"You know that I'm going to want to see everything, don't you?" Skye asked.
Harry glanced to the side at her with a lop-sided grin.
"You did hear Tony say that I'm not allowed to let you near any of the computers, didn't you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. And?" she replied. "Exactly what do you think little ol' me is gonna do?"
"Firstly, you're not that old," Harry retorted. "As for what you can do, how in Merlin's name would I know? Computers and I don't get along all that well. Unless they're insulated against magic or a techno-mage has done their thing, my latent magic will blow one up if I'm not careful."
"I'm betting Stark has all his toys protected from you accidentally blowing something up," Skye grinned. "Come on, show me one. I bet I could teach you a few tricks to make them easier for you to use."
"We'll see," Harry hedged. "Just out of curiosity, you do know about Jarvis, don't you?"
"Stark's AI, the most sophisticated of his kind on the planet," she replied.
"Thank you, I am," Jarvis said.
"Woah, that's almost creepy," Skye said, shying backwards and staring up at where the speakers were located."
"You get used to it," Harry grinned. "What Jarvis isn't saying is that he hears all, sees all inside the Tower. Even if I let you near a computer, he'd know everything you did."
"Spoilsport," Skye pouted. "Mind you, I like a challenge."
"If that's the case, I think that I've got just the thing for you," Harry said. "And if you're as good at computers as you claim, maybe you can show me a few things."
"If I claim? Listen, magic man, my fingers can do things that you can only dream of," Skye retorted.
"Really?" Harry asked, one eyebrow raised, a hint of a smile playing about his lips.
Skye stared at him for a moment before giving him a light punch on the shoulder.
"Get your mind out of the gutter," she said.
"I don't know what you're thinking about, but my thoughts have nothing to do with the 'gutter'," Harry remarked innocently.
"You just keep telling yourself that," she replied with a smile of her own. "Now, what's first on this tour?"
The elevator doors chose that moment to open. In front of them was a great deck, at the end of which, through some glass doors, could be seen the tail end of a quinjet.
"Let me guess," Skye said as they stepped out of the elevator. "Hanger bay."
"Yep," Harry replied. "From here we can access the important parts of Avengers Tower fairly easily. Storage bays are down that way and Medical is straight through there."
"Makes sense to have it so close," Skye nodded, rubbing her stomach where she had been shot so recently.
Harry nodded his agreement as they meandered across the floor towards a nearby sitting area containing a couple of large windows providing a panoramic view of the city.
"The science labs begin one floor down," Harry said.
"Skip," Skye stated quickly. "I get enough of the sciencey nerd stuff from FitzSimmons."
"Then there's the training floors just above us," Harry continued.
"Anything interesting there or is it just treadmills and punching bags?" Skye asked.
"Do you know how many punching bags we go through when Steve's here?" Harry asked with a shake of his head. "And, to answer your question, there are a couple of interesting things up there. One of which has the computer program that I'm hoping you could help me out with."
"Really?" Skye asked, sounding incredibly interested. "Well, lead the way my young Padawan and let me teach you the ways of the mystical computer."
ooo00ooo
"Morse told us that you were supposed to be our 'handler'," Tony commented.
"How is Bobbi?" Phil asked in response.
Tony shrugged. "She's not around all that much. Only when Fury wants something really."
"You can bet that she knows where she can find you all at any given moment," Phil replied. "And she'll be there if you need something. All good handlers are the same, there's no need to hover unless their charge is 'playing up'."
"Well, if she knows where we all are, that's one better than us," Tony stated dryly. "Birdbrain has developed this annoying habit of dropping of the grid every so often."
"No one knows where your brain is at half the time anyway," Pepper said from across the room where she was talking to the females in residence.
"Harsh but accurate," Tony replied offhandedly. "Well, come on then, Agent. You might as well see what we've done with the place since you were last here. You two coming?"
The four men, Tony, Phil, Bruce and Thor rose from their seats and headed towards the elevator.
"I've put in a whole host of floors fitted out with the best of science equipment," Tony said, indicating the levels for Candy Land.
"There's some equipment in there that I'd only ever dreamed of seeing," Bruce added.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. can keep its grubby little paws off," Tony stated, waggling a finger at Phil. "I've installed a closed server down there that only Jarvis can access from outside."
"It's not S.H.I.E.L.D. that doesn't know how to keep their nose out of other people's business," Phil replied pointedly.
"Hey, I'm a consultant," Tony protested. "I see it as part of my duty to test out your security and consult on ways that you could improve."
"You give S.H.I.E.L.D. such advice?" Thor asked.
"Well, no. But that's only because they never ask," Tony replied hurriedly.
The doors quietly whooshed open in front of them.
"I thought that you might get a kick out of seeing this level," Tony said, "see what you miss out on now that New Agent is our 'handler' instead of you."
The corridor that they'd stepped out into had only four doors in it – two close by and a further two half-way down the corridor.
"You will quite enjoy this, Son of Coul," Thor said enthusiastically. "These rooms are some of my favourites in Stark's Tower."
"Avenger's Tower, remember?" Bruce corrected. "No need to keep giving Tony a big head."
"Of course, forgive me," Thor replied. "Avengers Tower."
The door closest to them on the right opened just then, cutting off any other conversation.
"Oh, hey AC," Skye said.
"Hello, and what were you two up to?" Tony smirked.
"I was showing Skye the quinjet flight simulator," Harry stated.
Phil looked pointedly at Skye.
"Hey, May's got no worries. I crashed the thing way too many times for me to ever get behind the wheel of a real one," Sky stated, throwing her hands up defensively.
"You can pilot a quinjet?" Phil asked Harry.
"Not on your life," Harry laughed. "Magic and electronics don't like each other much. Things tend to short out or explode."
"Tony and I are working on an insulator to prevent that," Bruce stated, "but it's slow going. Practically every single piece of hardware needs to be protected individually."
"I would have thought that you had enough pilots already, between you two," Phil indicated Bruce and Tony, "and Nat and Clint."
"Yeah, well, you never know who's going to be around," Tony replied. "We tend to work on a whoever's around and available sort of basis. And while Thor and Sparrowhawk here can fly themselves – literally in his case – we want to make sure as many as possible can pilot. That includes the newbies."
"I'm assuming you're talking about Spider-man?" Phil asked.
"Him; others, you know how it is," Tony shrugged, deliberately sounding vague.
"What about that Daredevil guy from Hell's Kitchen?" Skye asked eagerly. "Have you hooked up with him yet?"
"We've met," Harry smiled.
"You must see this room," Thor interrupted, indicating the one further down the corridor on the same side. "Stark has been most ingenious in its creation."
As they walked towards the indicated door, the gymnasium and classroom cum briefing room were indicated as they passed each door.
Eagerly, Thor threw open the door and walked into a huge, blank room. It easily rose three stories and took up over half the floor area of a level of the Tower. Every wall, the floor and the ceiling was made up of panels one metre square, the only exception being high up on the left wall where a room could be seen behind a window two metres tall and six metres long.
"Dude, you are really easy to please, which I would not have expected for a god," Skye said into the echoing room.
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Tony stated. "We call this the Exercise Room."
"No, you call it that," Bruce corrected. "The rest of us call it the 'Danger Room'."
"Oh, why?" Phil asked interestedly.
"Because you never know what it's going to throw at you and you're likely to end up injured after being in it," Bruce replied.
Phil looked around the blank room with the tiniest smile on his face.
"Jarvis?" Tony called before Phil could voice his disbelief. "Control panel, please."
Three panels on the floor to the side of where Tony was standing hissed as they dropped slightly into the floor before sliding away out of sight. A stand then rose from the ground, a large computer screen and keyboard attached to it.
Tony indicated the stand to Phil.
"This controls the room," he explained. "Every panel that you see in here hides certain equipment – blocks, poles, weapon ports, platforms – that can be configured in numerous different ways according to the program that is entered. For example ..."
Tony's fingers danced over the keyboard and panels all over the room began sliding out of the way, allowing dozens of blocks of various sizes to emerge from the floor. A dozen poles slid out of the walls at various heights, along with an equal number of platforms.
"A basic town configuration," Tony indicated with a sweep of his hand. "We can use this simulation either to practice together as a team with weapons firing from the walls at us or we can use it to spar against each other in a realistic setting without damaging civilians or the real thing."
"It is truly remarkable the number of different configurations this room can take for us to battle in," Thor stated happily.
"You should see it when Spider-man is in here using his webs to get around," Harry grinned.
"From up there," Bruce said indicating the room behind the window, "we can observe whoever is in the room. There are dozens of cameras built into the room as well that send a live feed to the monitors in there, allowing us to record what happens and for the combatants to watch it later and analyse not only their own performance, but those of their teammates as well."
"Impressive," Phil said. "I'd be very interested in seeing this room in use."
"I'd love to see May and Ward slugging it out in here sometime as well," Skye said happily.
A slight buzz coming from Phil's pocket had the man reaching for his phone. His expression was completely blank as he read whatever was on its screen. A few taps later and he was replacing it into his pocket.
"Unfortunately, duty calls," Phil said. "Perhaps a raincheck on seeing this room in action?"
"That's possible," Tony replied.
"I take it I'm invited back as well?" Skye asked with a mischievous smirk.
"Definitely," Harry replied with a lop-sided grin and his emerald eyes sparkling at her.
ooo00ooo
From high above in the observation room, the great training room could be observed with ease. From here, it was easy to see the entire field, where each of the combatants were positioned and even deduce what their tactics were. Monitors lined the space of wall above the great glass window that spanned the length of the room, each one either trained on one of the combatants or viewing an entire section of the training room from various angles.
Here was where those training could come after their session was ended and review their and their opponents' performance, analysing and looking for strengths and weaknesses, areas to improve upon and tactics that had worked for them.
At the moment, the monitors showed the training battle between Spider-man and Squirrel Girl against Thor. The teens were using their enhanced speed, reflexes and agility to leap throughout the room, up and around the miniature towers, over the hurdles and sliding under boxes. Meanwhile, Thor had positioned himself in the centre of a clear space where they needed to come at him more on his terms than theirs.
To make the battle more even, Thor wasn't using Mjolnir, nor any lightning. Nor was Spider-man using his webs or Squirrel Girl her squirrel friends.
Observing the three were Bruce, Jennifer and Harry.
"I don't think that I could do that," Jennifer stated nervously. "I'm just not an aggressive person."
"I beg to differ," Harry smirked. "You sure wanted to wring my neck when we were out in the desert."
Jennifer shook her head. "That wasn't me, that was the other girl. And only because you kept shooting those stinging things at me."
"She-hulk, yes," Harry said. "But she is a part of you, whether you want to acknowledge her or not."
"And if you ever want to make peace with yourself, you're going to have to get to know her," Bruce added. "I made that mistake for too many years, trying desperately to deny the Hulk. Even now I haven't come to terms with him yet, but we're getting there.
"It's what's helped make Hulk a true member of the Avengers. Once, all he wanted was to smash everyone and everything in his path. Now ... now he's, well I won't say happy but at least content, to work alongside others, to have friends."
"I don't know," Jennifer wavered.
"I think you do," Harry countered. "I've watched you. You, as She-hulk, enjoyed sparring with Thor; and you loved 'playing' with Hulk. You've got the strength and speed to combine with your goodness, intelligence and your willingness to do good in the world for you, as She-Hulk, to make a real difference."
"I've not been a great cousin, but I've followed your career a bit," Bruce said. "I know that, as a lawyer, you always worked hard to get justice for anyone you encountered."
"All we're asking is for you to train, to learn what you can fully do and how to fight for those that can't defend themselves," Harry stated. "And if the time ever comes where we or anyone really, need some help, we and you will know that you're capable of pitching in and to do what needs to be done."
"It's possible that you'll never need to fight; God knows that I pray that I'll never have to," Bruce admitted. "But doesn't it make sense to know how to and never need it rather than not know how in a time when you might need to know how?"
Jennifer was silent for a long time as the three stood at the observation window, watching as Spider-man rushed in, flipping and spinning about as Thor tried to hit him. Meanwhile, Squirrel Girl had snuck around from behind before jumping up, racing in and hitting the floor so that she could slide in and take Thor's knees out from under him. It was then a free-for-all on the ground as the teens tried to pin Thor down.
"Alright," Jennifer finally said. "But on two conditions."
"Name them," Bruce said.
"I learn this fighting thing like those two down there – it's not full time and I get to learn other stuff than just how to hit someone," she said.
"Done," Harry smiled. "Actually, that was exactly what we'd envisioned anyway, for you to join the Academy which includes learning things like how to fly a quinjet."
"What's your other condition?" Bruce asked.
"I don't want to just be cooped up here, I want to be out there doing good, using the skills I already have," she said.
Harry mused on that for a couple of seconds.
"You know," he finally said. "I think I know exactly what you want. Let me make a call and see what I can arrange."
ooo00ooo
Jennifer looked out of the car's window and frowned. This definitely wasn't an upper-class suburb. It wasn't even middle class. This was definitely heading into the rough end of New York City.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"Hell's Kitchen," Harry replied.
Jennifer's head whipped across to stare at him.
"Hell's Kitchen? What are we doing here?" she asked incredulously.
"We're going to visit the firm that you'll be working for when you're not at the Tower," Harry replied.
"In Hell's Kitchen?" she asked, her voice rising. "Surely there's dozens, hundreds of better, more prestigious law firms in the city where I could work. I'm sure that Tony's got most of them on retainer."
"He probably does," Harry replied. "But your new job is going to be very specialised, something that none of those fancy law firms have yet."
"In Hell's Kitchen?" she asked again.
"You seem very fixated on that," Harry commented. "Look. One of the owners has very special abilities." He held up a hand to stop her questions. "I'll let him explain that to you. Suffice it to say that he's helped me out before, he's a good guy and he'll be uniquely qualified to understand your other job."
The car pulled to the curb before she could respond and, copying Harry on the other side of the car, she opened the door and got out, pulling her briefcase with her. Harry gestured for her to follow her a dozen or so metres down the sidewalk before stopping at a door.
"Nelson and Murdock, Attorneys at Law," she read the small plaque beside the door.
"Shall we?" Harry asked, pulling the door open for her.
After taking a long look at him, Jennifer walked through the doors and up a short flight of stairs. A second door stood at the top and to one side with the name of the law firm embossed upon it.
As she paused, Harry reached past her and opened the door, again gesturing for her to precede him through it.
At their entrance, a young, slim woman with long blonde hair rose from behind her desk.
"Welcome to Nelson and Murdock. How may I help you?" she smiled.
"Hi, Karen, I'm not sure if you remember me? I've only been in here the once. My name's Harry Potter," Harry said.
"Of course, yes. Mister Potter," Karen said, reaching out to shake his hand.
"Karen, this is a friend of mine, Jennifer Walters. Jennifer, this is Karen Page," Harry introduced. "We have an appointment with Matt."
"It's nice to meet you, Miss Walters," Karen replied, shaking her hand. "If you'll excuse me a moment, I'll go see if Mister Murdock is ready for you."
Karen quickly stepped to the door to the office on the left, knocked once and opened the door.
"Matt, Harry Potter and Jennifer Walters are here to see you," she said.
"Thank you, Karen, I'll be right out," Jennifer heard the man say.
A few moments later, a man with a noticeable three or five day growth appeared in the doorway. Intriguingly, he was wearing red-tinted, round glasses inside the office. He was also moving cautiously. At first, Jennifer thought that it might be because he knew about her but a few seconds later she realised the real reason. This man was blind.
"Matt," Harry greeted him, failing to hold out his hand to shake. "It's good to see you again."
"I'd say likewise, but ..." Matt shrugged with a bit of a grin.
"Matt, I'd like you to meet the friend that I was telling you about, Jennifer Walters," Harry introduced.
"It's nice to meet you, Miss Walters," he said.
"Jennifer, please, Mister Murdock," she replied. "And likewise."
"Matt," he said simply. "How about the two of you come into my office and we'll chat before I inflict Foggy on you."
At his gesture, they preceded him into his office. Jennifer turned to watch as Matt closed the door, straightening slightly as he did so. He then unerringly walked across the room, around his desk and sat in his chair.
"Jennifer," Matt began, his hands held together on his desk, his body slightly angled forward. "How much has Harry, Bruce and the others told you about me?"
"Not a thing, really, other than that you're a lawyer and that you've helped Harry out before," she replied.
"I assume that you trust Jennifer?" Matt asked, his head angled towards Harry.
"Very much so," Harry replied. "And in answer to your unasked question, it's not our secret to tell."
Matt nodded at that while Jennifer simply looked confused.
"Jennifer, do you know who Harry is?" Matt asked.
"Harry?" Jennifer replied, surprised at the question. "He's ... Harry Potter. Bruce's friend."
"What else can you tell me about him?" Matt asked.
Jennifer shrugged and then blushed slightly as she realised the uselessness of the gesture with a blind man.
"He owns and runs The Marauder's Den, he's English and Doreen Green is living in his apartment," she replied.
"That's all?" Matt asked. "She does know?"
"Oh, yes, she knows," Harry replied.
Jennifer looked between the two men before leaning forward and lowering her voice.
"Do you mean the fact that he's also 'Mage'?" she asked.
Matt smiled. "Knew we'd get there. You know about the Avengers. You also know that there are others that work with them."
"You mean Spider-man and Squirrel Girl," Jennifer said.
"Yes. And Daredevil," Matt replied.
"Oh, I've never met him," Jennifer stated.
"You have now," Matt smirked.
Jennifer's jaw dropped. She's seen news footage and read the newspapers about the hero, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.
"You ... you're ... him?" she asked.
"Yes," Matt replied.
"But you're ..." she said before cutting off what she was going to say.
"Blind?" Matt finished for her. "I am. But all my other senses are off the chart which lets me do what I do."
"Why are you telling me this?" Jennifer blurted.
"Because I know about your other self," Matt replied. "That's a big part of why you're here. I know what it's like to have two ... halves, two personalities. I can be there to help you if you need it, just as you can help me at times as well."
"O-kay," Jennifer said slowly.
"It also forms part of the role that I'd like you to have working here at Nelson and Murdock," Matt said.
Jennifer sat up a little straighter and Matt smiled.
"Apart from the usual cases that we take on here, I'd like you to head up a new division, specialising in the laws surrounding people with 'special' abilities," Matt stated.
"There are no laws for such people, they ... we have to follow the same laws as everyone else," Jennifer countered.
"For now, yes," Matt replied. "But with the number of powered people that are beginning to pop up, not to mention all of the mutants, you know as well as I do that it's not going to be long until such laws begin to be passed. I'd like Nelson and Murdock to be ahead of the game, to be already known as the place where people like us can come when they get into some kind of legal problems and for them to know that we'll be on their side."
Jennifer thought about that for a few seconds. Yes, the writing was on the wall; she'd already heard rumours from her colleagues and contacts in the Justice Department that those kinds of laws were already being bandied around in back rooms. To start in on the ground floor, to become known as an expert in the field, even if it was in a relatively tiny law firm for now, the things that would do for her career ...
"I'd love to get in on that," she stated.
"Excellent," Matt smiled. "Then it's settled. We can't pay much, being a small firm and all."
"That's okay, I've got some savings and Tony has set me up with an account if I need anything, not to mention that I'm staying in the Tower," Jennifer replied.
"In that case, I could probably pay you even less," Matt smiled.
"I wouldn't go that far," Jennifer joked back.
"Welcome to Nelson and Murdock," Matt said, reaching across the table to unerringly meet and then shake her hand. "Come on, I'm sure Foggy is dying to meet you."
ooo00ooo
"You look busy," Bruce remarked as he stepped up behind Tony.
That was very much the understatement. Currently, Tony was seated on a stool in front of five monitors, all filled with schematics of one kind or another. In addition to that, the open area adjacent to Tony's computers was a holographic display of a piece of machinery.
"Just tinkering," Tony replied, swivelling to face him.
The fact that Tony hadn't immediately swiped away what was on the screens or ordered Jarvis to shut down the hologram told Bruce that Tony had no problem seeing these projects. Which either meant that they weren't of any importance – a fact belied by Tony's use of so many screens – or, and much more likely, Tony could use some help with his project.
"Anything interesting?" Bruce asked nonchalantly.
"Take a look," Tony said with a gesture before rolling him and his stool out of the way.
Bruce stepped up to the bank of monitors, putting his glasses on as he did soon to help him read the small type. From what he could tell, Tony was working from the middle screen out. The current object under design appeared to be an engine or thruster of some kind based on arc reactor technology that was completely sealed, allowing no air from outside to penetrate in. The monitor to either side of the central one contained different models of the arc reactor, one from Tony's Iron Man suit, the other from a quinjet, suppositions that were supported by the schematics of both on the outside monitors.
"You're redesigning the arc reactor to be used in an environment without air," Bruce surmised. "You're thinking of a submersible quinjet and a suit specifically for use underwater?"
"Close," Tony beamed. "And thanks for the suggestions. Shouldn't take more than some minor tweaking for that when I'm done."
"Then what's the purpose of the redesign?" Bruce asked.
"Space," Tony replied simply.
"You want to go to space?" a surprised Bruce asked.
"No. I want the capability of going to space," Tony corrected.
"Why?" Bruce asked suspiciously.
Tony sat back and looked at him for a moment before getting up and beginning to pace.
"I fear we might need to," Tony began. "I'm seeing more and more threats coming from there. The Chitauri here in New York. The Dark Elves in London. Hell, Thor's from another planet and he tells me that there're plenty of other planets out there that might get it in their head to come pay us a visit, something that we might not actually enjoy."
"And you want to be prepared," Bruce stated with a nod of his head. "Sensible. But is a quinjet and a suit of armour that can go into space enough to protect an entire planet?"
Tony snorted. "Not by a long shot. But it's a start that we can build on. Eventually, I see the need for some kind of intelligence program, an AI like Jarvis with the capabilities of being our ultimate defence."
Bruce shook his head at that.
"I'm not sure that that's a good idea. Even the best of AIs aren't anywhere near as good as the human brain. Sorry, Jarvis, no offence intended," Bruce said.
"None taken, Sir. I know my limitations better than anyone," Jarvis replied.
"Look, these are just ideas that I've been fiddling with. Take a look for yourself, if you like. Tell me what you think we need, what's viable as well as what's practical," Tony suggested.
"Alright, I can do that," Bruce agreed.
"Jarvis, bring up the file for Project Ultron on the monitor over there for Bruce, will you?" Tony asked.
As the screen flickered to life, Bruce took a seat, readjusting his glasses as he began to read.
ooo00ooo
"This is Pierce. Fury has become an active hindrance. Enact the 'Override Protocol'. And ensure the Asset is primed and ready for any contingencies."