December 2013, Avengers Tower, Training Room
"Did anyone else escape?" Harry asked as soon as Fury finished speaking.
"We don't know." Fury said with a shake of his head. "I wasn't even informed of the breakout until Blonsky was spotted on the shores of Manhattan." The team all shared a look before they moved off. Harry watched them leave with the twins and Fury standing with him.
"Wanda and Pietro, I need you to go back to the house. Thank Jean for looking after Teddy today and let her know I'll stop by the mansion tomorrow." Wanda and Pietro both nodded at Harry's words before heading home. Harry looked at Fury who just nodded before he too left the room. Harry sighed as he rolled his neck. Leaving the room he pulled up his cowl and his hero suit appeared over him. He wasted no time in fading to the balcony of the tower and taking flight, his first objective was to find Blonsky.
"Where are you, Summoner?" Steve's voice came over the communicator.
"Currently heading North along the East River. I know that the Raft is located near Ryker's Island, so I'm going to check the shore line. It shouldn't be too hard to spot Blonsky if he is still in the area." Harry replied as he scanned the shores of the river.
"Iron Man go check the boroughs south of Ryker's, Widow and Hawkeye take the Quinjet and check the northern boroughs. Bruce will be with me checking over Manhattan Island, and Summoner will continue his current course and check the surrounding islands." Everyone acknowledged the Captain's orders and moved to carry them out.
Harry spent the next hour flying over every island in the area checking for signs of the giant monster. He spotted some tracks that could be the aptly named Abomination, but he found no other signs. Sighing, he continued his search and flew up and down the shore lines, even venturing to Long Beach where he found himself being waved at by crowds of people. Hearing no screams of terror or large scale destruction he moved on. It took a few hours until the team was finally done making their rounds and decided to head back to base. The quinjet had just landed and released Steve, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha when both Harry and Tony came in for a landing. Greeting them he walked into the main lounge with the team behind him.
"No sign of him." Steve concluded with a sigh as the doors closed behind them.
"He's not the only one missing." They all looked up to see Fury standing in the center of the room looking angry.
"Not the only one? Who else escaped?" Harry asked, furrowing his brow.
"Obadiah Stane and Aldrich Killian." Fury stated. Harry's eyes narrowed hearing Killian being one of the escapees.
"Wasn't Killian in our prison? How did he end up at the Raft?" Harry asked. Fury explained how the higher ups in the Federal Government wanted a piece of the pie and wouldn't let up until they got something. Realizing that Harry and Tony would never give up Extremis, Fury had to make concessions, and handed Killian over to be imprisoned in the Raft.
"If they ever wonder why I want zero interference from government agencies, that's their answer." Harry said with a sigh as he rubbed his temples.
"So what's the plan?" Steve said from the side. Harry looked up and frowned before looking over at Tony only to be surprised when he saw pure rage on the man's face.
"Tony?" Harry called, causing Tony to snap out of his thoughts "You alright?"
"It was him." Harry just gave Tony a confused look. "Stane put the hit out on my parents." Tony said with a shake of his head. "I found out last week. He traded some serum my dad was working on and weapon shipments to have them killed off. He was going to kill my entire family and me so he could inherit the whole company." Tony said with venom lacing his voice. Steve approached and patted his back in sympathy. Tony finally released the building anger and took several deep breaths. "I'll put something together for Jarvis and start searching for them. I'll look into Stane's contacts and let you know if I find something." Tony then walked away.
"Don't worry about him too much, he'll calm down shortly." Harry addressed the others as he watched Tony leave the room. He turned towards Fury. "I need you to keep me informed of any movements that SHIELD sees. Watch the black market and tag the disgruntled weapon developers that used to work at Stark Industries." Harry stood eyeing the team, "We need to be mission ready the second we find them. No long term missions and no vacation. We have three very dangerous people on the loose and they could attack anywhere."
"Wait, I have something to ask you all." Fury said as the team was preparing to disperse. They all looked at him so he continued giving a look at Steve. "The Captain brought it to my attention that Sergeant Barnes would be interested in joining you all."
Harry hummed as he slowly made eye contact with each Avenger. None seemed dismissive of the idea but he still had to clear it with Tony first. So he turned and informed Fury of just that.
"If Tony agrees I don't see a problem with it. He's got the training and enhancements to make a good member and I'm sure his inclusion will help the man feel better about his actions under mind control." Harry agreed tentatively. "Steve, I recommend you approach Tony about it. If he isn't receptive I'll talk to him."
From there they all went off to do their own things. Harry and Nat both made their way to the Y-Frame and headed home. Walking back into his home Harry subtly relaxed as the new and improved wards fell over him like a warm duvet. Sighing he led Natasha to the kitchen and found an irritated Wanda with food all over her face and a laughing Pietro who was rolling on the ground uncontrollably. Harry smirked as he noticed the pale green cabbage being the only food removed from Teddy's plate. The small toddler was ignoring everything and contentedly eating a large serving of eggs.
"Have some trouble?" Harry asked with a laugh as he waved his hand, cleaning up the mess.
"I just wanted him to eat his vegetables." Wanda huffed as she turned and stomped back to the stove top. Pietro calmed down and stood up giving Harry a cheeky grin.
"It was incredible. She was insisting that he eat his greens when suddenly he screamed 'No' and the plate of cabbage exploded!" Pietro said before he once again laughed. Harry rolled his eyes at the speedster before approaching Wanda. Nat, who entered behind him, was barely concealing the mirth she felt and gave Teddy a fond look before sitting next to him.
"You aren't thinking like a witch." Harry said with a smile as he stood next to Wanda.
"What do you mean?" Wanda asked with a confused expression.
"While Teddy's…biology requires more meat, he still needs a balanced diet. If we were regular people it would be a contest of wills, trying to feed him a balanced diet. Seeing as we are magical, the contest is more likely to be magical. That means there is no need to play fair." Harry explained with a grin as he plated more cabbage before transfiguring it into crispy bacon. He set the plate down in front of Teddy and the toddler demolished it in moments.
"But…" Wanda was dumbfounded, "Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"
"Our magic can do many things, with enough power I can create real food from nothing, but temporarily changing cabbage to bacon just means that it'll turn back inside the stomach." Harry explained. "Evidently a friend of mine was notoriously difficult to feed vegetables when he was younger and his mother bypassed this by transfiguring all his meals into his favorite foods." Harry elaborated with a smile and far off look.
"Was this common?" Wanda asked. Harry shook himself free of his contemplations and turned back to Wanda.
"Magical children require magical solutions. When a toddler is fussing or running away from something they don't want to do, such as bath time, they will use magic instinctively to do what they want. It was a point of contention for non-magical raised witches and wizards to use magic on their children."
"Will I…" Wanda paused as she looked down, unsure if she should even ask him about this topic.
"You can ask me anything Wanda. You know that." Harry said with a smile as he pulled her to his side. He knew that she sometimes felt rude asking him questions about magic and his old world, but he's had plenty of time to come to grips with his past. Harry had told her he would never hold anything she asked against her and hoped she would come to him when she needed it.
"Will my children be magical?" she asked, thinking of the future and the magical toddler at the table.
"Honestly? I have no clue. You aren't a typical witch or magic user. It is very possible your children will be born with magical gifts. It's also possible their genes would present as a mutation or x-factor instead." Harry answered with a shrug. "No matter what though, I'll be there to help if you need it." Wanda gave him a winning smile before she got back to cooking dinner. Harry moved over to the table where Natasha was looking at him in concern.
"Everything okay?" Natasha asked as Harry sat down next to her.
"Yeah everything's fine." Harry reassured her. "She just had some questions and I told her the difficulties of rearing magical children." He continued with a shrug. At this he stopped talking and instead he focused on Teddy who was now finished with his food and was now slowly nodding off. Harry was about to stand when Nat patted his arm and stood instead.
"I'll take care of this one." She said with a smile as she picked up Teddy. Her smile only grew when Teddy wrapped his arms around her neck and burrowed his face into her.
Leaning back Harry watched her leave and he couldn't help the warmth that pervaded his chest. 'This is what I fight for. This is what I always wanted.' His eyes took in the Twins, Wanda was cooking as Pietro stood next to her and talked about what he would do with magic. Wanda started laughing as Pietro got more ridiculous with each idea. Harry smiled and closed his eyes, basking in the feeling of home.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
While the Potter household was filled with joy, a dark and decrepit warehouse was the exact opposite. A large bang echoed through the empty building.
"I don't care what plans you have! I want to destroy Banner!" an angry voice boomed throughout the abandoned space.
Standing in the middle of the warehouse were our three escaped convicts. Blonsky had just smashed a desk into splinters as Stane and Killian both looked unimpressed. Blonsky, or the Abomination, remained unchanged from the time he was arrested a few years ago. His height was an impressive 12 feet, his skin was that same swamp like green, and his body screamed power.
Killian was slightly more lean but seemed unchanged as well. He seemed to have lost his reason for looking normal and now had orange glowing veins lining his frame, Heat seemed to rise from him and his eyes shone like torches in the dark room.
The final member of the trio though was a far cry from the man that piloted the Iron Monger armor back in 2009. His frame was lean, almost gaunt, and his beard was even longer than it used to be. The biggest difference by far was the gleam in his eyes. Gone was the shrewd businessman playing family friend, in its place was a ruthless monster, ready to do anything to reach his goals.
"Be patient and we'll have all the Avengers within our grasp. We just need a little setup first." Stane said with his slow and methodical drawl. His tone was calm but looking into his eyes you could see the rage and hatred pooling within. "We will have our vengeance, but first we need supplies and a few accomplices wouldn't hurt." He finished with a maniacal grin.
AN: Hey sorry about the short chapter, but the end of the arc is on its way and the build starts here.
Naruto Uzumaki - Yeah that was something I always thought was stupid in canon. Tony may not always be the most mature person, but he is intelligent. Steve or Natasha could have easily approached Tony about the role Bucky played and while he would be pissed and may never like Bucky he wouldn't be hostile. I mean the fight between the three in Civil War was aweome, but Tony was definetely playing with kid gloves. One swipe of that laser he used in Iron Man 2 and Bucky would be bisected.
Dauntes - I have always found the idea of snake familiars being incredible protective of the hatchlings fun, so having the natural wolf animagus befriending the big bad basalisk would work out well. Also to clarify for everybody; the twins were born in 98. I know in canon MCU they made them much older, but I believe that retconn was done due to the Wandavision story line. It's much less creepy if she's in her late twenties early thirties rather than her late teens early twenties. So right now they are close to 15, their birthday being in February I believe.
Gensplejs - Don't worry Seir isn't likely to make another major omeback until the Hela storyline and even then it'll be minimal.
Simianpower - I know I sent a private message and I hope you give the story another shot, but I just want to clarify that I did start using a editing tool in my later chapters. Some of the early chapters also suffer from the rewrite I did when I realized I didn't like the story direction.
