Chapter 17:
May 4th, 2012:
I search for Thor and find him sitting on the briefing table with Natasha keeping him company. I nod at Natasha, who nods back and turn to Thor.
"Hey, Thor, you got a minute?" I ask him.
Thor turns to me and nods solemnly. His brother's actions have had some serious effects on him, obviously. I turn around and lead Thor to an empty room. Asking Siri to disable all the cameras I turn to Thor, who's looking at me curiously.
"I'm going to show you something, but don't overreact. Think on it hard, and then speak up, alright?" I ask him.
Thor narrows his eyes at me, but nods, and orders, "Continue."
I sigh, and bring out the Berserker's staff, as slow as possible. Thor gets startled once he sees the complete staff and goes into a fighting stance, but does not outright attack, thankfully. He asks me, "Where did you find it? And do you have any idea what it is you're playing with?"
I nod and absorb it back into myself. I say, "That's a Berserker's staff. I found it in three pieces all around the world, but the staff does not affect me as much as it does others. I bonded to it during the lunar eclipse, so the effects were lessened and I mastered it within that time, so even after the Lunar eclipse was over, the staff did not bother me, not even right now."
Thor looks at my empty hands, nods and says, "Bring it out again." That's a command if there is one.
I bring out the staff and offer it to him, Thor slowly touches it and holds it in one hand. Similar to how it happens to me, Thor's face shows a little strain due to being suddenly strengthened, and then goes normal. Thor returns the Staff to me and breathes hard.
"The effects have lessened somehow. I remember touching a staff once, I felt all my bones breaking and mending and then I started going on a rampage. My father had to stop me that time. But now, I just felt stronger and only a few bad memories entered my mind, I did not feel like going on a rampage." Thor speaks up.
"Yeah. The first time I picked it up, even during a lunar eclipse, I felt stronger than myself. Then once I dropped the staff I suddenly felt weak, it was disturbing. But once I mastered using it, I could conjure it any time without any ill effects. I just feel stronger." I say and pat on Thor's shoulder.
Thor looks at me quizzically and asks, "Why did you show it to me?"
I shrug and answer him, "We're going to be fighting together soon, and I might need to bring out the staff. I'd rather fight with a friend than someone who's suspicious that I might go on a rampage. I had to prove to you that I can handle the staff, before the battle happens."
Thor puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Wise man, Harry Osborn. Very well. I'll allow you to keep it to yourself," then he presses my shoulder threateningly and says, "but be warned. If you lose it, it'll be your responsibility to find it and take it back, or return it to Asgard."
I nod dumbly, I didn't know Thor could be this serious. He then smiles at me and turns to leave. I follow him out and get to the table in a daze. Natasha is nowhere to be seen now, but there's someone else on the table.
"Peter!" I yell out and walk towards the unmasked Peter Parker and pull him in a hug.
Peter laughs and hugs me back. I then smack him on his head and ask, "Where the fuck were you? You know how much stuffy all these old people are? Except Stark, but he's like a kid younger than us."
Peter laughs and starts babbling, "Sorry Harry. But something came up. A criminal escaped from prison and somehow got superpowers. He could become and control sand! How awesome, right? He stole a lot of money, and I tried to stop him, but he continued beating me up. After that we just talked face to face and he told me about his daughter who's sick and needs money to live and I kinda let him go?" He finishes the last part in a mumble.
I shake my head at him and say, "Yeah, no worries. I'd have done the same."
So Sandman was here. Marco something. I'd met him before but I don't remember the name right now.
Peter sighs and sits down, I sit down beside him and fill him up on what happened. I then introduce Peter to Thor. Peter looks apologetically at Thor and says, "Sorry about using your hammer, without permission."
Thor gets startled and asks dumbly, "What? You used my hammer? When?"
I let Peter handle it and just start looking at the camera feed. Natasha was talking with Loki, trying to find something from him. Peter tells Thor all about New Mexico, and how he got stronger after that. Thor gets excited and gives Peter his hammer to hold, which Peter does, and Thor jumps in excitement.
I look at Hill, who was looking the show with amusement and say, "Kids, the both of them." And shake my head.
Hill snorts and says, "Says you. Who was complaining about how stuffy us old people are."
I smile cheekily at her and continue looking at the feed, when suddenly Natasha's demeanor changes. I turn up the volume on the feed so Thor and Peter can hear too.
"So.. Banner.. That's your play." Natasha says, now calm.
Loki staggers, and dumbly asks, "What?"
Natasha ignores him and presses her ear piece, "Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well." I turn down the volume and turn to Thor.
"Let's go and handle the situation, shall we. Before these idiots ruin everything." I say and get up, Peter nods, completely understanding what I mean, but Thor looks confused.
He and Peter start following me to the lab when he asks, "Why do you think they'd ruin the situation?"
"Seriously?" Thor nods, so I continue, "They just found out Loki means to turn Banner into Hulk and their next course of action is to go and agitate Banner?"
"It's like this, don't tickle a sleeping dragon. Banner's currently in control, so making him separate himself from the people is telling him that he's a danger to the people around him, which agitates him. Then what does he do? He turns into the fucking Hulk." I finish. Thor who was listening to my reasoning nods gravely, and we continue going towards the lab.
As soon as we enter, I can see that the tension here is high. I see Tony and Banner on one side with files regarding Phase 2 of Shield on the screens, Steve with an advanced gun in front of him and Fury trying to control the situation.
Steve says, "I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." And looks at Fury disapprovingly. That look should be classified as a fucking weapon. Even Fury looks guilty.
Natasha enters after us and keeps her eyes on Banner, who sees her and asks, "Did you know about this?"
Natasha counters, "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" I snort and am about to say something when my tablet beeps. I ignore their shouting match and unlock my tablet and look at it. Peter joins me in reading the notification and we both look at each other and nod.
I shout at my full voice, amplified by my suit's speakers, "Everyone. Shut. Up!" They all turn to look at me, and I show them my tablet.
"The Tesseract is on a plane, coming towards us, and it's fast. While we were busy trying to find it using the sceptre, they followed the sceptre to us, here. We have 1 minute max before they reach us."
Banner looks at his monitor and sees that the algorithm is still not complete. Fury starts giving out orders while Natasha and Tony look at me dumbly. Fucking old people.
"Now, would you like to shelf this talk for later and concentrate on the current problem?" I ask them, once Fury's gone. Everyone just sighs and turn to Banner. He's about to say something, when my Spidey sense goes off, like really loudly. I and Peter shout out, "Get down!" . Peter brings Natasha down and covers her with himself, and I do the same for Tony. The others can take care of themselves.
No sooner do I bring Tony down, an explosion occurs and throws us all in different directions. I get thrown into a wall and hit my head. I get a little dizzy and miss some of the conversation. When I get back, I see Peter is now suited up and helping Tony stand up. Natasha and Banner are nowhere to be seen, while Thor is running out of the room.
I see a hole in the floor and yell out to Peter, "I'm going after Banner." Peter nods at me and I jump down the hole. I see Natasha is stuck under rubble, while Banner is writhing on the floor about 10 feet away from her. I first go towards Natasha and help her out. Helping her stand, I ask, "You okay?"
Natasha nods, and says, "I'm okay. We're okay. Right?" She looks at Banner who's now turning green.
I push her away from me slowly and order, "Get out of here. I'll keep him busy, until you send Thor or Hulk's calmed down. Now, which way should I take him to make the least amount if damage?"
Natasha points me towards a door, which leads to the shuttle room and I nod at her to go. She stumbles out of the room, just in time because Banner is now completely turned into Hulk. I put on my Venom suit and wave at Hulk.
"Hey Hulk. Remember me?" I ask. Hulk roars loudly in my face, to which I mumble out, "Guess not." I suddenly jump back a few feet, making Hulk's punch miss me and start running towards the shuttle door and open it. Hulk follows after me, breaking a few pieces of equipment along the way.
I bring out the Staff and stand in a defensive stance. Hulk see's me with a weapon and runs at me, really fast. He punches down with his right fist, which I divert using the Staff and swing the staff in his face, throwing Hulk away from me. Damn! I totally did not expect myself to become so strong!
I yell out, "Banner, snap out of it buddy! We need your brains on this one, not your brawns."
Hulk roars and starts attacking earnestly, I jump, dodge curve out of the way of his punches and kicks and hit his face, arms and gut with the staff as well as a few punches and kicks. He's stronger than me, by just a little, but I'm faster and smaller, so my hits hit him more times. Finally I put all my strength in one hit and hit the staff on his head to throw him into a plane. The plane breaks by his weight and the force I three him by.
I take a moment to catch my breath and survey the damage done. Other than the broken plane and a few broken pieces of floor, nothing's damaged much. My Spidey-Sense tingles and I bend down right in time for the wing of the broken plane to pass overhead. I see Hulk running towards me with another wing and prepare to defend. But suddenly Hulk is thrown across the room by a flying hammer.
I let out a sigh of relief. Thor's here. He and Hulk start fighting it out for about a minute or two, for which I rest. I'm about to get up to help Thor get Hulk down, when I hear something which makes me pause. I stretch out my senses and can see a Quinjet coming towards us from the outside. It aims a machine gun at Hulk, who's about 20 feet away from me.
"Oh, fuck!" I mumble, web Thor and bring him close to where I am, and conjure a shield made of Praedium to hide us both behind it. I was just in time, cause as soon as I make the shield, the jet starts firing at Hulk, some of the bullets hitting and deflecting off of the shield. Hulk roars and runs towards the jet and destroys it after pulling the pilot out. I absorb the shield when the firing stops and look at Thor, who's now standing above me. He offers me his hand, which I take and stand up, dust myself off and look at him
"Can you go help secure Loki? I'll see if Stark needs my help." I ask him.
Thor nods at me, and turns to start running away towards Loki's cell. I turn on my earpiece and say, "Stark, Cap, Natasha, anyone hear me? Banner's fallen down the Helicarrier. Thor's going to help secure Loki. Anyone need any help?"
"Yeah no. Me, Spidey and Capsicle got this." Stark's voice comes over the earpiece.
Another voice follows it, Natasha this time, saying, "I've taken down Barton. I'm taking him towards the medbay. Ho and help secure the command centre."
I nod, a sound order, and say, "Copy." I always wanted to say that over an actual mission.
I run towards where I know the command centre is. When I reach there, I first dodge a bullet fired at me from Hill. I give her a look, when she realises she fired at an ally. I ask her, "Anything I could do?"
She thinks for a minute and says, "Stay here. Take down anyone that comes through that door and has blue eyes or not wearing a Shield symbol."
I smirk and say, "That's very reverse racist of you, Agent Hill."
Hill ignores me and turns around to give commands. I stay in wait for more goons to come, but none do. A few minutes later and the engine starts running again, thanks to Cap, Tony and Pete, which I listen over the comms. I find out that Barton is still unconscious, Banner and Thor are nowhere to be found, Loki has escaped and Coulson's dead.
A few minutes later and we are sitting on the meeting table, everyone is sombre, some by Coulson's death and others by the fact that Loki escaped from right under our noses. I was the same way, Coulson's temporary death was a little hard on everyone.
Nick's voice interrupts our brooding, "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." I hear his heart skip a beat, so he's lying. "Guess he never got you to sign them." He throws the cards he's holding at Steve. Steve picks them up and sees that they are stained with blood.
He continues speaking, "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe, I had that coming." He waits a beat and starts again. He says, "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark and Osborn know this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See, if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes."
Tony gets up and walks away, not able to listen anymore. Fury speaks up one last sentence before turning and going away, "Well, it's an old fashioned notion."
I get up and find Nat and Barton in the Med bay. I see Barton just beginning to wake, so I walk in.
"Natasha. Mind if I have a look at him for a bit?" I ask Nat.
Natasha nods at me, so I go closer and gently pry open Barton's eyes, and see that they're still a little bit blue, but the blue was slowly receding. I take out a vial of the Kilgrave serum and look at Natasha for permission. She looks at the serum questioningly and asks, "What'll that do?"
"Remember Kevin Thompson? He had a chemical inside him that helped him control others. I isolated the chemical and figured out an antidote for it. It sort of clears your brain of any external influence, or so's the theory. Don't know if it'll work for real, haven't tried it yet. So, may I?"
Nat nods at me. I take a syringe from the cupboard and take a few ml of the serum. Barton's almost conscious so I insert the serum in a vein near his wrist.
"Clint, you're gonna be alright." Natasha tries reassuring Barton.
Barton grits his teeth, still fighting the influence of the sceptre, and says, "You know that? Is that what you know? I got.. I gotta go in though.. I gotta flush him out."
Natasha sighs and says, "We don't have that long, it's gonna take time."
Clint shakes his head to clear it and says, "You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"
Natasha softly says, "You know that I do."
Clint shakes his head and suddenly he looks like he's himself again. So the serum works. Although it takes time for it to work.
He asks, "Why am I back? How did you get him out?"
Natasha answers with a smile, "A serum made by Osborn. And cognitive recalibration." Barton looks at her confused, so she explains, "I hit you really hard in the head."
Clint nods his head at me and says, "Thanks."
I start loosening his restraints so he turns to Nat and asks, "Tasha, how many agents-?"
Nat interrupts him by shaking her head and softly says, "Don't. Don't do that to yourself. Clint, this is Loki. This is monsters, and magic, and nothing we were ever trained for."
Clint gets a sharp look in his eyes, and asks, "Loki, he got away?"
Nat nods her head and says, "Yeah. I don't suppose you know where?"
Clint shakes his head, "I didn't need to know. I didn't ask. He's gonna make his play soon though. Today."
At that point, Clint's free of restraints, so I get out of the room to give them some privacy. I go around trying to find Peter. I see Stark and Steve arguing, when Stark gets a look on his face. I join them as Tony says, "He made this personal."
Steve argues, "That's not the point."
I interrupt their conversation, and say, "No. That's exactly the point." And nod at Tony to continue. He nods at me and continues speaking,
"That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?" Tony asks.
"To tear us apart." Steve says, now gaining an understanding.
"Divide and conquer is all well and good. But he knows he has to defeat us all if he has to win. He has to be seen defeating us. He wants an audience." Tony says, now on a roll.
"Right. Steve caught his act in Germany." I speak up, knowing where he's going.
"Yeah, that's just the previews. This is opening night. Loki's a full tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered..." Tony's eyes widen.
"Fuck!" I say. While Tony mumbles out, "Son of a bitch."
Steve widens his eyes and we all start running towards different directions. I go towards where I can hear Peter is, Steve goes to get Nat and Clint, while Tony goes to get his suit ready.
I find Peter watching the feed of my fight with Hulk when I interrupt him with a shout, "Hey, Pete. Come, I wanna talk with you."
Peter nods numbly and gets up to follow me, "What's up?" he asks, once we're alone.
"Be ready to suit up and go to New York. The invasion is happening there. Call MJ and the family and tell her to stay as away from Manhattan as possible. I'll do the same with Bernard and Gwen." Peter gets a horrified look on his face and brings out his phone to call MJ.
I take my cell phone and call Bernard, "Bernard. Where are you right now?" I ask him once he picks the phone.
"In the Oscorp building, Master Harry. Why?" He asks, confused.
I breathe out and say, "Bernard. Listen closely. New York is going to be attacked by someone. Get everyone out of Manhattan as soon as possible. The centre of attack will be Stark Tower. So start getting everyone out. And don't forget to get them to lock everything up. Don't want to blow something up by mistake."
Bernard asks dryly, "Are you sure this isn't a prank?"
I snap at him, "Not the fucking time, Bernard. Do it!"
Bernard waits a beat and answers, "Of course, sir."
I cut the call and speak up, "Siri. Start hacking every audio, video outlet in Manhattan, start with Television and radio signals and computers, then billboards and then cell phones. I want every device to be mine to control in 10 minutes."
"Yes, boss." Siri answers and gets on with it.
"Venom? You with me?" I ask Venom. This will be a big fight, and I'll need Venom with me during this.
"Of course, dumbass. Where will I even go? No one else will feed me so much chocolate." Venom says, dryly.
I let out a laugh and say, "Just making sure, buddy. This will be a big fight for us. Be ready for anything, and be vigilant."
Venom laughs and asks, "When are we not vigilant? We have those Spidey-Senses of yours."
Well, can't argue with that. I then call Gwen, she doesn't answer the first time, so I call again. This time she picks up on the second ring and says, "Hello Harry. What's up?"
"Hi, Gwen. Are you in Manhattan?" I ask, without wasting time.
"Um, yeah? You know, where I work? In your company?" Gwen asks, confused.
I snort and continue, "Yeah, I know. Just, listen. There's an attack that's going to happen in New York, from right above Stark Tower. Bernard will be making an announcement soon, so take it seriously. Get out of Manhattan, call all your friends and ask them to do the same. Manhattan is going to be a warzone in about 45 minutes."
"Harry, are you okay? You aren't drunk are you?" Gwen asks, now confused.
"No. No, I'm not drunk. I don't even like drinking alcohol. I'm currently with a government organisation, was consulting them with some research they were doing. They got this warning a few days ago, but the location was found just 10 minutes ago. They're sending a team to take care of it, but just in case, please, get everyone out of Manhattan. Trust me on this Gwen, please." I plead. I don't want deaths on my conscience. I don't actually care if they die. People die all the time. But I don't want them to die because I could do something and I didn't.
Gwen sighs and answers, "Fine. I'll call up my family and friends." I shut the phone and turn around and start going towards Peter, who by now had called his family and MJ and gave them the warning.
"They listening?" I ask Peter once he looks at me.
"Yeah. Uncle Ben and May were nowhere close to Manhattan, so no worries there. But MJ was in Manhattan, working. So I had to try a lot to convince her I'm serious." Peter explains.
I nod and jerk my head towards the Quinjet hangar. I get notified by Siri that all the major devices in Manhattan were in her control, with the cellphones on the way. By now Cap had collected Barton and Nat and we all meet on the way to the Jet. A young pilot sees us and stands in our way, he says, "You are not authorized to be here.."
Cap looks at him and shakes his head and says, "Son... Just don't."
The pilot, once he gets a good look at Cap's disappointed look, just moves out of the way, and we enter the jet. Barton takes over the controls of the Jet and starts it up. I see Iron Man flying away from the Helicarrier and we take off to follow him. Once the jet is stable, I turn to Steve and Peter.
"Cap, Spidey, how'd you like to be the ones to warn Manhattan of an incoming attack?" I ask.
Steve gets startled, but nods and Peter gets excited. I prepare the camera and ask Steve and Spider-Man to sit together. They were the two individuals that the people of New York would trust the most. Once they're ready, I start the camera, and say out loud, "Siri, do it."
Siri takes control of every Billboard, TV and computer in Manhattan, bar a few that would have taken too much time to hack into, like Stark's network, and I signal Steve and Peter to start speaking.
"People of New York. My name is Steve Rogers, you know me better as the Captain America from your history books. Yes, I'm alive again, and yes it's really me." Steve starts.
"And you might recognise me as your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Though, regretfully, this is not a social call. The city of Manhattan is about to be attacked by an external force." Peter continues.
Steve takes over once again, "And the epicentre of this attack is going to be Stark Tower. Tony Stark has been notified, as have a few people. Listen to them and start evacuating the city. Get underground or as far away from Manhattan as possible. A defence force is coming, along with us, to help defend the city. Sorry for this, but the NYPD will have to help in evacuation efforts and prevent causing panic."
"I like the city, and I'm going to protect it, along with my friends. You have a chance to do the same, get your loved ones away from Manhattan, in case I fail to do my job." Peter says gravely, before he nods at me.
I turn off the camera and say, "Siri. Play the message 2 more times and then let go of the devices." Then I turn to Cap and ask, "You think they'll listen?"
Steve thinks and shakes his head, "God, I hope so. I also hope we haven't caused mass panic."
I snort, and point out, "Mass panic is better than mass death, Steve."
Nat interjects, "Don't worry Cap, I liked your speech."
Barton speeds up the Jet and we rest for a bit. I conjure two swords made out of Praedium and offer them to Cap and Peter. I look at Peter first, and say, "I know you don't like killing. But this is the first battle we'll ever fight on such a big scale. I'd rather you have a weapon to kill, than be killed."
Peter nods his head, solemnly, and takes the sword. I made it to be a Katana, as Peter trained with it the most. Unfortunately I didn't have a scabbard, so he'd have to be careful. Or not, I think again as I see him make a scabbard out of his web. Smart.
I then look at Cap who's looking at the sword in curiosity and asks, "Did you just bring a sword out of nothing?"
"Not nothing. Myself." I correct.
"Right. Because that explains a lot. Thanks for the offer, Harry, but I'd rather fight with my shield." Cap says and pats his shield, affectionately.
I nod and absorb the sword back into myself. Nat just looks on in curiosity and then ignores it as one of my quirks. I lean back and think about what I'm about to do. This will be the start of the worst and the best journey I'll ever have. Becoming an Avenger. Huh. And just a year ago, I told Fury that I'm never joining his 'Super Secret Boy Band'.
Oh how the tables have turned.