A/N: The plural in the title is deliberate.
Recommendation: Story recommendation for this chapter is "A Fate Worse Than Death" by Clell65619. Hermione finds out the truth of how and why Harry was able to survive the killing curse as an infant, and nothing will ever be the same again. HP/Buffy crossover.
Chapter 10 - Abominations
Flushing Meadows, New York City. 6:45 PM.
Pepper Potts exited the main presentation pavilion to find Iris standing there with one hand held to her ear.
"Hermione!" she cried, her voice filled with fear. "Hermione!"
Just as Pepper reached the black-clad woman, Iris started to wobble and bent over double, breathing hard.
"I'm trying to find out where Hermione went," Iris said quickly, getting desperate. "I need to get to her. Something terrible has happened. She was on the radio when suddenly..." She trailed off and sucked in her breath as another wave of dizziness passed over her.
"Are you alright?" Pepper asked, placing a hand on her shoulder and bending down to look at her face. Iris immediately grabbed Pepper's arm in an effort to steady herself.
"I don't know," Iris said. "I suddenly don't feel so good. My head is buzzing, and I feel a little nauseated."
"Maybe you hit your head in the fight?"
"No, I didn't get hurt at all, much less in my head."
"Come on, you're in no shape to help her like this. Let's get back inside and find you a place to sit down. Then we'll figure out where Hermione went." A few minutes later, Iris was sitting in a chair in the deserted backstage area, and Pepper was trying to decide if she could leave her to go look for a glass of water.
"Thanks," Iris said, her voice a bit steadier. "I'm doing better now." She flexed her left hand gingerly and stared at it in obvious confusion. "I wish I knew why my hand aches now, though."
Pepper nodded and pulled out her phone. "I'm going to call Tony — maybe he or JARVIS can tell us something about Hermione." She was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by a beeping from the remains of a Hammer drone that had earlier crashed through the roof.
Iris frowned at the red light blinking in tandem with the noise. "That doesn't sound good..."
A crackling came over the radio, and Iris heard Tony shout, "Iris! Pepper! Where are you? All the drones are rigged to explode!"
Iris shot a glance at the blinking drone again and got heavily to her feet. "Right, then — time to go! Sorry about this..." she added as she took Pepper's arm.
"Sorry about wha—" Pepper tried to ask, but she was cut off as she suddenly felt like she was being squeezed through a straw and spit out the other end. Once she was standing again, she promptly collapsed on her knees and started heaving from the nausea that hit her. "What... the hell... was that?" she gasped.
"That's side-along apparition," Iris answered as she leaned against a wall. "It's always a bit... uncomfortable your first time. Don't worry, though, it's that way for everyone, though I suppose it might be a bit worse for you since you're not magical. You'll eventually get used to it, and it's much smoother with me than with anyone else."
"Unpleasant? That was horrible!" Pepper cried.
"Look on the bright side: it only took us a second to get to Tony's apartment in Manhattan."
"Never again!" Pepper insisted while shaking her head vigorously. "Never again!"
"Tony?" Iris called over her radio. "We're at your apartment. Pepper is a little ill from the apparition, but she'll be alright."
"Easy for you to say," Pepper was heard muttering from the floor.
"What about you and Rhodey?" Iris continued.
"We're fine," Tony responded. "We took care of Vanko. Permanently. What about the civilians at the expo?"
"I think the NYPD must have evacuated everyone — we didn't see anyone when we were inside a minute ago." She looked over at Pepper, who nodded in confirmation as she tried to get up.
"Good. I'm on my way to you now."
"No, Tony, I need you to find Hermione!" Iris demanded, her worry now returning in a rush. "Something horrible has happened to her, I know it!"
"Are you sure?" Tony asked, sounding dubious.
"I'm positive!" Iris responded. "If you know where she is, you have to get to her!"
"Sir," Iris heard JARVIS say, "the transponder from your car reads as being at the Hammer facility in East Rockaway."
"OK," Tony said, "I'll head there first."
"I'll join you," Rhodey chimed in.
"Thank you," Iris said, "Thank you both." She slumped against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor, feeling as though maybe she could finally breathe again.
Hammer Industries, East Rockaway, Long Island. 6:53 PM.
"Tony, is this channel private?" Rhodey asked.
"It can be, just a sec," Tony responded. A moment later he continued, "OK, it's just us and JARVIS now. What's up?"
"I'm worried about what Iris was doing tonight," Rhodey said.
"Why? She was a big help, wasn't she?"
"Absolutely," Rhodey agreed. "I still don't understand what it was that she was doing, but a couple of times there near the end, it looked like she was attacking drones without regard for nearby civilians."
"Really?" Tony asked, surprised.
"Yeah, well, since I wasn't in control here I had more opportunity to enjoy the sights," Rhodey said irritably. "I didn't see her hurt any civilians, but she might have, and she didn't seem to act like she cared — though I admit that I never saw her for long." He wanted to comment more on some of the things he saw, especially in conjunction with Hermione describing herself as a "witch," but now wasn't the time.
Tony was silent for a moment, so Rhodey continued, "Now we're going to look for Hermione, and if I remember correctly, Iris threatened to take it out of your hide if she got hurt."
"Uh, good point. I'm glad I've got you watching my back."
"That might not be enough, sir," came JARVIS' voice. "And by the way, that's the facility below."
As Tony and Rhodey landed by the car, they saw Happy and Hermione limping slowly out of the building. It was obvious that both would need medical attention, and soon.
"Hey, guys," Tony said as he landed beside the car. "You look like shit."
"You're not looking so good yourself, boss," Happy responded while attempting to smile, but it came out as a grimace. The missing teeth didn't help.
"It'll be faster if we carry you two to a hospital," Rhodey suggested.
"Agreed," said Tony. "I'll take you, Hermione." As he gently lifted her up bridal-style, he added quietly, "Iris is extremely worried about you. She seemed to know that you had been hurt." Hermione simply nodded, then looked over at where Rhodey was picking up Happy in a similar manner. Tony could see the guilt on her face. "Don't worry," he assured her, "you'll both be fine."
Both men then took off, though much more slowly and gently than they usually did, and headed for a hospital in Manhattan.
Sterns Lab, Harlem, New York City. 6:50 PM.
While Tony and Rhodey were flying from Queens to East Rockaway, Samuel Sterns looked around at his demolished Harlem lab and marveled at how little regret he felt.
That morning his lab and his work had been his life — he had devoted everything he had to them. Now, though, he recognized how small and petty it all was. Now, he was able to see multiple paths to true greatness, discovery, and power. He wondered briefly why he hadn't seen any of it before, and why he had wasted so much time with such menial labor, but quickly dismissed such mistakes as belonging to the past.
The future was going to be very, very different...
Stepping past the body of the female major who had been so annoying a few minutes ago, he silently thanked that abomination which he had created for eliminating her. She'd have been in his way if she'd still been alive. She would have tried to stop him... to stop the inevitable progress that he would bring. It would have been a shame if he'd had to kill her himself. Such tasks were best left to underlings.
I wonder where that beast went after it left my lab? he wondered, then dismissed the question as ultimately irrelevant. He didn't care what it did so long as it created enough of a distraction for him to get away cleanly.
"Stop right there," came a voice from behind him.
"Who are you?" he asked as he turned, quickly trying to evaluate how much of a threat this man was.
"My name is Agent Coulson. I'm with Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."
"That's quite a mouthful," Sterns responded, playing for time.
"We're working on it," the agent replied laconically, though Sterns could tell from micro-expressions on his face that he wasn't being entirely truthful. "And you are?" Coulson prompted.
"I'm Dr. Samuel Sterns," he said. "This is, or at least was, my lab. It got destroyed when Bruce Banner was taken into custody." When Coulson nodded, he continued, "I should get going, I..."
"Actually, doctor, I should take you to see the paramedics," Coulson said, then gestured up to his own head. "You've got, uh... something, up here."
Sterns knew what the agent was talking about, but he had hoped that the lighting would be bad enough that Coulson wouldn't notice. Pity, Sterns thought, now I'll have to take care of him myself. It will be interesting to see how well I do when I take my first life.
"But I feel fine," Sterns protested in what he thought was a disarming tone of voice as he moved closer to the agent. "I promise that if I feel any strange symptoms, I'll go right to the emergency room."
"I'm afraid that I can't let you leave, doctor," Coulson said, much more firmly now. He also pulled out a pistol and added, "I'm also going to have to ask you to not come any closer and just stand still until we get a team in here."
Sterns stopped, not having expected the agent to escalate so quickly. OK, he thought, plan B, then.
"I'm sure you don't want to do this, agent," Sterns said. "I'm sure you have much better things to do with your time. Important people to talk to or to capture. I'm a nobody." Not seeing any change in the agent's face, he tried a slightly different approach. "I have quite a lot of valuable material here," Sterns said offhandedly. "Once I'm gone, no one will miss it if it disappears. Right over here, in fact..."
As he started moving towards whatever he thought he could bribe Coulson with, the agent promptly shot him in the leg.
Sterns cried out as he collapsed to the floor. "You shot me!"
"Good catch," Coulson replied levelly. "I can see why you're a doctor."
"You fool! I'm now the most intelligent man on the planet!" Sterns shouted. "You will not be able to stop me from doing what I think needs to be done!"
"No, you're a prisoner who's bleeding on the floor," Coulson responded, "And you can't even follow basic instructions." Looking behind him, he saw the S.H.I.E.L.D. team coming up the stairs. "The nice government agents are here to take you into custody now. Do try to follow their orders, because they won't be as patient with you as I was."
With that, Agent Coulson left the room, because he definitely had better things to do with his time. He had just gotten a text about a monster being sighted a few blocks away.
Harlem, New York City. 7:00 PM.
Harlem was being torn apart by a monster the likes of which New York City had never seen. At one time, the monster had gone by the name Emil Blonsky, a professional soldier who spent his life fighting for his adopted nation as a Royal Marine. More recently, he mostly fought simply because he enjoyed fighting: he had refused numerous promotions because he felt most alive when he was in the field, engaged in combat. Spending his days tied to a desk would have killed him faster than a bullet.
Once injected with an experimental Super Soldier serum and then, earlier that evening, with a new compound based on Bruce Banner's blood, his outer form had transformed to match his inner self: ugly, brutish, enraged, and destructive. Wreaking havoc across the streets of Harlem, he destroyed property and hurt people simply because he could. He wasn't looking to conquer or rule; he desired neither money nor fame. He simply wanted to fight and to hurt others, though he would have prefered to have a challenge, if possible.
Which was why he hoped that Bruce Banner's alter ego, the Hulk, would show up soon...
Agent Coulson stepped back into the shadows at the side of the building and hit the speed dial on his cell phone.
"Fury here," came the voice on the other end.
"It's Coulson. The initial reports were correct, if understated. There's a large, brownish-grey creature, heavily muscled and bearing numerous boney spikes, that's tearing apart Harlem. There are police and military units trying to engage, but they aren't having any luck."
"Yeah, and it's going to get worse," Fury responded. "Those military units are under General Ross' command. I have a report that he finally captured Banner. I'd bet my pension that that creature you're seeing has something to do with Banner's experiments, and Ross is going to either try to capture or kill it. If Banner gets loose as well..."
"We won't have a Harlem by morning," Coulson finished for him.
"Keep monitoring the situation," Fury ordered him, "but don't get too close. Don't risk yourself. I'm going to call in other assets."
"Can you tell me who?".
"The Black Witch," came the response, then the connection was cut.
Manhattan, New York City. 7:22 PM.
Pepper was drinking a glass of Tony's expensive whiskey in an attempt to calm her nerves when Iris clicked off her phone. "I've been called in to help with a dangerous situation in Harlem," she said. "I don't know how long I'll be, so don't wait up."
"Are you going to be OK?" Pepper asked, worry clear in her voice.
"I'm tired, I'll admit," Iris responded, rising to her feet with some effort. "Exhausted, even — some of that fighting took a lot out of me. But I'm sure I'll be fine, especially since we know Hermione is being taken to a hospital." With a pop, she apparated out to one of the many locations in the city that she'd scouted in advance for just such an emergency.
Arriving at a high point over Harlem, Iris started looking for the problem, and it didn't take long to find it. Originally, she'd been called in to deal with a large creature rampaging in the streets, but now there were two such creatures — one of which was the Hulk. Both were fighting and both looked very, very pissed off.
"Oh, this is just my day," Iris muttered tiredly to herself. "First killer robots, now rampaging, mutant monsters. What's next, an alien invasion of New York City?"
With another pop, she apparated to the top of a building above the fight. She watched as the Hulk used his fists to pound the larger creature deeper and deeper into the pavement, but suddenly it kicked out and sent the Hulk flying into a building about half a block away. Deciding to take this opportunity to see what the new creature was made of, she incanted, "Confringo!" to send an explosive blasting curse into the back of its head.
She wasn't entirely surprised when the spell splashed against the creature's skin without any visible effect. I guess it was too much to hope that he'd be as easy to take down as the drones, Iris lamented. I've always assumed that most direct damage spells would have no effect on the Hulk, and if this beast has any sort of similar origin, it makes sense that it would have the same resistances.
Iris' attack may not have had an effect, but it did not go unnoticed. Emil Blonsky, who had now begun thinking of himself as an "Abomination" based on something Sterns had said, felt the warm impact of the spell and turned around. After a few moments of looking around, he spotted Iris standing on the edge of the roof, looking down with one hand on her hip. Since the Hulk was his target, he didn't want to waste time going after her, so he grabbed a piece of rubble and threw it hard at her, turning immediately to head in the direction he'd kicked his opponent.
Had he been paying attention, he might have heard her whisper Depulso and seen the piece of rubble go flying off in another direction. He might have heard a soft pop which accompanied her disappearing, then another as she reappeared on the ground nearby. He might have even seen her pull out a small stick and incant, "Sphaera Ignea!"
He did none of these things, however, so he was caught completely by surprise when the massive fireball hit him from behind.
Confused and angry at his suddenly scorched skin, but otherwise unharmed, he turned around and saw the woman again, this time standing on the ground instead of the roof and looking completely uninjured herself.
"Who or what are you?" he growled.
"Welcoming committee," Iris quipped. "I'd have brought a cake, but you threw a car into the local bakery back there. Your loss — I hear they were quite good." Iris' anger from earlier hadn't entirely dissipated, and now it was starting to grow again, giving her energy and masking how tired she was. "What the hell are you?" she asked.
The creature made what sounded like a deep laugh and said, "I'd give you my name, but I don't think it applies to me anymore. The doctor said I'd become an abomination, and I guess that's what I am, but I can't say I mind much."
"Abomination, huh?" Iris asked, raising one eyebrow.
"It's as good as any other title, and I'm about to be your worst nightmare."
Iris snorted at that. "You're nothing impressive compared to what I faced even when I was a teenager. I've had indigestion more troublesome than you." This seemed to annoy the beast as it snarled and leapt at her. Despite its impressive speed, especially for something so large, Iris still had time to apparate to another location, causing the beast to crash into the ground where she had been a moment before.
Let's try one last direct damage spell, Iris thought to herself. Maybe something that concentrates a lot of power in a small area will have more effect.
Focusing herself to ensure that she could bring as much power to bear as possible, Iris incanted, "Perforo!" sending a powerful perforation curse at the back of the Abomination as it was climbing back to its feet. Suddenly, though, the Hulk came flying out of the building it had been kicked into earlier, landing on the back of the Abomination and driving him down into the pavement. This caused Iris' curse to hit the Hulk instead. Striking his back at an angle, it created a deep gouge in his skin, and the green beast to let loose a cry of pain and fury.
The good news, Iris thought as her eyes widened and the furious Hulk's head whipped around to face her, is that direct spells can hurt the Hulk. The bad news: I wasn't fighting the Hulk before...
"I don't suppose it would help to say I'm sorry, and that I was aiming for the other guy?" Iris asked hopefully. "Uh, Dr. Banner?"
If the deep growl didn't make it clear that the Hulk wasn't in a forgiving mood, the large piece of metal he ripped off a car and threw at her definitely did the trick. She could have apparated away in time, but the hope that Banner might forgive the error slowed her reactions, and he clipped her before she could get out of the way.
When she reappeared on the roof of a nearby building, she was bleeding from her face and her eyes were glowing in anger. If he doesn't want to be forgiving, she decided, then I don't need to be either. Let's see how he deals with someone else's anger issues for once.
The few moments of focusing on Iris meant that the Hulk was caught by surprise when the Abomination turned, grabbed his head, and swung him into a building on the other side of the street. With the beast's attention still away from her, Iris started working on more creative alternatives to taking the Abomination down. Come to think of it, she considered, I might not have to do the heavy lifting myself. Maybe I need to keep him from presenting too much of a challenge to the Hulk and let Banner's alter ego do all the work. Then, when the Hulk gets tired, I'll teach him how to bleed as well.
Feeling rather pleased with herself, she used her wand to start transfiguring some of the rubble into a thick nest of Devil's Snare. Before the Abomination could press his newest attack against the Hulk, who was stumbling as he tried to get up, the Devil's Snare had wrapped itself around his legs and was moving up, tightening as it went along.
"What is this?!" shouted the Abomination as it realized that it was held fast by the odd plants that had appeared out of nowhere at his feet. He started ripping at the vines, but their magical nature made them much stronger than normal vines, and it took him a lot longer than he had expected. This gave the Hulk sufficient time to recover. Looking around, he spotted the remains of a car which he picked up and slammed down on the Abomination's head. Repeatedly.
Nearby, Iris considered her next move and decided to continue with what was working. She pushed more magic into the Devil's Snare, causing it to grow thicker, stronger, and bigger. While the two monsters started pounding away on each other with their fists, Iris' magical vines were attacking their feet, preventing either of them from going anywhere. If they're stuck there, Iris thought with a smile, they'll have trouble harming anyone else. They can concentrate on one another and wear each other out.
When the Abomination managed to seriously hurt the Hulk by piercing him with one of his spikes, Iris shook her head and said softly, "Oh, no you don't." Not thinking much about it, she incanted, "Discerpo!" and sent a dark cutting curse into the back of the Abomination. Whether it was the darker nature of the curse or the increasingly darker nature of Iris' current emotions, this spell penetrated the creature's resistant skin, creating a nasty gash and cutting off several of the spikes along his spine.
The bestial howl that the Abomination let out echoed for blocks in every direction. The Hulk wasted no time in taking advantage of the distraction, grabbing the Abomination's hands, pulling them from around his throat, and head butting him repeatedly. The sight of the Abomination's blood caused Iris to start grinning and thinking of what other dark spells she might be able to use against the two beasts.
Oh yes, she thought, I'll teach you both to bleed.
Throwing caution to the wind, she apparated back down to the street and prepared to cast spells that required her to be a bit closer. That was fine with her, though, because she was starting to look forward to showing the animals who was in charge.
"What is going on down there?" General Ross demanded. "Does anyone recognize that woman?" He had been watching the fight from the beginning and was hoping that the Hulk could stop that other creature, which he assumed must have been Blonsky at some point. He did not, however, entirely understand what he was seeing now. Somehow that woman had been doing things to both of the creatures, and he couldn't understand how.
A block away, Agent Coulson was also watching the fight, and he did recognize the woman. What was more, he also had an idea of what might be happening, and he didn't like it. He suspected Iris was starting to lose control, at least based on the glowing eyes he could see through his binoculars. Hitting speed dial on his phone, he called Nick Fury to report in.
Above Manhattan, New York City. 7:35 PM.
Tony and Rhodey were approaching the hospital emergency entrance with their injured friends when a call came in on Tony's private line. "Sir, I have an incoming call, but I can't trace its origin," JARVIS said.
"OK, put it through, but keep working on a trace," Tony instructed the AI. "Who is this?" Tony asked when the connection was made. "Only a couple of people have this number."
"And I happen to be one of them," Nick Fury's voice said.
"Fury? Why are you calling me?" Tony asked. Because his external speaker was still active, Hermione heard Tony's end of the conversation and took notice when she caught the name of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director.
"Something's happening in Harlem. At first it was one rampaging beast, but then the Hulk was unleashed by General Ross to stop it, and the two of them started causing massive destruction as they fought. I called in Iris to try to..."
"Iris?" Tony interrupted. "She should be too exhausted to do anything after fighting at the expo!" Now Hermione started paying close attention.
"She was involved in that?" Fury asked, clearly unhappy at this news. "I had no idea. I haven't read any reports yet and she didn't say. She simply accepted the assignment and went in to stop them."
"What happened to her?" Tony asked as he and Rhodey landed on the hospital roof, near the helicopter landing pad.
"I have Agent Coulson observing, and he's worried that she's losing control," Fury answered. "Do you know where Hermione is? I can't locate her."
"She's with me," Tony said. "She's been severely injured, and I'm walking her into the hospital now."
"What is it?" Hermione asked insistently, now anxious at what little she was getting from the conversation.
"Can the hospital wait?" Fury asked. "We need to have someone around to settle her down if she is losing control."
Tony looked down at Hermione's pleading face. She needed medical attention, and he was loathe to take her away from it, especially now that they had arrived at the hospital and doctors were approaching. On the other hand, Fury might be right that this woman was the only one who could talk Iris down — and Tony had first-hand experience of what Iris was like when she wasn't thinking straight. It had been sheer luck that he hadn't had to fight her that last time, and he shuddered at the thought of what might happen now.
"Give me a minute, Fury," Tony said and told Jarvis to put that line on mute. He then opened his faceplate so he could look Hermione in the eyes. "Hermione, Iris accepted another assignment from Fury. She's in Harlem trying to stop the Hulk and some other creature who are fighting each other."
"Is she hurt?" Hermione asked while trying to bite back the pain from her hand. The numbing charm hadn't lasted nearly as long as she'd expected.
"Fury is worried that Iris might be losing control. Between the fight at the expo, you getting hurt, and now this, she might be on the ragged edge, and there is no one around to talk her down. No one except you, that is, but we would need to leave right now."
Still in Tony's arms, Hermione struggled to twist a bit so she could pull her wand out of its holster, then cast another strong numbing charm on her hand. "Let's do it," she said, putting her wand away and nodding up at Tony.
"You sure?" he asked. "It might be a bit before we can get you looked at by the doctors."
"I'm sure," Hermione said without hesitation. "Iris needs me. Now let's get moving."
"Fury?" Tony said, going back to his call. "We're heading out."
"Thanks," Fury replied and cut the connection.
Rhodey and Happy were standing close enough to hear what was going on, and Rhodey asked, "Do you need backup?"
Tony thought for a moment, then said, "Sure, I can always use someone watching my back."
"If Agent Potter needs to be stopped," JARVIS pointed out, "it will take more than the two of you."
"I know, but it can't hurt," Tony said as he launched himself up into the sky, heading for Harlem.
Harlem, New York City. 7:38 PM.
Iris looked at the two beasts in front of her, each gripping the other's arms and butting heads because those were the only weapons they had left. Animals, she thought contemptuously. Is fighting all they know to do? Time to put an end to this.
With a flick of her wrist, her wand shot into her hand and quickly cast the spell Corace Corruo. Created in the middle ages, the siege engine spell was designed to take down the massive stone walls of castles, assuming one was sufficiently skilled to get close enough to use it. Iris was definitely close enough, and despite her rapidly diminishing magical reserves, she had enough power to cast a spell such as this.
Neither the Hulk nor the Abomination had any warning — not that it would have done them any good. Together they and a ton of concrete, dirt, and metal were propelled down the street, taking out the front portions of buildings on both sides while gathering more and more rubble as they went. The spell finally ran out of power after two blocks, filling a large intersection with a massive pile of broken concrete, bricks, and pieces of cars.
It was fortunate that all the people who had been in the street earlier had already fled: Iris hadn't paid any attention to who might or might not have been on the other side of her targets.
She took her time as she stalked towards the intersection, not noticing how often she stumbled. Her prey wasn't going anywhere, and she had all the time in the world to finish them off.
On the edge of the roof of a nearby building, a familiar raven flapped its wings and cawed in agitation. This witch's magic was intoxicating and powerful, but her lack of control was... distressing, to say the least.
"Holy shit!" whispered General Ross while his daughter cried out "Bruce!"
"Soldier," Ross said, turning to one of the men who had accompanied him on the transport helicopter, "tell me you're getting video and photos of that woman!"
"Yes, sir," the corporal responded. "We're also recording thermal data."
"Excellent," Ross said, his expression now one of eagerness. This is worlds better than the Super Soldier serum! he thought greedily. If I can figure out how to replicate power like that, American forces will be unstoppable!
Betty Ross was leaning halfway out of the helicopter, desperate for any sign of life from the pile of rubble in the intersection. She hadn't wanted Bruce to jump into this fight in the first place, and that was when it had just been against that huge beast. Now it was a three-way battle, and while she wouldn't have credited that woman with any sort of chance at first, she was worried that the woman wasn't going to stop until the other two were dead.
Agent Coulson was carefully making his way along the shadows and hit speed dial on his phone again. "What is it, Coulson," came Fury's voice, clearly expecting a call like this.
"Sir, two blocks of Harlem got pulverized in about five seconds," Coulson reported.
"Iris?" Fury asked in a weary voice.
"Yes, sir," Coulson said. "The Hulk and that other creature look to be buried under a couple of tons of rubble. They took the brunt of her spell — the two blocks that got pulverized was simply collateral damage. I have no idea what their condition now is, or even if they're alive."
"And what's her condition?"
"Bleeding from the head," Coulson reported, "and moving somewhat slowly. Stumbling a little, too, like someone who's tired or maybe a bit intoxicated."
"Civilian casualties?"
"Unknown, but it looked like the area had been evacuated."
"Thank God for small favors," Fury said. "Stark and Granger are on their way now. Be prepared to assist if they need it, but otherwise continue observing."
"One more thing, sir," Coulson said. "I have a Ch-53 Sea Stallion hovering close overhead. I expect that it's General Ross, which means that he's seen Iris in action."
"Oh, this just keeps getting better and better," Fury said grimly. "Well, there's nothing we can do about that now, and it's not like he'll be able to find out anything about her. Let's hope he doesn't do anything stupid, like attracting her ire."
"Yes, sir," Coulson responded, "but I won't hold my breath on that."
Fury snorted. Just before cutting the connection, he added, "Watch for an emergency evac message."
"You sure, sir?" Coulson asked with surprise, breaking the careful neutrality he'd maintained throughout the conversation.
"Not really," Fury admitted, "but we may not have a choice."
Coulson hesitated a moment, but quickly continued to make his way along the street, sticking to the shadows while trying to watch what was happening. He hated being forced into such passive roles, but he also knew that an experienced, objective witness was sometimes critical for incidents like this. He just hoped it wouldn't come to the point where he was forced to run.
Fury picked up his phone again and issued orders to the flight commander of the helicarrier. Within five minutes, three squadrons of air-to-ground attack fighters were launching and forming up for attack runs. That portion of Harlem was already a loss, and if Granger couldn't talk Potter down, they might not get another chance to stop her.
She was injured, physically tired, and probably approaching magical exhaustion. If she could be distracted enough for the first fighters to get in a solid hit, the rest of the three squadrons might be enough to put her down.
Fury tiredly rubbed his face and thought hard about getting a drink, something he never did before a mission was over. It was his fault that Iris was in the middle of that fight. It was his fault that she'd been pushed so far and so hard into using more magic. He'd had to send agents into dangerous missions before, and he'd lost quite a few, but this was hitting him harder than most.
Never before had Nick Fury been forced to issue orders to deliberately kill one of his own agents who was becoming a threat because of decisions he himself had made. That the agent in question was a young woman he'd grown somewhat fond of and had high hopes for only made it worse.