Harry Potter: Deathly Avenger Book 2

By Stargatesg1fan1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized character or universe within.

Author's Note:

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow is played by Scarlett Johansson

Table of Contents

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April 2013, California…

Harry and Natasha approached the door of Tony Stark's home in California. It was just over a year after the events of the Chitauri invasion of New York. In that time Natasha and Harry had been all over the world visiting various places. Harry had been designing and building a place to live for them without letting Natasha know about it.

Natasha wrung the doorbell and the door shortly thereafter swung open. Harry and Natasha went inside to find Tony in his Iron-Man suit with his helmet retracted and two women talking. From Tony's S.H.I.E.L.D. file and their occasional communications over the past year Harry and Natasha recognized the one woman with red hair as Pepper Potts, Tony's girlfriend. The other woman they didn't recognize.

"Harry, Natasha," Tony said surprised. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You told us to stop by and visit," Harry pointed out.

"Is this a bad time?" Natasha questioned.

"I take it you don't watch the news. Tony just threatened a terrorist," Maya Hansen, the unidentified woman said.

Harry read Maya's name from her surface thoughts and relayed it to his girlfriend.

"I'm not getting a good vibe off of this Maya woman. I'm tempted to dig deeper," Harry suggested.

"No reason to spoil the surprise," Natasha answered. "We'll just stick around and see what is up."Aloud Natasha added, "Where we have been staying doesn't really keep up with the modern world. Most recently we've been exploring the Amazon rainforest."

"Hi, I'm Pepper," Pepper said as she strode forward and shook the hands of the two newly arrived Avengers. "And of course I know who you two are. Who doesn't."

Pepper was a little nervous to meet the being who many speculated could take out Thor, a genuine Asgardian god, if he was so inclined. The fact that he was gorgeous to boot didn't hurt either.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Pepper," Harry said. "Call me Harry."

"And call me Natasha," Natasha added.

"If this is a bad time we can come back," Harry suggested.

"No, in fact this couldn't be a better time. As Maya said Tony decided to threaten a terrorist known as the Mandarin," Pepper explained.

"Why would you do that, Tony?" Harry asked his friend.

"Well he was responsible for injuring my friend Happy Hogan," Tony replied.

"Is Happy going to be alright?" Natasha queried.

"He is expected to live," Tony confirmed.

"I could stop by the hospital where he is at and heal him," Harry offered. "I'm actually surprised you just didn't heal him with the healing bed technology."

Despite the fact that the pharmaceutical companies were putting up a major opposition to keep the healing bed technology from being put into common use Tony still had access to the technology.

"I was getting ready to do that when my anger over the situation got the better of me and I sort of publicly just declared war on the Mandarin. I have been arranging transport for Happy to a medical facility I control," Tony admitted.

"Huh," Natasha said as she stared at the giant stuffed rabbit in the corner, having just noticed it. "You know when people comment about the elephant in the room…there is a giant rabbit in this room."

"That is so you, Tony," Harry said.

"Oh shit," Maya said while looking at a TV on the wall which was showing news feed being filmed live outside of Tony's house from the circling helicopters. "Is that cause for concern?"

The news feed showed an object shooting towards Tony's home with a rocket trail behind it.

"Yes," Tony said even as Harry moved towards the balcony window where the obvious missile was heading.

"You two, stand close," Natasha directed Pepper and Maya while thumbing her belt buckle.

A semi-transparent bluish-green shield shimmered into existence surrounding the three women controlled by Natasha's mind. Harry's hands shot out and his fingers danced as he weaved complex magical threads into a construct that caused reality to bend to his will. The missile impacted Tony's home and an explosion resulted but instead of destroying Tony's home the explosion was shifted slightly out of phase with the dimension of spacetime non-magicals inhabited. The explosion occurred and the light from it still showed in the normal spacetime but the force of the blast was shunted to where it couldn't harm Tony's home or any of the inhabitants. Harry weaved an illusion which made it seem like the explosion did a great deal of damage.

There was a pause after the initial missile for the projectile had been sent from quite a distance. More missiles and large caliber gun-fire began to rapidly assault the cliff-side home. Harry focused and controlled his illusion to making it seem like the home was collapsing into the sea.

"Do we need to do anything?" Tony asked Natasha.

"Just don't disturb him," Natasha answered.

Harry made the illusion complete with sound and even the air pressure wave from all the falling debris. The sight was spectacular as a piano, cars, furniture, and even a few bodies that looked just like Tony and Pepper came sliding out of the house. Then the structure of the house fell on top of those illusory bodies. Harry watched as the attack helicopters flew off and then anchored the enchantment into Tony's home that made the house and surroundings look utterly devastated and gone in the case of the actual house. It was much like the enchantment that had protected Hogwarts from muggles for centuries.

"We're just going to let them get away?" Tony asked.

"It will be much easier to hunt them if they think you are dead," Harry pointed out. "We can get Fury to clear it with the local officials to extend their search for your body. Besides, that suit doesn't appear to be combat capable."

"It's a prototype," Tony admitted.

"You shouldn't tinker so much unless you are going to keep a working battle-suit nearby," Natasha pointed out as she dropped her shield.

"True," Tony admitted.

"What now?" Pepper asked.

Harry gestured at Maya covertly and she appeared to freeze.

"Time dilation bubble?" Tony queried.

"Yes," Harry confirmed.

"I would love to know how you do that. I take it you wanted to talk without her overhearing?" Tony asked.

"Yes. Something is off about her. Pepper, are you up for some investigating?" Harry asked. When he saw the look on Tony's face he added, "It will be completely safe."

"What do I have to do," Pepper questioned.

Harry summoned a humanoid figure the size of a doll out of his expanded pocket and caused it to enlarge to Pepper's size. He waved his hand over Pepper and then over the figure and the figure took on the appearance of Pepper.

"This is a golem. It will appear to be a living breathing version of you to anyone who attempts to interact with it. Even the medical scanning technology of this time, healing beds not included, will think this is a human woman. You can control it through a neural interface," Harry explained as he held up two small disks and placed them on Pepper's temple. "You will be safely under a personal cloaking field. Natasha will accompany your golem. If things get too sticky she can escape and take you with her."

"Where will you be?" Pepper asked.

"I believe you had someplace you wanted to go," Harry pointed out to Tony.

"There was a place in Tennessee that I wanted to investigate before the attack," Tony admitted. "But can't you just take what she is up to out of Maya's mind?"

"I could," Harry admitted. "But what would be the fun in that?"

"I never knew you were so fun-loving," Tony said.

"We only worked together briefly and haven't spent any lengthy period in each other's company since. I am very fun-loving," Harry assured.

"He is," Natasha added.

"Alright. How will we spin this plan to her?" Pepper asked while gesturing at Maya.

"We just tell her those two are going to investigate a lead while we three go someplace safe," Natasha answered.

It was simple enough and Maya believed it after Harry unfroze her. Harry and Tony took off flying towards Tennessee a short time later.

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Tennessee…

"Where to?" Tony asked as he and Harry touched down.

"Well, it would be easiest to find a local guide. And we should wait until it becomes light out. Let's go use that barn," Harry said while pointing out a structure part-way between a barn and a garage. "I can work on enhancing your armor with you while we wait."

"Why not get a motel room?" Tony asked.

"I have this feeling that the barn will serve us better. I've learned to trust my feelings," Harry assured.

"Do you feel the Force?" Tony asked jokingly even as he walked with Harry towards the barn.

As soon as they entered the barn, Harry began transfiguring the work-shop within so that it was more comfortable. The temperature in the barn immediately shot up to comfortable. It was quite cold in the wintery weather outside. Tony assembled his armor in a rack Harry had just transfigured. As Harry finished his transfiguration work in the barn he turned after sensing a presence approaching.

"Freeze," Harley Keener declared.

It was hard to take a ten year old boy wielding a potato gun seriously.

"Hello Harley," Harry greeted.

"Holy shit," Harley declared as he lowered the barrel of his potato gun after realizing just who was in his barn. "You're Harry Potter The Wizard and you are Tony Stark Iron-Man. But you're supposed to be dead."

Harley held up a newspaper left over from his recent delivery. Harley had a newspaper bag slung over his shoulder.

"It's easier to get a bad guy to stop trying to kill you if they think they succeeded," Tony replied.

"Why are you guys in my barn?" Harley questioned.

"We wanted to use it as a place to stay while we are in town investigating some things. We could also use your help as a guide," Harry explained.

"Where are your parents?" Tony asked.

"My mom left for her shift at the diner. Dad went to buy scratchers at the 7-11…six years ago," Harley answered.

"Dads tend to do that," Tony said. "No need to be a pussy about it."

Harry sent a mild stinging charm at Tony and looked reprovingly at the inventor.

"That's how Pepper would react if she was here and you know it," Harry sent to Tony.

"How do you know what Pepper would do? You just met her," Tony replied.

"I know women," Harry pointed out.

"So what's in it for me if I help you guys?" Harley questioned.

Harry grinned. The kid knew an opportunity when he saw one. Harry didn't blame Harley.

"Well first off I won't undo the changes I made in here when I leave. Also, how about a hundred thousand dollars cash," Harry offered as he drew a silver briefcase out of his expanded pocket and tossed it onto the couch next to where Harley was sitting.

"I'd have paid you ten," Tony commented, not batting an eye at the casual display of wealth.

In their world travels Harry and Natasha had taken down many criminals. The profit netted from those take-downs had earned them more than they knew what to do with. Looting could be quite fun. Plus Harry knew how to create precious metals and gems using his abilities.

"Deal," Harley declared after he had opened the briefcase and looked at all the cash inside.

Harley's mom would struggle to get she and her son to anywhere approaching the classification of middle class. Harley already planned on giving the money to his mom.

"Ok. First let's get started on reinforcing the alloys in your armor's plating," Harry told Tony. "I assume you have been working on wiring in additional arc reactors after I gave you that storage space."

"Yes," Tony admitted. "The warped spacetime seems to interfere somewhat with the additional wireless energy transfer."

"Yes, the wireless energy transfer methods of this time are rather…crude. No offense," Harry said.

"None taken. Kid, how about a tuna fish sandwich," Tony said to Harley. Harry waved his hand and caused a Gatorade and a tuna fish sandwich to appear on the nearby table. "Thanks," Tony added as he picked up the sandwich.

Tony watched as Harry disassembled his Iron-Man armor piece by piece. First Harry transfigured the alloy Tony was using into a super alloy just like he had used in the battle of New York. Tony watched fascinated as tiny runes were etched into the armor which began to glow. When he was done the armor didn't look any different but Tony knew that if he tested the strength of that alloy it would far surpass anything else currently available on Earth.

"Now we need to upgrade your circuitry," Harry said as he cast energy into the armor and studied the circuitry patterns. "How many arc reactors did you want to combine?"

"How much power can you build the arc gauntlets and arc beam projector in my chest plate to handle?" Tony replied.

"I could probably get you the power output of five arc reactors without resorting to some rather less stable techniques," Harry mused.

"That sounds fantastic," Tony admitted.

"Five arc units it is," Harry said as he began working on the energy transfer conduits.

Tony watched as Harry summoned the spatial enclosure from Tony's chest and began working with it. Despite the fact that Tony really couldn't follow what Harry was doing by observation alone he still paid close attention. He thought it couldn't hurt to ask. Maybe Harry would even answer.

"What exactly are you doing?" Tony questioned.

"Well there are pathways for energy transfer available that bypass the distance in normal spacetime by using higher dimensions. Think of them as tiny wormholes. There are dozens and dozens of different types of wormholes. Each transfers something different and most go through different layers of reality. I'm building wormholes that will transfer the power from the arc enclosure to your arc conduits in your suit. But I'm 'programming' the enchantments to attach themselves to the arc conduits in whatever suit you are wearing at the time. They have to be rather intelligent enchantments to work that way," Harry explained.

"Huh…that actually made sense," Tony mused. "Though I'd still like to understand the physical rules, the numbers, behind this energy you manipulate. Do you have information like that?"

"I do," Harry confirmed. "But I'm not going to reveal that information. It could be used against me."

"Fair enough," Tony agreed.

The magicals of Harry's time had actually figured out that magic as they thought of the energy they wielded was not actually magic. It was higher dimensional energy. They didn't understand all the rules that governed that higher dimensional energy but they understood enough. A lot of the way they utilized this energy was based off of their willpower. Most of the limits their magic had depended upon their beliefs. They had decided just to keep calling it magic because that was always what they had called it.

"Alright…I'm finished for now. The runes just have to charge up and become saturated with magic. I can't force the charge time with enchantments this delicate," Harry explained. "How about we take a walk around town," he suggested.

"It's rather cold out," Tony pointed out. "I'm not exactly dressed for this."

No sooner had he made the statement than Tony was clothed in the softest and most comfortable outfit he had ever experienced for winter weather. He felt perfectly warm. Harley wore a matching outfit.

"I love magic," Harley declared.

"You know…I said that a lot when I was about your age," Harry said amusedly.

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The small town Harley lived in was called Rose Hills. The main street was fairly busy with people walking about but it was a Saturday night. Harley led the way towards a deserted side street where a local retired military man had supposedly blown himself up and killed others.

"When can we talk about New York?" Harley asked.

"I don't want to talk about New York," Tony immediately replied.

Harry sensed extreme distress from his friend when that subject was brought up.

"How about the Avengers," Harley suggested.

"What do the locals say about this place?" Tony asked, deflecting the conversation, as they arrived at the memorial set up where the locals had died.

There were several "shadows" on the wall where the bodies had blocked the blast. Crosses, candles, and work lights were set up to mark the memorial.

"This former soldier named Chad Davis used to live around here. He won a bunch of medals when he was in the army. Folks said that one day he went crazy and made a bomb," Harley explained.

"Six people were killed including Chad Davis. But there are only five shadows," Tony said.

"The bomb would have had to have been on Chad to prevent him from leaving a shadow and it would have had to have burned incredibly hot to leave only shadows like that," Harry pointed out.

"People have told me the shadows mean these souls went to heaven but the bomber didn't go to heaven because he didn't get a shadow," Harley pointed out. "This crater reminds me of that giant wormhole."

"Kid, stop," Tony warned.

"Are the aliens coming back?" Harley asked.

"I have an anxiety issue," Tony admitted.

"Do you have PTSD?" Harley asked.

Harley looked to be ready to ask a bunch of questions. Harry used a silencing charm on Harley and a calming charm on Tony.

"Tony, tell me what is bothering you about New York?" Harry requested.

Tony was calming down under the influence of the charm and therefore was able to say, "I almost died. There were aliens, gods, Hulks, and so much more. You came from another universe. This is so far beyond me. I thought I was going to die."

Harry had learned how to treat many neurological and psychological disorders with his telepathy and he began that process with Tony. But while he did he talked.

"Tony, you are rightfully afraid of dying. But as long as you don't go getting nuked I can revive you. That armor I just made you could probably survive a nuke," Harry explained.

Harry began lessening the power of the calming charm as he corrected the mental imbalance Tony was suffering. Tony was calming on his own. A few minutes later Tony was back to normal, or normal for him.

"You did some of your wizardry stuff didn't you," Tony said.

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "I corrected the mental imbalance you were suffering from, nothing else."

"Thanks," Tony said. "So does Chad Davis' mother live around here?"

"She would be over in Walker's Bar right there," Harley answered while pointing in a particular direction.

"Harley, wait out here while we go talk to her," Harry instructed. "That suit will keep you plenty comfortable."

Harry and Tony decided to go in under a glamour charm because both were pretty famous. As they walked in they both spotted the local sheriff openly carrying his firearm in a hip holster and having a drink at the bar.

"You've gotta love these small towns," Tony said sarcastically.

"Indeed," Harry agreed. "That's her."

Harry was indicating an older woman sitting alone at a table toying with some dog tags.

"Mrs. Davis, do you mind if we join you?" Tony asked as he and Harry stopped at the table.

"It's a free country," Mrs. Davis answered. "Where would you like to start?" She asked after they had sat.

Before Tony could speak, Harry held up his hand to silence his companion.

"You were threatened and told to bring a certain file here tonight," Harry said.

"Yes," Mrs. Davis replied warily and with not really suppressed anger.

"We aren't with those people," Harry assured.

"Then how do you know I was threatened?" Mrs. Davis challenged.

"Because you are projecting your surface thoughts and I can read your mind. It's all there right in the front of your mind," Harry answered.

Harry summoned the file to his hands and opened the folder marked confidential. Tony and Harry began examining the file's contents while Mrs. Davis gaped slightly at the display of special abilities.

"Mrs. Davis, we don't know exactly what is going on yet but we are pretty sure someone is turning people into explosive organisms. Your son didn't kill himself. He was used as a weapon by someone," Tony explained, having pieced enough together to figure things out.

"You really aren't the ones who called about that file, are you?" Mrs. Davis asked.

Just then a redhead in a casual business outfit plopped a badge down on the table.

"No they aren't," Ellen Brandt answered. "But I am. But who are you?"

"You would do well to walk away, Ellen Brandt," Harry said.

Ellen was startled that this person knew her real name. But she did her best not to let it show. Instead she surged forward as she caused her hand to heat up and intended to skewer the man who had identified her. Harry caught her wrist mere inches from his chest and held it. Ellen's eyes widened and she increased the heat. When his hand didn't immediately catch fire she tried jerking her hand away. It was futile. She was stronger than several humans put together but whoever he was he held her tightly.

"What is going on here?" The half-drunken Sheriff Spencer Garrett demanded.

Harry waved his hand and remotely teleported Tony's upgraded Iron-Man suit into the bar. The runes would have finished charging sufficiently by now. Tony didn't need any prompting and got in his suit.

"Sheriff, this is out of your weight class," Iron-Man warned as Ellen struggled against Harry.

Ellen had brought up her other hand and was trying for all she was worth to burn Harry.

"Tony, there is another one outside in a car across the street. Their minds seem to be resistant to telepathy from whatever has been done to them," Harry explained as he held the struggling woman tightly.

Harry had just barely been able to get the woman's name out of her surface thoughts before it was like her mind had been consumed by fire. Harry's magical gaze swept over her, examining her. Then she did something unexpected. She used her great strength to pull free of Harry's grasp…by ripping her arms right off at the shoulders. Harry was so stunned that Ellen managed to jump through a window before he could react.

"Did that crazy woman just tear her own arms off to get away?" Tony demanded.

"It would appear so," Harry confirmed before the two Avengers exited the bar and came out onto the street to see Ellen with her arms glowing brightly growing back.

Ellen's partner James Savin opened fire with his semi-auto at Harry's head. But it was obvious Savin hadn't expected that to work because he opened the back of his car with one hand and removed an RPG. It only took Savin moments to aim at Tony and fire. The suit was newly enhanced but that didn't mean it could disperse the shear kinetic energy of the RPG's explosion. Tony was sent hurtling back into a nearby diner. The RPG was no normal RPG. Savin was already reloading another grenade and within moments had it launched towards Harry. Harry ignored the RPG.

Harry removed two cubes from his pocket and enlarged them as he tossed them to his side. He had prepared after having to face down the Hulk. The cubes expanded into cages designed to contain the likes of the Hulk and Thor. Harry reached out and telekinetically caught the two enhanced beings in a strong grip. Savin and Brandt struggled but it was no use. Harry shoved the two enemy combatants into the cages and shrunk the cages back down before summoning them into his pocket. Tony had returned to the street by this time.

"Well…that was…eventful," Iron-Man said.

"Indeed," Harry agreed and began repairing the damage to the local structures. "Whatever is in that file is worth killing for. Or at least some people think so," he added.

Harry, Tony, and Harley went back to Harley's barn after the clean-up was done. They began examining the file. The report inside had the name AIM all over it.

"Advanced Idea Mechanics," Tony said.

"Who are they?" Harry asked.

"I knew the guy who started it before he started it. Aldrich Killian used to be a major basket case. I'll admit I mercilessly mocked him when I probably shouldn't have. But now he has changed. He came sniffing around Pepper a couple of days ago," Tony explained. "I need to make a call. Jarvis, dial Rhode."

The suit dialed the Iron-Patriot armor on speaker setting.

"Hello," Rhode answered.

"Have you ever woken up and had a hot chick clawing at you glowing from the inside out?" Tony asked.

"Sure," Rhode answered. "You should have called, Tony."

"I'm calling now. The big re-brand on your armor…that was done by AIM right?" Tony clarified.

"Yes," Rhode confirmed.

"I need your log-in again," Tony said, referring to the highly encrypted government database Rhode was a member of.

"It hasn't changed. War Machine 68," Rhode answered.

"What is your password?" Tony asked.

"Damnit, Tony. I'll have to change it again. WAR MACHINE ROX," Rhode reluctantly answered.

"Thanks, Rhode," Tony said before Jarvis cut the connection.

"How much bandwidth do you need?" Harry asked.

"A lot more than my suit can provide," Tony admitted.

Harry summoned a cube out of his pocket and set it on a nearby work table. He flicked a finger at the cube and a hologram of a computer interface projected into the air above the work table.

"This is the mouse and this is the keyboard. You will have all the bandwidth you need. Speed won't be a problem and you don't have to worry about this getting traced back to us," Harry assured.

"You should use the superhero name Future-Man," Tony suggested as he began doing his thing.

"Natasha once suggested that I should use the name Man because of my shear manliness," Harry mused.

"We should never let her name anything," Tony rebutted.

"In her defense she had just received twenty orgasms from me," Harry pointed out.

This actually made Tony pause and blink at Harry.

"Harry, you're making the rest of us look terrible," Tony declared as he resumed typing. "I've got it."

A video of Chad Davis was holographically projected.

"What would you regard as the defining moment of your life?" Aldrich Killian asked.

"I think that would be the day that I decided not to let my injury beat me," Davis answered.

Then Tony brought up video of the redhead who had just attacked the two Avengers. Her left arm ended about 8 inches below her shoulder in a stump. She was being asked her name.

"Ellen Brandt," Ellen answered.

"The injections will be administered periodically," Killian explained as the video showed him before he had his big confidence boost and makeover. "Addiction will not be tolerated. If you cannot regulate then you will be cut from the program."

Tony brought up a later video showing Aldrich in a business suit looking more confident.

"You were once misfits and cripples but now you are the next iteration of human evolution," Killian declared.

Then Tony brought up a video file labeled Project Extremis, Injection Tests Phase 01, 6/25/2009.

"Before we start I just wanted to say one thing," Aldrich began as the crippled soldiers were led into a lab and restrained. "Looking back there will be nothing as bitter as the memory of that glorious risk you prudently elected to forgo. Today is your glory. Let's begin."

Ellen was shown being injected and immediately a fiery glow was visible through her skin. Her severed limb began to grow anew as she grunted at the discomfort. That discomfort turned to extreme pain and she screamed. The guy next to her wasn't so lucky and he burned too hot. His screams filled the lab. "We have to get out of here," Killian yelled. "Get them out of here."

The video showed the unlucky test subject exploding.

"Extremis doesn't always work but Killian found a buyer," Tony said.

"It would appear so," Harry agreed.

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"Harry," Natasha sent to her lover through their communications bands.

Natasha was unaccustomed to having to use the enchanted wrist-band to telepathically talk to her partner. Usually when he was within a mile or two of her he could connect their minds. Despite her unfamiliarity with the wrist-band she was still good enough with it for Harry to sense her mental state. She was excited like if she had just been through a fight.

"What has happened?" Harry questioned.

"Maya was working for Killian this entire time. Maya was trying to lure Pepper away from Tony to use Pepper as bait for Iron-Man. Killian himself showed up and displayed some serious strength and impressive healing abilities. I put several bullets in places that people don't normally get up from but he did. I made the fight look convincing before I 'fled.' Killian took Pepper's golem and we are following Golem-Pepper, Killian, and Maya right now," Natasha explained.

"Alright," Harry answered. "We just found out more details of this project Extremis which is the serum which grants Killian those abilities he just displayed to you. It's also what can turn people into bombs if the subject isn't stabilized. We are pretty sure we have a location on the Mandarin and are going to go after him."

"You keep your cute butt out of trouble. I don't want you getting hurt," Natasha teased.

It was a long running joke between Harry and Natasha for Natasha to express concern for Harry even though he was the more durable of the pair.

"I promise," Harry assured. "Love you."

"I love you too," Natasha answered before they broke off the contact.

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Miami Florida…

The estate the Mandarin was found in was filled with guards and crack whores. As soon as Harry got within range of the Mandarin he knew something was off.

"Tony, you know how I don't like to read people's minds because it takes the fun out of things?" Harry said.

"Yeah," Tony answered as he hovered in his Iron-Man suit now equipped with a stealth mode.

Harry had added invisibility runes and runes to silence the arc-thruster sound.

"Well I don't have to try to read the Mandarin and he is projecting thoughts of pure idiocy. I think this guy may be a decoy," Harry suggested.

"Well maybe he can lead us to his boss," Tony suggested. "What room is he in?"

Harry pointed and Tony shot down towards it. As Tony hit the roof above the Mandarin's room and used arc energy to drill down into the room, Harry sent stunners at the visible guards and telepathically disabled the ones who were out of sight. Then Harry followed Tony into the room.

The Mandarin had just walked out of the bathroom and two hookers were lying in bed. Iron-Man had arc gauntlets raised to all of them. Harry twirled his fingers and the two hookers fell unconscious while the Mandarin rose into the air suspended.

"Well this is awkward," Trevor AKA the Mandarin declared.

"Trevor Slattery is his name. He is an actor who works for Killian," Harry informed Tony.

"Is he reading my mind? Well bloody hell…that is unexpected," Trevor declared.

"So this guy just plays the Mandarin," Tony said somewhat disbelievingly.

"Yeah…he's a drug addict. They gave him material possessions, drugs, and women in exchange for playing the Mandarin," Harry added.

Just then four men burst into the room. One immediately shot Trevor in the head. Harry had always hated being in telepathic contact with someone when they died. He withdrew his mind from the corpse even as two of the new arrivals went for Iron-Man. The other two thugs went for Harry. All four were Extremis enhanced. Tony took out one of his opponents with an arc blast but the other managed to get hands on Iron-Man. The thug's hands superheated quickly and tried burning the armor. The thug appeared startled when it didn't work.

"Performance issues," Tony suggested before raising his arc-gauntlet and blasting the goon's head to a gory mess.

Meanwhile the other two goons had managed to grab Harry in his disoriented state and tried burning him to ashes. The effort didn't work out so well for the two thugs. Harry was unphased by the heat.

"That isn't how you burn somebody to death. This is how you do it," Harry said as he reached out and picked a thug up by the neck with each hand. Harry's hands glowed a brilliant red and fiery plasma rushed from his hands which flowed around the bodies of the two thugs in his grasp. Within moments they were incinerated. "Well that was surprising."

"They killed Slattery I think to keep you from getting any information from him," Tony suggested.

"We really didn't need any information from Slattery to be honest. I won't waste the effort of reviving him," Harry admitted. "We have the location of Natasha and Pepper so we can just go to them whenever Killian settles down. They are traveling right now," Harry pointed out.

"Sounds good to me," Tony agreed. "Hold on, I'm getting a call from Rhode. Go Rhode."

"Tony, they took the Iron-Patriot suit. They are going to use it to grab the president like a Trojan Horse," Rhode stated.

"Shit," Tony cursed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…I escaped. Tony, this guy could breathe fire. Who the hell are these people?" Rhode asked.

"Mad scientists," Tony answered. "We will go after Air Force One."

"Who is we?" Rhode asked.

"Harry Potter is visiting," Tony answered.

"Oh…well that is handy," Rhode said. "Go kick their asses."

Tony cut the call and said, "Jarvis has found the current flight path of Air Force One. Let's go."

The two superheroes took off flying with Tony leading the way.

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When Harry and Tony found the plane Harry began scanning the aircraft.

"There is one extremis-enhanced thug and a bunch of people locked up. There are almost a dozen guards dead too. I can bring them back but I should move on that soon. You should be able to handle the extremis goon," Harry told Tony.

"I've got this," Tony confirmed.

Harry flew off to revive the dead. Harry had managed to revive seven of the eleven dead guards when the aircraft was rocked by an explosion. Harry swore and teleported to the back of the plane where the explosion had come from. A section of the plane's exterior had been blown out. Harry focused on the torn aircraft and conjured a temporary patch which restored cabin pressure. He teleported back to the corpses and continued reviving them.

Tony came into the room just as Harry was finishing up.

"Sorry about that," Tony said. "That extremis goon had a detonator on him. When he realized he couldn't burn through my suit he tried taking the plane with him. I've freed the captives."

"Good. These people should be able to land the plane now. Prepare whatever surprise I know you are working on. Then we go after Killian," Harry directed.

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Harry and Tony arrived at a shipyard off the coast of the United States.

"That is the Roxon Norco," Tony announced. "It's an oil ship that spilled over a million gallons of crude oil off the coast of Pensacola. The President bailed out the CEOs of Roxon."

"I'm not really sure we want to save the ass-hat you Yanks call a President," Harry mused.

"Neither am I," Tony admitted. "But Jarvis has intercepted some interesting communications between the Vice President and Killian. Killian wasn't using anything under his name of course but I figured the VP was the one who gained the most from the President's death so started having Jarvis track everything the VP has done recently."

Harry sent his magical senses out in a wave that scanned the entire shipyard. When he got the results back they weren't encouraging.

"I am reading a whole bunch of extremis goons down there. Pretty much everybody is on the stuff," Harry informed his companion. "Alright…I suppose we can save your President but I am half inclined just to let him cook despite the VP being an even bigger git."

The President of the United States was clearly strung up by steel cables in Rhode's Iron-Patriot suit with the face-plate open in the middle of the shipyard. Below the President was a line of barrels filled with crude oil ready to be set ablaze in order to cook the President.

"Are you here, Harry?" Natasha's thoughts projected out.

Natasha could sense when her lover was near and she was pretty sure he had just showed up at the site she was at with Pepper and Golem-Pepper.

"Yes, Tony and I are analyzing the site right now. I know where you are of course," Harry answered.

"This Killian guy is a real tool," Natasha mused. "But he's way under-powered for you. Did you upgrade Tony's suit to make it harder to damage?"

"Yes," Harry answered. "One of Killian's extremis goons tried burning it earlier and was surprised when the attempt proved useless."

"Well then Tony should have no trouble. Take out their hearts or even take off their heads and they should die," Natasha advised.

Natasha had found the regenerative abilities of the extremis goons intriguing but inferior to her own. Harry had given her what he had termed a General Health Boost (GHB). Apparently the injection was given to all non-magicals in his universe which gave the recipient a regenerative ability which made them heal from some serious trauma and kept any mundane illness from affecting them. Natasha had come across the S.H.I.E.L.D. recordings of a mutant known as James Logan who had participated in the Weapon X program decades ago. Logan had been biologically immortal as far as the Weapon X program director had been able to tell. Natasha was pretty certain that what she had been given was equivalent to Logan's healing ability. When combined with the Infinity Formula Natasha had been given to boost her strength and agility among other things she was now a force to be reckoned with.

Harry had also talked about a second boost serum which the magicals of his group had developed to go along with the non-magical boost. This Magical Boost Serum (MBS) made the recipient highly resistant to black magic and any type of harmful magic. The MBS would also keep the recipient alive in the event of extreme trauma long enough for the non-magical regeneration to kick in and repair the damage. Harry had explained where there were cases of MBS recipients getting their hearts crushed or their heads cut off and the MBS would keep them alive. If the head was rejoined to the body the non-magical regeneration would repair the damage. Natasha hadn't yet been given the MBS because she needed to wait six months after taking her GHB. She would be receiving her MBS next month.

"The broadcast will commence shortly. Take final positions," a voice said over the loudspeakers projecting into the shipyard.

"They are going to televise the execution of the President," Tony observed.

"Yes. I just talked to Natasha. She and Pepper are fine," Harry explained.

One of the goons chose that moment to open fire and dozens of bullets bounced off the scaffolding close to where Harry and Tony stood.

"Are we killing or capturing?" Tony questioned.

"Well these guys are all murderers but they put out a lot of heat. We could always put them in an induced coma state, feed their bodies nutrients, and extract the heat into a steam reactor," Harry suggested.

"Replacing nuclear power," Tony said. "I like it," he added before raising an arc-gauntlet and blowing the arm off the extremis goon who had fired at them.

Harry produced an extremis-goon-proof cage and telekinetically sent the goon into the cage. The cage remained hovering in the air as a warning sounded over the speaker system warning all personnel about the intruders. Dozens of extremis-goons began to appear out of the structure of the shipyard and converge on Harry and Tony's position. At almost the same time Tony's surprise arrived in the form of dozens of Iron-Man suits of armor of the various types Tony had constructed as he tried to prepare for different environments or had just upgraded his design over the years.

"Tony, the enemy can destroy those suits since those suits haven't been upgraded like the armor you are wearing. I'm sure those things aren't cheap," Harry pointed out.

"No, they aren't," Tony agreed. "This may be a stupid question but do you think we can handle all those goons without my extra suits of armor?"

"I am pretty confident we can," Harry admitted. "I suggest keeping your suits in reserve unless they prove needed. That way we can save you some money. You can upgrade them later if you would like."

"I agree," Tony said before shooting down and scooping one of the extremis-goons up and carrying the struggling and glowing thug towards Harry's cage.

Harry had made the cage so that extremis-goons would fall right through the outside of the cage but then couldn't get back out. It looked to Tony like the cage was temporarily out of phase with normal matter. Harry sent a fire-whip out of his hands and wrapped a whip around an extremis-goon each. The fire-ships didn't cut through the extremis-goons because Harry was specifically focusing on not making the fire too hot but the whips did slightly burn the two captured opponents. But the extremis-goons would heal. Harry jerked the whips back and used his will to manipulate the fiery magical cables to deposit the extremis-goons in the cage. Several of the extremis-goons attempted to jump onto the cage to try to melt through it but instead fell right in. When others tried to touch the cage from the bottom it was solid but their attempts to burn the cage proved ineffective even with their compatriots trying to melt the cage from the inside.

Some of the extremis-goons attempted to burn through the fire-whips or attempted to burn Tony's suit so intensely that they overloaded the power in their bodies and exploded like bombs. The shipyard platform started to get damaged. After one rather severe explosion rocked the platform a figure was smashed out of the building in the center of the structure and went flying up into a steel beam while glowing hot. The figure stuck against the beam as the metal melted slightly. Natasha leapt to the roof of the building and looked up at the glowing form of Killian.

"Ass-hole had that coming," Natasha declared.

"Should I kill him or capture him?" Tony asked.

It wasn't that Tony couldn't decide on his own but he valued Harry's opinion.

"Capturing him would be more humiliating for him. Death is so…final…well generally," Harry answered while thinking of his ability to revive the dead.

"Capturing him it is," Tony agreed.

Killian had gathered his wits and was holding onto the steel girder he had crashed into while looking down at Natasha with a glare. Killian leapt from the girder down towards Natasha but Tony intercepted the glowing Killian mid-air and drove Killian onto one of the super-structure's numerous catwalks. Natasha watched the fight between Tony and Killian as the two men began to trade blows. Killian tried grabbing Tony's armor with superheated hands and enhanced strength but this effort proved futile. Instead Killian settled for beating Tony back but Iron-Man didn't move far before coming right back in. Tony's blows broke skin, muscle, and bone but Killian's body just healed itself.

"He's growing hotter," Tony warned. "At this rate he will explode."

"Give me a second and I will tweak the suppressing feature of my cage," Harry answered. "Natasha, watch my back. Golem-Pepper can take care of Pepper."

Natasha touched a rune on her belt and was suddenly standing next to her lover after he had landed on top of the cage holding the extremis-enhanced goons. The rune in question activated a sequence of micro-runes etched into her belt which would teleport Natasha to Harry's side wherever he might be in the world or even off of it. Harry had rigged up a micro-wormhole relay to transport a person anywhere in the galaxy. Natasha also had rune sequences to protect her in the vacuum of space and other harsh environments. Harry had just finished capturing all of the visible extremis-enhanced goons. None of the goons had been stupid enough to overtax their powers like Killian was doing in an attempt to destroy Tony. But Tony had really screwed with Killian in the past or at least that was how Killian perceived it.

Harry tapped the runic sequence on one side of the cage which caused holographic energy patterns to project into the air before him. Natasha understood how runes interacted with magic conceptually after her lover had explained those concepts but she couldn't hope to understand what he was doing. His hands and fingers danced through the air. He reshaped the energy patterns and runes as power flicked out from his finger-tips. Harry Potter wielding magic was a sight to behold and one that never failed to excite Natasha.

"Damnit, extremis makes him really fucking fast," Tony cried over his radio.

Natasha glanced over to see Killian bouncing around Tony dodging arc-gauntlet blasts that were meant to disable Killian rather than terminate the bastard's life. Killian would occasionally get in a powerful kick at Tony but the blow wouldn't do more than shift Tony a few feet. Natasha watched in surprise as Killian paused and then let out a blast of brilliant flame from his mouth which hammered into Tony and sent Iron-Man crashing into one of the steel girders with a loud crash.

"Tony, we're right near the ocean," Natasha pointed out.

"Right…stupid me," Tony said as he peeled himself away from the girder.

Then Tony shot towards Killian and drove two fists into the mad-man while Iron-Man's boot gauntlets fired at a significant portion of their maximum power. Tony had aimed towards the ocean and Killian flew that way. The glowing mad-man sailed out over the water and hit the surface of the ocean. Steam billowed out from his super-heated form. Tony shot after Killian. Tony landed in the water and had Jarvis set his suit's boot gauntlets to fire at a low enough thrust so that Tony would merely float. Then Tony began hammering blows on the much cooler Killian.

"I have got it adjusted. You can bring him in now," Harry sent to Tony's radio a few moments later.

Tony shot out of the water and flew towards the cage carrying a dazed Killian. Even the extremis-enhanced couldn't take the beating Killian had just received without a momentary dazed feeling. Killian was tossed into the cage with the rest of his goons and his glowing body immediately stopped glowing.

"Stark, let me out of here," Killian demanded as his head cleared and he glared hatefully up at his captors.

"Why would I do that? No instead I think we will be calling an old friend," Tony replied.

"I have already put the call in. Fury is sending a recovery team now," Natasha informed her friends.

Tony flew over to the building Natasha had smashed Killian out of. Golem-Pepper was standing on top of the structure with real Pepper. Tony retracted his helmet and kissed his girlfriend.

"Are you going to turn over all of these guys to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Natasha asked as she eyed the reunion between her friends.

"I know Nick will just have them experimented on and it might lead to a lot of extremis-enhanced beings in the future but honestly…I think the cat is already out of the bag. I would imagine Killian didn't keep the secrets of extremis to himself," Harry mused.

"You are probably right," Natasha admitted as she wrapped an arm around her lover's waist.

Harry floated off of the cage with Natasha and over to where Tony and Pepper were together.

"So what happens now?" Pepper asked.

"I was thinking we could go back to your guys' place and relax a while after we hand those idiots over to S.H.I.E.L.D.," Harry mused while gesturing towards the cage of extremis enhanced.

"That sounds like a plan," Tony agreed. "But how will Fury control them if that cage is the only thing that can suppress their powers?"

"It isn't the only thing. I was thinking I could make some suppressor arm-bands," Harry mused.

"Just that easily…you can whip up a method of suppression for their powers?" Pepper asked.

"I come from a timeline where science and magic are both so advanced they seem like one. And I am centuries old. I have experienced quite a lot. A lot of the stuff I devise are just adaptations on pre-existing technologies," Harry explained.

"Is there anything that is truly a challenge for you?" Pepper asked.

"Oh yes, understanding women," Harry answered.

"He isn't lying," Natasha added with a grin. "He is hundreds of years old and still hasn't got us figured out."

"There is actually a field of study for understanding women in my time," Harry added.

"You are kidding," Pepper said with incredulity in her tone.

"Not at all. That is not something to joke about," Harry answered with a perfectly straight face.

"Perhaps someone should go rescue the President," Tony mused as he noticed the President was still suspended between two steel cables wearing the Iron-Patriot suit. "Jarvis, you do it."

It was a testament to how little respect Natasha, Harry, Pepper, and Tony had for the politician that nobody felt the need to rescue him personally. When a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport showed up a short while later it was Clint flying the craft.

Clint jumped out of the back of the transport after having turned the transport over to his copilot. Even then the transport hovered over the cage containing the extremis enhanced.

"You guys look like you had some fun," Clint observed as he eyed the damage around the shipping transport. "You should have invited me."

"You were busy elsewhere weren't you?" Natasha queried.

"Yes. How did you know?" Clint replied.

"You would have been here otherwise," Harry answered.

"Good point," Clint said. "So, special precautions are in order given the look of that cage. What are we dealing with?"

"They basically have heat and strength enhancements that can burn through most metal. Give me a moment and I can whip up some power suppressing arm-bands," Harry said before he stepped off to the side and activated a time dilation bubble.

"He is still doing the time dilation bubble thing then," Clint mused.

"Oh yes. It can come in pretty handy," Natasha mused.

"For quickies," Tony said thoughtfully.

Natasha's response was a grin. Pepper ignored her boyfriend's suggestion.

"I love how you people are just so casual about the fact that he is over there effectively time traveling," Pepper pointed out.

"I have gotten used to it," Natasha admitted with a shrug. "I mean…there are some seriously major benefits to being with him. When you say someone has magic hands while giving you a massage…it is so much different being with someone who actually has magic in their hands."

"Alright…that is enough of that," Clint rebutted.

"How is Maria?" Natasha asked Clint.

Clint and Maria Hill had been seeing each other for some time now.

"She is pretty good but she misses you. You need to come back to work," Clint replied.

"I am having too much fun running around with Harry," Natasha mused. "We will be there if the world needs us but other than that…no thank you."

"Fair enough," Clint said. "I really can't blame you."

Just then Harry dropped his time dilation bubble and slightly glowing red arm-bands were floating in the air around him. He flicked his hand towards the cage holding the extremis-enhanced and an arm-band flew over to attach itself to each extremis-enhanced. The glow faded the moment the arm-band sized itself to the bicep of each extremis-enhanced. Harry then used his hands to float the captives one by one into the S.H.I.E.L.D. transport before shrinking and pocketing the cage.

"They should be good to go now," Harry informed Clint.

"I hope so. From what you said having them onboard the helicarrier without suppression would be a very bad thing," Clint mused.

"I built charms into the arm-bands to dump them into the nearest ocean if suppression failed. The arm-bands will also alert me to the situation if that happens," Harry explained.

"Of course you did," Clint replied with a grin. "It was great seeing you guys."

The Avengers plus Pepper exchanged farewells and then Clint hopped into the back of the hovering transport and was gone.

"Let's head back to my place. Jarvis just informed me that the President has been returned to his security detail," Tony suggested.

Jarvis had used one of the Iron-Man suits to encase the President and transport the politician away.

"Sounds good," Natasha agreed while Harry and Pepper nodded agreement.

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"Couldn't you have come up with something more original than Project Backup?" Tony asked Harry as the two men met in the lab located underground between their two houses.

After having arrived back in California from the fight with Killian, Harry and Natasha had spent a few days as guests of Tony and Pepper. Harry had woken up one morning and decided he needed a house. He subsequently purchased the property next to Tony's cliff-side house and after transfiguring the ground properly to suit his needs he used a duplication spell to great effect. Harry duplicated Tony's entire house. The spell had taken a lot of energy but had worked. It had been rather simple in comparison to excavate a tunnel complex between the two houses and construct a lab partway in between the two structures. Harry and Natasha didn't plan to stay in that house all the time but it was one such place they would utilize.

"Can you come up with anything better?" Harry asked.

Tony was silent for several moments and then replied, "I've got nothing. Jarvis, how about you?"

"My creativity in naming is limited thanks to you, Sir," Jarvis answered through the speaker system set up for him in the lab.

"Project Backup it is," Tony agreed. "Bring up the latest hologram design."

Jarvis projected the holographic design for the first of what would hopefully be many habitable communities on the surface of Mars. The first Martian community showed a transparent high strength polymer dome covering it. The dome was to contain a breathable atmosphere and temperate climate while also shielding against harmful radiation. The dome was cheap to manufacture. There would be a non-magical energy shield to back up the dome in case something happened to breach the dome's integrity. The energy shield was based off of technology Harry brought from his own universe. Long term the dome was cheaper to use than the energy shield but the shield would be good while the dome was repaired or replaced.

An even longer term approach Harry and Tony were taking to Project Backup was to terraform the red planet. It had already been done in Harry's universe so he knew exactly what needed to be done.

"So, do you have any further thoughts on the transportation method to Mars?" Harry asked Tony.

"I think we should use the shuttles. Transporters should be for emergency personnel only and should only be known about by those operating in the infrastructure of the society," Tony put forth. "I gave it a lot of thought. The shuttles we talked about will be quite fast."

"I agree. Plus trustworthy teleportation technology would be a major leap forward for two Earth-born inventors. I suppose we could say we got it from an alien source but I would rather avoid that," Harry mused.

"The less we have to lie to the public at large the better," Tony said.

"It is great to see you are learning so quickly. You have a long time to learn these things but the sooner you learn the better off you will be," Harry suggested.

Tony and Pepper had been granted immortality the previous day by their magical friend. The idea of immortality still boggled Tony's mind but it also intrigued him.

"Jarvis, how goes the construction of the prototype?" Tony asked his AI.

"It will be complete in five hours and thirty-two minutes, Sir," Jarvis responded.

The prototype in question was similar in appearance to an Iron-Man suit except that the Mark 1 Mage-Bot was never meant to house a human occupant. The Mage-Bot was intended to do the actual building work on Mars for the human colonies. The Mage-Bot had enchanted upgrades to make them extremely durable against the hostile environment on Mars and was capable of a lot more than anything Tony could come up with by himself. Tony and Harry had finalized the design the previous night. After testing the Mage-Bot, Tony and Harry planned on having Harry duplicate the hardware of the Mage-Bot several thousand times over. Harry had designed a special enchantment device which the Mage-Bots could be run through where they would receive their enchantment enhancements.

"Excellent," Tony replied. "We should have the first colony built in no time at all then."

"And then we will have to start advertising so we can find people to join Harley and his mom on mars," Harry mused.

Harry and Tony had offered Harley and Harley's mother Patricia spots living on the Mars colony.

"I think I saw sparks between Happy and Patricia," Tony mused.

Happy had been healed by Harry after all the action had concluded.

"That would be an interesting match," Harry suggested.

Just then Natasha and Pepper materialized next to the two men, Natasha holding Pepper's hand so that the magics bringing Natasha to Harry would bring them both. Jarvis immediately caused the hologram to vanish but not before the women got a look at the colony.

"Women in the man cave," Tony cried.

"This is where you two have been hiding," Pepper mused.

"We decided we would track you down today. Where are we?" Natasha queried while looking around at the lab.

"It's a secret lab we have hidden in a tunnel network connecting our houses," Harry answered.

"Traitor," Tony teased.

"I should think you wouldn't mind our presence more, Tony," Pepper suggested as she stepped forward and pressed herself against her boyfriend's side.

"This is our man-cave," Tony half-whined. "No females should be in here."

Pepper rolled her eyes and asked, "What was that on the hologram."

"That is a surprise," Harry answered.

"I think I know some pretty good interrogation techniques to get the secret out of you," Natasha said suggestively while stepping closer to her boyfriend.

"Let's go to the private beach," Pepper suggested.

"I agree," Natasha answered.

Harry teleported everyone to a private beach nearby Tony owned. Harry had erected spells to prevent their privacy being invaded by any means. The women did have methods of learning the secrets of their boyfriends but in the end Tony and Harry didn't much mind. It was a very interesting time to be alive Harry, Natasha, Tony, and Pepper all thought.

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Book 2 Finished 8/31/2014

Edited as of 12/24/2014

Rev 0 Posted 12/25/2014

Author's Note:

Merry Christmas everyone! I decided to edit this second book in time for Christmas. Before anyone asks…the third book is already completely written. I just haven't even started editing it. It's twice as long as this book.

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