AN: It's a long one today. I couldn't really find a good place to split it so this is the two planned chapters made into a big one.
April 2014, Avengers Tower
Harry stood at the head of the table looking at his teammates. They all looked better rested and since the attack on the tower. While they were happy the amount of tech making its way to the everyday criminals slowed down, they were feeling uneasy about the lack of sightings for the escaped convicts and their new allies. Shaking off his thoughts he stood up straight.
"Alright let's get this done." Harry said as he gathered everyone's attention. "This," he said, summoning up a hologram in the center of the table showing a large building, "is our new compound for training new heroes. With most of the easily visible vigilantes and heroes already signed up we can now focus on starting up their actual training and gearing them up." Harry paused as he passed around a set of documents. "This is a set of guidelines and rules that will be signed as a sort of goodwill contract for each new hero that works with us."
"We can't go arming random people and not have some sort of protection for ourselves and image." Tony piped up as he ignored the document. "While my name won't be branded on the side of this gear, it won't stop people from blaming us if these new hopefuls go around destroying public property."
"Who's going to lead this 'compound'? Do any of us need to be there at all times?" Steve asked as he finally put down the mock contract.
"Fury is sending us one of the best to help run S.H.A.D.E.." He paused as the door opened and Maria Hill walked in the room, took a seat and nodded at Harry, "The best of course being Ms. Hill. Of course we can be on site to help with training, and I'm hoping you take the time to do so, but it isn't a requirement. I know Nat will be busy for some time with a SHIELD assignment starting soon and Clint is taking a small vacation. This isn't a requirement for being on the team, I'm just hoping we can prepare for future events such as this by training some back-up. Imagine how much less stress there would have been if we had a team or two behind us to handle some of the work these past few months." Harry explained getting nods from everyone at the table as he pulled another set of folders out of thin air. He passed them along and tapped a couple of things on the screen embedded in the table. Soon the image of the compound was replaced with a series of pictures.
"Are these our new trainees?" Clint asked as he inspected the folder and saw a file on each person pictured.
"That's right." Harry answered as he pulled and threw up a file as a picture expanded from the side. "This is a list of the most valuable recruits. Most of the people in this folder are of sufficient power, ability, or quality that they could head their own team."
"They look mighty! Sparring with them will be fun!" Thor said with excitement as he inspected various people listed. From there the meeting devolved into a who can beat who discussion. Even Maria Hill relaxed and had a good time creating various matchups between the new recruits and the original team. Laughter was in abundance for the rest of the day as they ranked powers and abilities, talking about what powers would work best with other teammates and what powers they would love to have. The entire time Tony and Harry were throwing glances at each other planning on trying to work out ways to expand these powers and maximize their effectiveness.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
Across town in a dark subway tunnel Stane stood behind Egghead as he set up a complicated device. A few minutes later Egghead stood up and patted his hands on his coat.
"It's done." Egghead said as he turned towards Stane, "After setting up the next six payloads we'll be ready to take action." Egghead explained as he moved his tools back into the van nearby.
"Good." Stane said with a grin as he eyed the glowing contraption. "Holding the city hostage, we can request whatever we want. Tomorrow the Avengers will fall and we will hold all the power." Stane's face held a frightening level of malevolence as he got into the van. "Send word to Magneto, 'The plan starts at noon.'"
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
The next day Harry and Tony were working in the lab on their med-bed project when Harry's phone started blaring. Rushing over to the table it was sitting on Harry was incensed to learn the X-Mansion was under siege by the Brotherhood. As he turned to tell Tony to call the team the tower shook causing them both to stumble.
"Tony! Come out and face me!" Stane's voice boomed from outside the building.
"The X-Mansion is under attack." Harry said quickly. Tony just gave him a nod as he summoned his armor to prepare for battle. Luckily for them the entire team was in house today. So Harry faded from the lab leaving the Avengers to battle Stane and his group on their own.
His vision cleared and showed the mansion under siege, the X-Men already in battle with the Brotherhood, but several other members were attacking the kids. From his position he could see Rogue and Colossus trying to protect the kids who didn't know how to fight and other non-combatants. Suppressing his rage, he started slinging spells at a blistering pace, ignoring even his sorcery in favor of a veritable hail of spells.
The grunts attacking the kids soon found themselves being transfigured into animals, hung by their ankles, wrapped in ropes, or hit with one of the more nasty curses causing them to be cut, burned, or blasted. Harry was forced to block blasts and attacks from all sides as he fought through the battlefield. He had just pulled Toads tongue and knocked him unconscious when one of the fattest people he had ever seen walked in front of him. Not wanting to deal with it he just transfigured him into a pig and moved past him.
When the grunts attacking the kids were dealt with he rushed off to find his own but was halted in his steps when he heard Wand scream.
"TEDDY!" Popping across the battlefield he found Wanda fighting off two guys as a woman with blue skin walked away holding an unconscious Teddy. With a scream Harry blasted out a tempest of wind and fire that blew away all the attackers in the area. He sent a few stunners at the grounded fire starter and powerlifter. The blue woman he could now recognize as Mystique turned and looked at him in fear.
Popping behind her he placed his hand on the back of her head causing her body to freeze under the effects of his petrification. Slowly he walked in front of her and pulled Teddy into his arms and checked him over only to sigh in relief when he found him fine, just drugged. Not looking back he snapped his fingers and Mystique's eyes only had a moment to widen before she collapsed into cubes.
Magneto smiled as he fielded the attacks from Xavier's students. He was at first apprehensive about working with Stane and his ilk, but was persuaded by the man's ambitions. When they won he would be building a new world order and Mutants were on the short list for lead positions. Hearing the scream from the little witch that was one of the targets he looked over only to freeze when his dear Mystique was killed so quickly. Looking at the man who now held the child he was stunned when his head turned and made direct eye contact with him.
Erik was confused, he was standing in the middle of a field with no idea how he got here. Looking around he didn't see any people or buildings, only a near endless grassland, the sky a generic blue with no clouds. Unexpectedly an image was projected into the sky, his entire life, the choices he has made, and the consequences all played out in what felt like days but was only moments. When it was over he found a man standing before him.
"You really are the worst sort of hypocrite." Harry said nonchalantly as he looked over the middle aged mutant. Erik tried to reply but his body refused to move. "I can understand trying to protect your people from oppression and hate, to try and build a new life for all of the exiled. You just enjoy the power it brings you too much to hide away and really protect them." Harry shook his head as he looked back up at the sky. "You should never have targeted my kids Magneto. Enjoy this place. You'll be here until you die." He then disappeared leaving Erik to run and scream into the empty area with nothing but his own thoughts.
Back on the battlefield it was only a few seconds of eye contact before Magneto suddenly fell out of the sky. The Brotherhood and X-Men all stopped and stared at the now prone Omega Level mutant. Xavier wore a worried look as he slowly moved to his long time friend and foe. Soon the entire battlefield was quiet as the Brotherhood realized that several of their members were heavily injured and Mystique, the second in command, was dead. That sobered everyone up as none of the prior battles with the X-Men had ever resulted in a death. That was when they noticed the unfamiliar man standing with a toddler and a pair of twins.
Harry was checking on the twins and healing a few small scrapes they had gained during the bout of fighting. Looking up he noticed everyone staring at him.
"What happened to Erik?" Xavier asked as he looked at him. "I can't rouse him."
"It's an ancient Egyptian curse, created by the wizards of a particularly nasty Pharaoh. It traps the mind of the cursed person, leaving them to wander in their own mind never to escape." Harry explained blandly as he stepped in front of the twins and handed off Teddy to Wanda.
"Can you fix it?" Xavier asked almost pleadingly.
"Of course," A breath of relief seemed to come from Xavier but was cut off as Harry continued, "but I won't."
"Why?!"
"He deserves it. I've seen his mind, he's convinced of his own superiority and has no qualms about killing in cold blood." Harry said easily, "You not wanting to put down your lifelong friend does not excuse the many people he's killed in the name of mutant superiority. This way he's still alive and no longer a threat to me or mine."
"You can't do th-" Xavier's rant was cut off mid sentence as magic poured from Harry's body. Strands of lightning and fire curled around him, green and black wisps flowed around him like smoke.
"He targeted my children Charles. He was going to kidnap MY KIDS!" Harry's cold voice sparked into an enraged scream as his magic exploded . He slowly advanced towards the chair bound telepath, "It Is only because of you that he still breathes. It would cause me no loss of sleep to simply snap his neck, but I knew how close you two were and spared him for you." Harry finished with a hard poke into Xavier's chest. He stood back and swept his gaze across the other invaders. "Look at all of you, attacking a school. You are all the worst sort of people. I've dealt with monsters who attacked kids before and the only thing allowing you to keep your heads is the fact that despite the number of times you've attacked the mansion in the past, the death toll has been zero."
"You killed Mystique!" Charles shot back as he gave Harry a hard glare. Harry just snapped his fingers again causing the cubes of Mystique to reassemble themselves and show an unconscious blue mutant. Everyone watching was baffled by what happened. Even the X-Men, who were familiar with Harry's magic, had never seen him do something like that.
"I didn't kill anyone, despite my misgivings." Harry said as he gave a pointed look at the standing Brotherhood members. Seeing him glare they all moved off to the side and waited. He looked at Xavier who was staring mournfully at his friend and sighed. "Look, give him some time in solitary confinement and we can go into his mind and talk to him."
"A chance at redemption is all I need." Xavier replied. He watched as Harry nodded and walked over to the twins who quickly hugged him. Sighing he shook his head. He could understand where Harry was coming from, but it didn't make it any easier to admit he might be wrong. Looking over at Harry he saw him give the twins a hug and kiss to the crown of their head before he faded away again. This caused him to frown. "Ororo."
"Yes professor?" Storm asked as she landed next to him.
"Do you know why Harry left so suddenly? I would have expected him to stick around after such a big battle." Ororo looked over to the twins after Xavier asked that question and frowned.
"I don't know but I'll ask." Soon enough Ororo was back after asking the twins what happened. "There's an attack in New York. It seems Magneto came here specifically for the twins and Teddy as a distraction or hostages." Ororo said with a glare at the nearby Brotherhood members.
Xavier frowned at the downed form of his friend and felt even worse about questioning Harry. He looked south towards the city and sighed, "Get the Brotherhood members out of here and bring Erik to the medical wing. We need to clean-up this mess."
"Aren't we going to help the Avengers?" Scott asked from behind them.
"No. We can't risk exposing ourselves on the big stage just yet." Xavier said with a tired sigh, his continence seeming much older than previously. "Even now officials are going to be fighting to control the Avengers after all the damage caused by enhanced criminals in the past few months. If we tossed the mutant problem on top, public favor may just turn on our local hero team."
The rest of the X-Men nodded even if they didn't like it. They hadn't made any big moves in public yet and only reacted to the Brotherhood's actions. They all led the Brotherhood off to the side to talk to them while Ororo stared towards the city in worry.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
Tony watched as Harry faded before even donning his suit. Frowning in worry he quickly put on his own suit before flying through an emergency hatch Harry had recommended he install in the tower. Flying up through it he soon found himself flying above the city and what he saw was not good. All over he could see people with weapons, robots flying in the sky causing havoc, and Stane floating just outside the tower.
"What are you doing, Stane?!" Tony yelled at his former mentor. "Why do this to innocents?!"
"Tony, Tony, Tony, you just don't understand. Why should we care about these people? We are better than them, it's our right to have what we want. I want the power and prestige stolen from me and I'll do anything to get it back." Stane said as he powered up the weapons in his suit, "Even if that means creating a new world order!" He finished as he fired several beams.
Tony dodged the beams as he flew by and blasted at Stane with his repulsors. Stane didn't dodge and instead a purple field surrounded him long enough to block them.
"I've upgraded Tony. You're behind the times!" Stane said with a grunt as he pushed his arms together. The arms fused into a giant cannon that fired a large beam that nearly cut a nearby skyscraper in half. Tony, seeing the damage, rushed Obie and grabbed his linked arms from below. His suit discharged a huge amount of electricity causing Stane to scream out in pain. As his suit dropped from the sustained flight.
Tony was about to dismantle the suit when he heard a roar and was slammed in the back with a car. He heard a secondary roar coming from the tower and watched as Hulk jumped from the penthouse balcony before he slammed into a nearby building. Grunting he pried the car off himself and gave an awkward look to the surrounding people in the office.
"I'd recommend getting underground folks." Tony said with a small wave as he flew back out of the building. Scanning the area he saw Hulk fighting off Stane and Abomination and dropped down to give him some back up. Pulling up behind Blonsky he fired his chest beam, blasting the giant man into a combo from Hulk that ended with Abomination getting uppercut into a parked bus and not moving. Hulk and Tony both turned and started chasing down Stane.
Tony was just about to deploy a runic bomb when Moonstone came flying out of nowhere and sucker punched Hulk sending him sprawling. She flew up and joined Stane in battling Tony who used all his maneuverability and ranged attacks to fend them off.
"Duck!" Tony instinctively ducked and watched as Moonstone took a shield directly to the face. It disrupted her attack allowing Tony to single out Stane and push him back. Black Widow came skating in and smacked Moonstone in the back with her new favorite weapon, Ymir's Staff. The blond villain was smashed into the ground and covered in frost.
Tony was feeling hopeful until the robots and grunt started to group up and support the ringleaders. Blast after blast left his arms and shoulders as the battle continued to prolong. Tony lost track of the others as the battle spread and the different members of this villain group paired off.
"Give it up Tony. We're better equipped and ready to do anything to get what we want." Stane said as he pulled up a holo screen from his arm showing several bombs. "Regardless if we win or have to retreat, New York will forever remember the day that the Avengers failed. When that happens and we hold more cities hostage, we could ask for anything we wanted." Tony panicked but knew he had to keep fighting regardless.
"Jarvis, run scans of those images and find where they're all located." Tony said in a low voice.
"Yes sir." Tony watched as a search was minimized to the side and reengaged Obie. He hoped Harry would show back up soon.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
Hulk roared in pain as the Abomination grappled with him, keeping him from blocking the multitude of attacks on his back. Hawkeye sent dozens of energy arrows through the sky, picking off the veritable army of bots and mercenaries attacking them before he rushed off to dodge a retaliatory strike. Tony flew by releasing several runic bombs to clear out the extras while still fighting off Stane and the dozens of flying bots aiding him. Thor was busy fighting Moonstone in the sky, battling her blasts with lightning.
Natasha was freezing and shooting anything she came across while fending off attacks from Viper. Suddenly a storm of lightning fell, wiping out a chunk of enemies and freeing her up to go on the offensive. Moving forward she flipped up and used her staff to increase her jump before she pulled it up and swung it with all the momentum she had. Viper's eye widened as she tried to dodge the heavy attack but was sent flying by the wave of ice and snow. Groaning she got up only to pull an icicle from her arm with a grunt. Looking up she saw Black Widow skating across the ice at a quick speed so she flipped on her good arm and tossed out a series of incendiaries.
Nat's eye widened as she pushed down on the staff causing her to fly up. She waved the staff and generated a large amount of icy wind to try and reduce the damage from the bombs but was pleasantly surprised when an earthen wall covered the explosives. Turning she saw Harry flying down from the sky flinging spells at the horde of enemies, "Sorry I'm late."
"Better late than never." She quipped as she jumped back into the fray.
"Is that you Gandalf?" Tony's voice spoke up on the comms as Harry started creating a veritable army of golems and sending them after the enemy.
"Yeah. Evidently the Brotherhood was working with these asshats." Harry said as he waved his arm and blocked off the entrances of nearby buildings, trapping the enemy forces on the street. He and Nat were wading through them taking them out and reducing the robot army flying through the air.
"Yeah, well pull out your phone." Tony told him so Harry let Natasha take the lead as he pulled out his phone and saw several images of bombs set up in dark tunnels.
"What the hell?!"
"I know. We need to take care of those before anything happens that damages the foundations of the city. Based on the yellowish gl-" Tony's voice cut off as a huge explosion rocked the New York skyline. A few moments passed and Harry started to worry before Tony's voice cut back in. "As I was saying. That yellowish glow reminds me of those corrosion bombs. If they go off the whole island could collapse. I have Jarvis running scans of photos online to match the areas but I figured…"
"That I could use the photos as reference to pop over there and deal with them?" Harry asked as he summoned a huge gust of wind and pulled the flying bots down from the sky. Harry saw Nat fighting Viper and sent a overpowered cutting curse and removed her sword arm mid swing. Nat capitalized on this and smacked her in the head with her staff taking her out of the fight.
"Go, I can handle this." Nat said as she gave him a look. Nodding her looked at the first photo and created a portal. Walking though it he saw the bomb nearby and hesitated, unsure of what to do.
Frowning he suddenly smacked his head and waved his hand creating a giant air bubble around the bomb. When it was done he opened a portal and watched the bomb be sucked through before closing it just before the air bubble popped. Not wanting to waste anymore time he looked at the next picture. It took him nearly ten minutes to find all of them, because one of the pictures wasn't detailed enough to open a portal so he had to use the point me spell. Instead of his wand rotating though there was a glowing arrow, he had modified years ago, when he stopped using his wand, to make a floating arrow of light instead. When it was done he patched back into comms and faded to the battlefield.
"I finished Tony." Harry said as he flew around and destroyed the rapidly declining robot army. Scanning for his teammates he found Black Widow and Hawkeye battling back to back in the stone corridor he created as Moonstone and Thor fought above them. Hulk made a surprise appearance as he fell to the earth with his arm snuggly around the neck of Abomination. Abomination took the brunt of the damage as he collided face first with the concrete ground
"Good." Tony replied before he suddenly unleashed a massive unibeam from his hands and chest, blasting Stane out of the sky. "So what did you do?" Tony asked breathlessly as he took a moment to rest.
"Portaled them to space. Took a lot of power to fight the vacuum with an air bubble, but it worked." Harry explained as the team slowly grouped up. Thor finished up his fight and knocked the blond unconscious before tossing her on top of Abomination. Viper, still missing an arm, was dragged over and Tony personally ripped Obadiah out of his suit before tossing him on the pile.
"Where's Killian and the sixth member?" Clint asked as he looked over the destroyed area. They were all startled when a loud explosion rippled through the street. Turning they saw the ground around Stark Tower start to dissolve and panicked. Harry moved first as he pushed with all the magic he had to repair and reinforce the collapsing ground. Looking up he could see startled faces on every floor of the tower and pushed harder.
Tony instantly started scanning the area looking for weak points to focus on. "These are weak points that need more reinforcement." Tony said quickly as he sent out little flares to pinpoint the areas for Harry.
Thor, Hulk, Widow, and Hawkeye could only watch as Tony and Harry tried to keep the building from collapsing so they were ready for action when a man with an oddly egg-shaped head flew down on a small platform. He sent a round object at the downed villains before pulling up, but not fast enough to escape Thor who immediately blasted him out of the sky with lightning.
Widow and Hawkeye both watched the object hit the villains before it poured out orange smoke that disappointed quickly but the damage was done. Soon enough the five out of commission villains were waking up and screaming as their bodies started to change. Each of them gained an orange tint and rocky protrusions. Stane was the most notable, as his skinny body bulked up in seconds while he woke with a scream. Viper regained her lost arm and rolled off the abomination as she dry heaved on the ground. Abomination seemed to get even bigger as his swamp-like skin turned brownish orange. Moonstone showed the least amount of changes, the only one being her hair that gained some highlights, she didn't even scream but woke up. Hawkeye fired a blasting rune arrow but it was blocked as Killian ran in and snatched it out of the air.
"Thought this was over?" Killian asked snidely as he broke the arrow shaft and tossed it away. He looked much bulkier than the last time he was seen and had those strange protrusions on his skin as well, but his fiery veins were still glowing. Stomping on the ground he rushed forward trying to punch Hawkeye only to have his attack blocked by the god of thunder.
Thor used a back handed swing to hit him and sent him flying into the now standing form of Blonsky. Hulk roared as he jumped into the fray only to receive a vicious uppercut from Abomination. Nat moved in and tried to tie down Viper but realized this was a whole new enemy as she moved much faster and hit much harder than before.
A shield came flying from the side and knocked into Viper's head with a thunk as Steve finally made it back. He jumped into the fray immediately and used his shield to block the blasts from the now flying Moonstone. Widow capitalized on the surprise hit and struck her foe in the chest, freezing her to the ground. Tony, seeing the battle, left Harry to hold up the building and blasted away Killian, who was trying to ambush both Widow and Cap from behind.
Viper broke the ice trapping her before she jumped up and sprinted after Widow, who was now teamed up with Hawkeye to bring down Killian. Overhead Tony was battling Moonstone as Thor and Stane were exchanging blows. Once Stane had some breathing room he pulled a device from his pocket and summoned over a set of weapons and used them to blast back Thor before focusing on Tony.
Tony had just blocked a particularly powerful blast from Moonstone when he was hit in the back with a missile causing him to lose balance and spiral towards the ground. Moonstone followed up with a midair stomp that caused Tony to crater into the concrete near Hawkeye and Killian. Widow was slowly losing ground as Viper continued to attack her, the only saving grace being her skill and equipment.
Harry huffed as he continued to pour his magic into the area around the collapsing building. He was annoyed that he couldn't see exactly what was happening, but every time he fixed something it broke down again moments later. He could hear the fighting but could barely turn his head to check on everyone.
Slowly the Avengers found themselves on the back foot, Hawkeye was unconscious in a pit created by his body in the side of a building, Widow was nursing a massive injury to her leg as she continued to battle alongside Tony who now had damaged thruster from a fire blast by Killian, and Steve was wounded in his abdomen but still fighting alongside Hulk. Hulk and Thor were still in good shape, but with the other members dwindling stamina they were almost fighting 2v1 and not doing well. Hulk, with Steve's help, was taking on Abomination and Viper. Thor was fighting Moonstone and Stane. Killian was picking apart the grounded Tony and Natasha, using his massive amounts of heat to slowly destroy Iron Man suit's functions. If he didn't receive the upgrade his heat would have taken much longer to affect the vibranium.
Seeing his teammates basically losing he looked at the tower and concentrated. He had never used the reality stone in such a large area before and needed all his effort to do so. Glowing a very familiar red he slowly changed the material holding up the building from stone to metal, doing so stopped whatever was destroying it in the first place and allowed him to ease up on the massive amounts of magic he was pumping out. When the building was finally stable he sighed in relief as the strain nearly brought him to his knees.
It wasn't until he heard Tony scream out in pain that he finally had the strength to get up. He turned and saw Tony in a near melting suit and Nat beaten unconscious nearby. Moving forward he built up the needed magic, he created snow white mandalas with his hands and surged forward.
Killian had no idea what was happening and why he was suddenly cold. He looked down and saw an ice white sword thrust through his chest. It suddenly zoomed towards his face and he knew no more.
Harry let go of the construct made with the ice dimensional energies as Killian's body split into two halves and he checked on Tony. His armor was slag at parts and missing at others. Giving it up as a lost cause, he vanished the armor leaving a badly burned and unconscious Tony. Floating him and Nat over to the side, near Clint, he threw up a quick ward. Moving off he decided to help Thor first and summoned a ton of stone from the ground before pulling up.
Stane had just shot Thor in the face with a plasma gun when the ground rumbled. Looking down the last thing he saw was a spike moving too quickly to dodge.
Moonstone and Thor both stopped and watched as an Earthen spike stabbed through Stane before completely bisecting him. Harry didn't stop though and transfigured a metal snake that moved up from the ground and wrapped around Moonstone. Thor quickly slammed his hammer down, summoning a huge lightning strike that left a smoking pit and a badly beaten, but still living Moonstone.
Harry didn't stay and watch Thor deal with her and instead rushed to the aid of Hulk, who was slowly beginning to lose himself to rage as he thrashed Abomination without any fighting style he had been taught. Viper had just jumped on Hulk's back and was poised to stab his skull when she was caught with a windblade. She was sent tumbling down with a large gash. Sitting up the gash started to heal but an organ liquefying curse struck her in the face causing her eyes to melt and black sludge to seep from her orifices. With her out of the picture Harry launched a stone spike that nailed the kneecap of Blonsky, setting up a brutal finish for Hulk as he ripped the arms off Abomination.
Steve watched the end of the fight with a sigh. After they realized they killed more than they captured on missions, they had attempted to reign in that tendency with training. Looking at the destruction around them and the bombs that Harry took care of he didn't really care at the moment.
With each member down for the count and all the grunts and robots defeated or routed they just sat there. Harry was tired, using the reality stone took a huge strain on his life-force. He may be immortal but his life-force still needs to recover after spending it like that. Sighing he forced himself up. First he transfigured the bodies and surviving villains into blocks of wood and pocketed them. Then he levitated the downed members of his team, ensuring they wouldn't be jostled or moved too much. Thor, Steve, and Hulk, who hadn't changed back. Followed him as he walked into a portal leading to the medical bay of Avengers Tower.
/OO-HP•SoS-OO\
All the employees slowly came from behind walls and desks and watched the mostly down team retreat into a portal. It didn't take long for the news reporters to spread word about the attack and the actions of the Avengers. Some were calling them heroes and praising the good fight. Others condemned them for the massive damage dealt to the area around the tower.
Pepper watched the news dispassionately. She was used to the 'me, myself, and mine' comments from bystanders. It happened when they stopped the invasion and continues to happen every time the Avengers help anyone. Shaking her head she turned off the tablet and looked at the bed next to her. Tony hadn't woken up since yesterday, but Harry said that was normal and his body just needed time to recover after regrowing that much skin.
Each of the members needed some recovery time, even Thor was healing from a particularly bad gash on his back from Viper's sword, that seemed to be laced with poison. Bruce and Harry were the best off, with Harry just needing more rest and a good meal. Banner was unfortunately dealing with the idea of ripping off someone's arms, causing him to recede back to the house he stayed at with Betty. Hulk had killed before, but never anything as brutal as intentionally pulling someone's arms off. Harry understood, seeing as Bruce was a fairly gentle man, being a part of that would be hard to stomach.
Nat and Clint were awake but confined to a bed until their injuries healed. Clint had almost been crippled by the slam into the wall, as his spine was cracked. Nat on the other hand had a nice new scar on her thigh and a broken arm and ankle. If it wasn't for some of the healing spells Harry knew, their recovery would take months and instead is estimated at a few weeks.
Steve and Harry were unfortunately unable to rest. Steve, being the super soldier he is, waved off his rest and jumped into the rescue and clean-up with Harry. Summoner and Captain America could be seen all over the surrounding blocks of the tower, cleaning up parts and weapons, fixing destroyed buildings and roads, and even moving rubble to help people be rescued. They only had the time to heal their teammates and ensure they were resting before moving back out to the city.
Harry had just finished repairing a destroyed subway stop when he was accosted by the same reporter who blamed the Avengers for the invasion last time.
"Summoner! Are you and your team of vigilantes going to own up to the damages you caused the city this time?!" Harry looked at the raving man, he was older and had a bushy mustache, his hair was white on the temples and cut short up top.
"Look I don't have time to listen to you blaming me for the actions of a few crazy people. I have people to save and buildings to repair." Harry just flew away without waiting. Shaking his head he sighed. He knew public opinion would fluctuate wildly for a while, changing with every bit of information revealed, but it was still a pain in the ass.
After hours of fixing up the city and removing dangerous weapons and robot parts Harry and Steve both retired to the tower at dusk. Harry walked in through a portal with Cap but was tackled by the familiar presence of the twins. Smiling, he hugged them both before releasing them.
"It's good to see you." Harry said with a smile, "Everything okay at the mansion?"
"Yeah. Ms. Munroe and Logan were the most understanding of what happened but the Professor seemed upset for a while." Pietro said as he looked out the window. While Harry had fixed a lot of the damage you could still tell a battle was fought recently.
"I wouldn't worry about Charles. He just feels conflicted because Magneto had been friends with him for decades." Harry explained as he moved over to the couch and picked up Teddy. Steve stood behind him smiling at the little metamorphmagus, who was now awake and lively in his father's arms. Harry secretly scanned him and saw nothing wrong, causing him to sigh in relief.
"How are you doing, little guy?" Steve asked as he poked Teddy in the stomach.
"Cap! Me and Wanda played knights and dragons!" Harry smiled as Teddy attempted to tell the super soldier about a magical knight and his fearsome battle with a dragon. They all shot Harry knowing looks as it closely resembled a story he had told them about his time in school.
Teddy had already met Harry's teammates during a random weekend cookout. His favorites were of course Nat followed by Hulk and Steve who he calls Cap. It devastated Tony to not be the favorite uncle for a while. Harry told him that as Teddy got older his interests would change and Tony could teach him runes and enchanting. This seemed to cheer up the billionaire, especially when he realized he could be the cool uncle that made a bunch of neat toys.
Harry sighed as he sat down and watched Steve play on the ground with Teddy and his toys. Wanda and Pietro both sat next to him and leaned into his shoulders. The past few days were tiring, but now that they had the villains in custody or a body bag it was all over. If anything these last few moths really pushed the need for some type of back-up for their team. Remembering the different diagnosis for each member of his team made him frown. They were very close to losing today and the cost would be entirely too high. He hoped they had some time to rest, but sure enough his phone rang and the jaunty pirate tune told him exactly who was calling. Maybe he couldn't rest just yet.
AN: There are only a few chapters left of 'Book 2: The Deviation'. Next up 'Book 3: Rise of Heroes'
Reviews!
omes848484 - Yeah sorry about that last chapter. I was influenced by my current reading habits and didn't realize it until I posted it. Made me go back and see other points in the story where my current hobby would influence certain aspects of my writing. I'll endeavor not to do it again, but feel free to call me out if I make Harry a bruiser for some reason.
jacke44 - Honestly? Because I didn't think of it. So instead I'm going to tell you and mention it later in the story that the current version of Cerebro is only programed to search out mutants that have activated their powers. This is canon, as the early versions of Cerebro were limited in scope due to the programming not being as flexible as the powers of Professor X.
Monkey D. Conan - Sorry to say, but that meeting will have to wait until the next book or phase of the story.