The Nymphs had been more than happy to take up the duty of protecting the legendary tree, which would one day grow from the seed. Harry's own protections played no small part in its security either. Frigga had promised to come visit the Nymphs again and had taken an instant liking to the youngest of the grove, Xamantha, who had, seemingly, taken a liking to Frigga in turn.
The royal family had been surprised at how easily Idunn had given them the seed. It turns out, she had hoped to get in contact with Bruce again, since Frigga had brought her to inspect and acquire some of the Mandrakes a while ago. She had been more grateful for that and the dragon manure than anyone had known, it seemed. So it was that Harry had arranged a mirror for Idunn as well, to stay in contact with them.
Harry was at the workshop a couple of weeks later, when his Mirror vibrated. Harry quickly suspended the magic he was currently using and picked up the Mirror. "Yao?" Harry asked incredulously. "I haven't heard from you in ages!"
"Please, Harry. I've told you before to call me Ancient One. You never know who is listening." Yao reprimanded.
"Oh, please. You and I both know that you know when you will be overheard and not. I doubt you'd call me on the Mirror around all the monks after all." Harry laughed. It had been a couple of months since he's had tea with her.
"We do, but I'm afraid my sight is hampered past a certain point in the near future, which is coming up rather fast." Yao said.
"Is it time, then? Has he arrived?" Harry asked. At their last visit, they had been discussing one of Yao's 'premonitions' for the future and the fact that the next Sorcerer Supreme would be arriving soon. Harry knew that meant that Yao had to either retire, which was unlikely, become unable to wield the artefact, which allowed her to see the possible future, or that she would die. Harry did not like that idea, so he had made arrangements of his own. It was why he had rushed finishing the stasis devices after all.
"Not yet, but it will happen in the next year or two. Thank you for refusing his request. I can see his destiny is back on the right track." Yao said. She had contacted him a couple of months ago when she saw Stephen's destiny diverge. He was an intelligent man and a very good physician. Hill would have put him on a list and had him sign a contract, to help him with whatever injury he would receive. Apparently this would have caused other problems later on, so Harry got his name and contacted Fury, who asked Harry some difficult questions, but ended up trusting him anyway.
"I checked the guy out. He's a great surgeon, but he's got an ego to rival Stark's and hardly seems the hero type. I had no issue putting him on a blacklist. Can I assume it's nearly time, when he comes looking for help." Harry asked. The man really was not a good guy. There were children he could help, but refused to, because there was a large chance he'd not succeed. He was apparently more interested in keeping his success rate up than actually helping those only he'd be able to. If Harry was able to help all the people Stephen refused, he would have, but he had been assured that the time would come, but it was not yet that time.
"He will be humbled, I assure you. When he is who he will become, you may offer him your assistance. I suspect he might not take you up on your offer at that time, though I cannot see it." Yao said.
"Okay, okay, you win!" Harry said throwing his hands up. "You can be just as annoying as my old headmaster with your riddles. Is there a reason for your call other than annoying me?"
Yao laughed, "There is a reason, actually, but I'm sure it will annoy you anyway. I'm calling to remind you that your magic is more concentrated close to you and the planet. You should keep that in mind in the next couple of hours."
"So, you know that something is going to go wrong, but not so much as to affect the timeline if you change something. Does that about sum it up?" Harry asked with a frown.
"Just about." Yao said with a smile. "Also, I'll see you for dinner. Please bring your fiancée. I would love to meet her."
Harry was shocked. "Was I not supposed to keep you secret from her?" he asked.
"While I do prefer that you keep the source of certain topics from people, I would not tell you to lie to your beloved." Yao said.
"Yeah, yeah, okay." Harry said. "I'm sure that will make sense later tonight." Yao liked to make him frustrated at her for no apparent reason, he believed.
"Goodbye Harry, see you later. Better get to your office." She hinted before closing the connection.
Harry was mumbling about bad manners as he quickly put everything away that needed it and apparated to his office. Tony was on his side of the mirror, sitting back and having a drink with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Good timing!" he said.
"What's up?" Harry asked, acting like he had something else to do.
"I've finally cracked it!" Tony exclaimed.
"You got the inertial dampening to work?" Harry asked. Maybe this had something to do with the warning from Yao.
"Yup. I'm fabricating the test unit now. The chassis was already done, so Jarvis is applying the rune schemes currently and then I'm going to visit the moon for lunch!" Tony enthused.
Damn! Harry was now certain something would go wrong with the test, but didn't know how to go about warning Tony. "What's your backup plan?" Harry asked.
Tony scoffed, "I don't need one. The simulations worked fine and the tests all came back perfectly."
Harry cursed internally. "Got a seat for one more, then? I'd love to visit the moon." he asked.
"I don't see why not…" Tony said with narrowed eyes. "Why are you pushing this issue, Harry?"
Harry winced. "Fine." he said. "I can't tell you how or what, but I've got it on good authority something bad might happen with your test flight."
Tony looked like his drink had turned sour in his mouth. "And you can't tell me where this comes from?" Harry shook his head. "Is it contract protected info?" Harry shook his head again. "Are you protecting someone?" Harry lifted his hand and angled it side to side. "Maybe or kind of?" Harry nodded. "Oh, okay, fine! I'll run the simulations again with a passenger. It'll take an hour or so longer, but we should be able to leave in two hours." he said and pointed at Harry, "Don't be late."
"No problem. Let me just go tell Natasha." Harry said. Tony looked at him incredulously, "What? Did you think I'd do this without telling her?" Harry cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes, "Were you going to do this without telling Pepper?"
Tony at first looked incredulous, but at Harry's last statement, he paled. "Damn. Okay, you go tell Nat and I'll go tell Pepper. If you tell her, she'll tell Pepper anyway and I'd never hear the end of it. Let's just keep what I was planning to myself, okay?" he asked.
"Got any space suits?" Harry countered.
"We won't need-" Tony started until he saw Harry's, once again, raised eyebrow, "Yeah, sure. I've got something in storage you can use. I'll just have Jarvis give it the standard MI shielding." Then he left his office, slightly less enthused than he had been.
Harry left his hidden floor and went to Natasha's hidden office, where he knocked and waited. A minute later a door appeared and Harry entered it. Inside, there was the eerie sight of many people working monitoring their partners in the field. It had been decided that every one of Natasha's undercover agents would have two monitoring partners, who worked thirteen-hour shifts. They took time at the beginning and end of their shift to fill the other in on what had happened while they were on duty. They had two way communication at all times and the office partner could monitor around their field partner in full three-sixty degree vision. The cubicles where they sat were shielded from outside view by magic, but that just meant that nobody but Harry could see into them from the same floor. Many of their lips were moving, but Harry couldn't hear them fortunately.
Harry noticed Natasha up in her office, which had a view into all the cubicles. She was obviously kept up-to-date on anything going on that she needed to know, but she also reported anything that would interest him, to Fury. Harry went to her office and entered, to find her holding a hand up to him. "-on baby," Harry heard from a monitor projected on the glass, which he had not been able to see from outside, "-we can make a deal. You give me a bit of attention and I'll give you my contact."
On the screen he could see a man dressed expensively, obviously flirting with an operative. "Tell him that you can get him info on the shipment coming in from South-Africa. Use the Greek for confirmation." Natasha said. "We can have the two gangs go at each other while we replace their wares."
"How about I make you a deal that we'll both like better?" A new voice asked, presumably the agent. "I can give you a contact for a contact."
"I'm listening." the man said with a smile.
"My contact knows about a shipment coming in at some point from Cape Town. I don't know the details, but if you give me your guy's info, I'll do the same. You might just be able to stop one of your competitors from getting a foothold in America." the agent said.
"I wasn't aware that they were making a move." the man said, suddenly all business. "How do I know this information is real?"
"Speak to the Greek. He can confirm at least part of what I told you." the agent said.
Natasha pressed a button to mute the agent's line as the man on the other side took out his phone. Natasha took a clip with a red tag on it and clipped it into a choker she wore. Then she picked up a remote and pressed a button and music started playing loudly in the background. The next moment the phone rang and Natasha answered it with a man's deep voice and an accent Harry knew she was applying herself. "Yeah, who is this? I'm busy."
Harry watched as the man with the agent asked something as he pressed his hand to his other ear, to try and hear Natasha better.
"A strip club, what's it to you?" Natasha asked, still with the magically modified voice and a smirk at Harry. The man said something again and Natasha answered, "I don't tell you how to do your business. My information is good wherever I am. You don't like it, find another information broker."
The man on the screen frowned, but deflated and spoke again. "I could confirm or deny that for you right now, but you know how this works. This kind of information isn't free you know." The man in the screen seemed to control his temper before taking his phone from his ear and tapping a couple of buttons. A minute later he put the phone to his ear again and spoke.
Natasha looked at something on her table as a message popped up. "That's more like it!" she exclaimed. "Yeah, I heard that they were making a deal with a certain harbour master, who'd rather keep their family safe than check the cargo before it left port. Apparently it has something to do with some fine product being moved."
The man asked another question. "Yeah, I know a lot, but not everything. If you want specifics, speak to the new girl, Dominique. She's got a contact in the right places if my information is good, and you know it is!" Natasha laughed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've suddenly discovered I got some money to burn and a couple of lap-dances sounds just about right." she said before hanging up.
She immediately stopped the music, unmuted the agent and removed the clip from her collar. The man on the screen seemed to be trying to control his temper after the way he had just been treated, "If I knew where to find this Greek bastard, I'd send some of the boys to teach him proper respect."
"If he was that easy to find, would you trust his information?" the agent asked. "I know he knows at least a few things about me that I'd rather not get out. That's why he gets paid."
The man nodded begrudgingly, "At least he isn't too expensive and his information is always good." Then the man focussed on the agent, "Okay, so what do you want for this contact and why shouldn't I just have my boys take it from your hide?"
"Because, I'm too useful to have around. You know where I come from. You had your people at the police pull my sheet." the agent said.
"How do you know that?" the man asked sitting upright.
"I told you, I have my contacts too and you know where I come from." the agent said again. "I want that contact. I'm trying to get back into business and don't want to take years before meeting the right people. I know you know the right people."
The man seemed to think about it for a moment, before nodding, "Fine. I'll get you a meeting, but he contacts you, not the other way around."
"Okay. I'll give you the contact once I get the call." The agent said as she turned and walked to the door.
"I need to know when these bastards are bringing the shipment!" the man yelled out angrily.
"Then I'd better get the call fast!" the agent called back.
A couple of minutes later the agent was in a designated safe space and Natasha closed her connection and had her office partner take back over. "Hello, Harry." She said as she walked over to Harry and hugged him, before giving him a kiss. "I don't see you here too often. Something going on I should know about?" she asked.
"Yeah, you know I don't like hearing those voices coming from your mouth." Harry said. "As for what's going on, Tony and I are going to the moon later and then I'm taking you to meet one of my first friends in this reality this evening for dinner."
Natasha thought only for a second before saying, "Are you taking precautions?" Harry nodded. "Then I'll see you this evening. Are you informing Fury or will this be a surprise?"
"I was hoping to do that thing we discussed a while back, first." Harry offered.
"Moon base?" Natasha asked.
"Yup." Harry smiled.
"Okay then. Once you've been on the moon you could always just open a portal and drop a house or warehouse down there, so I suppose that could happen as early as next week, then." she shrugged. "Just remember, we're the first people to have sex on the moon!"
"Yeah, okay." Harry said. Then he got a look and asked, "Do I want to know why you are selling information and what you do with the money you get for protection from selling said information?"
"We also trade in information." Natasha assured him. "If I gave information for free, it would seem suspicious to these people. You want them to feel they earned it. As for where the money goes, it all goes back into the department. My people will always need the funds to buy information we can only get that way." Natasha shrugged. "Besides that, lingerie." She smiled mischievously at him.
"Oh, really?" he asked with a smile as he pulled into her.
"Let's keep that in mind for later." Natasha said as she pushed him slightly away. "I've got some things to finish here. Have you figured out how to replicate the stuff we bring in, without needing you there, yet?"
"Almost there" Harry confirmed. "I'll need to set up different enchantments for different situations and I'll need a bit more information about the products, but I should be able to get everything in place in the next month or so. In the meanwhile, I'll just have to continue doing it manually."
Natasha nodded before something caught her eye, "Bring me a souvenir," she said over her shoulder as she rushed to the window and pointed at a cubicle. Immediately it popped up on her window and she started monitoring, in case she needed to give the man on the other side instructions on how to get out of one sticky situation or another. Harry left her to it and returned to his lab.
When the time came, Harry apparated to Tony's office and they left together to where their transport and the suits were. Tony showed Harry how to get into the sleek-looking space-suite, which was much more modern than Fury could get on short notice, apparently. Tony simply donned one of his MI Iron-Man suits, which was made to withstand the vacuum of space.
"So, where's this ship?" Harry asked, looking around Tony's garage.
Tony smirked and walked to one of the more modern cars and opened the door vertically. "Are you coming?"
"You modified one of your cars?" Harry asked incredulously.
"I have a spare of this one in New York. I did make some modifications, had to actually." Tony explained and pointed at an orb in the garage, "That's where our air comes from. It uses a couple of the rune-portals and transfers fresh air to the car via its ventilation system and for standard thrust in space. The engine runs on a new PMG technology designed for this car, which will allow for normal driving, even on the moon's surface."
Harry was impressed at all the uses of previous tech they had designed. "Sounds good." He said. "Let's go, then. Just be ready to abandon the car, should something go wrong." Tony did not look happy about that but nodded.
Harry got in and sat down in the passenger seat. The car was as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. The modifications Tony had made incorporated everything so well, you could barely tell there were new additions. The buttons on the steering wheel, which normally controlled the functions like radio and answering your phone were re-purposed as the control panel for flight, with one or two new buttons thrown in.
"Ready?" Tony asked.
"Got stealth up?" Harry asked.
"Stealth?" Tony asked. "I was just going to fly to international waters and go up."
Harry sighed and waved his hand. "There, we're covered."
"You do realise, that we haven't gotten stealth down with runes yet, right?" Tony asked with a smirk.
"Can't you do stealth like SHIELD did with the original Helicarrier?" Tony didn't respond. "Okay, never mind. Let's get this disaster over with." Harry mocked and sat back, buckling up.
"Why buckle up?" Tony asked. "That's the point of inertial dampening, you know."
"That's why I'm here, remember?" Harry said with a raised eyebrow.
Reluctantly Tony also buckled up, which Harry thought looked funny for Iron Man to do. He'd have to take a picture of this moment some time on his Pensieve Tablet.
Tony started the engine with a push of a button and Harry noted how quiet it was, before Tony pulled out of the garage. He accelerated faster and faster until they were just about to leave the property, right through the gate, when Tony pressed a couple of buttons and suddenly they were airborne.
Harry did not understand all the rules of physics, but he did understand what Tony had been working on, when he talked about inertial dampening. The fact that it felt like they were standing still while the world moved past them was still damn impressive. Harry decided to pay close attention rather than discuss what they were doing. It did not stop Tony from whooping with glee, when he realised everything was working as it should.
A short while later the sky started turning darker and Tony had to turn on another function that would stop the sun from frying them alive, since there was less atmosphere to absorb the sun's light. Harry had not really paid attention to the specifics. He knew Tony would teach him if he ever needed to learn to do this himself, which he would, and pretty soon too.
Personally, he was planning a series of experiments to emulate everything Tony taught him, so that he could go down in history as the first human to walk on the moon barefoot. Perhaps he and Natasha could christen the moon in a whole different way.
When the sky became completely black, Harry started noticing a change. Something was happening, but he couldn't tell exactly what it was. He looked around, but couldn't spot anything. No cracks on the windows, no strange things outside the car trying to get in. So, Harry ignored it for the moment.
"Hey, want to see something cool?" Tony asked with a grin.
"Sure." Harry said, trying to go for nonchalance, but failing as even his enthusiasm couldn't be completely snuffed out by worry.
Tony turned the wheel and the car started turning, like he was driving on a road. When the turn was complete, Harry looked at the Earth in all its glory. They were not too far away yet, but far enough that he could see a lot of ocean and the whole of North-America and some of Canada. "Wow." was all he managed.
"Congratulations, Harry. You're the first wizard in space." Tony said with a smile.
Harry frowned, "Technically-"
"Yeah, I know you travel through space to go to all those other realms, but this is different." Tony interrupted. "Have you ever seen a view like this? Do you know what an elite group of people we have just joined?" he asked. "Actually, we're the first of our kind in many regards. We're the first to arrange our own transport into space and basically designed the technology for it. We're the first to do it without ballistics and we're the first to do it in the comfort of a car!" Tony enthused.
Harry shook his head, "You did most of the work on this, Tony. All of what you just mentioned was done by yourself. I'm just here for the ride."
Tony shook his head again, "You really are too modest. Where would I be if I hadn't met you? Would I have achieved everything I did if you hadn't given me the opportunity?"
"You'd have eventually done more, I'm sure." Harry assured him. "Weren't you planning on going to space at some point anyway?"
"I was, but that was years off in the future and nowhere in the planning phase even." Tony denied. "That doesn't even cover the distribution centres, for which you came up with all of the ideas, even if I ended up planning and solving the execution. Harry, without your ideas and input, we would not be where we are, right now."
Harry couldn't argue. He had come up with the ideas, but Tony really did do the hard work, so Harry didn't feel right taking so much credit. "Let's just agree to disagree, then." he said as he sat back. "To the moon, my good man and don't spare the horses!"
Tony laughed and turned on the sound system to some proper rock to mark the momentous occasion. Then he turned the car around and continued on their way to the moon.
An hour later, they were fast approaching the moon and Tony had started applying reverse thrust. "How fast were we going that we reached the moon in just over an hour?" Harry asked. He could have sworn it should have taken many hours.
"We were probably going just a bit faster than three-hundred times the speed of sound." Tony said offhandedly. "From the earth to the moon, in an hour, should require a speed just over three-hundred and eleven times the speed of sound. I believe we just beat the fastest recorded speed for a manmade spacecraft." he said.
"By more than two-hundred percent, sir." Jarvis spoke up from the sound system.
"Jarvis?" Harry asked. "I didn't know Tony brought you."
"Of course I did! If Jarvis wasn't here to record everything for posterity, who would?" Tony joked.
"I have been taking very close note of everything said in the car and it will be recorded for future generations." Jarvis confirmed.
"Oh, so everyone in the future will be listening to this conversation and it will be considered a historic event?" Harry asked.
"Indeed." Jarvis confirmed.
"My fiancée, Natasha, is the most beautiful woman on the planet and I am a lucky man to have her in my life." Harry said with a smile. He watched with satisfaction as Tony had to catch himself from complaining that he hadn't thought of it, first.
Tony cleared his throat and said, "And just for the record, my girlfriend is super-hot and multiple times as smart as the average person." he said lamely.
"You do realise Jarvis will cut out things we don't want on record, that aren't of importance, right?" Harry said.
"That doesn't stop him from playing the unedited one to the girls first." Tony groused. Harry laughed and patted Tony on the back. "Next time we do something historic, you let me do my shout-out first, okay?" Tony said/pleaded.
"Sure thing." Harry said with a nod. "As long as you don't need me to remind you." he added.
Tony nodded as well and focussed on the job at hand. The moon was getting closer at an alarming rate. He slowed them down more quickly and Harry grunted. "What?" Tony asked as he looked next to him. Harry had suddenly gotten slightly paler.
"I think I know what the warning was about." Harry said. "There isn't a lot of magic in space it seems. The runes, which were all powered by the reactor that uses my magic, seem to be drawing the required power from me now, since there's not a lot of other magic around."
Tony paled as well. "Do I need to activate my emergency portkey?" he asked. The amount of power they were talking about was quite large. He did not want to threaten his friend's life.
"I'll be fine." Harry said easily. "It just came as a surprise."
"Okay, good." Tony said as he changed course to bypass the moon and lay off the reverse a little anyway. He could immediately tell Harry was doing better as his colour returned. "Damn." Tony swore after a bit.
"What?" Harry asked.
"If we intend to use spacecraft in the future, we can't expect you to be the power source!" Tony exclaimed.
Harry thought about it for a moment and then asked. "Why would you need me? You've got the rune-portals and a magic-channelling generator. Why not simply create a power rod of some kind? Or finish your research into runes that store energy?"
Tony was also thinking about it as they approached the moon more slowly now, but Jarvis spoke up first. "Actually, Harry, I already finished those. I've been working on storing excesses of magical energy for a couple of months now."
"Why?" Harry asked. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but for what purpose did you start storing magic?"
"At first I did it to finish the outstanding project, but then I decided to see how long the magic could be stored and then I needed to create a new way of stopping the energy from dissipating. It was quite fun to solve the storage issue. So, I did it for fun, I suppose." Jarvis replied. "I did recently have an idea that it might become useful to us should we ever need to increase production quickly and need an excessive amount of magic. My tests revealed one draw-back, though; while the energy is now contained perfectly, it will dissipate if transported through magical means. One of the principles of runes and how magic affects magic, so apparition or portkeys would nullify the storage devices. Your portals should be fine, though."
"So, you're saying that we could setup a magic storage device on-board and then just have to fill up, like with gas?" Tony asked.
"That might work, yes, though we'd have to do some testing to find out how much power is consumed and how much the devices can actually store. As this was a side project I never tested the limits of its storage capacity. I didn't want to find out what would happen if too much magic in one storage device reached critical mass." Jarvis said.
"Fine work, Jarvis. I think we've got our next project lined up." Tony said, before quickly adding, "After we sort out magical data storage and processing. I promised you a body and I intend to keep my word."
"Thank you, sir." Jarvis said. Harry could almost hear a sigh of relief. It seemed Jarvis was getting excited about the idea of a body as the time drew closer.
"I tell you what," Harry said, "I can still set up a base on the moon and then we can do some testing out in space from there, just in case we cause any explosions."
"That does sound like a wise course of action." Jarvis confirmed.
"Just one problem." Tony said.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"We need more adamantite." Tony said. "One way or another, we'll need to conduct the magic safely, so we'll either need to use what you have or make more."
"Or I can go to the dwarves." Harry offered. He had been meaning to get in contact with them at some point. He had only travelled to the planet a couple of times, but never to meet the natives. "They are supposed to be masters at all kinds of metalcraft and have forgotten more about metal than any other race has learned." Then he got a gleam in his eyes, "Apparently they were the ones who made Mjolnir. I really want to know how they did that. Apparently it was forged in the heart of a dying star."
"Good to know we have another option, but unless you have access to them now, I'd suggest we look into production anyway." Tony suggested. "If we can figure it out, we may even have an indestructible metal to play with in the near future."
Harry chuckled, having been successfully distracted, "I can see it now; the Indestructible Iron Man!" he mocked with a deep voice.
"You laugh. I actually think it's a great idea." Tony said. "Hold on, I need to concentrate. We're about to land." Tony had been controlling the descent like he was a trained pilot and they were approaching the surface of the moon at a very modest pace. Tony slowed them further, to a crawl, and, after turning the car so they had a proper view of the earth, landed. "We have touchdown!" Tony exclaimed happily.
"Was that the next historical moment?" Harry asked lifting an eyebrow. Tony just smiled and nodded. "Okay, so what do we do now?"
"I suppose we could go look for the original landing spot of Apollo 11." Tony offered.
"And then what?" Harry asked.
"Steal the flag?" Tony suggested.
"Okay, but after that I want to go scout out some real-estate." Harry said with a smile and a shake of his head.
Tony smirked and they lifted up again. "Where were you thinking?"
"I was thinking the dark side of the moon, so nobody can see us from Earth?" Harry asked.
"Couldn't you just hide it like you normally do?" Tony asked as he started flying them over the terrain with a calculating look in his eyes.
"I could, but now I'm worried about the magical requirements." Harry said.
"Fair enough." Tony said with a shrug. "I'll wait until you figure it out before starting on my space station."
"Space station?" Harry asked.
"You didn't think I'd let you have your own moon base and not do something cool too?" Tony asked.
"Actually, I thought we'd have a moon base." Harry said.
"Okay. Then, we, can have a space station, too." Tony replied. "We'll make one a secret and use the other for publicity and public research."
"Why, though?" Harry asked.
"Don't you see?" Tony asked, excitedly, "We are approaching the time when we start healing people from previously incurable afflictions. Next, we start telling people we can send their scientists to the largest space station ever made for purposes of research and experimentation. After that we will probably need to start researching things like FTL and exploration. But it all starts with this step. This first journey into space we are on right now, is the start of mankind's journey into the unknown. This might be where we start working together as a planet, rather than divided as nations."
"Wow, Tony, you've given this some thought, haven't you?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Why do you think I was so eager to get started on this? Why I spent months on research and development? I knew we were going to just keep on advancing and I wanted to be in the middle of it." Tony enthused.
"You sound like a kid at Christmas. Just tell it like it is; you're having fun and calling it advancement just gives you reason to spend more time on it." Harry chuckled.
"Damnit, Harry!" Tony whined. "Okay, fine! I'm having fun, but it doesn't mean it's untrue."
Harry just laughed and sat back, dreaming of what they might one day achieve. He realised with a bit of pain that his old world finally felt like the past and that his new world had started feeling like home.
They touched down back in Tony's garage just over an hour and a half later. Tony had explained that they had to slow down or otherwise burn up on re-entry. Harry had offered to make a portal, but Tony didn't want to expose his garage to a vacuum, so he said he'd prepare a spot for portals for their next foray into space.
Harry shrugged and got out of the car. That's when he saw the outside. "What happened?" he asked. The car seemed to be flaking in places and the colour seemed burned all over the place.
"You think there's no friction in space?" Tony asked. "You do realise there are still particles out there right? The runes made the body near indestructible, but the paint was going to be affected one way or another." He shrugged. "Either way, this car will probably end up in a museum one day, so I might as well just keep it as is."
Harry watched as Tony walked away from his formerly beautiful car, seemingly unaffected by its marred state. After a moment he shrugged, got out of the space-suit and followed him up for a victory drink. Tony's suit had simply opened up for Tony to step out of.
That evening Harry went to pick Natasha up from the office. She could have taken a portkey, but Harry wanted to surprise her. When he reached her office it was to see her typing on her computer. "Hey, love. No imminent threats to your people? No devious misdirection to put in place?" he greeted and asked her with a roguish smile.
"Hi, yourself." She replied with her own smile as she kept on working. Her capacity for multitasking still amazed him at times. He couldn't hold a conversation and type something completely different if he tried. "I'll be done in a moment. I just need my people to keep an eye on a couple of things tonight and I need to make sure they all know their priorities." she said as she typed away. Harry nodded and went to go stand at the window and watched the many screens.
He saw a bunch of people with multiple views in front of them. One large main feed of what was currently going on for their operatives and multiple smaller ones that the operators were watching. The night operators were arguably less useful in combat situations, but were also experts in human behaviour. They watched the interactions of the day and looked for clues and weaknesses in the operative and those they interacted with. Natasha's idea. Every member of her team had a support system and they were all well cared for.
"Okay, I'm done." Natasha said as she scooted back and bounced out of the chair. "Hey, lover boy." she purred as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. When she let go, she asked, "Should I ask who I'm meeting or is it a surprise?"
"I can tell you if you want, but I guarantee it will be easier to believe if you met them first." Harry said with a dazed smile. She could still kiss the stuffing out of him.
"Okay. What should I be wearing?" she asked looking down at her work attire, which was a professional pants-suit with a couple of standard agent modifications.
Harry waved his hand over her and she was suddenly dressed in her favourite jeans and sneakers with a comfortable t-shirt. "Casual is fine." He said with a smile.
Natasha looked down and smiled at him. "Are we feeling amorous?" she asked, cupping herself through the shirt. "You forgot the underwear again."
"Why would I add unnecessary things? I am only a man. And you are irresistible." Harry said unrepentantly as he took her in his arms again.
An hour later Harry and a fully clothed Natasha arrived at their destination. One of the monks was waiting and opened the door before they could knock. Harry led Natasha to the sitting room where he and Yao usually sat for tea. Indeed, that is where they found the Ancient One waiting for them. Harry decided to greet her properly as they had company, so he bowed and said, "Ancient One, I'd like you to meet my fiancée, Natasha Romanoff. Natasha this is the Ancient One, Master of the Mystic Arts and Sorcerer Supreme."
Natasha nodded, "Shouldn't it be Mistress and Sorceress?" she asked in lieu of greeting immediately.
"You may refer to me however you wish, Natasha Romanova." Yao said.
Natasha's eyes flashed for a moment, before a spark of mischief crossed her eyes, "You know the Russian traditions. I'm assuming you did that to prove to me what a name really means?"
Yao nodded with a smile, "You are as quick as Harry said. I am glad he found someone to keep him out of trouble. He is one of the few, but one of the brightest lights we have to safeguard our future. Much of what he has already done has saved millions I saw dying before his arrival."
"So, what, you're psychic or can see the future or something?" Natasha asked, curiously.
"I have means by which I can look into the possibilities of our future." Yao corrected. "But my main purpose is to protect this planet from other-dimensional threats. Harry has been helping us safeguard our sanctums around the world since he arrived on this planet."
"The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj use dimensional energies much like I use magic. Over the years they have set up protections that create a literal shield around the planet to protect it from people, monsters and demons trying to shift into our dimension from their respective dimensions. Some of them still find ways to bypass the shield, but that is what their order works so hard for." Harry spoke up. "I've been adding protections to their sancta sanctorum. The places where their order resides."
"Oh." Natasha said. That made sense. "So you're the one that convinced Harry to work with SHIELD when he arrived?"
"I gave him a clue, which I knew he'd figure out." Yao confirmed with another knowing smile. "I did see the possibility of you in his future and I am glad you were able to find each other."
Natasha looked her in the eye, "Where would we be now if Harry had decided to hide from us?" she challenged.
Yao's smile faded slightly, "You'd both still be alive, but millions more would be dead and the possibility of us losing millions, billions more to external dangers in the next couple of years would be exponentially increased." She said. "I can only speculate after a certain point, because my means of looking into the future is marred by an unknown event in the near future, but I know of one of the dangers, which will need you to be at your strongest when they decide to turn their eyes on Earth."
"Is it Thanos?" Natasha asked.
"Indeed." Yao said, showing no shock. "How do you know of him?"
"Harry got the info from Loki." Natasha shrugged. "Got a deadline for us?"
"I'm afraid it's outside the scope of what I can see. I can only follow the series of events leading up to it and have certain information that leads me to believe he will have to come to Earth, and soon." Yao shook her head. After all, now that the Reality Stone was out of its vault, Thanos can finally move and he will not wait long, to ensure they cannot be taken away or hidden again.
"Do you get as tired of her speaking in riddles as I do?" Harry asked Natasha.
"I don't know. You're all mysterious a lot of the time." Natasha said with a thoughtful look. "I think it's nice to have a woman in a position to do the same to you." Then she turned to Yao, "What I'd like to know is why she doesn't give us any more information in the first place. What could telling us do?"
Harry answered for her, "I'm assuming you've taken the course on what to do when temporal artefacts or anomalies appear or occur?" Natasha nodded. "Exactly, don't interfere. She sees the future only as she herself would experience it and how her actions could affect the outcome of things. So, when the future is on a course to have the best results, she doesn't tell people anything, because it might affect what they do and that might negate the future she's been trying to bring into being."
Natasha thought about it, before speaking again, "So what you are saying is that, we win?"
Yao shook her head, "Like I said, my ability to read the future ends at some point in the next couple of years-"
"I suspect she knows exactly when and why, but can't tell me, because that will affect what I do or plan." Harry muttered, interrupting the woman.
Yao glared at him for a moment, before continuing, "-and because of that I can only affect things for the better up to that point."
"So you just confirmed that we have at least a couple of years before we need to face Thanos." Natasha smirked. "Thank you."
"You are very perceptive, but so am I my dear, and I've had this conversation enough times to know when you are digging for information." Yao smiled at her.
Natasha was hoping for a reaction to confirm her theory. 'Oh well,' she thought. Natasha straightened and bowed as Harry had, "It is good to meet a friend of Harry's. I hope we can become friends as well."
Yao bowed back and said, "Oh, I'm sure we will." Then she gestured to the back area and said, "Please, come this way. We're having our meal in one of the other sanctums."
Yao led them to a door and through it to a dining room where a meal had been set out for them. "Chinese?" Natasha asked.
"When in China..." Yao smiled at her. "Surely Harry takes you to other countries for meals?"
"He does, but he usually tells me before he takes us there." Natasha said. "Did Harry set you up with portals?"
"Actually, Natasha, they already had connections between their sancta sanctorum before I figured out how to make portals." Harry smiled. "I actually copied a bit from them to set up the transport rooms we have at EPI."
"Really?" Natasha asked. "Why didn't SHIELD know about this?"
"As Harry put it, until the director had his strings cut, it was better to keep things from the wrong ears." Yao said as she sat down and started helping herself. "Imagine Hydra got their hands on Sorcery."
Natasha actually shuddered, "Good point."
The conversation turned to lighter subjects after that and Natasha soon found that she liked the gentle, but strong woman before her. She had a certain timelessness about her. While her mannerisms seemed old-fashioned and patient, she was honest and had a youthful wit and seemed to know Harry well enough to make him laugh on occasion. All-in-all, Natasha enjoyed meeting her and while she brought up a couple more questions that were, sadly, deflected, she at least understood there were reasons for them.
Before they left, Yao smiled and hugged Natasha, "Have fun tonight, but don't be too demanding. He knows what he's doing, so don't push. He'll give you access, but only if you can prove you understand."
Natasha didn't know how to reply to that. Harry was shaking his head in a knowing manner, "You giving her warnings, Ancient One?"
"I'm giving advice." she replied. "Natasha will know what it means by the end of the day."
Harry smirked and apparated them to their bedroom on the island.
When they appeared, Natasha asked, "So why did you take so long to introduce me to her? I could tell you speak to her often, with how she asked you about the space trip."
"You'd be surprised with how little I ever need to tell her. She asked questions because she knew you didn't know the answers and would like to know. The way I understand it, she spends a lot of time looking forward in time and having conversations that would or might affect the future. She's actually afraid of making a mistake and affecting the future negatively, so everything she says is perfectly calibrated. She probably had that conversation with us a couple of times, so she knew what would be said." Harry explained. "As for why it took so long to tell you, I honestly thought she didn't want me to tell people about the secret order of time-travelling monks."
"Makes sense." Natasha said after absorbing all that. "Do they actually travel through time?"
"The way I understand it, they could, but it is very rarely done. Time-travel has…" Harry shuddered, "…very scary possibilities and dangers."
Natasha looked at him having noticed his look and shudder, "Can you travel through time?"
"Go ahead and tell her." Another Harry said from across the room, where he and another Natasha suddenly appeared. She was smiling madly with a gleam in her eye that promised a long night for Harry.
"Damnit, me!" the original Harry said as his temper rose. "Why did I go and do that?!"
"Don't ask me! I blame the guy before me!" the other Harry said, also angrily. "Just like you'll blame me."
"Yeah I will. Did you at least-" he started.
"Yes, I did." the other Harry said tossing the original Harry a Time-Turner. "Two turns. Get ice-cream and tell the third-year story. You weren't in New Atlantis tonight."
"Okay, fine." Harry said. Natasha made to object to Harry just going with it, but Harry shook his head and indicated for her to stay quiet. He put the amulet over his head and pulled Natasha into a hug before throwing it over her and turning the hourglass over twice.
-Two hours earlier-
"Okay, what the hell just happened?" Natasha asked.
"You asked about time travel and apparently I took you back two hours to show you how it works." Harry explained.
"But that was you, telling yourself that you went back and told yourself to go back…" Natasha seemed to be stuck trying to figure it out. Then it clicked. "You are starting a cycle right now, aren't you?"
"You got that much quicker than I did." Harry said with a smile as he took her hand in his and led her to the bar, so he could follow his own advice. "We're currently having dinner with the Ancient One, so we should be safe in New Atlantis."
"But you said you weren't in New Atlantis." Natasha said.
"Protocol." Harry explained. At Natasha's raised eyebrow, he explained, "The only other person that knows about the Time-Turner is Phil. He suggested I always mention something only I could know, should I ever run into myself or speak to myself and to always have proof." Harry held up the Time-Turner, "Proof."
Harry walked into the bar and started turning out some ice-cream for them. He liked to change things up some, so he tended to transfigure things like sprinkles or other toppings. He decided to go for a strawberry flavoured ice-cream on a sugar cone with fudge sprinkles and made strawberry frozen yoghurt for Natasha.
Then they went for a walk and watched the sunset. Harry told her the full story of the third year and how they rescued Sirius. By the time he was done explaining everything again, but with the new aspects it was already dark and they were laying in the hammock.
"So you were suddenly able to perform more advanced magic, because you had seen yourself capable of doing it?" Natasha asked, "That's a bit like a chicken and egg conundrum, isn't it?"
"Pretty much." Harry said. "Exactly like what we're going to do to ourselves in about twenty minutes."
"Oh, yes." Natasha said with a smile, while looking at the stars. "What happens if I decide to do something different from last time?"
"I'd suggest you don't." Harry warned, "I'm no expert, but I'm told if I change the past, I could create paradoxes that creates different timelines or simply unravel the space-time continuum and destroy the solar system."
Natasha's smile faded, "That's a lot of power to have." She looked at him, "What do you use it for if you can't change anything."
Harry shrugged, "I usually use it to get more sleep, or give myself more time to work on projects. I have ten Workshops, all in different locations, all identical. Sometimes I'm in all of them at once while I work on projects."
"That is a useful tool, then." Natasha nodded. "Could you, hypothetically, make me one?"
Harry shook his head. "I could, but could you promise me that you would use it responsibly? That you wouldn't be tempted to alter events?" he asked. "If someone you cared for died in an accident, would you not go back and try to save them?"
Natasha thought about it. If Harry died, she'd definitely go back to save him. "I see what you mean." she relented. "How did you not use it to save your friends, to stop Voldemort?"
"Honestly, I probably would have if I had a Time-Turner back then. I only picked this one up many years later and it can only go back as far as one day of elapsed time, at a time. If you try to go back another day, the magic fails." Harry explained.
"So, you can only go back a day, and then once that day has passed you can go back again?" Natasha asked and he nodded. "How much time have you spent in there since you set up the other Workshops?" Natasha asked.
"It was actually a recent addition. I was working on something and needed more time and then I needed more, and then more. I ended up creating the other workshops and have only used it to its full capacity a couple of times." Harry defended himself.
"You didn't answer the question." Natasha said with a scowl. His reaction made her worry that he was abusing it.
Harry sighed, "Probably about two months."
"Since when." Natasha asked, dangerously.
Harry closed his eyes in defeat, "Two weeks ago."
Natasha was quiet and Harry looked up to see her contemplating. Then she looked at him and asked, "Are you going to show me what you've been working on?"
"Of course!" Harry assured her quickly, "But we must really be getting into position for when we arrive back home." He said.
Natasha nodded and they got up and walked into the house. Harry quickly popped away to go fetch the time-turner he'd have to give himself and then asked Natasha to stand in the corner with him before he turned them invisible.
A minute later Harry and Natasha appeared and they listened to the conversation until Natasha asked Harry if he could travel through time. Natasha was suddenly hit by the fact that her fiancé was extremely powerful. He had literally just taken her for a stroll through time! She could wait a bit to see what he'd been working on for the last while. First she'd have to ravage him. Then Harry cancelled the invisibility and passed on the Time-Turner and message.
They watched as the other Natasha made to object, but the previous Harry stopped her and then they were gone. The moment they were gone, Natasha pounced on her man.
The next morning, Natasha insisted he show her what he had been working on. So he took her to his latest magical construction. To say her mind was blown, was an understatement. "How long did this take you?" she asked.
"Just over a month and a half." Harry said.
"And nobody-" Natasha started.
"- but you knows, yes. Well, except for Jarvis, but he's going to be a big part of this." Harry finished for her. "Someone had to tell me how to make it, after all. We'll need more hardware than I can magically create, of course, and I've been waiting for Tony to finish his research…"
"And now that he's done you'll be telling him about it, or course." she finished.
"Yes, and I know, but we need it." Harry said.
Natasha was looking at what looked like an Insight Helicarrier, but ten times larger, more elongated and with way more glass. "How did you work on this with ten of you in different workshops?"
"I'd start making parts and then install all at once. Sometimes there might be more than one of me working on different parts of the ship, but usually it was just one of me." Harry said.
"Ship?" Natasha asked.
"You thought it was meant to be another helicarrier?" Harry asked. At her nod he chuckled, "If it was that simple I could have simply enchanted the thing for flight and had it in the air long ago. No, we needed a way to navigate it by non-magical people without having to bond it to a person. I might do something like a bond to secure it, like a key, and possibly the observation stations, but beyond that, no. I won't risk someone being compromised and then having this weapon in the wrong hands. This needs Tony's runes, because it's the beginning of our space program. This is our SWORD."