A/N - Sorry for the delays! Real life a bitch right now. But you got 2 chapters in 1! This is almost 12k words.
Previously:
New Mexican Desert, 3 Miles outside of Puente Antiguo
Phil Coulson watched as a tall dust plume - almost as tall as a tornado funnel - began to swirl directly above the strangely carved symbols they'd found on the flat desert sand. The engineers had told him the sand had been baked as if a high pressure oven had broiled it. The symbols were actually melted and discolored grains, not paint, as he'd originally thought.
Needless to say, they had no idea how that happened, but knew that if they had to individually burn sand grains to form the symbols they saw, it would take weeks, perhaps months, to do so.
The dust plume grew thicker, and one of Phil's agents walked up behind him, shielding his eyes from the dust. It began to swirl faster, and there were brief flashes of lightning coming from the center.
Phil took out his phone, and sent a quick message to Director Fury. Right before he put his phone away, he hesitated a moment and sent a second message, directly to Harry Potter.
Chapter 17
London
It was nearing 8 pm and Harry was relaxing happily at home, a long day of work behind him. He was sipping a butterbeer and chatting away with Bella on the mirror, smiling when she enthusiastically relayed details about her classes to him and entertaining him when he was able to admit that a certain classmate of hers could not take a hint that she had a boyfriend. He told her - while trying to keep a straight face - that she was just too nice, and she let the poor blokes think they had a chance.
Overall though, it sounded like she was very much interested in her studies and loving school. He was happy she was able to find enjoyment with learning, and it was a nice break for her from the stresses of the past few weeks and their discussions with SHIELD. Harry himself never much enjoyed his education, though that might have been more the fault of his circumstances and the near-constant threats to his life.
Laughing at a fairly silly joke Bella told him, his new cell phone began to chirp with the ringtone he'd programmed when getting a call from Phil Coulson. Surprised, he picked it up, his eyes widening as he read the short lines of text, calling an all-hands alert about an intruder of 'unknown origin' that suddenly materialized in New Mexico, and specifically requesting Harry's assistance.
Since the alert presumably came directly from Coulson, he would take it very seriously, though he did not completely dismiss the possibility Phil's phone had been compromised; they had not yet set up operational security and code-words, and he was always wary about being lured into a trap.
It had, after all, happened before.
Bella, meanwhile, immediately watched Harry's expression change after he'd picked up his cellphone. "Harry? What's going on?" Her worried voice echoed from the mirror, her expression tense.
Harry cursed the bad timing of Coulson's call - he really didn't want Bella involved.
He didn't want to lie to her: he refused to build a relationship on mistruths and omissions, and reluctantly told her the truth, knowing what she was going to say. "Trouble again in New Mexico, Bella. Agent Coulson just contacted me - there is some sort of intruder in the desert."
Just as he predicted, Bella's face firmed up, absolutely no hesitation in her voice or expression. "I know you are going, Harry. You can't go alone, take me with you."
Looking at her determined visage, Harry felt himself unsure of what to do. He knew she might be helpful, but there was a very important factor to consider: for all her willingness to fight, she really had no practical training.
She was, in almost every respect, a total rookie.
Taking a breath, he tried to talk her down. "Bella, I've no idea what this might be. Just hang tight for a moment, I'm going to call and floo Hermione. She can be my backup on this one."
When Bella opened her mouth to protest, Harry interrupted. "I promise I'm not just going to take off on you, Bella."
He saw her shoulders relax in the mirror just as moved to the fireplace to floo call Hermione at work, then at home. When she didn't answer, he tried her cell phone, which eventually went to voicemail.
Harry cursed under his breath; it was apparent Hermione was not reachable, and Harry realized trying to track her down in the limited time he might have was futile. She could be anywhere in the Ministry, where phones didn't work, or even out in Muggle London somewhere with her phone on mute.
So the question - take Bella with him or not?
Even as he picked the mirror back up, he knew she'd watched him try and fail to reach Hermione. She didn't even give him a chance to speak as she started talking very rapidly, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright and determined as she continued to lobby for going with him. "Harry, please. I've got Hermione's portkey, I can always escape if it gets bad!" When she saw him look unmoved, she tried again, her voice rising in volume. "Harry, please don't do this alone! What if it's something you can't see again? Or..or..I don't want you getting hurt...please..." she trailed off, and Harry saw her lip tremble, that this was very important to her.
He cursed to himself: he'd always been a sucker for crying women.
Finally decided, Harry nodded to her. "Okay, I assume your roommate is out because you're on the mirror?"
Bella nodded in relief, her expression changing to eagerness and determination, a tight smile on her face.
"All right," Harry continued. "I'm going to portkey to MACUSA in a minute, then apparate to your apartment. When you get off the phone with me, you need to grab your wand, your holster, and the emergency portkey. I'll text you just before I apparate in to make sure your roommate isn't back there - I don't want to have to obliviate her."
"Okay!" Bella answered, her head nodding jerkily.
Harry nodded at her, flipped the mirror off, and fervently hoped he wasn't making a mistake. He grabbed his work belt and ran upstairs even as he fastened it. When he entered his room, he walked into the large closet, pulling the door closed behind him and blinking his eyes as they failed to adjust in the complete blackness. A quick lumos lit up the space, and he pushed some of his hanging clothes aside, leaving him facing a blank section of the wooden wall at the back of the closet. He muttered two more quick spells, and a dim, red outline of a splayed hand appeared on the wall, shimmering and barely visible it was so faint. When Harry lay his hand - palm open and fingers spread - onto the outline, the entire wall seemed to curl backwards, like the bricks in diagon alley, leaving a small space. Inside was a small desk, on which rested a single item: an ordinary looking metal box.
Only three people knew about this room when they created it, and Bill Weasley had asked to be obliviated of the knowledge when they were done.
On the box itself was a complex series of wards and blood-based protections that Hermione had created for him...to house some of the most powerful artifacts known. Casting again, he let a few drops of his blood drip onto the box before healing himself with a silently cast ferula, the small cut stitching right back up. Finally, with a deep breath, he pressed a small divot on the right side of the box, willing his hands to stay steady.
As the lid opened silently - it was goblin made, after all - lay the items of destiny: The Elder Wand, The Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Shadows.
The Deathly Hallows.
He looked at the items with some trepidation, fully knowledgeable of their bloody history and the power they represented. And while he used the cloak regularly, the other two had stayed locked up, held as a reserve in the event he ever needed their power.
Indeed, the temptation to grab them and wield them with impunity was strong, like a buzzing in the air making his skin tingle. When his hand reached for them, he could have sworn he felt an emotion stirring from them as if they were almost sentient, whispering.
This bothered him greatly, for the emotion he felt was almost like a feeling of anticipation.
Grimacing, he grabbed them up, holstered the Elder Wand and placed the other two in one of the extended pockets on his belt. He retreated from the room, the box and doors shutting soundlessly behind him.
Without looking back, he cast a portus spell with his Holly Wand onto a small piece of rope, and took a deep breath.
A moment later, he vanished from Grimmauld with a small pop, the tight, tired eyes of Kreacher watching him go.
New Mexican Desert
As the dust began to settle and visibility improved, Senior Shield Agent Sitwell - standing just behind his boss, Phil Coulson - stared in surprise at the large, man shaped metal object that was standing at the center of the dissipating dust funnel. It looked like a giant robot, gleaming silver, sleek; it was almost like a much larger, more futuristic version of an Iron Man suit. "Is that one of Stark's?" he asked Coulson, guessing that maybe it was new prototype that Tony Stark produced?
Phil shook his head in annoyance. "I don't know. The guy never tells me anything." He took the megaphone from Sitwell, and walked bravely out to meet the robot that had begun to walk towards them with large, measured steps.
The robot suit was maybe ten or eleven feet tall, made of gleaming, interleaved silver bands. It was unclothed and most of its body was completely devoid of external features, though the musculature and dimensions were more masculine than not. It was also very broad, and if, Phil reasoned, the metal was made of stainless steel as it appeared, the thing had to weigh at least several tons.
Phil's tactical mind calculated the weapons they had on hand, and judged that none of the rifles or grenades they carried in their SUV's would penetrate its armor if things got ugly.
Nevertheless, he gave a few hand signals and the agents fanned out to the left and right, weapons pulled free from shoulders and holsters. Stillwell moved away from Coulson to give himself a clear line of site, and had his remote camera in his left hand, thumbed to the 'on' position, so back at base they could observe this confrontation.
Meanwhile, Coulson stopped about a dozen feet from the robot. Lifting the megaphone to his lips, he called out, his voice firm and no-nonsense. "Hello. You are using unlicensed weapons technology. Identify yourself."
The robot took another step before it halted its advance. For several seconds, it did not move. Suddenly, there was the sound of machined gears whirring, and Sitwell watched as the darker metal bands that passed for its eyes turned menacingly towards Phil, who was himself examining the thing more closely, trying to catalog it and compared it to the suit Stark had created, or the one that Stane had secretly built, the Iron Monger.
This robot had two small, finlike crests on its head and small, almost jewel-like protrusions on its shoulders. Its entire construction showed no rivets or welds, and looked like banded metal armor that was somehow fused together. It was very formidable looking, and exuded an air of menace, especially when its hands slowly closed into clenched fists.
Phil - normally very cool under pressure - was unnerved, and was going to call for his men to take cover behind the SUV's before ordering the robot to get down on its knees. However, before he could issue orders, there was another soft whirring noise, and the 'covers' - like two vertical garage doors - that made up most of its face began to slide away, leaving a gaping, rectangular maw where most of its face would have been.
Though nothing hostile had happened yet, Phil felt like things were about to get hot, and was aware of his men raising their weapons.
Sure enough, a dim spark ignited in the maw, which slowly began to build into a flame that grew brighter and brighter, until it felt like to the agents like they were staring into a blast furnace that filled the entire cavity of its head.
Phil grimaced, knowing what was coming next. He lowered his megaphone, his voice filled with a mixture of annoyance and regret, and he shook his head, muttering. "Oh, here we go."
Even as he finished speaking, the fire began to coalesce into a beam. One of the agents reacted quickly and had the presence of mind to call out a warning to everyone else. "Incoming!" he shouted, and the Agents - all well trained - scattered for cover and separation. It was good that they did, as a hot beam of plasma shot from the thing's maw, impacting one of the sedan's and setting it ablaze like it was kindling. The vehicle rocked from the blast, the obviously powerful energy weapon tearing the metal of the armored SUV to shreds.
Automatic weapons fire began to rain down on the robot, but it had no discernible effect that anyone could see. A grenade was thrown by an enterprising agent, bouncing off its chest and exploding at the thing's feet; but it too did nothing, and several of the agents began to back away, unloading their clips at it even as they realized they were clearly outmatched.
The robot began to walk forward, and without pause focused its beam on another sedan, unleashing another fiery blast. The second vehicle fared no better than the first. Unfortunately for the agents, the backblast caught several of them as the car exploded, flaming gasoline and white-hot shrapnel roasting and tearing through their soft flesh, leaving a half dozen corpses strewn across the desert.
A third blast, and the scene repeated, the hot sand littered with dead agents that had been burned and blasted and tossed away like refuse.
Leaving devastation in its wake with only a few men left alive, the robot walked on, unconcerned, towards the little town in the distance and its true target.
Three miles away, the residents of Puente Antiguo, watched the strange tornado-like dust funnel as it slowly dissipated away. None of them had ever seen a desert twister like this one before, seemingly springing out of nowhere, standing completely straight up and unmoving.
It lasted for under a minute, and when it was gone some of the onlookers felt a strange unease as they looked at each other, unsure what to make of the strange occurrence.
However, when after a few minutes nothing happened, some of them began to walk away, muttering to themselves or discussing on what they'd seen but prepared to forget it; but then, a sudden, extremely bright light illuminated the desert, followed shortly after by a long, hollow 'boom'.
A touch uneasy now, everyone who had come outside turned and looked to the distance, only to see another bright light and another boom. And then came a sound that almost everyone in this rural, frontier town was familiar with: the sound of gunfire.
"Those are machine gun's," one of the residents said, squinting into the distance. "Several of them in fact."
He was met with nods, and the unease increased. There was a third flash of light, another explosion, and the gun fire began to taper off until the desert was again silent. Glancing uneasily at each other, the residents of the small town began to wonder what exactly was going on, and several of them grabbed their siblings or spouses or children and hustled off the street, heading for home or for safer locations.
Others, more curious, stood out on main street, wondering and waiting for whatever was going to happen next.
Unluckily for them, they didn't have long to wait.
A mile outside of town, Harry and Bella disapparated with a small pop. Still unused to apparition, Bella clutched onto Harry for a moment to keep her balance while her inner-ear unscrambled itself.
While Bella steadied herself, Harry quickly cast a camouflage spell on them before pulling his broom free. He looked towards the town, seeing something on the road leading there that he couldn't quite make out. It looked like some sort of silver rectangle that was traveling along the road, but he couldn't determine what it was at this distance.
Bella followed his gaze and also squinted against the bright glare, trying to focus on the object, but her eyes weren't as good as Harry's and the shimmering desert heat blurred everything. "Is something there Harry?"
"Yes, but I can't see any details," he answered, his voice flat. "It's moving towards town, but I don't really know what it is." He then turned to the west. "But look there, see that smoke?" When Bella turned her head, she nodded. "The thing seems to be coming from that direction."
He said nothing else, but Bella understood that it might be something dangerous.
Harry motioned for her to mount-up behind him, and she did it quickly, grabbing onto his waist and tucking herself against his back. And then they were off, winging their way around the edge of the town, their disillusionment charms hiding them from any curious eyes.
Suddenly, a huge explosion ripped through the town, smoke and flames temporarily blotting out the buildings behind it. Even from their distance, the sound of screams and alarms reached their ears, and Harry sped up, leaning forward as he pushed his broom towards its limit.
The pair circled around from the north, approaching the edge of the small collection of buildings that made up the town center. They descended a hundred yards or so behind a gas station that was completely engulfed in flames, angry gouts of orange fire being fed from some underground tank or pipe that billowed up in angry, roiling plumes, black smoke circling it like a cyclone.
Even as they looked at this conflagration, several more loud explosions could be heard, and their eyes swiveling to the main street that bisected the town. They watched with wide eyes, riveted by the scene playing out below, where a giant metal robot was fighting against a group of people dressed up like they were ancient Viking warriors.
They quickly dismounted and Harry stowed the broom, and they drew their wands in unison, ready to help in whatever way they could.
With a shout, one of the viking look-a-likes raised a large axe and charged the robot, only to be backhanded away with effortless ease, tossed at high speed towards a parked car a dozen feet away.
Harry didn't hesitate. "Arresto Momentum!" he yelled, slowing the impact of the brave man and possibly saving his life from the impact. The man lay on the hood of a parked car, dazed but mostly unhurt, but the robot was coming towards him, a menacing hulk of metal that looked like a walking tank.
Without pausing, Harry swung his wand around towards the robot, knowing it was time for offensive action. He prepared his most powerful cutting spell, and aimed it directly for the head of the robot, calling his magic forth, the air shimmering around him.
However, just as he was about to cast, he watched in amazement as a woman - who looked like someone from the Xena Warrior Princess TV show that Dudley used to watch - seemed to launch herself into the air with an impossible leap and landing herself onto the head of the robot, where she then drove a long silver sword directly through its throat, forcing it to its knees.
It looked like a killing blow, to be sure, and the woman smiled at the viking, who was still laying on the hood of the car. Harry remained cautious, however, his wand still trained on the robot as he walked closer. It was still a good fifty feet away, and he circled around the side between it and Bella, who he could only barely make out by the slight shimmer from her illusion spell and was still a few feet behind him.
Deciding he needed his potential allies to see him, he canceled his concealment spell and then turned to Bella and did the same. She gave him a tight smile, but then her eyes opened wide as she looked at something behind him. Turning quickly, Harry watched in fascination and horror as the robot's entire frame seemed to rotate - so that the back became the front - and a giant hole opened in its face which began to glow as a flame formed in its face cavity.
The Xena look-alike was directly in the thing's path, and Harry snap-cast a silent bludgeoner at the robot's torso just as the woman dove off to the side, leaving her sword to clatter to the pavement as it fell from the robot's throat.
The robot seemed completely unharmed from both the sword strike and Harry's spell. Cursing, Harry cast another bludgeoner at the robot's side, which pinged against its armor and didn't even make a scratch.
And then the robot was retaliating, firing its main weapon, its open maw belching long, concentrated beams of fire, chasing after Xena who was running quickly and agiley down the street, desperately trying to evade the hot flame. As the beams got closer to her, Harry saw she was not going to be able to avoid getting hit.
Determined to save her, he cast a quick summoning charm at the woman, cursing when the spell seemed to have difficulty 'latching' on to her, almost like she had some innate spell resistance. He pulled harder, managing to get her out of the path of the beam just in time, the flames missing her by inches.
When he watched the woman roll and launch herself back to her feet and move to cover, he took a moment to find Bella, seeing her standing back near the gawking crowds. "Bella!" he shouted at her, getting her attention. "Be careful, that armor is strong! Stay back and keep the civilians safe, get them off the street! I will see if I can bring it down or lead it away!"
Thankfully, she didn't argue with him, perhaps understanding she was outmatched and there were people in danger that she could help. She nodded once before turning, and Harry watched her herding civilians off the main street and into the relative safety of the side streets, away from the robot. After she got the first bunch off, he saw her suddenly dart out from cover towards another group of people who had gathered to watch and film on their cellphones, and she soon got them moving too, hustling them away from danger.
He was proud of her, she was doing well.
Now it was his turn.
Grimly, he turned back to the robot and began to jog after it. He closed to maybe forty feet, off to it's side. He hit it with a gouging spell, but like his other spell it showed no effect, at all. It didn't even turn towards him, like his spells were completely insignificant to it.
He took a deep breath, let his magic pour free to its maximum, and cast his most powerful rock-boring spell, the red bolt speeding towards the armored behemoth; when it impacted, it echoed with a loud bang, causing a slight hitch in the thing's stride, but barely even slowing it down. When he looked closely at where the spell hit, he was dismayed to see only the slightest scuffing of one of the armored rings on its side.
The robot was too strong, his attacks had done nothing.
With a sinking realization, Harry realized Hermione was right: he was going to need more firepower.
Stowing his beloved Holly wand, the Elder Wand thrummed in his hand when he summoned it from his second wrist holster. A cold fire rushed through his chest, his magic feeling more alive than he'd ever felt it before, a whisper in his mind urging him to use it, use it all, crush the robot like an ant.
Even as Harry fought to control the powerful whispers of the wand, Bella had not been idle; she ran to help several people who were caught in falling scaffolding near one of the burning buildings, several voices screaming for help or just in terror. She was able to help an older man away from the smoke to cleaner air, insuring he was okay, when she heard a faint, raspy cough, coming back from the direction of the wreckage of the scaffolding.
She ducked as she ran, trying to stay low to the ground and avoid the thick smoke, and began to search for the person she'd heard.
It didn't take long; there was a woman lying pinned in the debris, the flames on the scaffold burning its way towards her, choking smoke billowing around her trapped body. Already Bella could see red burns and blisters forming on her hands which were desperately pushing at the metal scaffolding that pinned her, which was probably very hot to the touch.
More scaffolding fell, and Bella ran faster. "Hold on, I'm going to pull you out!" Bella shouted over the roar of the flames and the screams from the street. She reached the woman quickly, leaning down even as her own eyes and throat were burning from the smoke and chemicals all around her. She considered pushing the metal away, but it was already glowing with heat and Bella had no gloves or protection. Instead, she grabbed the woman under her arms, leaning forward and using the strength of her legs to pull the woman out, grunting with the strain and the burn of the smoke. With a shout, she pulled as hard as she could, finally clearing the woman out from the debris that had pinned her.
Bella shuffled backwards, dragging the woman away, coughing and half blinded by the smoke, just pulling desperately trying to get them out of this hell.
Above them, the remaining scaffolding groaned as it was disturbed by the motion of the freed woman, the last support crumbling, and more flaming debris falling down around them.
Even as she shuffled backwards with her hands under the woman's armpits, dragging her across the pavement, Bella screamed and called out to the woman, begging her to stand-up. The woman was dazed, her face covered in soot, and she was hacking deeply, unable to catch a good breath, her hands were splayed on her chest, fighting for air.
Even as she tugged, Bella realized the woman was suffering from serious smoke inhalation. More debris fell, and she realized they were not getting away quickly enough. Despite the strain in her muscles, Bella managed to haul her up, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her arm over her own shoulder, pinning it there with her hand. The woman, almost completely leaning on Bella, somehow kept her feet and stumbled out of the smoke with Bella supporting her as they moved away towards clear air, the smoke thinning despite the blaze on the scaffolding above them, which groaned and twisted as the flames surrounding it rose higher and higher, blotting out the sky like the fires of hell.
Bella urged the woman to move faster, they were nearly out from under the overhang, but it was too late. With a muted crack, the entire facade buckled from the heat, and it finally collapsed, debris and flaming wood falling towards Bella and the woman she was supporting. With no time to think, Bella thrust her right hand out, a shield bursting from it, covering them both like an enormous, shimmering, translucent plate. When the weight of the burning wood and the metal and the crossbeams landed on the shield, Bella felt it like a weight pressing down, her arm quivering and her head suddenly aching, a sharp jab that she felt like a blow to the brain; she gritted her teeth and concentrated against the pressure inside her skull.
With a scream, she continued to drag the woman, holding one arm outstretched above her, willing away the pain, knowing she had to hold on to save both their lives.
Suddenly another man was there, shouting something that she couldn't understand with her head ringing; but he was taking the woman from Bella, easily lifting her in a bridal carry as the woman appeared to have succumbed to the smoke and had passed out. Free of the weight of the woman, Bella was able to completely concentrate on her shield, focusing on keepint it strong. She managed to turn her body, and 'feeling' around the edges of the shield, she was able to slant it towards the flames so the debris 'slid' off the side and into the wreckage behind her.
The last piece of metal slid off just as her strength failed and her vision began to go grey. With no strength remaining, her hand dropped to her side and the shield winked out, leaving Bella staggering as if drunk. She took deep lungful's of air, fresh and clear of the choking smoke, and collapsed to her knees, her hands covering her face as she cried in relief.
It took her a few moments to calm, but she finally caught her breath. She lifted her hands clear of her face and noticed her skin was dotted with soot and ash, and her face felt crusty and dry. She tried to slow her breathing and regain her wits, understanding what fire-rescue victims must feel like.
It took a few more seconds for her vision to clear completely, and she managed to find her feet, knowing there might be more to do. She scanned the area around her, and noticed a small crowd of bystanders who seemed to be staring at her in awe.
Wiping her mouth and nose on her shirt sleeve, she also spotted the woman that she had dragged to safety, sitting maybe a dozen feet away. Thankfully, it looked like she had regained consciousness, occasionally coughing but breathing free air. The man who had helped them was down on one knee, tending to her at her side.
Bella walked over, trying to ignore the stares of the crowd. When she got close to the woman she'd saved, the man looked up at Bella and nodded at her. "Thank you," he rasped, standing back up to his feet. He was tall, and looked very fit in his jeans and cowboy shirt, which were smudged from the smoke and ash. "I don't know how you did it, but thank you. You saved my wife, and I'll never be able to repay you."
Bella nodded at him. "I'm just thankful we both made it out."
The man held her eye for a moment before he looked back to the flames. "Did you see anyone else in there?"
"No," Bella answered with a frown, "but I couldn't see through the smoke very well. Do you think anyone else is in there?"
Even as the man opened his mouth, her question was rendered moot as the last standing walls of the station collapsed, thick gouts of smoke and flame engulfing whatever was left inside.
If anyone had been in there, they were surely beyond help now.
Her eyes met that of the man, and they both silently acknowledged it was too late for anyone who might have been left behind.
Bella turned away, her eyes looking for and quickly finding Harry, who was all the way on the far side of the intersection, at least a few hundred feet away. To Bella's tired eyes, he seemed to have a faint shimmery glow around him, moving with him as he walked forwards. His wand was up, his posture hunched forward, like he was ready for battle.
Harry, meanwhile, had missed most of Bella's dramatic rescue. He'd shielded a group of civilians from the beam weapon, and needed to hustle another group of people who were lagging behind to safety. He didn't want anyone caught in the crossfire, and had been cautious up to that point.
With all the civilians moved back a bit, he pressed forward, debating on the best course of action.
Just then, an angry shout was heard, and Harry watched as two of the strangely dressed warriors charged at the robot with their large, medieval weapons. The robot smoothly pivoted, its face turning towards them as they ran at it, heedless of their own safety; but before they'd even closed half the distance, it unleased a tremendous beam of fire straight at them.
Harry didn't hesitate. He cast two powerful flame shields at the men, cocooning their bodies against the heat of the beam. When the fiery beam collided with his Elder- charged shields, the beam's heat was successfully deflected, creating a bright halo of shimmering heat that dispersed around the luminous shields, though some of the beam's residue seemed to flicker around the edges.
However, to Harry's dismay, though the heat was dissipated the impact of the blast was not completely attenuated, and the men were launched through the front window of a small restaurant with tremendous force, shattering the plate glass windows and careening and crashing through the interior furniture. The small slivers of the beam that missed the shields immediately ignited everything inside that was flammable, and smoke and debris belched out into the street through the blown windows, making everything a murky, choking mess.
Harry cursed, fervently hoped those men were not normal humans, that they were either magical or super-powered; for even with his shields blunting the impacts, Harry didn't think a normal person would survive those accelerations or the force of hitting everything that they did. The beam was so fast and carried so much energy that even the small fraction of the force left over was enough - as they smashed through windows and countertops and tables - to shatter and splinter their bones and bodies, surely killing them if they were human.
Harry felt his magic responding to his anger, thrumming and bubbling just beneath the surface of his skin and coalescing in the Elder Wand grasped tightly in his right fist. Eyes blazing a luminous green, Harry turned and cast again, a powerful reductor curse blasting out from the wand. The bolt hit the robot about waist high, and drove it backwards and nearly off its feet. As it stood back up, Harry saw that one of its armored belts had buckled, leaving a wide gash in the pristine silver.
Harry blinked several times, amazed that the robot wasn't destroyed. He estimated that he could have destroyed a tank with that shot, and the thing only had a buckled armor band.
What the hell was it made of?
Nevertheless, the power of the wand impressed him. He could never have fired a shot like that with his Holly wand, not even close.
For the first time that day, the robot turned towards him, judging him a threat at last; its maw turned to him very quickly, causing him to duck behind a building when the flame began to coalesce. In response, he fired off a second blast as he moved, and was surprised when the robot twisted, the reductor missing him and obliterating the side of a building behind it.
The robot continued it's turn, the beam weapon ready to fire at his last position.
Too late, Harry saw about a dozen civilians taking cover just a few feet from him.
"Get away, run!" he shouted, frightened for and annoyed by these fools who were excitingly snapping photos or recording videos on their phones, seemingly oblivious of the danger despite the wrecked buildings and flames all around.
The robot unleased it's weapon, and luckily it missed both himself and the civilians, but still destroyed the entryway to a small auto shop across the street, caving in the front window and doorway, and turning the interior into an inferno.
Cursing again at their stupidity, he raised his wand, prepared to levitate them away to safety. However, he paused as he recognized a few of the people that were bunched together, huddled in a small group a ways apart from the handful of fools who were so focused on getting good photos that they paid little heed to the danger they were in.
One of the men he recognized was the blonde man who he'd seen fight his way into the SHIELD base. He was standing with the older man who was the one who had driven him away from the base in that van they'd seen, the same day Harry fought Loki in the desert. He didn't recognize the rest of the group - the vikings - but their strange dress made his mind raced furiously. Their weapons - a sword wielded by the Xena lookalike and a long knife held by a man who looked like Robin Hood - clearly indicated they were either rejects from central casting, or were far, far from home.
Distracted, Harry glanced to his left, watching as the robot was moving again, but luckily had turned away from him. He crept around the sides of the building, readying himself to fight again even as he tried to puzzle out who these people were and what the robot was after.
Sudden movement from the wrecked restaurant had him turning, wand raised and ready; but a moment later his jaw dropped when he saw the two warriors who he had shielded earlier walking unaided out of the restaurant, seemingly without any obvious injuries. In fact, save for a few scuffs on their clothes and some soot on their faces, they looked completely unharmed.
Clearly, this was impossible. Merlin, they had been blasted through plate glass windows and ceramic countertops! No way could they have walked away from those sorts of impacts without injury.
Unless...
Even as Harry realized that these people were not human, he began to suspect that these strangers - with their swords and axes and their costume-like clothing - might be like Loki.
Could they be Asgardians?
He thought it likely they were.
His ruminations were cut short as the robot had swiveled around towards the two men as they emerged from the wrecked restaurant. It immediately fired a fresh burst of its flame weapon directly towards the larger of the two: a red-headed axe wielder with a long, scraggly beard, whose eyes opened wide as he saw that he was about to be roasted.
Stepping out from cover, Harry summoned the man straight out of the building, zipping him across the street and out of harm's way, and again acknowledging the spell resistance the man had, making the spell difficult to hold.
Did Asgardians all have innate spell resistance?
Deciding he needed to think later and fight now, he turned towards the robot, but a hand on his right arm caught his attention. Harry looked up into the face of the Robin Hood look-alike, mustaches perfectly coiffed and a roguish grin in place.
His voice sounded sincere, but had an almost amused quality to it. "Thank you, Seidman. Fat Volstagg there owes you one, he might have lost that beard of his without the aid of your magicks."
Harry didn't respond; the moment Robin Hood called him a 'Seidman', the pieces all linked together in Harry's mind, and he knew that he was right, despite the improbability of it all.
These people were Asgardians.
Harry took a moment to consider it all, and found it almost comical. Here he was, fighting a giant robot in some piddly-ass town in the middle of nowhere, with Aliens dressed like comic-con characters by his side. If someone had told Harry this is what he'd be doing today, he would have laughed at them and accuse them of drinking too much firewhiskey.
While the man continued to stare at Harry with his crooked grin, Harry just dumbly nodded at him until he finally turned away. Blinking a few times, Harry noticed that behind the retreating figure of Robin Hood, Blondie was huddled with the Xena look-alike. The Asgardians seemed to be arguing with Blondie, but broke off when the robot turned its attention to them.
Harry was quicker though, and fired another reductor at its side, knocking it off balance so the torrent of flame it fired at Blondie and Xena was off target.
Still, though, the beam was very destructive and left a deep black gouge right down the street, roasting whatever it hit. It adjusted its aim, and the blonde man evaded just in time, rushing over to join the other Asgardians, who were standing in a semicircle out of the line of fire. They were arguing again, if the waved hands and angry faces were any indication.
Taking a deep breath, Harry stepped back out into the street, wand at the ready. He needed to end this soon, but didn't know if brute force was going to do the trick. The two reductor hits he'd gotten in had definitely damaged it, but the bands seemed to slide around its torso and somehow repair itself. A single shot probably wouldn't be enough, no matter what he cast; the thing seemed to soak up damage incredibly well. He briefly considered fiendfyre, but that might not have any effect on it, considering that it could generate such a powerful fire itself. And that spell had its own dangers associated with it, and could easily get out of his control and destroy what was left of the town.
No, he needed to use his brains, and outsmart the robot.
Harry began to catalogue everything he'd observed about it, considering where it might have a weakness. Clearly the thing's armor was not simple metal; if it was, he would have already destroyed it. He wasn't sure he had any spells strong enough to beat this Asgardian metal, so he had to use other means to disable or destroy it.
The robot had now reached almost the exact center of town, and was destroying buildings left and right. A quick glance to his right showed him Bella herding a group of people away - the last of the photo takers he hoped - and no one seemed to be in the immediate line of fire of.
Harry decided on what he was going to do, and in preparation of getting closer he cast his most powerful fire protection and cushioning spells on his clothing. He pulled a small kerchief from his belt pouch - normally used as a field tourniquet - and transfigured it into a small hood. He attached it to his collar, and cast the same protection spells on it; he didn't think he was by any means safe from its beam weapon now, but hopefully if he did get hit the full impact would be blunted.
Readying himself, Harry cast an old Hermione special, the Avis spell. A flock of crows appeared at the end of his wand, and immediately flew towards the robot. The power of the wand, however, made the number of crows particularly large: there had to be close to a hundred of them, compared to the half dozen that Hermione had conjured against Ron long ago. Harry was hoping the crows would annoy and distract the robot so it would not continue firing its weapon at him as he got closer in to prepare his trap, or at the handful of foolish people who still had not cleared the area, despite Bella's best efforts.
The bird distraction seemed to be working; the robot was now firing its weapon at the birds pecking at its head and swarming around it, and even though the beam was frying many with each blast, there were still dozens and dozens left to annoy it.
Harry wasted no time, and moved quickly off to the side, hoping to get much closer so he could try and wrap the thing up in unbreakable chains while it was distracted, and sink it into a pit of quicksand. If that failed, he considered hitting it with something sticky, and then turn that into a portkey so he could send the robot somewhere out over the ocean. The only downside of that was that he needed to touch the portkey with his wand, so he'd need to be much closer to the thing than he wanted to get.
'It's a shame I don't know the coordinates of any volcanoes, that might keep it busy for a while, buried under all that lava,' he thought to himself.
The birds, meanwhile, were still doing their job: the thing was swatting at the birds, as firing its beam at them was only partially successful as the crows were very alert and quick.
When Harry was maybe fifteen feet away and almost completely facing its back, he began to cast; he turned the ground under its feet to mud with the consistency of quicksand, which caused the robot to stumble as it immediately began to sink into the ground. It must have been very heavy, as the mud was past its ankles and almost to its knees in just a few seconds. Harry cast again, essentially boring out a pit under the ground for the quicksand, so he could make the quicksand deeper. He wanted to sink that thing down until it couldn't climb out, but it was proving to be difficult: Harry knew that the deeper the hole and the more sludge he transfigured, the harder the spell was to cast and the more effort that it took. Furthermore, he could only see the quicksand's top layer, and transfiguring something you couldn't see visually required tremendous concentration and power.
Essentially, Harry was boring a hole deep into the ground while and transfiguring the dirt - all at the same time, and without being able to see it.
Not an easy task.
When the robot was knee-deep, the spell became harder and harder to hold. Nevertheless, he gritted his teeth against the strain and kept going; he wanted to make it so deep that the robot would be contained and unable to escape, and then they could figure out a way to dispatch it permanently.
The robot, however, suddenly stopped trying to climb its way free, and - much to Harry's surprise -showed a cunning intelligence that made it much more dangerous than he'd thought. Ignoring the few remaining birds, the robot turned its head downwards, firing its beam weapon at the soggy ground that it was sinking in. When the hot flame hit the quicksand, the water in the mud instantly boiled away, creating a hot steam cloud that stung Harry's eyes and made it impossible to see. The squeals of the crows - probably immolated by the hot steam - reached his ears, and a few seconds later the steam cleared.
Harry watched in dismay as the quicksand had been torched and was now hard baked as desert sand. With humiliating ease, the robot's trapped feet seemed to effortlessly pull themselves free from the compacted dirt, stepping out of the hole like it was climbing up stairs.
When it cleared the hole with no discernible damage save for muddy feet, it imperiously turned itself completely around until it was facing Harry, staring at him for several long seconds, contemplating him.
Staring up at its blank, unknowable face and unnerved by the intelligence it had shown, Harry couldn't decide if the robot now acknowledged him as a real threat, or was just trying to show that Harry's efforts were futile and his defeat was inevitable.
For a brief second it occurred to Harry that he might be outmatched, that he should grab Bella and get them away, returning with a full Auror force with him; but he pushed that thought away; he knew it simply wasn't in his nature to retreat if innocents were in harm's way.
Harry was going to fight, like he always did. With a deep breath, he readied himself, the Elder Wand pulsing in his fist, his aura flaring around him again.
Bella had watched Harry fight the robot, feeling helpless but knowing there was nothing she could do. From her position about a hundred feet away, Bella was frightened for Harry as he stood alone against the monstrous machine. The pair looked like a pair of old western gunslingers, staring each other down before the final showdown kicked off.
As the maw of the robot opened and the flame gathered, Bella grit her teeth and willed her shield out to protect him. She felt her barrier form and flow from her wand - and some part of her mind recognized that this was the first time she'd successfully cast her shield from her wand, and was amazed how much more control she had - but Harry was too far away for the shield to reach. It seemed like it had a range limit, something she hadn't thought about, and its range was not enough to cover him from where she stood. She was forced to watch helplessly as her shield thinned and petered out while it was still thirty or so feet from him.
Harry had, of course, felt Bella's magic flare; but he did not turn his head, his concentration fully focused on the robot. As its beam coalesced and it took aim, he had no intention of trying to shield against it. He'd already seen that even if he could protect himself from the heat, the impact could still propel him backwards like it did to the two Asgardians who smashed through the coffee shop.
Even as the beam left its face, Harry was twisting on the spot, apparating away. In the blink of an eye, he popped back in off to the side of the robot, maybe twenty feet away from it, not quite close enough to try his portkey trick yet. The robot hesitated for a moment, clearly not expecting his apparition, and it took a few seconds before it noticed him and turned to fire.
But Harry hadn't paused. With one smooth motion, he transfigured some of the debris on the street into thick iron chains, using his wand to levitate them well above the robot's head and immediately casting an unbreakable charm on them as they hung in the air, hoping that they would hold so he could portkey the robot away, trussed up and harmless.
However, the robot again showed its intelligence: just as he was about to wrap the robot up in the chains, it tilted its head upwards, and Harry watched in frustration as the beam hit them dead-on, sending them rocketing skyward and out over the desert, blasted away and far out of reach.
While it was still tilted up, Harry cast another powerful reductor straight at its head; a loud, ringing 'gong' echoed on the street, and the robot stumbled to the side, its entire head again rotating until it was suddenly looking right at Harry again, a large dent in its neck.
Harry jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding its beam, and cast another powerful reductor at its chest; even as it reared back, he cast again, and again, all aimed at close to the same spot on its upper chest. Each blast knocked the robot back, forcing it away, preventing it from taking aim and using its weapon.
After another 'gong' rang through the streets, Harry saw the first sign of significant denting on its armored chassis, and the robot was finally stunned for a moment, almost knocked off its feet. Perhaps if he could hit one spot repeatedly, maybe he could break through to its internal powerplant and fry it.
While he pondered this, an exclamation to his right broke his concentration. He turned cautiously, and saw a dark haired woman trying to stop Blondie from entering the fray. To his dismay, however, the blonde man proved what an idiot he was; he walked right out onto the street, alone, straight up to the robot without any fear whatsoever.
Harry cursed at this man's actions; he wanted to hit the thing again, but he knew the blonde was too close now: if it fired its beam, the blonde guy was dead as Harry would never be able to summon him out of the way in time.
As he stood ready, he watched Blondie as he looked up at the robot with a forlorn look on his face that Harry did not understand. Even so, with the large blonde man next to it, Harry could now really appreciate just how massive the robot was. It had to be at least twelve feet tall and as wide across as two men. It was a thing of menace and intimidation, bigger even than the mountain troll Harry had fought in Hogwarts.
Stepping closer, Harry casually tossed a listening charm towards the pair, allowing him hear the words that Blondie was saying, which was difficult over the background noise of crackling fire and sirens.
"...have done to wrong you, Brother, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent. Taking their lives will gain you nothing. So take mine, and end this."
Listening to the blonde man speak, Harry realized he spoke with a very similar accent to Loki and that Robin Hood had spoken with earlier.
Just who was this man?
Even as he pondered this, he held his breath, his wand held ready. He was prepared to try and summon the blonde away if needed, and inched closer to better his odds.
A long second passed, but then, to Harry's surprise, the faceplate of the robot slid closed. It looked down at the blonde for another moment and then it slowly began to turn away. Finally letting out his breath, his eyes moved to find Bella, a small smile forming on his lips when he saw her unharmed, just some dirt and smudges marring her cheeks and clothes.
However, her eyes suddenly looked past him and towards the robot, widening with shock. Swiveling back around, Harry saw a sudden motion in his peripheral vision.
With a tremendous back-handed swipe, the robot struck the blonde man, its forearm and hand catching him in the upper chest and face. A loud 'crack' sounded and the man was sent careening down the street, tumbling end over end like a broken doll. Harry winced as the sound of the blow - clearly indicating shattered bones - echoed across the street, and he feared that the blow might have been a fatal one.
When the man finally settled, flat and splayed on his back, Harry began to walk forward, spotting two tremendous gashes on his chest and the beginning of a massive bruise on his face. Worse, the rise and fall of the man's chest looked wrong, like one side wasn't moving at all, and blood began to soak through the shirt.
Angry and ready to drive this robot from the town, Harry's magic poured forth, and he raised his wand, a curse forming on his lips. However, to his surprise, the robot turned away and began to stride off, walking past the wreckage and the huddled crowds, straight towards the open desert without slowing.
Harry hesitated, unsure what to do. If he shot the thing in the back, he had no doubt it would turn and they'd fight again; and loathe as he was to admit it, there was a chance it might be able to withstand him and more lives might be lost...
Gritting his teeth, he decided to let the thing leave, and he'd only re-engage it deep in the desert, where no one else could be hurt.
As it walked away with a casual strut - as if it hadn't just destroyed half a town and killed who knew how many - Harry clenched his fist, promising himself he was going to educate himself on spells specifically designed to destroy armor and metal. He did not have many in his repertoire, as most of his spells that caused direct damage were either flame based or designed to destroy stone or flesh; his opponents had, in the main, been other wizards, magical creatures, or stone structures. Wizard dwellings didn't have much metal in them, and this was a weakness Harry knew he'd need to overcome.
When the robot continued on without pausing, Harry turned back towards the injured man, hoping he might be able to help, despite his limited skill in healing. At the very least, maybe he could stabilize him enough to get him to a real healer; there was no way he knew how to repair collapsed lungs and pulverized bone. He didn't stop walking closer, however, but winced when he heard the man's breath rattling in his crushed chest, a small frothy pink bubble at his lips.
Deep down, he knew this guy was not going to make it without a miracle.
Bella rushed up to Harry and took his hand, giving it a squeeze in support. While he walked, he looked down gratefully at her sooty face, running his fingers along her cheek, wanting to kiss her and thank Merlin that she was unharmed.
Bella smiled, pressing her face against his hand, exhausted in mind and body. When she opened her eyes, she saw people running behind Harry, and she looked past him, towards the injured man. She looked up at Harry then, and he saw the worry and horror in her eyes. They turned, and walked back to the man, their hands held together, squeezing each other in mutual support.
Despite his doubt at being able to really help if the man was as seriously wounded as he suspected, Harry knew a few diagnostic spells that could tell him how badly he was hurt. He raised his wand to cast them, but the woman that the blonde man had been arguing with earlier was now huddled over him, crying, and the group of Asgardians had also approached and were standing a few feet away, looking sadly down on the scene.
Harry again wondered just who this man was, and what his connection was to these Asgardians. By all appearances, and judging by his injuries, he was just a mortal man.
Shaking his head, Harry reached an arm to move the woman clear just as the man's breathing began to falter, a final rattle leaving his lips, and he died, maimed, there on the street.
The woman cried harder, shaking her head in denial, and Bella sniffled at Harry's side, clearly upset at the death of this brave man. Harry wrapped his left arm around Bella and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. "I'm sorry, Bella," he rasped, trying to comfort her.
"Me too," she answered, her voice quavering. They stood in a silent hug while the woman continued to mourn. Bella finally turned her bloodshot eyes up, looking at Harry with a bewildered look. "Why did that thing come here?"
He shook his head, having no answer, and raised his hand to wipe her tear stained face; but then he saw the Asgardians suddenly look up in the sky, their eyes wide and alert. Following their gaze, Harry saw a white streak shooting up from the desert, a faint whistling sound carried on the wind behind it. He squinted, shielding his eyes with his wand hand to see better, and saw an arcing beam of light shooting up. It seemed to take a ballistic trajectory, and at its zenith it seemed like its downward curve was heading straight for the town.
"Merlin's Balls," muttered Harry. "What now?"
Even as the light got brighter, he felt a sudden build-up of static electricity, like ozone, all around the body of the blonde. The older van driver-man began frantically pulling the grieving brunette away, and Harry realized he had the right idea, as the static was now building up so much that his hair felt electrified. Another glance up showed the arcing light seemed to be heading straight down towards their position.
Something strange was going on, but Harry needed to get himself and Bella clear. He had no idea what was coming at them.
He grabbed her hand and began to pull her away and back towards the group of people she'd been standing with: locals, he'd guess, by their attire. They were also gazing skyward, but Harry spent a moment looking over Bella to really make sure she was okay when she stumbled. She was covered in ash and soot, and her hair was a mess and her cheeks smudged black. She noted his concern, gave him a small nod and a reassuring smile. He let out a breath, knowing she was okay, and then turned his attention back to the sky, pulling her along.
The whistling sound had increased and the object was approaching, fast. Following the thing as it fell, he saw it was leaving contrails like a jetliner would, but was still too small and distant to make out its shape or what it was.
As impact seemed imminent, the next second seemed to freeze in Harry's mind. As he tensed, prepared for the streaking object to crash into the street, the dead blonde man suddenly seemed to re-animate, and raised a heavily muscled arm straight up, opening his fist with perfect timing for the object to careen straight into his hand. At precisely the same moment, the static electricity that had built-up exploded into gleaming electric bolts, like mini lightning flashes that were arcing in all directions from the object, which was now held upright in the clenched fist of the blonde.
With the object no longer moving, Harry finally got a good look at it.
It was the hammer he'd discussed with Hermione: Mjolnir.
Weapon of the Thunder God, Thor of Asgard.
Even as Harry gawked at the man who he now realized was Thor himself, the lightning brightened considerably, completely blotting out visibility around Mjolnir. The hammer itself seemed to be the source of the electrical storm, bolts flying everywhere and a stiff wind swirling around it. It soon became too light to look at, but just before he looked away Harry had a last impression that the blonde man - Thor - was somehow alive and back on his feet, clad in armor with a cape fluttering at his back, the hammer held up over his head, lightning blasting outwards from it like it was a charged dynamo.
In his mind, Harry would admit he had seen a lot of amazing things since entering the Wizarding World; but this one - a dead man...Asgardian?... somehow calling on his enchanted hammer from miles away, and then coming back to life in the middle of a lightning storm which he now - , in an outrageous and unbelievable display of power - seemed to control?
Unable to look at the searing white lightning, Harry became peripherally aware that Thor's impressive display had caught the robots attention. It swiveled around, and faced the now armored and very impressive looking Thor with its full attention. Without pause, it lined itself up to fire its beam, but Thor moved faster, his arm slinging forward, the hammer flying straight into the robot's face, knocking its head to the side and sending its beam astray.
Harry watched in amazement as Mjolnir zipped straight back into Thor's outstretched hand, before being thrown again, knocking the robot off its feet, something that his strongest reductor had not been able to do.
Grimly, Harry started forward. Between the two of them, he was now confident they could stop this thing for good.
However, even as Harry approached, Thor turned towards him with a small smile and spoke with a voice full of authority. "I thank you, Seidman, for your efforts and aid today, and am glad to call you ally. But the Destroyer was sent here by my brother to kill me, and this fight is mine. See to any injured." And with that friendly but firm dismissal, Thor marched resolutely forward, his hammer already spinning by its leather strap, ready to be unleashed on the robot that Harry finally had a name for: 'The Destroyer.'
A rain of furious blows followed, and then Thor was flying, streaking through the air as he held onto his enchanted hammer. Harry's eyes tracked him upwards, aware of Bella back at his side, grasping his arm and looking skyward with him, her jaw open and eyes wide.
It didn't take long after that; Thor somehow created a massive vortex and sucked The Destroyer straight off the ground, and then the dust clouds hid everything from sight. A few moments later a massive fireball erupted, followed by a large crash.
When the dust cleared, a completely uninjured Thor strode arrogantly out of the dust cloud, striding up to the woman who had cried over his body not five minutes ago.
Bella looked up at Harry, and he suspected her face looked as dumbfounded as his. After all the tense danger of the past half hour, Thor ended the fight in under a minute.
Taking a deep breath, wondering what to do now, Harry spotted Coulson and some other agents jumping from their black vehicles. He seriously thought about slipping away with Bella and getting a well deserved drink, but when Coulson looked in his direction, he knew he was spotted.
"Merlin's balls," he muttered. "I hope there isn't a lot of paperwork from this."
A/N - took me 40 days to write this chapter, had tons and tons of trouble with it. Wasnt sure how much of canon Avengers to change, decided to just twig it a bit. Still not sure if I should have or not - considered having all Harry's stuff happen 'behind the scenes' - but I think it came out okay.
let me know! you are my only source of feedback!