Chapter 59: Chapter Fifty-Nine
The situation with Klaue and Killmonger was a difficult one to handle. They didn't have any specifics, until Fury had their people interrogate both of them under Veritaserum. It wasn't hard to find them, considering their resources. They decided to hang onto them, considering all of their crimes, and put them both in stasis, so that the proper people could be contacted.
That's when the big question was asked, "So, who do we send?" Fury was not in the business of getting involved with the internal affairs of sovereign nations, unless they were a threat to world peace. From Killmonger's own testimony, he wanted to start a global race-war. That would definitely be a threat EPI could not allow.
"I'd say send Coulson." Harry said easily. "He's good with people."
"Why not Natasha?" Tony suggested. He had invited himself as he often did. Fury was not even asking him to leave anymore. Since Tony was under contract, the secrets were kept and Fury didn't need to go threatening. The fact that it had been proven that they both worked well as a unit wasn't mentioned.
"Too well known. They might suspect other reasons." Fury replied. "Coulson's team is really busy though. Something about an indestructible ancient evil book of unknown origin that turns anyone that reads it evil, but only after giving them exactly what they wanted."
"Like a monkey-paw wish?" Tony asked.
"A what?" Harry asked.
"It's a story about a magic, wish granting talisman, which grants any wish, but in the worst ways possible." Fury said. "And yes, like that."
"What do you mean 'worst ways'?" Harry asked.
"Imagine you wished for world peace," Tony said, "Your wish would be granted, but by killing everyone on the planet. No people, no war."
"Or making them all too stupid to know how weapons work, or turning them into animals, or any number of things." Fury agreed.
"Wow. Never heard of that one, but now the saying 'be careful what you wish for' makes a whole lot more sense to me." Harry said with a nod of understanding. He turned to Fury, "Will they need my help with that?"
"Once they've secured the Darkhold, we'll use standard protocols to lock it away. We'll be needing access to the vault, so you should only need to come and open the door for us." Fury said with a shake of his head. Coulson's team knew what they were doing. With Ward as their specialist and trained with most of the magical equipment available to the team, he was by far one of their best operatives.
He had qualified for the Ghost program, but had refused the invitation. He chose to stay with the team to continue making up for his past behaviour to them, from when he was with Hydra. The fact that Skye turned out to be an enhanced with seismic powers was just another boon to the team. Tony had even helped design a set of gloves for her, reinforced with Vibranium to help protect herself from her power.
The vault was originally a drop-safe that led to a pocket dimension, which Harry had the only access to, but when the amount of items they were putting away started increasing exponentially, Harry needed to expand the vault so that they could access it with larger equipment. The vault was in an undisclosed location behind two separate Fidelius Charms, only the first of which Fury and the upper levels of EPI knew about.
There was a fail-safe, which could be used to bypass the second one, but that was kept in a secure lock-box which could only be accessed by a minimum of four EPI senior staff and/or directors. Said lock box had very strong security and magical protections as well. Fury had insisted on Fury-level redundancy and security for some of the stuff they had found, like an Asgardian staff that made anyone that wielded it a berserker with supernatural strength, or alien technology which Earth wasn't allowed to have, yet.
"So who then?" Harry asked. He really didn't want to explain that they already knew about Wakanda's technology, but wanted to have them serve justice to the men they had in custody. It could only further their plans to ingratiate themselves with the Wakandan royal family.
"Why not handle it yourself, Harry?" Tony asked. "This is the kind of thing you love. You tell them you know some of their secrets and show them just enough of yours so that they sign a contract that protects you both and then you take them to meet the nymphs."
"Just like that?" Harry asked with an upturned eyebrow.
"Yes." Tony said with a shrug. "Maybe show them the rhino things."
"You mean the Erumpents?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, the exploding rhinos." Tony nodded.
"That might actually be something they'd be interested in." Fury thought aloud.
"Why me though?" Harry asked. He knew what they were after and he was still worried over their reaction to him knowing about their tech.
Harry wanted to get back to his research. He almost had the process he was working on down. He had been trying to create a single enchantment that would capture a spell and store it in such a way that it could be released at will.
He had created a separate enchantment to imbue other items with effects like the rubber bullets that carried a single stunning spell, but that was specifically designed for that purpose. An entire enchantment for just one single-use spell. He wanted to make an enchantment that could do it all, but he was struggling to bridge the gap between different kinds of magic.
In the end, he resolved to come back to the project, as he wanted to start production on a specific range of spell-stored enchantments, specifically the sobering charm, the enervate and the calming charm. All of these had a physiological and psychological effect. He was able to create one enchantment to capture all of those, because they were similar kinds of magic.
What he ended up doing was producing a clear, see-through button, which had a letter in it to represent the spell stored within. 'S' for sobering, 'E' for enervate and 'C' for calming. That was a simple conjuration, which took negligible amounts of power, since Harry intended to add runes to the finished product to preserve its longevity, having the items vanish as the spell is consumed.
Natasha suggested he make them function like pills, so that they activated when introduced to water and heated up. Harry liked the idea, but changed it so that it didn't need to be ingested for them to activate. They still could be, but it was unnecessary. He suspected that doctors might want to use these to wake and/or calm their patients without needing to force them to drink pills, so he ended up having to add a sliver of intent recognition. Now they could be placed on the skin and willed to activate, so that the magic went where the person handling them, wanted.
The magic pills were strangely difficult to produce, due to the requirement to add so many functions, but Harry had a plan to handle that as well. Once they had time he'd be starting production of a new range of conjuration and enchantment factories. He'd have to get Tony's input as well, as he was certain that knowledge of how a production line worked, would be helpful. That's also the stage he was currently at. If he finished that, he'd be able to get back to his original enchantment research.
"Because it's your island." Tony said simply.
Harry wanted to complain, but had to admit that it would be the easiest way to bring them into the fold. T'Challa was an honourable sort, though. He'd probably allow the challenge, when he found out that Killmonger had a legitimate claim to challenge for the throne.
"Okay, fine." Harry relented. It was accepted that this was part of his responsibilities. Always had been. "But after that, you're helping me with my enchantment production line."
"I don't have a problem with that." Tony said.
"What are you working on?" Fury asked, trying to sound casual.
"Harry's working on something that'll give PI a license to print money." Tony said. "If it works he'll be able to sell spell-effects in the form of pills."
"Like the stun bullet factory?" Fury asked.
"Exactly!" Tony exclaimed.
"Really, Tony?" Harry asked exasperatedly. "You couldn't let me reveal this on my own, when I was ready?"
"You don't mind." Tony scoffed. "It's not like I told him what you'll be working on next. Now that will be-" Tony continued talking, but no sound was coming from his mouth. When he realised, he pouted like a kid. Harry ignored him.
"What I'm working on next will be a surprise and if I find out Tony told you, I'm memory-wiping both of you." Harry threatened. Tony tapped Harry's shoulder and pointed at his throat. "Sorry, Tony. I set a delay on that one. You'll have to wait the hour out."
Tony looked affronted. Fury smiled, "Are you sure he can go that long without hearing the sound of his own voice?"
"I'm not." Harry scoffed, smirking at Tony. "Anyway, I'll let you work out introductions. Let me know what your people come up with."
"Our people." Fury corrected, automatically. They'd had that argument many times by now. "I'm sure someone is already working on it."
And that was that. Harry went back to continue working on his production line, having bought himself some time. It turns out he didn't buy enough time. The next day found Harry in a boardroom in Johannesburg, seated across the table from both the current and future king of Wakanda.
"Good morning King T'Chaka, Prince T'Challa." Harry said. "I'm sorry for calling this meeting so out of the blue and with so little in the way of details."
"Good morning Mister Potter." King T'Chaka said as he nodded at Harry. "When the CEO and founder of both PI and EPI calls for an urgent meeting, it would be foolish to ignore the request." he said with a smile.
"Your people said you had some information on a man that we've been looking for, for some time." Prince T'Challa said. "We assumed you called the meeting for that. That or maybe to discuss how and why the mercenary Wade Wilson keeps on turning up and killing warlords in Africa, only to disappear and be seen minutes later back in America."
"He's still doing that?!" Harry asked in shock. "I'm sorry. I'll admit to having sent him there a couple of years back to send a message about the distribution centres being off limits. I gave him only a temporary means of travelling there and back. He shouldn't be able to use that method anymore."
"He has caused some interruptions for us." T'Challa admitted. "And you still haven't explained how."
"I haven't." Harry agreed. He spotted a look of annoyance from one of the female bodyguards who was standing in the corner. His own bodyguard, supplied by Fury, stood on the opposite side of the room. There was also a whole squad of people in the hall outside and in a building across the road, monitoring for anything suspicious.
"Are you going to?" T'Challa asked.
"I will, but first, let me show you something cool." Harry said. He put his hand into his pocket and deliberately, slowly, removed his hand, with his Pensieve tablet in it. The bodyguard had stiffened, but relaxed when it looked like he wasn't pulling a weapon. "This is a device made by my company. It allows me to extract a memory from a willing person and view it." Harry put a finger to his head and withdrew a memory. The strand of memory was clearly visible to all in the room.
"How are you doing that?" King T'Chaka asked as Harry placed the memory in the tablet.
"The second memory will explain." Harry said. "The reason I'm showing you this is to keep the knowledge from anyone that isn't authorised to know it. You might want to have someone test the device for you?"
"How does it work?" said the bodyguard as she walked up to the table without having needed to be called.
"Simply place your finger on the surface and you will enter the memory." Harry said. "It will feel like you are falling while you enter the memory, but your body will stand still while you relive the last five minutes, which is what memory I used for the demonstration."
The demonstration was quickly out of the way and soon Harry had extracted a second memory. The bodyguards stood by closely to ensure that nothing happened to them as they viewed the memory. Harry took out the contracts he had for them and signed where he was supposed to while they viewed a memory of a demonstration of the contracts. There was a small introduction to magic and they saw a portal being turned. The last thing they saw was Harry stepping through the portal into his office on the lunar base.
When they came out of the memory, Harry pushed the contracts across the table to them. All in all, Fury's people had come up with a brilliant way to expedite the process. All the necessary subjects were covered and he didn't need to bother with painful demonstrations anymore.
The king insisted that the bodyguards also sign the contracts, so that Harry could open a portal for them. That done, Harry opened a portal directly to the medical wing of EPI. His bodyguard stayed behind. He'd inform the rest to return to base using their portkeys.
"Where are we?" the King's bodyguard demanded.
"I was thinking we could start our tour by first fixing King T'Chaka's eye." Harry said indicating King T-Chaka's glass eye. "We have a very good prosthetics division."
May Parker, still on duty, didn't need to be told. Harry loved doing this kind of thing. "King T'Chaka, it is an honour to meet you. My name is May Parker. I'll be taking care of this for you." She said as she indicated for him and his personal guard to follow him. Normally, there'd be no chance that they'd allow someone they didn't know to do anything with their monarch, but he had indicated for them to allow what was going on. The idea of magic still very much at the forefront of his mind.
T'Challa decided to stay with Harry, who had sat down in the waiting area. "What are they doing?"
Harry smiled when he saw one of the people leaving from the prosthetics division, having gone for a check-up. "Corporal Kowalski! How are you doing, my friend?" he asked jumping up and making his way over to the man.
To Harry's annoyance, the soldier stopped dead, eyes front and saluted Harry, "I'm doing fine, Sir! Thanks for asking, Sir!"
"Why would you do that?" Harry asked with mock sadness. "I thought we were friends."
John Kowalski finally relaxed and smiled at his ultimate boss. "Can't take the army out of the soldier, si… Harry."
Harry nodded in acknowledgement of him addressing him more familiarly. Then he indicated the Prince, who was still standing nearby just watching the exchange. "This is Prince T'Challa of the Wakandan people. His father, the king, is currently being fitted for a replacement eye. Do you mind showing the prince what we were able to do for you?"
"No problem, Harry." John turned to the prince and bowed slightly, "Your highness. My name is Sergeant John Kowalski of the second infantry unit for EPI."
"Sergeant?" Harry interrupted.
John smiled, "Something about a commendation from a superior?" Harry just smiled, glad that had worked out.
"Good morning, Sergeant." T'Challa said politely. "Congratulations on the promotion."
"It was a while back, but it's still nice to hear." John said with a genuine smile. "If it hadn't been for Harry, I'd probably still be out on the streets begging for scraps."
"Why do you say that?" T'Challa asked. The man seemed put together well enough.
John smiled and bent down, pulling up the pants around his boots and showing the obviously artificial limb. Then he moved his foot as no prosthetic ever would be capable of. Then he rolled up the other leg. Then one of his arms. T'Challa was speechless. He didn't think anyone had advanced enough to do this, not like they could anyway. "I tried to get them to replace the other arm as well, but apparently it wasn't necessary." John made the standard joke.
"The prosthetics don't tire, so the men with them tend to outshine the men who joined whole and hale." Harry said.
"Once they've acclimated to them." John said. "At first it's strange to feel something respond where you can't feel anything, but you get used to it."
"Hey, I'm still working on alternatives to the expensive wiring framework we need to use to create sensory input for you! Once that's done, you'll be able to feel again, okay? Patience is a virtue." Harry said indignantly. "Ungrateful soldiers…" he muttered under his breath.
John just smiled, "I know, Harry, and honestly, I'm fine with what I have. Save the better stuff for the new recruits."
"Like you'll have a say in it." May said from behind them as she walked up behind them with the King in tow, looking around in wonder. "I'll have all my patients receive only the best we can offer."
"Baba?" T'Challa asked in shock, seeing the glass eye move around as he looked at everything around them.
"My son!" King T'Chaka said walking up to his son and hugging him. "They were able to give me my eye back!"
"I can see baba." T'Challa said with a smile on his face. He turned to May and bowed to her, "Thank you, doctor, for helping my father."
"I'm just a nurse." May said. "The prosthetics division runs like a well-oiled machine and Harry, himself, made the eye."
T'Challa was about to bow to Harry too, but Harry was already heading for a corner, where he was turning a portal, John walking alongside him, Harry having asked him to help with a demonstration. Everyone stepped through and he waved at May in thanks for her help.
The next room they were in had a person at a desk behind a computer screen. "Good morning, Mister Potter." the friendly man said. "Are you here for the prisoners?"
"We are." Harry confirmed. "Also, John here has agreed to be a demonstration for the King and Prince."
"Alright." the man said. "Just one moment, while I set this up." He typed away at the keyboard and a wall lit up next to him showing the reception area for prisoner drop location. "You may proceed." he said.
John, knowing what was coming, lay down on the floor and Harry summoned a disk which he placed on the man's chest. "See you now, John." Harry tapped the disk and it activated the stasis field and the portkey took John away to the area shown on the screen. Harry turned to the guests.
"You'll note that John seems to have stopped breathing. In fact he's still alive and well, but just suspended in time. This is useful in a number of ways. No escape attempts, no need to worry about immediate medical assistance, and the person doesn't have to wait. The next thing John will see is us, when we wake him up." Harry nodded at the man behind the desk.
"Right away, sir." the man said as he tapped away and an arm descended to him and picked him, up. A minute later another wall opened and John's prone form was deposited on a raised platform, which rose from the floor.
Harry walked to John and took the disk from his chest. John's eyes blinked and then he got up. "It's always strange to realise that the demonstration is over, just as soon as it began." he said.
The man behind the desk was typing away and soon the two prisoners were displayed on the screen. "Please confirm that these are the prisoners you are looking for?"
Harry nodded at the man, who started typing away again. "This is the part that I hate." Harry said.
"What part is that?" T'Challa asked.
The man answered by putting a stack of paperwork on the counter in front of his desk. "Please fill these out, sir."
It took two hours to go over the paperwork, since there was a report about what the prisoners had said under Veritaserum, legal documents, wavers, everything. By the end, when everything was signed, Harry asked, "So, what are you going to do?"
T'Challa thought about it, but then shook his head, "I don't know. This man has a right to challenge, but no honour. He'd betray everything Wakanda has stood for, for so long."
"Then it is good the decision is not yours, my son." T'Chaka said. "I have made my decision to start sending our support out into the world. Our weapons, however, stay in our hands."
"I understand, Baba." T'Challa said, nodding, relief showing in his face.
"If I could make a suggestion?" Harry offered.
"Please." T'Chaka said with a smile.
"Why not just join the effort we're currently already providing to the world?" Harry asked. "We would give you access to certain of our technology, providing your people don't mind going through the training, and then we join forces to protect the world."
King T'Chaka was dumbstruck for a moment, before a smile grew back on his face, "You would offer this freely?"
"Of course." Harry shrugged. "The Earth Protection Initiative is not a closed organization. We recruit globally and our mission has always been to protect and preserve life. There is a possibility that we'll be branching out and start offering support to the Nova Corps in return for some of their more advanced technology, but that just means we'll need more hands. Perhaps we can hand some of our current tasks over to Wakanda, if you're willing?"
"What is the Nova Corps?" T'Challa couldn't help asking.
"Oh, right." Harry said, knocking himself softly upside the head. "They're an intergalactic peacekeeping organization, based from their home world of Xandar. They have many different races and species working together for the common good and I've been hoping one of our divisions could start adding to that number."
"You're acquainted with aliens?" T'Chaka asked sceptically.
"To be fair, there's a whole story connected to that one." Harry said. He'd have to send one of their people to fill the Wakandans in on some of what EPI has been up to. "But just to remind you, none of this can be shared with anyone outside of the contract. We'll provide you with one that you can have people you trust sign, but it's connected to another one, so you can't destroy that one to free people from the magic."
"And the hiding magics?" T'Chaka asked. "In your memory, you said it could be used to protect large areas. Your whole island cannot be found by either Magic or Technology, correct?" At Harry's nod, he continued, "What would it take for you to hide our capital like that?"
Harry winced, "To be honest, I don't know that I can hide your entire city. It would take a phenomenal amount of power as I'd need to remove the memory from everyone that currently knows where Wakanda is, including those that stay within its bounds. I can call upon a great amount of power, but I don't think even I can pull that one off." He thought about it for a minute while the King and Prince exchanged disappointed looks. Then he had an idea, "I might be able to hide the entrances to your sacred mountain, though. Keep visitors or unauthorised personnel from finding it?"
T'Chaka smiled and nodded, "That would be a great service to Wakanda."
"We would, of course, not expect this service for free." T'Challa said. "I think we've seen enough to agree that we can start working together, if only in Africa to begin with."
And just like that, EPI gained a new ally. It took a bit of work, but soon there was a portal connecting a hidden location in Wakanda to the reception area at EPI. They started sending people through for training and were beginning to take over the protection of the African Distribution Centres, with the blessing of Fury, who loved being able to reallocate some of his resources, when Harry presented them with the new alliance.
The Wakandan Princess, Shuri, was one of the first people to be added to the contract and she was often seen visiting the scientists and researchers, from runes and potions, all the way through particle physics and alien technology. Even Tony was impressed with her intellect.
Speaking of which, Tony was also the one who insisted on Harry taking the Royal Family on a tour of the island to show them the sights.
"What is that?" one of the guards, who was accompanying them on the carpet, asked pointing at a creature that looked like a rhino.
"Oh, that's a pair of Erumpent." Harry said. "I'm sorry for not warning you. I realise they look like rhinos."
"Erumpent?" T'Challa asked.
"They are a lot like a Rhino, except bigger and more dangerous." Harry said. "You see how the male's horn is glowing right now?" T'Challa nodded. "Watch. It's mating season for them and he's showing the female his worth." As they slowed down to watch, the Erumpent stuck its horn into a tree. A couple of seconds later, it bubbled and contorted until it exploded in a loud and violent way. The male had taken the explosion full in the face, showing the female that it could withstand the hit. Apparently it worked, since the female approached the male and rubbed against him.
Harry started the carpet on before the mating ritual completed, which, to his memory involved a couple more explosions. "What just happened?" the King asked from behind Harry.
"Erumpent horns are potent magically and are used by the creature for self-defence and as part of their mating ritual. Its function is, as you saw, to create explosions." Harry explained. "The male attracts the female by surviving an explosion. When many males are around, they usually end up killing themselves trying to impress the female with bigger explosions. That pair are still quite young, not old enough to bare offspring yet."
"But those creatures were twice as large as a normal Rhino!" T'Challa exclaimed in disbelief.
"I know." Harry said with a solemn nod. "They were the runts of their litter too."
"Those were the small ones?" one of the guards asked astounded.
"Yes, but Logan has been taking really good care of them." Harry said. "They are starting to fill out."
"Logan?" Queen Ramonda asked.
"He's the master of these lands. He cares for the creatures and makes sure the ones in the enclosures are fed and happy." Harry explained.
"Enclosures? You keep some of these creatures in cages?" T'Challa asked with narrowed eyes.
"Relax will you?" Harry asked. "Why do you automatically assume I'm hurting these creatures? Is it because I'm white?" He'd always wanted to ask that question. He did not expect the many nods. "Really? I was joking!"
"So were we." T'Chaka said with a bit of a belly laugh. Harry looked behind him and saw Shuri also trying to hide a smile. The guards did not look like they were joking, but they were looking at the next animal already.
"Those are some of the Unicorns of the island." Harry said offhandedly as a small group of unicorns grazed nearby.
"Is that one of your people?" T'Chaka asked pointing off to where a Nymph was looking critically at a field of grass she had just grown.
"Yes. That's one of the Wood Nymphs of New Atlantis. They are in charge of all the plant life. They can make them grow and flourish, as is their nature. She's likely the reason the Unicorns are nearby. They tend to follow the Nymphs around. They don't like them to be left unaccompanied for some reason." Harry said with a shrug.
They continued and Harry soon stopped them at the enclosures. "Here we have our large cat enclosures. Logan has informed me that the Wampus Cat might one day be able to live on the land without trying to eat the other creatures, but the Manticores, the Chimaera, and most of all, the Nundu will never be able to live in peace with other animals. They are all apex predators." Harry said pointing out the enclosures.
"Did you bring us here for a specific reason?" T'Chaka asked, with a calculating look in his eye.
"No reason." Harry lied. "The Nundu from my world was native to Africa and it will be the big attraction today, if you can see them. I think that's why I brought you here. I suggest we start the tour with the Wampus Cat though." Harry pointed at the first enclosure, explaining how they needed to read the sign so that they'd be able to exit.
The Wampus Cat was a six-legged cat, resembling a cougar. That's where the resemblance ended though, as this cat was capable of acts of Legilimency along with being really fast, strong and nearly impossible to kill, by normal means at least. The Wampus Cat would never be domesticated, but could and have been known to live in harmony with its environment, which was why Logan had suggested they try and allow it to roam once it was settled in.
Harry then moved on to the Chimaera. They were bloodthirsty beasts with a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail. Harry described how they were endangering the local unicorns on Alfheim and why Logan had had to go on many occasions to cull their numbers. Harry didn't mind, they had many parts Bruce appreciated having in abundance. Harry saw a look after mentioning this and had to promise to send them the reports of what Sif had found out about their population boom. Something about another creature having moved to a different part of the continent.
Next were the Manticores. A Manticore had the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion that will kill anyone instantly. While the Manticores were able to speak understandable languages, they were also bloodthirsty and completely untrustworthy around other beings they could consider food. Fortunately they didn't know they were being observed and simply lounged about in their enclosure.
Finally came the Nundu. "Let me know if you see them." Harry said as he looked out of the viewing area.
"What are we looking for?" T'Challa asked.
"The Nundu look like gigantic leopards, but with darker colouration." Harry replied. He looked out over the large grasslands, with a couple of trees dotting the area.
It didn't take long for T'Challa to spot one. "There!" he exclaimed pointing off to the left. Harry soon spotted it too.
"Yup, that's one of them." Harry said. "A Nundu's breath is said to be toxic, carrying diseases that would kill any that come near it. We are protected here, so don't worry." he assured them.
"Bast!" King T'Chaka exclaimed as he finally saw the massive creature. "What our people would do to see what we see now." he wondered.
"True." T'Challa said. Then he turned to Harry. "We have underestimated you."
"You're not so bad for a white boy." Shuri said with a smile.
"Thanks, I think." Harry responded, knowing it was a joke. "Anyway, we can stay here a bit but the dragons go on patrol soon and Jarvis would hate if you missed that. He arranged for the time specifically for that reason."
The rest of the tour was relatively quiet, except for the Hippogriff rides. First T'Challa went and when he returned, he told his father it was safe who then went for his own flight. The guards had insisted that they follow them on the carpet, though. The Queen declined, but Shuri also went for a flight.
While they were on their way back to the Bar, they saw the flight of dragons, with Logan sitting comfortably on Puppy's back and the younger dragons ranged out behind them in a 'V' formation. It was an impressive sight, which is why Jarvis had arranged for it.
The guests were even more impressed when Hela decided to make an appearance on her new steed, a particularly large and powerful male Thestral whom she had named Agnar. They had bonded as if they were made for each other and Hela had even taken to caring for the slowly growing herd, of which Agnar was the leader.
Harry had also noted her making fast friends with the Cerberus, which was apparently what Hagrids guard-dog/pet, Fluffy, had been. Not even Harry had known that until Sif brought in the one they had on the island and Logan found it's identification in the library. It was still very small, only coming to Harry's shoulder, but it was getting along well with the other creatures and growing fast.
Harry really hoped they could find it a mate at some point, but the one they had was rescued from captivity and nobody knew where it was from. They were also not taking very good care of it, which was why Logan had insisted that they take it.
When they landed at the Bar, Harry opened a portal for any who wanted to go home and King T'Chaka and his wife Ramonda left. Shuri and T'Challa decided to stay when Harry mentioned magical Liquor. The guards also decided to stay, ostensibly to protect their charges even though they all knew the island was very well protected.
Hela even joined them after Harry had Eldrin pour some shots for Shuri and T'Challa, so they could taste and appreciate the three different magical drinks now available. She had found a distinct liking for the Firewhiskey, which wasn't really surprising. What was surprising, to Harry at least, was that she sometimes asked for a Bahama Mama, which was now infused with Harry's latest addition to the Elemental Alcohol line.
"The first one is called Firewhiskey and gives a burning sensation, before leaving you with a feeling of calm." Harry explained as he pointed out the shots for them. "The second is Iced Vodka. It physically cools you down for a time. The last is my latest magical achievement, Tempest Rum. It is infused with feelings of acceptance and a fresh tropical breeze."
The stronger Asgardian version was called Frigga's Embrace and was quickly outstripping Loki's Breath in popularity on Asgard.
"Truly a wonderful creation." Hela said as she took a sip of her own drink. "Is this your divine calling? Making magical infusions of otherwise more mundane things?"
"Artifice and Enchantment." Natasha reminded her, having decided to skip the tour this time and catching up on some paperwork while they were out, instead. "He doesn't like being called a god or divine though. Rather call him blessed."
"Humility has its place," Hela relented, "but he is a king and a prince of Asgard. The blessings he receives from this living island and the Realm Eternal, not to mention his other gifts, make him probably the most powerful entity in the galaxy, if not the universe."
"Until Thanos decides to come visit." Harry mumbled.
"Is he still around?" Hela asked nonchalantly.
"You know of him?!" Harry asked, somehow not having thought that she'd have known of him.
"He's been around for many thousands of years. Apparently he is a true immortal." she said. "Last rumour I heard, he was in love with death incarnate."
"We spoke to his daughters. He wants to restore balance to the universe by destroying half of all life." Harry argued.
"It was just a rumour." Hela accepted. "Why do you mention him?"
"Because he is apparently going to stop here, on Midgard, at some point soon." Natasha said. "We've been preparing for war, making allies everywhere we can, pumping out weapons and protections as fast as we can."
"When were you planning on telling Wakanda about this threat?" T'Challa asked.
Harry wanted to say, 'When you're ready,' but somehow thought that would not be well received. He didn't even know if they'd ever be ready, but the reports he had received about the scarcity of magic in the universe made him hopeful. "We've not been keeping anything from you. We've just not gotten to it yet. We're constantly working on setting up protections for the Earth."
"The Sorcerer Supreme has been working on setting up stronger protections and sending people to our allies so that they can help bring all our forces to bear when the time comes." Natasha explained.
"Our Space Battleship, Midnight, has some truly fantastic and devastating offensive capabilities, some of which are so powerful, we needed to hard-wire limiters so that it cannot ever fire at the Earth or the Moon." Harry said.
"I also brought them some nifty scanners, which can detect power signatures from galaxies away and will help monitor this solar system for when anyone arrives." Rocket said walking up to them, Groot, who had shot up in length, following behind him, playing the ever-present hand-held game. "It's not infallible, but it should help. And hi, by the way."
"Why is there a talking r-" Shuri started, but Harry silenced her.
"He's not what you think he is. His species just looks a lot like what you're thinking." Harry said, before unmuting her. Honestly, he wasn't really sure that Rocket wasn't just a modified raccoon, but he really didn't like being called that. "His name is Rocket and his friends name is Groot." Harry said indicating the new arrivals. "They are members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of mercenary heroes, who stopped Earth from becoming an extension of an ancient entity bent on universal domination. Hi Groot." Harry finished with a greeting to the tree creature.
"I am Groot." Groot said. 'I'm going to see Xamantha.'
"Hi to you to." Harry grumbled. He turned to Rocket, "Has he been getting worse? He's usually much more polite."
"Nah, that's still tame." Rocket said. "He and Quill just had an argument about him never cleaning his room and everything being covered in vines. He just misses the Nymphs. He'll be fine in a bit."
"Should I come cast a couple of cleaning spells?" Harry offered.
"Nah, he'll clean up after himself, once he grows out of this phase." Rocket assured Harry as he indicated for Eldrin to pour him a double, even as Eldrin put the double down on the table in front of him. "How does he keep on doing that?" Rocket asked.
"Eldrin has a slight affinity for divination." Natasha said. "He can't predict stock market trends, but his skills do lend themselves to practical applications." 'It helps that you always order the same thing.' she finished in her head.
"Making him the world's best barman." Harry grumbled. It wasn't fair, it was his bar, but everyone preferred Eldrin's drinks.
"I'm sorry, my lord." Eldrin said with a cocky smile as he put a drink on the table for Shuri, before starting with one for T'Challa.
"Don't skill-shame your barman, Harry." Natasha said with a playful smile. "Just be glad he can't do any-flavour shots."
"Oh, I'll get that enchantment one of these days." Harry threatened.
"And I'll be happy to serve those as well, my lord." Eldrin said, putting a martini in front of T'Challa. Harry could see some sort of citrus slices in the glass.
"Any-flavour shots?" Shuri asked.
Natasha just shook her head in mock sadness, "Now you've done it."
What followed was a disgusting example of every-flavour shots, with everyone having a shot, which Harry conjured, except for the bodyguards. They were lucky in that the worst flavour they got was cement that time. The best flavour being Caramel Fudge. The idea of the possibility of tasting an emotion spurring Shuri on to try twice more, but stopping after her last shot tasted like pinecones, which wasn't bad, but apparently it left a flavour in her mouth she didn't like.
T'Challa was impressed with the drink the elf had made for him and when he enquired, Eldrin just smiled and said, "I'm afraid it's a trade secret." Just like Harry had taught him. If they wanted more, they could always come visit.
They continued discussing the plans that were being made for the protection of Earth and at some point Tony showed up and joined in with his plans and what he knew of EPI's plans, which was a fair amount. Rocket loved this conversation as he was able to start talking about his favourite pastime, blowing stuff up.
Natasha and Pepper soon separated from them and started discussing things, a mirror propped in front of them, probably making plans for the wedding with Laura still. That, in-turn, led to Frigga calling them and another mirror joined the other on the counter as all three women started discussing the many plans, which Harry knew nothing about.
He just knew he had to pay for everything. He was still in charge of the more magical aspects of the wedding, making Pepper jealous that she couldn't invite everyone she wanted to and have magic active at the party. She wasn't too concerned, though. She was certain she could have a magical wedding without actual magic.
After a few short hours, Harry handed T'Challa an Avengers bracelet, "This is a portkey, which will take you to the reception area at EPI. You are in our systems in both your Black Panther armour and without as an ally of EPI, so you'll be able to go there and home through the portals with the portkey. It can also take you to the Avengers Mansion, if you ever want to train with us."
"You really want to do that." Tony said with a smile. "We have our very own ART room."
"A.R.T? Like the training facilities my people keep telling me about?" T'Challa asked. When Harry and Tony nodded, T'Challa nodded too, "I'd like to see that for myself, as well."
"Don't be a stranger, then." Tony said as he made to order another drink, just for one to appear in front of him. "No offense Harry," he said, turning to Harry and pointing at Eldrin, "but I love this guy. He always knows when I need to change up what I'm drinking, I never get tired of showing up and always getting exactly what I need, even if I didn't know I wanted it."
"Sounds like you've got a bit of a crush." Natasha piped up from her side of the table with a wicked smile. Pepper had apparently also heard and was just laughing at his expense and whispering into the mirrors, likely relaying what Tony had said.
Tony had played this game before and didn't miss a beat. "If only I swung that way." he said with an air of melodrama. When Eldrin lifted an eyebrow and smirked at him, Tony's façade crumbled though, knowing that this elf was one of the straight ones. "No offense, Eldrin."
"Why would I be offended, Mister Stark?" Eldrin asked.
"I told you to call me Tony." Tony said. "Why do you insist on calling me 'Mister Stark'?"
"Because you are my Lord's friend and as such you are above my station." Eldrin replied without hesitation.
"Why do you call him 'My Lord', when he obviously prefers to be called by his first name?" Shuri asked.
Eldrin looked uncomfortable, but Hela shocked Harry by interceding, "My brother prefers close friendships, because of his difficult past, in the same way as the Elves prefer to treat him with respect for what he has done for them. Harry doesn't press the issue, because he wants the elves to be happy and if letting them treat him with respect achieves that, he can live with it."
"You seem to understand Harry pretty well, for a new addition to the island." Tony said. "How is it that you know him so well, so quickly, when in your first meeting you tried to kill him?" Tony still didn't trust Hela.
"I thought you were his best friend?" Hela replied. "Surely you've noticed that Harry seldom lies, either by his actions or words. I don't trust easily myself, so I've developed the ability to tell truth from lies." She lowered her head slightly and looked Tony dead in the eye, "Just as you don't trust me, because you care for your friend, I can only trust you because you don't trust me. It means you are smart and will be there for him when he makes mistakes."
"Are you confessing to being a mistake?" Tony asked with narrowed eyes.
"Truth?" Hela asked. "I don't know. Although I am quite fond of this island and its inhabitants." she admitted. "Harry has proven to be a true cultivator of life, especially for one so closely marked by-"
"Let's not go telling all my secrets on one day, okay?" Harry quickly interrupted. "Some things are still considered private."
"Of course." Hela relented. If Harry wanted to keep certain things to himself, that was fine by her. So long as he didn't start lying.
The evening didn't carry on too much longer after that. Hela had gone off to brush Agnar, which she did every day. Tony had meetings and T'Challa and Shuri needed to go speak to the King about what they had learned about Thanos. Harry and Natasha stayed up a bit later discussing the upcoming coronations, since Harry had been invited to T'Challa's as well. They were separated by only a month.
Thor's coronation was coming up at the end of January, T'Challa's at the end of February and their wedding was at the end of March. They were looking forward to all of it.
In the meanwhile, Harry was busy with some of his own plans. He was planning something big and for it to succeed, he'd need Odin's help and a hell of a lot of power, or quite a bit of time. He decided to be pro-active, though, so he decided to double the size of his ring battery. It would take a lot of Adamantite, so when they started the process of creating the metal, they invited Eitri to come and see the process in action.
He was scanning the reaction in his own way as the metal changed and heated up as a result of the process. "I think I see why you're losing so much metal during the change." he said.
"Really?" Harry asked excitedly as he stepped closer, as if being closer to the process would allow him to see the problem.
"Really." Eitri grinned. "Fortunately, the issue is simple for you to solve. At least, it will be once you know the problem."
"What's the problem?" Tony asked.
"The process isn't just creating the metal." Eitri explained. "The process here, from what I can tell, was originally used to create energy from gold. The Adamantite is more like a side-effect, which is why so little is produced. I suspect the alchemist who created this process thought they might be able to use this it to bolster their own magical power."
"But it doesn't produce magical power." Bruce argued. "I've been monitoring this process every time and not once did I detect anything like Harry's power."
"That's because Harry's power is unique. It's got its own frequency." Eitri explained. "You wouldn't know what to look for since you've only ever had Harry's energy to work with." He indicated the gold which was slowly shrinking inside the clear alchemical solution, "This process has been modified as well. It's producing heat and air as well, rather than just magical energy, which has cut down on energy production heavily.
"It is possible that the person who originally made this didn't have the equipment you do and wouldn't be able to monitor the effects of the changes in the formula, but the solution is simple." Eitri said looking at Bruce with a challenge in his eyes.
"Give me a moment here." Tony said as he considered the problem too. He'd also memorised the process and knew what each part of the equation did in the formula.
Bruce beat him to it a minute later, "We have to modify the formula to reduce the heat generated and block the magic from escaping?"
"Almost." Eitri said, shaking his head.
Harry surprised them by speaking up first, "You have to induce magic from outside, rather than letting it produce magic."
"Of course!" Bruce exclaimed. He turned to Tony who was frowning, "It's called Alchemy and not science or potions, because magic is actively used. In potions, you use the magic that's already there in the ingredients. Alchemy is the art of inducing a change in the formula by adding magic externally!"
Tony finally nodded, "It makes sense." He turned to Eitri, "I thought you weren't an alchemist."
Eitri just shook his head as he sat down next to Harry, who had started feeding magic into the potion, "I'm not, but I could tell what was happening and I am quite experienced with magic and metal." He turned to Harry, "That's a bit much. Try and slow the flow a bit." Harry complied and Eitri nodded. "You're still going to lose a bit of the metal until you can change the equation to remedy the heat and air problem, but until then, I suspect you'll be happier with the results you are experiencing now."
Harry could tell that it was working as the feel of the metal changing was different now. He still couldn't believe he didn't realise there was more magic in the air. He had attributed the feeling to the potion they were using. "I'll probably have to create an enchantment for the correct amount of power to be introduced to the process, so that I don't need to be present."
"Won't the enchantment lose power too quickly that way?" Eitri asked, intrigued.
"Nah, he'll just set it up to use MSC Shells." Tony said.
"What's that?" Eitri asked.
"A smaller version of my ring." Harry clarified. "Until you share your technology with us, you're not getting any." he said with an evil smirk.
Eitri actually looked tempted. A power source for this kind of magic might be something he'd need for his studies into the Sword of Gryffindor. He pulled himself together though, "Maybe somewhere in the future." he conceded. "Until then, maybe I'll just start making adamantite and funnel its magical production. If I can have the formula, once you perfect it?"
"What do we get out of the deal?" Tony asked, before anyone could agree.
"Well, we do have a lot of gold and we don't need adamantite." Eitri tried.
Tony considered it, before responding, "You'll need the ingredients too, since you don't have access to them on your ring. I tell you what, I'll go do the math and get back to you."
Eitri nodded. He had no doubt that they could come to an agreement. As long as they didn't want Uru, which he was very loathe to part with in its raw form. "Until then, I'll be back at Nidavellir. I'm still busy with that sword."
"Alright." Harry said waving at him. "And thank you for your help. I think you just cracked alchemy for us!"
Bruce was nodding along, "Yes, thank you. I've got so many ideas I want to try now!" He would help Eitri get ingredients if what he suspected about Alchemy turned out to be true. He'd just need Harry to create an enchantment and Tony to create a rune-controlled system that would allow him to change the flow of magic. He was brimming with ideas, all the way from new potions to new applications and new delivery systems. Hank would be pleased that they had another way to modify potions. Maybe they could finally crack the dry potion barrier and start producing real pills?
"It is always a pleasure to help my friends." Eitri said with a smile. "Oh and Harry…" he started.
"Your barrels of Asgardian-grade Firewhiskey and Frigga's Embrace will be delivered to you before the end of the day." Harry nodded. It was the payment they agreed on, if Eitri was able to help them, which he was. Apparently Eitri wasn't the stingy kind either. He had shared what he had received from Harry before, which was why Harry planned on surprising Eitri, with appropriately-sized barrels.
Once Eitri left, Harry turned to see Tony looking at him with a look and a smile Harry didn't trust on his face. "What?" he asked.
"Do you realise what the original alchemist figured out?" Tony asked.
"What?" Harry asked, not having an idea.
"E = mc²." Bruce answered for him.
"Exactly." Tony said. "If we can figure out what this guy was trying, if Eitri is right, we might end up creating the equivalent of a magical nuclear reactor."
"Better. We wouldn't need to have it go through a process to generate the power. This is direct." Bruce corrected.
"What?!" Harry repeated himself a third time, but this time in incredulity. "Is that even possible?"
"Harry, we've already proven that energy and mass can have equivalent exchange." Tony said. "If what Eitri said is true, we could make a device that can charge your giant battery in hours, rather than months. It's also highly likely, since gold was valued a lot as an alchemical substance back then. If we stick to gold, we can tap a resource we have a lot of, too."
"And we won't need to modify the equation to work on a new element." Bruce agreed.
"Do you know what this means?" Tony said having walked up to Harry to shake his arms.
"Nooooo." Harry said slowly. Tony had a look of madness in his eyes.
"If we can make magical energy and we already know how to convert magical energy to electrical power…" Tony began.
"We can use this process to create power at a fraction of the cost, with no radioactive by-products or waste." Bruce said, catching on. "Tony, this is big." he said with a look of dawning understanding.
"Yeah, this is big!" Tony exploded. "And there's so much we can still try after that. If we can make a process that takes matter and turns it into power, we might be able to do the reverse."
Bruce was shaking his head, "While I agree with you that that is possible, it would take many years to figure out how to do it."
"So we can't plug in a device that prints food using only electricity, fine!" Tony said excitedly. "But it's in sight now, isn't it!? This will still happen in our lifetimes!"
Harry was completely lost. He understood what they meant, but he didn't know how they would even attempt it. "So we can agree that that isn't the priority, right now?"
"Fine, spoil my fun." Tony grumbled. They had bigger fish to fry after all. "But I get to tell Pepper about this and we're having couples night later this week and having fun thinking of the possibilities!"
They did end up discussing it later that week. Bruce and Sif even joined them on this particular evening, when Bruce couldn't help but want to be part of that conversation. He had even already fixed the formula for the alchemical conversion. He hadn't slept, but he had fixed it. They were just waiting on Harry to finish the enchantment work for the initial test.
Tony was also working on creating an Alchemy set using runes with a connection for an MSC Shell. It would be able to adjust the flow of magical power using a control system much like the ones he had made for the flying cars.
Speaking of which, the plan had been enacted to deliver emergency vehicles to the major cities of North America. Jarvis had done the planning for that. The amount of vehicles were different for every city, as the size of each city and yearly crime rates, fires and medical response indicated. Tony had led the first demonstrations of each vehicle for the people that were sent for training.
First, the police vehicles. All of them were the size of a large van, big enough for a full swat team. They were basically indestructible and had strategically placed windows from which an officer or multiple officers could fire if the situation demanded it. Unbeknownst to them Harry had enchanted the windows to not allow projectiles to enter from outside. This would be a safety feature they didn't know about.
The fire trucks were as large as their predecessors, but with a large amount of space dedicated for extracting victims in case of emergency. After all, what was the point of a flying emergency vehicle that didn't allow for extraction? Every door on them had detectors for fire and would release a strong mist spray of water when opened near a fire. This would help facilitate extractions as well. Each fire truck was also outfitted with three mounted water-cannons, and three hoses for use in situations where the there was no line of sight. Where the water came from was explained away as a new development from EPI and strong warnings were given about trying to open the devices to find out how they worked.
The ambulances looked like they usually did, but were outfitted with hovering gurneys that locked in pace on the ambulance in such a way as to minimize movement in cases where patients could not be jostled. It was explained to them that the gurneys needed proximity to the ambulance to stay afloat, which was true and would ensure nobody tried to steal them, which was a genuine worry, even though every one of them had a tracker imbedded in them, just in case. The fact that every ambulance carried multiple of them was just a bonus and would help facilitate patient transfers in the most expedient and safe manner.
Harry was looking forward to the day they could set up emergency services the world over with disks that could simply put patients in stasis and transport them. They were not there yet, though.
As for what the vehicles ran on; a power supply for every one of them was to be installed by EPI staff at the police stations, fire departments and hospitals. Said power supplies were powered by MSC Shells and would need to be replaced periodically. Their power supplies were monitored remotely and EPI would be in charge of replacing the Shells.
When asked why this wasn't being made available to the public or government, Tony told them that this was a trial run. The technology was new and the government did not have the resources to monitor and control the traffic that allowing too many people access to these vehicles would generate. There were more objections, of course, but they were told that they could accept the training and receive the benefits they were being offered, or leave empty-handed. That shut them up quite quickly.
The government did not necessarily like that attitude and started ordering local law enforcement to send their vehicles to them. When said vehicles disappeared from government facilities, never to be seen again, people stopped listening to them. The President received a call from an irate Director Fury. Suffice it to say, nobody associated with the current administration tried again. That does not mean that people stopped trying, but that's when Tony's surprise kicked in.
He had set up a connection to Friday in every vehicle and when one was stolen, as was bound to happen, it stopped responding to input and flew the driver directly to the local authorities with recordings and everything Friday could find on the perpetrators already sent to their department. Harry had fun appearing as Ghost to retrieve the hostages that had been taken to force the driver to steal the vehicle.
The vehicles that had been taken from the government were finally replaced. Tony had wanted to follow through like they had done in China, but Harry didn't want to do that again, not while the police vans could have helped many people already. Tony still made a public statement that second chances only came around the one time and hinted strongly after the Army being involved with them taking the vehicles away in the first place.
While EPI and Stark Industries was working on improving the world yet again another meeting was taking place somewhere in the universe.
A purple figure on a floating stone throne faced away from the supplicant. "And you are certain you can achieve this?" the figure asked.
"I have everything set up, but I'll need your guarantee." the 'supplicant' stated.
"I've heard boasts of this kind before." the giant said. "What makes you so certain you will succeed?"
"Like I said, I have everything set up. Once my trap is sprung, I'll have access to what you want." the supplicant stated. "I also know the source of their power and I intend to claim it for myself."
The throne slowly turned as the figure turned to look at the supplicant with a smile that promised death, "And you think you have what it takes to steal from him?"
"I have faced him before, so I know I cannot do it with a show of force." the supplicant stated. "Instead, I'm going to use my other skills to infiltrate and subdue him. I've been reliably informed that it can be done if he's caught off guard."
The big purple man looked at the person before him, before nodding. "Fine. You may attempt to claim your power, but I will not delay my plans for you. If you fail, my plans will continue. If you succeed, you will gain immunity for yourself and any realm of your choosing for when the inevitable happens." She didn't realise that he was lying.
The supplicant smiled, a glint of madness in her green eyes, "Oh, I'll succeed and I'll take that little bitch of his apart before his very eyes for humiliating me!" Amora was a woman scorned and she had been patiently waiting and planning her next move. The fact that she had had to work in the shadows for so long would make her vengeance only taste sweeter.
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