Disclaimer: Don't own

Chapter Twenty Two

Harry grinned and swerved into a barrel role as a Chitauri craft skimmed right past where his head had been only moments before. He hadn't had a good, clean fight like this in ages. The only reason he wasn't hesitant about sending another killing curse after the lizard like creature was because he had sent out a glimmer of Legilimency and found something really interesting.

The Chitauri were hive minded, and wasn't that fascinating? It had been a few centuries since he'd come across a hive minded race, where there was no 'we', but only 'I'.

The Chitauri were essentially one mind in many bodies.

So really, all they had to do was find the origin of the main mind, destroy it, and the threat would be obliterated.

Now if he were a mind that controlled many bodies where would he be... Green eyes were drawn up to the portal. Bingo.

"Hey, Tony, got any really big guns? Say... rocket launcher types?" He said calmly into the comm, even as a dozen Chitauri descended upon him. He fired off a muffliato that scrambled the signal of whatever big brain was controlling them, sending them spiraling to the ground. Well that was a whole lot easier than the killing curse.

"Sorry Harry, got rid of all my rocket launchers. Why do you ask? Doesn't look like you need any help in taking these guys down." Tony replied curiously.

"Damn. That's okay, I'll think of something. And I need one to destroy the Chitauri ship in the portal."

"What good will that do?" Romanoff asked, and Harry noted that her tone was not as scathing with him as it had been. They should keep Barton around, he seemed to keep her calm somehow.

"Well, I just found out something interesting. The Chitauri are hive minded." He said, and gave a whoop of satisfaction when a muffliato maxima took down about thirty of the damn things, and a freaking Leviathan too!

"And you think the main mind is on the ship?" Tony perceptively filled in.

Harry dodged a blast from another of the lizard like creatures. "Got it in one."

"Alright, can someone explain to me what hive minded means?" Cap said, his voice strained as he grappled with one on the ground.

"Well, it means that these guys only have one brain among them. And Harry and I agree that the one mind would probably try to keep out of trouble, and is back on the really big ship we can see through the portal." Tony answered, and Harry snorted.

"Yeah, what he said. Hey, Tony, I'm dropping in to your place, looks like something interesting is about to happen there. Need me to grab anything?" The wizard said, just as Bruce, who was still the Hulk, threw Loki through a window.

"Nope, but could you tell Doctor Banner to please keep the damage to a minimum?" Tony groaned over the comm, and Harry just laughed as he touched down.

Just in time to watch the show.

"Enough! You are all of you beneath me! I am God, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-" Loki's rant was cut off by Hulk grabbing him by his feet and then proceeding to smash him back and forth against the ground.

Harry wished he had a camera.

The well abused god was then thrown to the side as Hulk caught sight of him. The green giant muttered "Puny god," as he approached Harry, and he got visibly less green and giant. Harry tactfully conjured some clothes for him to wear.

"Hiya, Bruce, having fun?"

Harry was surprised when the other man drew him into a bone crushing hug. "Don't you ever die again, you stupid idiot, alright?" Bruce said gruffly, then released him.

Harry shrugged. "I can try, but it'll be difficult. Guard my back?"

"What are you planning?" This time the other man's voice was exasperated.

"Just gonna go brain diving in fruit loop's mind, now that he's down for a bit." Harry said off-handily, crouching down next to the downed god. "Hello, again, Loki, aren't you happy to see me?"

The god could only groan while Harry peeled his eyelids open. While he could do quick surface legilimency scans on people without looking them in the eye, for the depth he needed to go into the crazy god's head, he would have to do it the old fashioned way. So that meant looking into odd green-turned-blue eyes.

Knowing that Bruce was at his back, Harry delved into the twisted mind.

Images flashed before his eyes, a crown (coveted), a blond boy (loved with exasperation), an eight legged horse (how did he give birth to that?), a newborn wolf (the child's oddities had to be the fault of the mother), and the wizard cut through them, shaking them off, until he got the the epicenter of the man's mind.

Everyone had them, though they came in different forms, and Loki's was interesting. It was a building made entirely of crystal. It gleamed almost blindingly, and Harry was glad that Loki had no clue about the practice of occlumency, thus he faced no opposition when he walked into the building.

That was where he found the pollution, and the cause of it.

On a pedestal lay a mental representation of the scepter that Loki had. It would have looked innocent enough, if it weren't for the fact that a thick blue sludge was seeping from it, covering the pedestal and spreading out like a disease.

"Just like I thought. Well we can't have that." Harry muttered, and set to work. The sludge was gathered into a large crystal container that he found. He levitated the substance into it, wisely deciding not to touch it. The scepter was more difficult to take care of. Harry thought for a moment, then levitated it in with the sludge.

And then grinned maliciously when he set fiendfyre upon the container, controlling it effortlessly. The small songbird made of fire consumed the sludge, container, and scepter, growing into a large bird of prey, before snuffing itself out.

Harry nodded in a satisfied fashion, and faded from the mind scape, knowing his job was done when the bleak atmosphere brightened considerably, making the crystal memory building gleam.

He looked up, back in his body, and smiled reassuringly at Bruce. "That should take care of that." He told the man, pulling himself to his feet. "But now I'm thirsty. Any idea where Tony keeps his water bottles?"

"I would be happy to get one for you, Mr. Potter." A distinctly British male voice suddenly rang out through the room, and Harry blinked.

"Er... How do you know my name?" Was all he could think of saying.

"Originally from the information gained from the SHIELD archives." The unnamed voice replied.

"Tony, did you know you have a creepily well informed British guy hiding somewhere in your house?" Harry said into the comm, still looking for the origin of the voice. He could hear the genius's answering snort.

"That's just Jarvis, Harry, my AI."

"AI. Right, because that explains everything. What the bollocks is an AI?" He growled, and heard Bruce laughing behind him. Apparently Jarvis the AI took it upon himself to answer.

"AI stands for artificial intelligence, Mr. Potter. I am, essentially, just a very smart computer."

Harry raised one eyebrow. "Well that's kind of cool. Alright then, yeah, I would like that water, if you don't mind."

A panel in the wall opened, and a pair of water bottles sat innocently in the alcove that was revealed. Harry grabbed one and tossed the other to Bruce. He was about to bring it to his lips when Fury's voice rang out over the comm.

"Stark, do you hear me? You have a missile headed straight for the city."

Harry drew up short. A missile? "I'll have to take a rain check on that water, then. Sorry Jarvis." Harry told the AI. "We've got some sort of missile heading this way, Bruce. So that's me back to business. Can you keep an eye on fruit loop here?"

Bruce's eyes widened. "Er, yeah. Alright."

Harry nodded, and picked up his broom where he had dropped it when he came into the room. He dived gracefully from the balcony, talking into the comm. "Director, who the hell sent out the missile, and for what purpose?"

"... It was a decision made by the SHIELD council." He answered reluctantly.

Harry cursed. "Your people made the decision to just up and probably kill thousands of civilians? Tell them that as soon as I'm done here, I'm coming for them, because they could have just done more damage than Loki could dream of right now. And you best hope you're not part of that freaking council."

"I'm not. But I will be sure to inform them of your message." This time the man's voice was obviously smug.

"How long do we have until it hits?" Harry growled.

"Two minutes at best." Was the reply.

Harry glanced up at the portal, and smirked. "You know what, I know just where to put it."

"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" Romanoff crowed over the comm.

"Could you hold off on that for a few minutes, Agent? If you don't mind?" Harry said.

"What do you have planned, Harry?" Cap asked.

"Something dangerous and probably really stupid, but it's out only shot in saving however many lives that inhabit this city. Tony, I'm taking care of the missile. I'll need a clear shot, think you could keep ahead of me and take care of anything in my path?" He shouted, just as a plane flew overhead and dropped the missile.

"Can do, Harry."

The wizard grabbed hold of the device, forcefully redirecting it upwards. Ahead of him Tony shot Chitauri out of his way. He breached the surface of the portal, his body automatically adjusting to the vacuum of space (and if that didn't prove he was no longer entirely human, he had no idea what would) and let go of the bomb, sending a propulsion spell at it. He stayed long enough to watch it hit the ship, before angling his broom back down and through the portal as it was closing.

He grinned in triumph when he saw the aliens fall from the sky. Then blinked owlishly.

"Huh... I feel... really... tired..." He said slowly, and Harry lost consciousness as he fell from his broom and plummeted towards the ground.

Voila, chapter twenty two. And, yes, I know that in the Marvel!verse, the Chitauri may not be hive minded, but as I said, I've never read the comics. I only know what I've learned from the movie, fanfics, and memebase. So maybe there's some other explanation for why all the Chitauri all collapse when the ship is destroyed. But this is my uneducated guess. And now, I think a nap is in order.

Lionna

PS: I wish I could draw or photoshop worth a crap to make this story a cover... ^^U