November 2013, Harry's Bastion
After leaving Tony to the revelations of his parents' murder he checked up on Barnes and Steve and found them both trying to reconnect over the missed years. Seeing that everything was fine he told Fury that nothing should happen with Barnes' code words anymore and even tested them before going home.
Harry was now slowly eating a sandwich as he read a book in his kitchen. He was researching some old healing journals from his world when Wanda and Pietro came into the kitchen and stood in front of him. Noticing, he looked up and raised an eyebrow when they just looked at him expectantly. He set down his book and wiped off his hands before looking back at them.
"What's up?" Harry asked. When they both seemed reluctant to speak Harry became a little worried, "Okay you're starting to worry me. What's going on?" Pietro gave his sister a look and Wanda huffed before she spoke up.
"We want to train." Wanda said.
"Train your powers?" Harry asked.
"No, train to be heroes, like the Avengers." Wanda elaborated with Pietro nodding behind her. Harry sighed as he rubbed his face. He knew this would happen one day, you can't be a father figure to super powered people and a hero with influencing some of their choices or goals.
"You know this will be difficult right?" Harry asked, looking them both in the eyes. Wanda seemed determined, her eyes pooled power. Pietro on the other hand wasn't as determined, his eyes held something else though. Pietro was filled with hope, hope that he could be someone to look up to like his adoptive father or all the x-men who taught him and took his sister and himself in.
Sighing again Harry couldn't help but let a grin spread on his face. "Fine. I'll let the team know and we'll start you on the drills on our next training day." Harry said. He and the rest of the Avengers hold training three days a week, regardless if the whole team can get to gather or not. While Wanda and Pietro are still a little young to join the team officially, training them wouldn't be unexpected.
Wanda and Pietro both smiled and hugged Harry in excitement. Harry just chuckled and watched as they both raced off to do whatever it is they do. Shaking his head he finished off his sandwich before heading upstairs. He found Teddy sitting in his room with Sazala playing with his toys. Humming he moved to his room and found Nat sitting on one of the couches near the fireplace reading a set of reports. He flopped down next to her and stretched himself out as he rested his head on her shoulder.
"So what had the twins acting all nervous earlier?" Nat asked as she flipped a few more pages of a file on a new recruit.
"You could tell huh?" Harry asked only to see her give him a side eye before looking back at her files. "Well they want to train with the team." Nat nodded.
"That's not unexpected. Their lives were changed substantially when you took them in. They now see you like a father figure and you are an Avenger. Of course they will want to use their power for good like you do." Natasha explained as she started stacking the folders up on the table.
"Yeah I guess so. I would much rather they go into something much less dangerous, but I understand 'the calling' as it were." Harry groaned out as he stretched on the couch and laid his head in the now paper free lap of Natasha.
"You and I both. We were forced into positions where we find ourselves, they are so young and have a world of options, but it seems that your theory of 'the calling is true." Nat said softly as she started running her fingers through Harry's hair. Harry gave a rough outline of how he was going to start their training. They discussed what the team might say and how they could convince the more stubborn members to let them train.
"I will need to find a sitter though. Teddy can't be left alone, and if the twins won't be here to watch him I'll be spending a lot more time at home rather than training with them." Harry said with a soft smile as his eyes closed. "Think Laura would be up for watching a magical wolf boy?" Natasha laughed in response.
"I think she wouldn't mind, but you'd need to put down some wards or monitoring charms just to make sure nothing happens." Nat said. Harry nodded slightly as she watched the stress he normally carried in his shoulders slumped away. Before she knew it Harry was sleeping lightly on her lap. Sighing she picked up a book from the side table and leaned back ready to let him nap in peace.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
Wanda and Pietro were following Harry as he led them to the training floor of the Avengers Tower. Leaving the elevator they walked out into a short hallway that only had a single door. Harry moved forward and turned a dial on the side of the door causing a screen above the door to say in use. Harry then opened the door and Wanda and Pietro were in awe of the massive room behind it. To the left side was a series of mats and striking dummies, the right was filled with weights and treadmills, the center of the room was a massive obstacle course and to the back of the room they could see blocked off firing ranges.
"What do you think?" Harry's voice brought them out of their stupor.
"This is amazing!" Pietro said as he eyed the obstacle course.
"This is where you train?" Wanda asked as she looked at some of the gym equipment.
"Most of the time." Harry said. He then led them to the gym portion. "Most of the equipment here has been enchanted by myself and Tony to make it easier to push the limits of our more hardy members." Harry moved to the side of what looked like a bench press machine. It had digital dials on the side instead of weights, "This beauty here is able to simulate up to 20 tons of weight. So far no one has been able to bench the max yet, but Hulk got close." Harry said with a chuckle.
"Hasn't the hulk lifted more than that though in battle?" Pietro asked as he stopped looking around and looked at Harry.
"Well sure, but Hulk's strength increases with his anger. It's hard to get truly angry at the gym." Harry explained. "Everything here is enchanted to allow anyone on the team a good workout." He then led them to the center of the room. "This obstacle course is an improvement on the one I built at the resort. Using some intent based wards and animation charms the whole course will work against you to make it as hard as possible to complete it. The only one to do it so far was Nat and Clint."
"Not even you or Steve?" Wanda asked incredulously.
"Not even us. I think Nat and Clint use their ability to hide what they were thinking to trick the wards but I'm not sure yet." Harry explained with a chuckle and a shake of his head, "Nat won't even tell me either. Moving on, these are the training mats. Each of the training dummies or striking stands are enchanted to help you enhance or learn combat styles programmed into them."
Harry then rushed forwards and stared striking at one of the dummies, it reacted and blocked and countered in the same style he was using. They traded blows for a few moments before Harry sent the dummy skidding back before he disengaged, allowing it to reset itself to the center of the mat.
"That was wicked…" Pietro said with some awe at Harry's lightning quick movements. Pietro was fast, but he knew that he couldn't move with that kind of flow or grace.
"Don't worry. I'll be teaching you both how to fight like that." Harry said with a smile.
"Even me?" Wanda asked, slightly confused. Harry nodded.
"Even you Wanda. Just because you'll be focusing on ranged combat doesn't mean you should neglect close quarters combat. That was a common failing of the wizards and witches from my world, none of them were proficient in any close range fighting." Harry smirked thinking of Hermione and Malfoy, "They could barely handle being punched, let alone an actual fight without magic."
Harry then led them to the back, "This is the range. This is for training your accuracy and long range weapon handling. So what do you think?"
"I think it's awesome! When do we start?!" Pietro asked as he bounced from one foot to the next.
"We start right now." The twins turned around and found all the Avengers standing behind them. The only one missing was Iron Man or Tony. Steve was standing at the front with Clint and Thor. Bruce was standing behind them with Nat, all of them in training clothes.
Pietro and Wanda's excitement about training lasted about five minutes. That was around the time they got put through their paces on the mat by Natasha, Clint, and Steve. Pietro tried to use his speed to give himself an edge in his first spar; he was quickly taken down by some leg work and put into an armor by Captain America. Wanda on the other hand was shown why Natasha was considered so dangerous. She didn't last more than 30 seconds before Nat had her on the ground and groaning from the flip she was forced to do.
Harry sat back and watched as his team showed the twins their inexperience before they took them to the dummies and started instructing them instead of sparring. By the end of the training session both of the twins were knackered and could barely walk. Harry, taking pity on them, portaged them home instead of forcing them to travel up to the .
Over the next week Harry watched as the skills they gained from the X-Men's physical education class were honed and improved. They were still amateurs, but their stamina and strength were slowly being raised.
When Tony returned from his mini vacation Harry brought him on to make the twins their new hero gear. Tony was of course surprised about the twins' induction into the Avengers, but Harry clarified that quickly.
"They aren't true Avengers yet Tony." Harry said as they watched Pietro casually running nearly 200 miles an hour on the treadmill. "They want to train and be heroes. I just figured I would let them start training now so that when they are of age they can do what they want."
"Have you gotten to their base lines yet?" Tony asked. Harry just handed him a tablet with the baseline tests for the twins. He looked over Pietro's abilities first. "Hmm, denser than normal bones and muscles, slightly enhanced strength and stamina. His top speed is about 400 miles per hour? Not bad. Seems well balanced."
"Yeah, that's something I've noticed about Mutations. They may not always conform to the standard sense of beauty, but the abilities always manifest in ways that won't negatively impact the living conditions of the person that gains them. Wanda's stats aren't nearly as high, but her mutation is essentially a type of energy manipulation." Harry explained as he continued to watch the twins train.
"Which from watching you do bullshit all the time, means her abilities are about as varied as yours." Tony said with a snort as he continued to look over the information.
"Jealousy is a nasty look Tony." Harry said with a grin on his face. He watched as Wanda was sparring with Natasha.
"Ha ha." Tony laughed blandly, "These specs for Pietro are pretty amazing though. Wonder if he'll want a weapon?" Tony asked himself as he got lost in thought.
"He won't need a weapon. He already moves faster than most people. Give him a solid set of gauntlets and greaves and he'll be doing plenty of damage without one." Harry said. Their conversation was interrupted when Pietro tripped on the treadmill and was sent flying off. He slowly rolled to a stop in the middle of the floor. Harry walked up to him and checked him over and smiled when nothing was wrong. "What happened?"
"I got a cramp." Pietro said with a huff as he started stretching his leg and rubbing his thigh.
"Did you not stretch today?" Harry asked as he looked down at Pietro. Pietro avoided Harry's eyes as he looked to the side and rolled up to his feet. "Next time you'll remember, yes?" Pietro nodded before returning to the treadmill.
The rest of the day Harry spent brainstorming with Tony on costume and armor designs for the twins. When he got home he found Nat already feeding Teddy and the twins grumbling at the table as their sore muscles complained to them. Harry smiled as he approached Teddy and kissed his head before greeting Nat and serving himself some food.
"Dad?" Harry looked over at Wanda.
"Yes?"
"Could we start some combat training with my wand?" Wanda asked.
"Sure." Harry agreed easily. "We'll start tomorrow after you get home from school." Wanda nodded and went back to eating. Harry had been teaching her magic for a while now so he wasn't surprised that she would want to learn wand based combat. He wondered what her fighting style would be. Wanda was quite proficient in Transfiguration and Hexes, but her style would evolve to whatever was natural in time.
Most of November passed by quickly as the Twins adapted to the new training regiment. Pietro took to Clint's training like a duck to water, as the as the spy taught him the finer points of Muay Thai and Krav Maga, both of which would be great styles for Pietro's speed and durability. His abilities only increased as he trained his body. His max speed was creeping up as he got stronger and older. Harry estimated that he would break 1000 mph when he was done maturing.
Wanda on the other hand learned wand based combat from Harry. She quickly found her passion in transfiguration and charms surprisingly enough. Harry was baffled by this until he saw how she used those abilities to alter the terrain and use it to attack the training dummies. Wanda would use jinxes and hexes to corner her enemies and transfiguration to end the battle. She didn't have much talent for martial arts, but learned enough from Natasha that she could disengage if she needed to.
It wasn't until the first week of December that the peace of their training was interrupted. The Avengers all stood there as Fury stomped into the training room.
"There's been a breakout at 'The Raft'." Looking directly at Bruce he continued, "Blonsky escaped."
AN: Only about 5 chapters from the next big arc of the story.
Ken106348 - I know the early chapters are a bit unpolished, but I won't be doing another look through them until after I finish the main story. When that's done I'll probably do a big edit for the beginning of the story.
Anon jr - Yeah some of the powers for mainline x-men characters were retconned a lot, but dimensional entities and power sources were very popular. Especially in the evolutions story line. I might go into it, but mainly as ways of powering tech or developing enemies.
Robert and 43 - Oh I know. I did some quick and dirty math to grab the numbers so they won't be totally accurate, but it did what I wanted it to do, show that the limits of magic in space aren't as low as expected.
Dauntes - Thanks for reading and commenting like always! Cheers!
Monkey D. Conan - Star Lord won't be making an appearance for a while so I have time to think on it. I always thought Tony and Harry would get along well.