony replied, though it sounded like he was having the time of his life.
The other's voices, who Harry had been ignoring up to that point as they obviously weren't speaking on the comm, finally registered again when Thor joined them.
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." How the hell did they get the Asgardian to use modern technology?
"Thor's right, we gotta deal with these guys." Tony probably pestered him into it.
"How do we do this?" Romanoff asked, sounding more curious than worried. It sounded like she had no doubt they would win.
Cap's voice came next, strong and steely. "As a team."
"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor reminded them.
"Yeah? Get in line." an unidentified male's voice, but Harry figured it was that guy Clint that Romanoff was so pissy about earlier.
"I get first dibs! Don't forget the guy killed me!" He said, trying not to look over his should at the thing chasing him and Tony. He just sent killing curse after killing curse at the oncoming Chitauri.
Cap sighed gustily into the comm, and Harry grinned. The man always treated the banter of his troops as children's squabbles. "Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark and Harry up top, he's gonna need us to-" He pauses, and Harry feels a spike of aggression from the ground, clearly not from any Chitauri. Looks like the Calming Draught wore off!
"You okay, Bruce?" He asked.
"Fine Harry. Glad you're here." The voice is a bit more growly than he's used to, but the man was fighting off becoming a towering monster of rage. He could let a tiny voice change slide.
"Suit up, Banner. We're bringing the party to you." Stark hooted, and Harry grinned over at him. They both flew in perfect synchronization around the buildings, towards the area they knew the group had congregated in.
Romanoff's voice said over the comm faintly, "I- I don't see how that's a party."
"It followed me home, can I keep it?" Harry joked.
"Doctor Banner, this might be a really good time for you to get angry."
"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry."
Harry grins at the man, swerving out off to one side while Tony swerves to the other, leaving the Leviathan to go head on into the angry creature that Bruce had become.
It then exploded, and Harry had no idea why, but figured it probably had something to do with the Clint guy. He heard that he had a thing for arrows that went boom.
Both he and Tony touched down on the ground next to the rest of the group, and they stood with their backs to each other in a loose circle, looking for all the world like they were ready to take on the entire Chitauri army and win with no question.
They all look up as if on queue, and a dozen more of those Leviathan creatures, along with several more platoons of the Chitauri, flood through the portal.
"Guys..." Romanoff said slowly.
"Call it, Captain." Tony nonchalantly replied, but Harry knew this was a big thing for him. This was Tony Stark letting someone else at the controls.
"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark and Harry, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash." Cap ordered, and he showed his prowess as an officer in the military with those concise words.
The Clint fellow, Barton, turned to Tony. "Wanna give me a lift?"
"Right, better clench up, Legolas."
Harry and Tony take off, the latter with his hanger on who seemed to be taking the scientist's words seriously until he was dropped on the indicated roof.
They are soon too busy to really be paying attention to the others.
"Stark, Potter! You gotta a lot of strays on your tail!" Barton warns them, and Harry maneuvers himself on the broom so he's facing the tail, and fires off killing curses at the invaders. There's no time for mercy here.
"Just trying to keep them off the streets. And see now, they're dropping like flies?"
"And they can't bank worth a damn. Find a tight corner!" Barton suggests, and Harry turns back around when the number is about cut in half.
They swerve and turn while Barton picks off a few more. Then they grin at each other when the tunnel comes into view. "You thinking what I'm thinking, Harry?"
"I think I am, Tony!" Harry hoots, and they dart into the tunnel, their pursuers hot on their heels until at the end they turn out, leaving the poor breaks on the Chitauri's ships to take them right into a building.
"That was fun! Anything else for us, Barton?" Harry asked.
"Well, Thor's taking out a squadron down on sixth."
"And he didn't invite us?" Tony sounded falsely hurt.
"Well, now that we know, we aren't gonna miss the whole party, are we?" Harry called, and he followed the other man to where ever this sixth was.
And that's chapter twenty one ladies and germs! Sorry I had to leave Fenrir and Sleipnir at home, but Harry is a bit protective of them, and doesn't want them anywhere near the line of fire. Probably wrapping up the fight in the next chapter or two, then it's off to hunt a (maybe) giant snake! Keep tuned, and see you Wednesday!
Lionna
PS: Congrats to my darling reader EmeraldEyed on her first day as a student teacher. Good luck, and don't kill the kids where anyone can see you! :P