Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Marvel. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.
Chapter Twelve - The Triskelion
Natasha had been correct, as there was an entire platoon of guards gathered on the airstrip waiting for them. The moment the ramp lowered Loki was bundled up in a series of body restraints and carted off by a few of them like a stack of unwanted luggage to be caged in the Hulk Contingency Container. The rest formed two lines around them and waited as if they were an honor guard.
"Uh, Romanov?" Tony asked as he stepped into the cockpit. By now his armor had already been removed and stowed, leaving him in his usual black jeans and metallica tee shirt. "What the hell is going on?"
Natasha finished clicking off the switches needed for shutdown and stood up from her seat before answering. "In case you haven't noticed yet, Tony, we have a prince on board, and he's a royal of a country that isn't exactly open to the rest of the world. I'm guessing the director wanted to show proper respect."
"Wait, so he wasn't kidding about that? I had no idea Latveria had a prince."
"Not many people do." Steve noted as he joined the others up front, leaving the teenagers at the ramp with a quick excuse of needing to ask their pilot a question. "I read up on it last month as part of Fury's 'get up to date' files. Almost nothing is known about Prince Harry, except for the fact that his people seem to absolutely adore him. Romanov, what the heck are we walking into here?"
"I honestly have no idea." The redhead ran a hand through her hair with annoyance. "That kid and his gal pals just threw our entire plan out the window. I'm running just as blind as you so let's just go with the flow and see where it leads alright. I'm sure Fury will-" She stopped for a moment and commented, "Does it seem too quiet to you?"
The three of them ran back to the hold to find only Thor present by the ramp and waiting for them. "Where are the kids?" She demanded.
The blonde seemed confused by her comment. "Do you not know? Strange. Asgard has wards specifically to track interdimensional travel."
"In English, please." Steve pleaded.
"Very well. Prince Harry and his maidens entered into a portal not six seconds ago and disappeared. I believe they mentioned something about 'looking around'."
"And you didn't stop them?!" Natasha nearly screamed.
Thor seemed confused by that question. "By what right would I stop a man of royal birth in a land that is not my own? Speak sense human." and with that he bustled off to see what might be seen. Meanwhile Natasha ran off onto the helicarrier deck and began frantically giving orders to the guards that had arrived, leaving Tony and Steve behind.
"Well, want to head on up to the bridge?" Tony offered.
"Seems the thing to do." Steve agreed. It seemed like the spy had things in hand and he didn't want to get into the middle of whatever it was she was setting in motion. It looked like whatever it was was quite the hoopla as the two of them saw the halls of the craft swarming with armed personnel moving to a fro with weapons ready but fingers pointedly held off the triggers.
"All that for one teenager?" Tony remarked. "I'm actually impressed."
"You would be, Stark." The patriot lamented before carrying on. He'd held out some measure of hope that the inventor wouldn't truly be like his father, but all the evidence was pointing that way. "I'm more worried about what'll happen when they catch him."
"Are you kidding? He held his own against two literal gods and me. He'll be fine." Further words fell away as they made it to the bridge and found Nick Fury standing on a central platform that served as his helm directing everyone at their stations. It was indeed impressive, but Tony found himself wondering how he saw all the screens surrounding it with only one eye. He figured he probably turned his whole body. Then he saw Doctor Banner standing uneasily at the back of the room and he just had to introduce himself. The inventor had just gotten into the bit about being incredibly impressed by the way he turned into a massive green rage monster when all hell broke loose.
A Few Minutes Earlier
For his part, Harry had been perusing the darker portions of the Triskelion with his friends when they'd stumbled upon something that had his teeth grinding. Plans for missiles more powerful than nukes, rifles powered by cosmic energy like the tesseract that had facilitated the kidnapping of his familiar's mother, and most importantly, surveillance materials of the borderlands surrounding Latveria. Yes, Fury had hid his secrets well, but with his hacking skills and Valeria's natural skill at hide and seek it was child's play to find what they wanted. SHIELD had definitely been up to no good and he was not having it!
"Girls, I'm about ready to raise some hell."
They all got ready and activated the runically carved defenses on their outfits. Who knew when they might be needed. "Shall we take the door?" Illyana quipped cheekily.
"Don't make me laugh." Harry stated before crossing his arms, levitating himself four feet in the air, and then angling himself into a bout of forward momentum towards the wall that foolishly stood in opposition to his passage. The girls, well used to his eccentricities, merely fell in line behind Illyana so she could portal them all after him. A moment later and a portion of the wall disintegrated into sand leaving an imprint of Harry's body behind and he was carrying on his way. Two minutes, and a dozen Harry-sized holes later, the prince reached the bridge and expanded his power, disintegrating the entire wall into sand and he smirked at the chaos it caused.
Meanwhile, Nick Fury was facing one of the few moments in his life when he'd been truly surprised and he was working like hell to avoid a diplomatic clusterfuck. "Weapons down! Weapons down!" He screamed at his bridge crew who had responded to the new entry by drawing their sidearms and preparing to open fire. "Anyone who fires a single shot here will face a court marshall and life imprisonment!" Slowly, the people lowered their weapons, and Nick was faced with the smirking visage of the prince of Latveria as he moved to hover over his position on the bridge helm.
"Well, well, well, Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD." He said evenly as his girls portaled in to stand on the ground behind him. "My aunt Susan has told me quite a bit about you.
"Harry Von Doom, Prince of Latveria. The Invisible Woman has told us frightfully little about you." Fury responded in the same tone. He hated not knowing things but Phil had made it clear forcing the issue would lose them all credibility with the super family. They simply refused to provide information on anything relating to Latveria. "You were supposed to be led here by SHIELD personnel from the quinjet. There is an order to how things work aboard the Triskelion."
"Latveria does not recognize SHIELD authority, you should know that, Fury. I go where I want."
"I don't like guests walking around my ship unsupervised."
"Why?" Harry tilted his head. "Afraid they'll find all the evidence of your war crimes?" At his words Illyana dropped a couple of enhanced rifles on the ground while Laura swiped a finger on her wrist terminal, an action that covered all nearby screens with images of the rockets they'd found, much to the director's horror. What was worse, his personal viewport showed all of the surveillance footage his agents had stored on their servers about the Latverian wall guard rotations.
"What are these?" Tony asked as he joined the group and examined a nearby screen. "Damn, the payload estimations on these things are three times that of conventional nuclear warheads."
Steve was shaking his head with despair. He'd been horrified to hear about the use of atomic weapons in Japan, but to see these upgraded versions was so much worse. "And they are all marked with the Director's signature of approval." His eyes lit upon his current 'boss' with pure betrayal. "We're supposed to be better than this. You told me we were better than this."
Bruce, more nervous than the others, slowly approached the growing group himself and donned his glasses to read the fine print as Fury tried and failed to shut down the screens. How the hell had he been locked out of his own systems!?
After reading what he needed to see, Banner let out a slow sigh. So this was what it had all really been about. "No wonder SHIELD is so gung ho about getting the Tesseract back. All of these weapons are meant to be powered by its energy. I guess the promises of clean power research were all bogus too." He looked up at the floating royal. "You were here five minutes and already found all this?"
Harry smirked at the unkempt looking scientist and said, "I'm very good at hide and seek." He looked to the blonde warrior next. "Wanna weigh in on this, Thor? It seems these weapons, that Nick here specifically approved, were created with your kind in mind."
"Alright shut up!" Fury had had enough of this. "Firstly, these aren't even in production. They are merely plans put in place as a necessary failsafe. Second, we need the edge in case advanced civilizations like the Asgardians decide to come knocking with bad intent, and experience has taught me there is always bad intent. Thor's arrival in New Mexico showed how horribly outgunned we are when compared to their current level of power. Thirdly, all of this is beside the point of what is currently going on. So can we please get back to what matters here and now? We have a psychotic god looking to dominate our world!"
No one said anything for a while, but then Harry waved a hand and sent Nick careening off the helm and onto the floor with a silent banishing charm before he took position where the other man had just been standing. "I think not. I am the captain now." The girls groaned at his quote but he kept talking regardless. "I've been tracking SHIELD activities in the world for a while now, and they are far too untrustworthy to be in charge of an operation of this magnitude. Thus, I am taking command of it."
"All hands, prepare to apprehend the prince!" Maria Hill declared as she drew her own sidearm and leveled the sights at Harry's head.
"Belay that order!" Fury roared as he stumbled back to his feet.
"Sir?" Maria questioned warily, not taking her eyes off the still smirking prince as he continued to hover over the helm.
Harry waggled an eyebrow at the displaced director and said, "Do not worry, Nicky, I will explain." He turned back to the deputy-director of SHIELD and declared, "As I am a direct member of the Latverian royal family I have enhanced diplomatic immunity. Attempting to arrest, attack, or injure me in any way will be considered an act of war, and since SHIELD is not 'supposed' to serve any one nation's interest, that war in this case would be with your organization specifically. My nation would burn your organization out by the roots and salt the earth upon where it once stood."
"Supposed?" Banner queried.
Harry turned in the air once more and explained, "The organizing Council that funds SHIELD is eight tenths Americans with the other two being Canadian with dual citizenship."
Now, in spite of his own previous words, Fury had his gun out too, "How the hell do you know that? The identities of Council members are beyond top secret!"
"Careful, Fury." Harry the fingers of one hand and the man's gun crumbled to ash in his fingers. "You wouldn't want to start a war you can't win, would you? Be glad I have not killed you already for spying on my country's borders." When the director didn't answer, Harry addressed the other super beings present. "Do any of you, knowing this new information, feel comfortable following the orders of Director Fury at this time?"
"Hell no." Banner answered at once, before sheepishly ducking back at realizing how quickly he'd spoken.
"Nope." Tony said more evenly.
"I can't believe I'm saying it, but no." Steve's look of betrayal had Fury looking away, unable to meet his eye."
"Nay." Thor gazed thunderously upon the images still leveled before him. "To follow the words of a man that would see danger in allies that have only ever sought peace with him… this man is without honor and thus cannot be trusted."
"Excellent." At last Harry allowed his feet to fall back to the floor and from there he conjured a throne for himself to sit upon as his girls filled in the space to stand around him. "Then as the only man here of royal blood I will be taking command of this team."
There was a moment of stunned silence before laughter erupted from the aforementioned team.
By unspoken agreement, Tony decided to address the issue. "Alright, kid, look, we agree that Fury is a lying asshat, no offense Fury, but what makes you think you should be in charge? I mean, all of this is impressive as hell, but you're sixteen freaking years old."
"Compared to what?" Harry planted his chin on his fist and practically drawled out, "A guilt ridden billionaire playboy who claims to be a philanthropist without actually having released any of the ideas he's promised, with an outdated suit, an admittedly clever but short sighted mind, and an ego bigger than the empire state building?"
Tony raised a finger to refute that, before guiltily lowering it. "I offered to build arc reactors in every major city free of cost but the senate shut me down." He grumbled. "I guess free, clean, energy ruffled the feathers of too many big oil sponsors."
The prince smiled at the man and offered an olive branch, "I know that you are trying, Tony. Latveria's intelligence agency has actually been quite pleased with how you've been cleaning up your company and moving away from the weapons industry. It shows that you are at least 'trying' to practice what you preach. All the same, you really should see a therapist. After what you went through in the Middle East survivor's guilt is a very real possibility."
Again, the billionaire couldn't really refute that. Pepper had been saying the same thing for a while now. But wait, how had the kid put him down so quickly again? And what was that about his suit being outdated? Before he could defend the merits of his creation the younger man had moved on.
Pointing at Natasha he said, "How about a seductress wanted in pretty much every country on the planet for espionage," his finger moved to Steve, "a decorated soldier so lost out of time that he doesn't even know what Star Wars is? One who clearly craves a chain of command for any speck of normalcy and is visibly lost without it." A move to Bruce, "And a rage monster SHIELD would happily destroy just as well as use. Out of all of you I am the only one of noble birth. I am the only one who has been raised and taught to command. I am the only one with the means to see victory achieved."
Thor really didn't like being overlooked. "Verily I do agree with the rest of what thou has said. Yet I am in fact of royal birth myself."
Harry looked the big man up and down and scoffed. "Please, if you are a prince that embodies the title in word, deed, and respect for what it means then I am Mickey Mouse."
"I thought you were a prince?" Thor asked with clear confusion.
Taking pity on the big man, Tony explained, "He's saying you're a piss poor prince, there, Thor."
"What!" In a flash Thor's hammer was in his hand, and Harry was armored with his sword out and ready.
"Halt!" Valeria stepped into the middle of the building conflict and from there shocked them all by grabbing Harry's wrist and judo flipping him over her shoulder. "Bad Harry. No creating interdimensional wars."
"Fine." Harry complained as he got back to his feet. "Faraday, standby mode."
{Yes, father.} the armor slithered back into his skin.
Dusting himself off he got back on his throne and inquired, "Any other objections?"
The heroes didn't seem to have any, but Fury certainly did. "You expect me to surrender control of my own ship?"
"If you want this situation handled, then yes?" Harry's gaze could have melted steel. "What's more important, staying in control of a group that doesn't trust you or saving the world? Keep in mind of course, that the only way to get rid of me would be by force, and thus would lead to your total annihilation."
Nick Fury gnashed his teeth together hard enough to give his dentist an ulcer before finally giving in. He supposed it was better to have the resources of Latveria in his search than alienating their entire country. Modern estimates placed their military capacity as world ending if unleashed. The doombots alone were a match for most conventional armies.
"Fine. But we get the tesseract once it is retrieved."
"No." Harry said without hesitation. "You have shown us quite clearly that mankind cannot be trusted with it. You had the key to unlimited energy in your hands and your first instinct was to make weapons of mass destruction. Thor will take it once it is retrieved. He may be a failure as a prince but at least Asgard can protect it."
"Verily we shall be having words about your… words, at some point." Thor only realized how lame his threat sounded at the end based on how he trailed off.
"Fair enough." Harry steepled his fingers and swiveled his throne around to look at Maria Hill. "What is the status of the search for Loki's base? It stands to reason he would keep all of the people he kidnapped there."
Maria shot her boss a look, but he merely nodded toward the usurper so she said, "We have not had any luck thus far, but now that Loki himself is in our custody I'm sure we'll be able to narrow it down. Agent Romanov is adept at getting information out of men so she can-"
"She will do nothing of the sort." Harry waved a hand to stymie her words. "Loki is only here because he wants to be. Thus any information she gleans would be only what he wants us to know. On that note…." he gestured to the sensor operators, "Update your scans for engine and drive emitters in a two kilometer radius around the Triskelion. Having our opposition in custody is the perfect time for his agents to attempt an assault. After all, our attention is now focused inward to watch him and who would assault a vessel with their boss on board?..."
As the men moved to do as directed Fury cursed himself for not having thought of it himself. He'd figured Loki was creating a trap of some sort, but he'd thought it would be a few false leads. Of course an attack was just as likely.
As the bald man was stuck in his thoughts, Harry addressed Tony and Banner. "Any luck on tracking the tesseract's energy signature?"
Tony still seemed to be a bit shocked that everyone was falling in line behind someone so young, so Bruce took the lead. Removing his glasses he answered, "Yes and no. The good news is that the object in question practically radiates gamma radiation like a high grade reactor. Even shielded as it no doubt is, there are trace elements that can be found if one knows where to look, and my own experience with the subject means I've easily tracked the biggest sources. However, there are so many worldwide with the advent of advanced nuclear research and development… long story short there are over a dozen possible sources that could be housing the tesseract. We just don't have the technology to narrow it down further."
"Typical." The prince reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of cloth that he tossed on the floor before enlarging it into a full sized tent. "Follow me." He led the two scientists inside and the mundanes found themselves surprised to be in a space far larger than should have been possible based on the dimensions of the fabric before them. The entire room was filled with enhanced machinery and monitors detailing advanced equations.
"What is all this?" Bruce wondered aloud, turning to behold his host who was once more in his armor floating above them and activating certain machines on the ceiling that seemed to be powering the rest of the room.
As he came back down, Harry answered, "This is a Latverian laboratory. Completely portable and filled with the cream of the crop as far as our scientific tech is concerned."
"And suddenly I feel inadequate." Tony lamented. He didn't have anything like this at Stark HQ.
Grinning from ear to ear, Harry allowed his armor to flow back into him and declared, "If you think that's bad, wait till you hear what my armor is primarily made of."
"And what is that?"
"Adamantium and vibranium."
Tony scoffed. "Those two substances are polar opposites in every way. They are completely incompatible."
"They were until I fixed them."
The billionaire raised a finger to retaliate, then paused and lowered it. The truth of the matter was, after all, in the existence of the armor itself. "Well, now I feel emasculated."
"As you should." The prince laughed as he clapped his shoulder. "These instruments should provide a more detailed look at the energy signatures of this planet. Gamma centers will be no problem to isolate and differentiate."
Bruce had been perusing the instruments and had stopped in front of one in particular. "Is there a reason you have this screen monitoring a region in Africa?"
"Never you mind." Harry quickly spun the screen in question back around before directing the mousey living weapon back to join his goateed compatriot. "You two merely focus on your task. I will return later." He made to leave but paused at the flap that served as the door. "Tony, I feel the need to say that my security system is more than capable of noticing your scanner tech."
The Iron Man quickly shoved his scanner back in his pocket. He didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. "Don't worry, kid, Jarvis didn't have time to figure out how any of this works."
"I am aware. Do it again and the automated defenses will activate." Harry took his leave and returned to his throne where he had to reiterate his warning to Fury. Then he addressed the radar techs. "Any updates?"
"Still nothing on our scanners, your highness."
"Excellent. Call me over the speakers if that changes." Harry grinned before looking to his girls. "Wanna go interrogate a god?"
Natasha steamed visibly at that statement, "But you said we shouldn't try to get info out of him."
"No, I said that you should not." Harry clarified. "Yes, you are entrancing to look at, but this man has literal centuries of training in seduction. You'd be useless trying to fool him."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Exploit the greatest flaw of any villain. I'm going to get him monologuing. Hey, Thor, wanna come with?"
"Aye, I shall gladly face mine own deceitful kin."
"I'll come too." Steve said quickly. He definitely did not want to be left on the bridge with Fury.
"Then follow me. Nick, try to stay out of trouble." The prince grinned sarcastically before making his way to the door with the others in tow. Though it opened before he could walk right through it as he planned to reveal a new man that had Valeria squealing with delight, launching across the floor, and dive hugging him to the floor. "Agent Phil!"
The new man chuckled easily at the excitable girl and patted her easily on the head. "Hello there, Valeria. Word came through the grapevine that you were here and your mother asked me to check in on you."
Suddenly nervous, the blonde asked, "Was she mad?"
"Not that I could tell." The balding man got back to his feet and pulled her up with him. "Mind if I tag along? I'm sure it'll make things easier in the long run."
Valeria looked to her best friend with pleading eyes. Phil had been in the Richards home enough times over the years to basically be an honorary uncle, and she loved spending time with him. As always, her puppy dog eyes proved irresistible to the young man.
"Fine." He sighed, "Agent Coulson can come with. From what I've seen so far he's the only SHIELD agent worth anything anyway." He marched imperiously through the portal with the others hurrying to catch up, and Phil gave the outraged Natasha a shrug at the comment he'd heard.
"Give it time, Natasha."
"Gr." The spy stomped off after the authors, causing the other agent to do everything in his power not to laugh. It was so difficult normally to get a rise out of the woman and the new teenager on the ship had apparently been doing it nonstop. Things were shaping up to be quite the interesting day, and who knew, perhaps he'd finally find time to get Steve Rogers to sign his collector's edition trading cards.
