January 6th 2016, SHADE Compound
Harry and the team had just finished training. He and Tony were going over the new gear and what the team thought of it when Fury came striding into the training room.
"What's up Nick?" Tony said without looking up. Fury didn't even pause his steps as he glared at Tony. As he stepped up to the team he looked at Cap.
"We've got a sighting of Rumlow." Everyone paused at that and looked at him. "He's been spotted running what seems to be a mercenary crew in central Africa."
"Then let's go." Cap said as he summoned his shield using his new bracer.
"Not so fast oldtimer." Tony said as he looked at Steve. "What else do we know?" Fury nodded at Tony's ability to think clearly.
"He was recently spotted outside Mali running weapons. Before we could move in he disappeared, which means he has a large force or powerful friends." Fury said.
"It might be some remnants of HYDRA we didn't catch." Harry said. "With an organization of that size, removing it completely is very difficult." Harry knew how hard it was to oust a group that hid their identities. The Death Eaters were maybe only a few hundred at their prime, but dozens still got away or were never identified.
"We did find a few HYDRA buyers in that incident with Pym." Natasha said from the side. While they weren't explicitly HYDRA they were related through business.
"Do you think they could be rebuilding?" Bruce asked. Thinking that there was a chance of resurgence for a zealot group like HYDRA made the entire team stand a little straighter.
"No. The movements would be much larger if that were true." Fury said. "It is most likely a large cell or several small groups that banded together." Harry ignored Fury's obvious lie. HYDRA will never just go away. He was sure even now HYDRA was slowly building back in the shadows; he just needed the world to be ready for them.
"Do we have any idea of people he might work with in the area?" Clint asked.
"Well if he's gun running we just need to look into the biggest suppliers around." Harry said.
"Already ahead of you." Fury said as he waved his hand. Nothing happened and Fury looked surprised for a moment. Tony started snickering and Harry figured out what happened. With Jarvis being upgraded to a Quantum computer a real person could never overcome his response time and defenses.
"Told you that nasty habit of not asking permission would bite you." Tony said with a laugh. Fury's contenance darkened.
"Tony give him access to the projectors please, before he shoots you." Harry said as he rubbed his face.
"Jarvis if you would." Tony said.
"As you wish sir." Jarvis' voice came from the nearest speaker before he turned on the holo-projectors.
A wall of portraits showing men and women some with tattoos and scars others were well dressed and clean cut. The average person would be baffled with the variety in these portraits. The list of people kept expanding and eventually the pictures were pushed off screen as more showed up. There were at least a couple hundred of these weapon traffickers shown and Harry couldn't help but guess that there were still more either too hidden or too small to be brought up here.
"Now those are some familiar faces." Tony said quietly to the side. The team, besides Bucky and Natasha all looked surprised at that. "Go to enough parties for weapons developers and you'll meet the devil himself." Harry wouldn't be surprised if Mephisto actually showed up at one of those parties.
"These are all the major weapons dealers in Northern Africa." Fury said as the portraits started scrolling. "Most of them are local, only dealing with the warlords in their countries. A few of them have dipped their toes in the global market though." Fury said as 90 percent of the pictures fell away leaving a couple dozen or so people displayed.
"Can any of them lead us to Rumlow?" Steve asked as he looked at the list.
"We aren't sure, but from our intelligence Rumlow has been running through their turfs." Fury explained as a map popped up and pushed the portraits to the side of the display. "His activity should be limited to this area as far as we can tell." Fury said as a red line outlined a bunch of small cities, villages, and empty regions cutting through the surrounding countries.
"Let's get SHADE and SHIELD teams in Africa to be on the lookout." Harry said as he stepped up to the center of the group. "Cap, I want you in the country and leaning on these arms dealers. See if you can get any of them to oust Rumlow." Steve nodded. "Take Bucky and Falcon with you. Be prepared for a long assignment."
"I'll brief you on the way to the helicarrier." Fury said as he led them over to the helicarrier. The rest of the team watched them go before turning back to each other.
"Make sure you're all mission ready for the next two weeks just in case." Harry said before they all split off to go home or wash up. "What do you make of this?" Harry asked as he approached Tony.
"It's not great." Tony said, getting an eye-roll from Harry. "Hey, it could be worse. At least they don't have a ton of capital or manpower." Harry reluctantly agreed as they moved towards the Y-Frame. "Heading to the tower or the house?"
"House. The twins' 18th birthday is coming up and I want to make them both something really special." Harry said before turning the dial for Tony. "I'll give you a call about some magi-tech stuff in a bit." Tony nodded before walking through the portal with his head buried in his phone already.
Sighing, Harry turned the dial for his home before stepping though. He barely had time to shower before his Avengers beacon flashed signaling a problem in New York. Sighing again, he donned his cowl and made a portal to the top of Avengers tower. Looking out into the city he saw the normal hustle and bustle but large columns of smoke pouring from the financial district made him frown. Fading to the roof of a nearby building he saw police having a shootout with what looks to be a group of masked villains.
"Thrash them!" One of the men yelled out and a man with a helmet charged through the police line battering cars aside like flimsy doors. Harry jumped down and shot out several spells catching and saving the police officers.
"Oh shit it's summoner!" The man with abnormally large hands yelled. A man with a crowbar and the last one with a wrecking ball on a chain both turned and immediately threw their weapons at him. Harry dodged the both but had to fade when the ball changed directions from behind him.
"Forget the cops. Squash that hero!" The man with the crowbar shouted as he charged Harry. Harry waved his hand and caused the ground to turn to liquid as it swallowed two of the charging men. He had to dodge an electric bolt from the ball and chain villain as he turned the ground into solid titanium. Firing a stunner at the two trapped men they slumped down.
Harry idd a quick spin and hit the man with big hands in the face with three stunners, a body bind, and encased him in an earthen pillar. Turning to the last man Harry waved his arm as he transfigured the man's ball and chain into a balloon.
Thunderball stood there looking at his friends baffled at how quickly they were taken down. His last thought was on how effortless it seemed to the Avenger.
Harry looked around at the wrecked surroundings and started to fix everything before capturing the four villains. An officer eventually approached him. Harry looked at the man, tall, lean, blonde hair.
"Thanks for your help, Summoner." The officer said as he looked at the bound and gagged group. "I'm Sergeant Stacy. Should we take them in?" the Sergeant looked skeptically at the superpowers villains.
"Don't worry about it, I got someone coming to collect them shortly." Harry said, waving it off. "Any casualties?" Stacy shook his head as he looked at the previously destroyed square.
"A couple of people were crushed by the debris." He said looking at a corner of the area with some blood peeking from behind a smashed car. Harry narrowed his eyes as he looked at the four villains. Stacy saw the look, "I know that look, but vengeance isn't justice." Harry gave him a deep look.
"You're right, Sergeant. You're a good man." Harry said as he patted the man's shoulder. Pulling a ring from nowhere he handed it to the man. "If you ever need some backup clutch this ring and call my name." Stacey gave him a strange look before nodding and heading off to help the injured.
Harry only stuck around long enough to fix the area and hand the four villains off to SHIELD agents. Within 20 minutes he was already back home taking another shower. While the fight wasn't too hard, the electrical discharge and floating dust still made him messy.
Instead of working on his project like he wanted to, he collapsed into his office chair. Leaning back he closed his eyes as he thought about the world. Nearly 10 years ago he appeared in this world, no signs of magic and definitely no super villains. Now, not even a decade later, the world is crawling with super baddies
Some part of him wondered if it was his fault the world became so chaotic. But on the other hand Death didn't say anything about his effect on this universe and with an entire multiverse of worlds just like this one, it probably wasn't too farfetched to assume it was the expected course.
Harry lost track of time as he thought about all the changes he has gone through personally since coming to this world. The murderous rage, the loneliness seeped into his very soul, and his mentality have all been altered over the last 10 years. From alone on a destroyed world to where he is now is a gap too large to catch at a glance.
His sullen mood brightened as he thought about all his new friends, lovers, and kids. The small part of him that felt bad for possibly being the catalyst to the death of thousands at the hands of super villains eased up as he realized he'll now be here for this world the same he was for his old one.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
The next day Harry started his day by working on his new project. First he used the Y-Frame to head over to New York before fading to a new penthouse he bought. Looking over the barren and under construction floor Harry smiled before releasing his magic and causing a cascade of effects.
Uneven floors were flattened out and covered in dark wood slats that grew from nowhere. The walls were replaced with thin stone and painted with magic to be a soft white. Harry pulled some extra magi-tech items from an expanded bag as he started installing lights, a few TV's, and small appliances.
Looking at the finished foundations Harry smiled before going through each room to make the walls and floors look seamless. With all the extra appliances he had on hand installed, Harry started the enchanting and warding. The door leading to the elevator was warded against everything he could think of. A new Y-Frame was placed right next to it and spelled invisible to anyone not approved.
He then continued his warding along the walls and ceiling high windows, making everything as indestructible as possible. The rooms, left bare, were enchanted with extra defenses and the bathrooms were enchanted with heated water spouts. Soon enough the whole penthouse was teeming with magic as Harry took a break and looked it over. Smiling, he looked out the window and saw a magnificent view of central park.
"What a view." Harry said as he stepped out onto the balcony. Avengers Tower had a great view as well, but it was located dead center of the city. This view looked over all of central park and gave a much more impressive feeling.
After spending some time relaxing Harry did a final walkthrough of the penthouse. Walking inside he was greeted by the empty living room area with a loft above him. To the left was the expansive kitchen with a large island. To the right was a hallway, walking down it there were 7 doors. The four on the right led to rooms with large windows and en-suites, the two of the doors on the left led to a large two story room with shelves lining the walls. The last door led to something that wasn't originally there, an emergency chute.
Walking over and opening the door it led to a small room with a winding flat surface that went all the way to street level. Closing it he walked to the final door at the end of the hallway that led to the entrance of the penthouse. Making sure everything was closed and locked up, Harry faded back to the tower to check with Tony for his magi-tech needs.
Walking into the lab he found Tony soldering something on his workbench. Looking over his shoulder he saw that it was a bassinet.
"What couldn't wait for the baby shower?" Harry asked from behind him, causing Tony to nearly drop his soldering gun. Tony put down his equipment as he removed his goggles and glared at Harry.
"Can't you make a little more noise when you pop up?" Tony asked rhetorically. Harry just smirked as he inspected the bassinet.
"So what can it do?" Harry asked, pointing at the crib. Tony's glare turned to glee.
"It can float, send me notifications anytime something is wrong, monitor the baby's vitals, defend itself with low powered magic bolts, resist any attempt to move it from someone not approved, and it plays music." Tony said as the bassinet started playing very loud ACDC.
"Yeah I would lower the max volume on that. Pepper is going to try and play something to help the baby sleep one night and it'll blare out and wake the baby up completely." Harry said as he silenced the area around the bassinet. Tony's smug look lessened for a moment before nodding reluctantly.
"You're probably right." Tony said with a sigh as he made some notes in the design floating nearby. "So what brings you by today Houdini?"
"I need to furnish a penthouse." Harry said as Tony gave him a strange look.
"A penthouse?" Tony asked, clarifying Harry's statement. "Are you moving back into the city?"
"No." Harry said as he shook his head. "It's for the twins."
"Oh. Right, they turn 18 next month. Giving them a bit of freedom?" Tony asked as he started to send out fabrication orders to Jarvis.
"Well I figured that the house will be a bit too isolated for them as young adults. This penthouse will act as a place for them to bring friends or travel to a job or school." Harry said with a shrug. "I know they're both interested in going the hero route and this will give them a safe house in the city just in case they start patrolling like some of our younger SHADE members."
"It's a good idea." Tony said as he finished ordering the standard assortment of appliances. Harry stuck around after that and brainstormed different items he'll need when his kid comes around. When the fabricators were done Harry took a quick trip to unload everything before heading home for the day. The penthouse should be finished and furnished by next month.
AN: Reviews -
Duantes, oneoddtodd, starboy454, and BioHazard82 - I'm glad you guys are enjoying it!
Anon Jr, cruz1988, and midnightscar17 - I'm glad I decided to continue as well. Already I can feel myself starting to just write differently and I think by the time I'm done the final edit I do will be much better off because of it.
Monkey D. Conan - Even after the rewrite or edit, the main story will be roughly the same. My main purposes will be adding filler to the very rough and plot driven first half of the story, creating a better sense of goals and relationships, and generally improving on lackluster writing or staging. all in all not a big difference but enough that I think it'll improve on the whole.
Thanks for reading!
-Galaleo