It was only then that he became aware of the sounds of a conversation happening not that far away.
"You're trying to tell me that Spider-Man was the good guy here?" an incredulous voice asked.
Mage's ears and head perked up at that and he drifted closer to find out more.
"Spider-Man rescued my kid," a man was saying to a uniformed police officer. "Jack was trapped in our car and it was hanging from the bridge. Spider-Man climbed down after him and when the car burst into flames he stayed and even managed to pull Jack from the car as it began falling towards the river. The guy's a hero in my book."
The police officer took a pointed look around at the wrecks of cars strewn over the bridge.
"From what I'm seeing here, the guy's just as bad as whatever else was on the bridge tonight," the officer, who Mage now recognised as Police Captain George Stacy, stated.
"Excuse me, Captain," Mage broke in, making himself known to the two men for the first time. "I'd like to know more about the other one involved in all this."
"Mage!" Captain Stacy started. "I didn't know you were here. I just thought that you were out of town with the rest of the Avengers."
"I was," he replied. "I came back as soon as I saw what was happening. If you don't mind, I'd like to know more about what happened."
Captain Stacy glanced down at the notebook in his hand before sighing and closing it. "I'm afraid that I can't tell you much. We've got a lot of conflicting reports. There were definitely two super-humans here – Spider-Man and something else, although we're not sure what that something else was. There was definitely some altercation, but we don't know why. I'm sorry that I can't help you any more than that."
"I could tell you," the other man said.
Harry looked towards the man who was still holding his son close to his chest.
"Anything that you could tell me would be much appreciated, Mister …" Mage said.
"Napoli. Tony Napoli," the man said, awkwardly holding out his hand to shake. "It's an honour, Sir. What you and your team-mates did for us, was amazing."
Mage inclined his head but refrained from replying, instead waiting for the information that he needed.
"Anyway, the other one looked like some giant lizard-like thing," Tony Napoli said. "Easily eight or nine feet tall; massive claws; incredibly strong. It was going after a limo, I think, before Spider-Man swung in and distracted it. Looked like Spider-Man was gearing up to fight it but my Jack here was in trouble and he chose to save him instead. I'll never forget what he did. He's the hero here."
A disbelieving snort from Captain Stacy gave the policeman's view on that opinion.
"Spider-Man's the good guy," Mage repeated slowly.
"Yeah, well, stands to reason, don't it?" Tony agreed. "He's been catching crooks and stringing them up for the police for a couple of weeks now. Seems like he just wants to do what's right."
Mage nodded slowly.
"Thank you, Sir, you've been a great help," Mage stated. "And I'm glad that your boy's okay. Captain Stacy."
And with that, Mage turned on his heel and vanished.
ooo00ooo
Harry arrived back at Tony's Malibu mansion still in his Mage outfit. His sudden appearance in the midst of the rest of the Avengers caused a myriad of different reactions.
"Can you stop doing that!" Tony asked exasperatedly, having being startled backwards a couple of steps. "I nearly spilled my drink."
"Harry," Natasha nodded, holstering her gun.
Those two, being the closest, had the biggest reaction, although Harry could also see Steve leaning over to place his iconic shield back down beside his chair.
"Sorry, guys, didn't know that you'd arrived," Harry said, tapping his face to cancel out the face obscuring spell before lowering his hood.
A quick swish had his cloak removed and flung over the back of a conveniently vacant chair.
"What's with the getup?" Clint asked.
"I just came straight from New York; there was a bit of a fight or something between Spider-Man and some kind of mutant lizard thing," Harry explained.
"You just came from New York?" Steve asked. "How long did it take you to get here?"
"Couple of seconds," Harry shrugged tossing the empty coke can that he'd used as a portkey onto a nearby table. "Magic can be dead useful."
"Mutant?" Bruce asked. "Are you sure that that's what it was?"
Once again, Harry shrugged. "I don't know how else to describe it. From what I've been told, it was eight or nine feet tall, incredibly strong and seemed to be looking for someone; or at least, it was attacking a limo."
"What was Spider-Man's part in all this?" Tony asked.
"Seems to be the good guy," Harry replied, as he plucked a small container from one of the many pouches attached to his belt and tossed it to Tony. "Present. Some of the line or webbing or whatever that Spider-Man uses. He rescued a kid from a burning car that was falling towards the river; if that doesn't say 'good guy', then I don't know what does."
"I've seen footage of him on the television," Steve commented. "He's definitely been enhanced."
"Most likely a mutate," Bruce commented.
"Mutate?" Harry questioned the term that he'd never heard before as he sat in the seat his cloak was draped over.
Bruce nodded. "His DNA has been altered out of the norm. Steve and I would be classed as mutates."
"Nat, too," Clint piped up.
All eyes swivelled to the red-head.
"Let's just say that I had an 'interesting' childhood and leave it at that, okay, boys," she said, leaving no doubt that that was the wisest course for all of them.
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