AN: Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long but I got into the plotting pretty hard and started fixing up the older plot lines and now have everything ready for the rewrite after the main story is finished. Don't worry too much, it'll most be fluff scenes and editing, but it won't make an appearance until I finish the story.
Also my post times will be a little crazy for a while. My dog needs surgery and has to have some extra care, so I might only post 2 - 3 times a week until after it's done.
I hope you enjoy the new chapter. Welcome to Book 3: Rise of Heroes!
-Galaleo
December 2014, Avengers Tower
It had been a few months since the craziness of Stane and his group. Tony had gotten engaged and life started to settle down. Now Harry was sitting in a room with Tony, Maria, and Fury looking over paperwork, plans, and blueprints. Tony had been sniping at Fury for the last five minutes, Maria was rubbing her forehead, Fury was glaring at Tony, and Harry was smiling as he watched.
"I don't care what SHIELD needs, you can't use these supers as agents and that's final." Tony said as he leaned back giving Fury an infuriating smirk. Fury finally closed his eye and nodded before looking back at everyone.
"That was probably enough to report back to the higher-ups." Fury said as the fake tension in the room drained away.
"I don't understand why you went through the motions with us being the only ones here, sir." Maria said as she straightened out the paperwork in front of her.
"Tony and Fury like to argue." Harry piped up from the side. Maria knew that was true when both Fury and Tony grinned at the same time. "Fury knew it was a losing argument before he got here, but for the sake of not lying he argued the WSC's point. Now we can really set down some policies that we both agree with and the WSC can suck a lemon."
Harry pushed forward some documents as Fury and Maria noted things they wanted to clarify and things they wanted to change. Tony and Harry were both game for helping SHIELD and SHADE better the world, and that's what this meeting was for.
With SHADE making its debut soon and SHIELD willing to share logistic routes, Tony and Harry had no problem adding some funding to the group project. Stark Phones made Harry a billionaire overnight. The phone really took off globally, defense contracts from around the world bought millions of them, consumers from every country were waiting in lines for days to get them, and this was only the first iteration.
With Harry and Tony supplying their own materials for the phone batteries, they cut the cost of producing them down to percentages of a penny. Now they were using that money to bankroll the cleaner aspects of SHIELD and starting up SHADE.
"That looks like everything." Tony said as he stood and stretched. "With all that out of the way Harry and I can finally start producing an armory for SHADE."
"SHIELD can borrow from this 'armory' right?" Fury asked as Coulson walked in the door and gathered up all the relevant documents. Harry bumped Phil's shoulder as he passed by getting a smile from the man before his bland look returned as he left again.
"Sure." Tony agreed easily, "There won't be any weapons, but support items instead."
"Support items?" Maria asked from the side. Tony and Harry had talked about outfitting the SHADE members before but never any specifics.
"Yep, support Items." Harry cut in, "The general package for each member will hold a few things; communicators, emergency beacons, first aid kits, and an escape token." Harry said as they walked out of the conference room into the main penthouse.
"Escape Tokens?" Fury asked with his blank face back in place.
"An item that returns them to base." Harry explained, "Tony found a method of linking an object to a central location and allowing them to basically be teleported there. The ride isn't comfortable and it can only work for one person. Remember my port-keys?" Harry asked, causing Fury's face to go a bit green.
"Yeah those were not fun." Tony said from the side as he fiddled with his phone. Harry had shown everybody the port-key a while back, but no-one was interested in using them again.
"Anyways, they work very similar to that, so it won't be fun but it's good for escaping if you get in over your head. The team each has one on their communicators." Harry explained as they reached the "Well good to see you Fury. Good luck with the expansion." Harry said as he shook Fury's hand. Fury shook his and Tony's hands before leaving with a flourish of his dragon skin duster.
"Does he ever take that jacket off?" Tony asked from the side as the powered down.
"No." Maria said simply before she too left. Harry and Tony both chuckled as they walked to the couches.
"What's on the roster for today, Merlin?" Tony asked as he put his feet up and laid his head back.
"Nothing much gear-head. Maybe after some reading later, I found an interesting book on aboriginal shamans from New Zealand. They used druidic magic to build their homes and I wanted to compare techniques." Harry answered as he too laid back into the couch. The nearby made the whooshing sound it usually does when in-use. Neither of them bothered opening their eyes or looking up, which was a mistake as Harry heard the sound of pads on the ground before he was tackled by Teddy. "Ughh. Hey buddy." Harry groaned out.
"Dad guess what!" Teddy exclaimed as he shifted from his wolf form to his human form.
"What?" Harry asked as he shifted Teddy on his stomach.
"Mama Nat said we're celebrating Christmas here this year! We can all go ice skating!" Teddy said excitedly before he rushed off to his play room in the tower. Harry barely noticed as he ran the previous statement back in his head.
"Did he just call Nat mama?" Tony's voice cut through the silence as Harry thought the same thing.
"I believe he did." Natasha's quiet voice sounded out from the side of the room causing both Harry and Tony to look over at her. Tony had never seen Natasha look so vulnerable and felt very uncomfortable. Looking around he mumbled a few words before escaping the room to his lab.
"Hey, you alright?" Harry asked as he stood up and pulled her into his arms.
"Yeah it just took me by surprise." Natasha said as her face drained away all the emotion running across it. Harry smirked at her. As an assassin she wasn't used to showing emotion and being in these types of situations, but as she spent more time with Harry and the kids her naturally blank look softened and smiles appeared much easier.
"So we are doing Christmas here this year?" Harry asked as he dropped the previous subject.
"The Twins wanted to see more of the city and I figured Christmas at the Tower would be a great time to show off New York." Nat said casually as they both cuddled onto the couch.
"Sounds good to me, I'll let the team know." Harry said as he laid his head back again. The negotiations weren't very intense but paperwork was mind-numbing to him. He and Nat cuddled for about an hour before the rambunctious Teddy was whining about food causing both Nat and Harry to be dragged back to the house.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
December 24th 2014, Harry's Bastion
Harry was quietly placing various gifts under the tree in the dead of night. On the couch Nat could be seen in a robe gently stroking the head of Sazala, who had her head laid on Nat's lap as her already 3 meter long body curled on the carpeted floor, the fire roared nearby. Finishing placing all the kids gifts Harry moved over to the couch and sat next to Natasha as they cuddled in and just looked at the colorful tree. Handmade ornaments, items from the Twin's childhood, fairy lights and garland dotted the 9ft tree. Presents were spilling from underneath, most for the kids, some for the Team and other friends.
"I love Christmas." Harry broke the silence with a quiet statement. Nat looked up at him waiting for him to continue. "When I was younger, back at Hogwarts, I would spend every year at the school. My first year there I received a hand made sweater from Mrs. Weasley…" Harry paused as he remembered the warm and boisterous atmosphere of the Weasley home, "Hagrid, the half giant groundskeeper, gave me a handcrafted flute, and of course my father's invisibility cloak." Harry sighed as Nat cuddled more into him. "Hogwarts was beautiful at Christmas. The halls were decorated with wreaths and garlands, fairies would light up the entire castle as they played, and the snow would cover every inch of the land."
"It sounds wonderful." Nat said quietly, "I had a few good Christmas' during my childhood and of course my Christmas' with Clint and his family. Now I have you, the twins, Teddy, and the team." Nat said as her eyes seemed to zone out, Harry squeezed her shoulders, bringing her back to the present. The nearby Grandfather clock struck, moving the date up into Christmas proper.
"Merry Christmas love." Harry said as he kissed the crown of her head.
"Merry Christmas Harry." Nat said softly as she buried her face into the crook of his neck.
Morning came quickly and with it the sounds of running feet and an excited Teddy. Harry woke just in time for his door to be pushed open and Teddy to take a running leap onto the bed. Nat, also awake, just moved to the side as Teddy dive bombed Harry planting his knees in Harry's stomach.
"Daddy! It's Christmas!" Teddy shouted before squealing as Harry grappled him and started tickling his sides. Teddy eventually escaped by transforming into a wolf and sprinting away. Harry laid back and sighed as Natasha leaned into him.
"Think the other two are up?" Nat asked as she ran her finger on his chest.
"Most definitely." Harry said even as the ward around the tree triggered. "Looks like we need to get up. I don't know how long Wanda can keep them from the presents by herself." Harry said with a laugh as he gave Nat a quick kiss and slid out of bed.
It took 10 minutes for them both to get dressed and head downstairs. Walking into the family room showed Pietro hanging from the ceiling with his arms crossed as he stared at Wanda who was holding Teddy in mid air next to her.
"Daddy Wanda's being mean!" Teddy whined as he pouted in mid air. Harry just gave him an eyebrow raise before looking at Wanda.
"I told them they needed to wait for you two before opening any presents." Harry and Nat looked up at Pietro who didn't even look abashed at the accusation. They then looked at each other before shrugging. Harry let Pietro down and pulled Teddy into his arms.
"You can each pick one present." Harry said as they looked stricken at not being able to open all of them. "We're moving over to the Tower to open gifts after breakfast." Harry set down Teddy, who immediately joined Pietro in finding the best gift to open. Harry looked at Wanda, "Go ahead, I know you're excited." Harry said with a smile. Wanda nodded with a small smile before she summoned the gift she wanted to open.
When all three had their gift they sat on the wide carpet in the center of the room and opened them. Teddy tore his wrapper to shreds revealing a wooden box. Tilting his head he opened the box only for several metal wolf figures to pop up and start running in circles through a small forest, music that he could sort of recognize played as the animated figures danced around the scene.
"That's from your big sister, so what do you say?" Harry asked, pulling Teddy's attention away from the music box.
"Thank you Wanda." Teddy said with a quick look at her barely looking away from the gift. Harry smiled at the proud look Wanda was now sporting. Looking over at Pietro he realized he had grabbed Nat's gift and had to stifle the chuckle as Pietro pulled a set of knuckle dusters out of a box. They were vibranium and painted a dark blue, but unlike normal knuckle dusters, they expand over the top of his fist when equipped and could be used to block. Pietro looked besotted with them as he slid them on and raced to the side before doing some shadow boxing.
"These are awesome! Thank you!" Pietro said as he looked at Nat, who also seemed pretty proud he liked the gift. Harry then looked at Wanda who definitely picked his gift on purpose. He was quite excited about this one. Wanda, unlike her two brothers, methodically opened the wrapper leaving it mostly intact as a small box was revealed. Opening it up her face lit up as she pulled a rose gold necklace and pendant out. The pendant was oval shaped and had several small rubies that spelled her initials, opening it up it had a picture of her, Pietro and her parents on one side and the other was a moving picture of Harry, her, and Pietro from the day they moved in together.
"I love it." Wanda said as she moved over towards Harry before turning around and handing him the necklace. Harry clasped it around her neck as it flashed a soft green before returning to normal. She turned and gave him a questioning look.
"It's enchanted. It shields your mind, detects poisons, and acts as an emergency beacon that lets me know if anything ever happens to you." Harry explained before getting a tight hug.
"Thank you dad." Wanda said quietly before she moved over to inspect Pietro's and Teddy's gifts. Nat smiled as Harry sat back down before wrapping an arm around his. The peace of the morning didn't last long and Harry was moving through the kitchen prepping lunch and handing out a small breakfast before he moved off to the tower.
An hour later Harry and his family stepped out of the and found the usual suspects gathered in the main room of the penthouse. Thor was the closest as he sat listening to Rhodey tell a story. Jane could be seen with Dr. Selvig talking animatedly with Dr. Cho, Bruce, and Betty near the balcony. Looking around he saw the Barton's which all yelled excitedly as Teddy and Pietro came out. Nat looked quite putout when the kids ignored her in favor of running off with Teddy and Pietro.
"Don't worry too much and let them have their fun. Jarvis will let us know if they do something they aren't supposed to." Harry said as he stopped Wanda from putting herself on lookout for the kids. "Go and say hello to everybody. Ororo is here." Harry said as he pointed over to the side where Laura and Ororo were talking quietly. Wanda smiled as she moved over to them. Tony came up at that point and greeted Harry with a back slap as Pepper and Nat shared a hug.
"Merry Christmas Harry." Pepper said as she hugged him.
"I see Wanda wearing her new necklace." Tony commented from the side. He was in the workshop the day Harry made it for her and helped him modify the enchantments to include non-magical poison.
"Yeah she was quite happy with it. Teddy also liked the gift she made for him." Harry said as he pointed over to the couch area where Teddy was showing off his new music box to Cooper and Lila.
"I'm going to go chat with Laura and Ororo." Nat said as she and Pepper both moved across the room. Harry and Tony looked at each other and said 'bar' at the same time. Laughing as they moved over to the bar, Harry walked behind while Tony sat at the actual bar.
Harry conjured a couple of tumblers as he pulled a shaker from the bar. Adding Fire Whiskey, cinnamon, and eggnog he shook it before filling the two tumblers and sliding one across to Tony who grabbed it and took a sip. The warmth spread out from his mouth and removed the morning chill from his body, the cinnamon and eggnog cut the whiskey's bite making the drink sweet and light.
"Ahh, I love Firewhiskey." Tony said as a little smoke curled from his mouth.
"Yeah, I'm just glad I found out how to make it before it was too late." Harry said as he sipped his own drink. They watched as everyone chatted with each other for a few minutes before the kids were clambering to open presents. Harry just laughed as Teddy gave him puppy eyes in his wolf form. Harry waved his hand and pulled a line of gifts from a bag, stacking them next to the large tree. Everyone gathered around the area, Harry stood behind the couch where Pietro, Wanda, and Teddy sat.
"Everyone ready?" Harry asked as everyone nodded, the kids especially. Harry waved his hand as he moved the presents around the room, stacking each of them near their recipients. The adults, save a few of the more childish ones, Thor and Clint, calmly unwrapped their gifts, most of which were clothes and small knick knacks. The kids were a veritable whirlwind as wrapping paper flew in all directions causing them adults to chuckle.
Teddy got plenty of new toys and clothes, Nat had gotten him a jacket and had Harry enchant it to change colors with his hair. Harry got him a training broom that was quickly confiscated as he tried to take off in the penthouse. Pietro got a combined gift from Harry and Tony, a handheld supercomputer that had much faster processing and input detection, allowing him to game at high speeds. Wanda got a really nice dragon hide jacket designed by Nat made of Chinese Fireball hide. It was a deep red and was enchanted to always fit and feel comfortable.
Soon enough the kids were playing or showing off and Harry was in the kitchen preparing lunch with Ororo and Laura. Just before the kids started getting tired Harry and the ladies served up lunch.
The meal was quiet at first as everyone enjoyed the food, but as more people finished eating the noise level kept rising and eventually everyone was laughing or joking about this or that. Hulk made an appearance for the food as well, causing Teddy to rush over and sit on the big man's shoulder yapping away about his gifts.
It didn't take long after the meal for the younger kids to tire out, so Harry led them all to Teddy's playroom at the tower and they quickly passed out on the massive stuffed dragons in the room. Harry spent the rest of the afternoon with his team, swapping stories and making jokes. Rhodey seemed putout when his stories didn't get the same awe as usual and Tony had a good time ribbing him for it. A few people left to goto other places, Ororo went back to the mansion shortly after having a conversation with Nat that left her contemplating something and throwing looks at Harry. Dr Cho, Selvig, Jane, Darcy, and Thor headed out next. Steve and Bucky were both headed to an old army buddies house to say hello. Bruce and Betty both left to have a quiet night in after saying their goodbyes, while Rhodey had to leave to go see his family.
After the kids woke up Harry, Nat, Clint, Laura, Tony, Pepper, and the kids all went down to Rockefeller center and went ice skating. Teddy, Wanda, and Pietro were in awe of the giant tree and rushed off, at a normal pace, to get skates. Soon enough Harry was on the ice, Teddy's wobbly form next to him as they made their way through the crowds and looped around in giant circles. Nat and Pietro were like ducks on water as they moved around swiftly. Wanda wasn't as quick, but had been ice skating plenty of times through her youth.
Eventually the day had to end, and it was a tired group that made it back to the penthouse before collapsing on to the couches. Cooper, Lila, and Teddy all had to be carried back, already dozing off for the excitement. Wanda and Pietro both decided to go home early and took the back.
"What a day." Pepper said quietly as she leaned on Tony. He nodded but didn't speak as he propped his feet up. Harry smirked at his friend who wasn't used to the crazy life of having kids and shared a look with Clint.
"Don't worry your turn will come Tony." Clint said as Laura sat down after covering the kids with blankets.
"He won't know what hit him." Harry said with some mirth. Tony just grunted and after throwing a quick look at the kids, flipped both of them the bird.
"Aww he's already reigning himself in. It's sweet." Nat said from Harry's side.
"It is." Pepper agreed as she kissed the now pouting Tony's cheek.
"You guys suck." Tony grumbled, causing the rest to chuckle quietly. After resting and chatting for a while Harry decided it was time to head home. He gathered all the presents, picked up Teddy, and headed home. It was a good year and the future looked even better.