The gentle bank of the quinjet had Harry's head lifting from the book that he'd been reading. Laying it aside, he moved towards the cockpit.
"Another course change?" Harry asked.
From the pilot's seat, Sam glanced back at him.
"Hey, don't blame me, it's all these governments that aren't so happy with the Avengers at the moment and their insistence that we don't fly through their airspace without clearance," Sam replied.
"It's to be expected," Steve sighed. "After the way that we dismantled S.H.I.E.L.D. – on U.S. soil, no less – they're all wary that we'll do the same with other spy agencies."
"Governments do like to ensure that their secrets remain secret," Thor agreed.
"Which country are we avoiding this time?" Harry asked.
"Germany," Sam replied. "And that should be the last on the list. "Switzerland, Austria and Hungary all have no problems with us. And I was making sure that we'd be giving Latveria a wide berth in any case."
"How long to Kratos Base?" Steve asked.
"Couple of hours," Sam shrugged.
Leaning over, Harry tapped a couple of buttons and brought up a map of northern Greece on the monitor.
"The Grecian Ministry of Magic has assured me that we can insert here without alerting either the locals," Harry said, tapping one particular spot on the map. "It'll be a small hike to reach the Base."
"Caution is wise when facing an unknown enemy," Thor nodded.
"And with HYDRA in the mix, anything's possible," Steve added.
ooo00ooo
Kratos Base, it seemed, had been established towards the top of a small mountain that overlooked a deep ravine. Far below, a fast moving river flowed over numerous craggy rocks and even the occasional log. The only patches of green anywhere in the ravine came from the small shrubs that had managed to survive the harsh conditions. There was little cover for any human or animal in that ravine – anyone or anything coming from that direction would be instantly seen by watchers in the Base itself. On the opposite side of the mountain, numerous gun turrets had been placed, ensuring that no one could approach on their 'blind' side.
The manor – for that is what Kratos Base appeared to be at first glance – was large. It was three stories tall and nearly a hundred metres wide along the face of the mountain. Its true bulk, though, had been carefully hidden. According to the files that Tony had teased out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. database for them before they left, they knew that there were half a dozen extra levels hidden within the mountain itself.
While Kratos' primary mission was to oversee the numerous countries within this part of Europe, it was also one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top research divisions, focussing on developing systems that would eventually be installed in the helicarriers, jumpjets and other flight-capable vehicles that S.H.I.E.L.D. utilized.
Currently, the four Avengers were hunkered down on a ridge on the northern part of the valley, observing the Base through binoculars.
"I could take a look from up top," Sam suggested. "Get a bird's eye view of what we're facing."
"Not yet," Steve frowned. "There are eight anti-air guns hidden around the Base. They detect you, you'll be blown out of the sky."
"I was about to offer the same, albeit using my broom," Harry stated. "Perhaps a disillusionment spell? I could sneak in on foot and take a closer look."
"Alright, but surveillance only," Steve agreed after a minute's thought. "No heroics; that's what we're all here for."
Shuffling backwards, Harry rose to his haunches, pulled his wand and tapped himself on the head. The other three watched as ... something seemed to wash down the wizard's body until he'd completely disappeared.
"Thor?" Harry's voice appeared slightly to the side and higher than his mouth had been seconds before.
"If I concentrate, I can just make you out," the Asgardian frowned.
"Good," Harry replied. "Be back as soon as I can."
The only way that Sam and Steve had to track Harry's progress was the slight change in position of Thor's head. There was no sound of footsteps, no loose rocks tumbling away, nothing to mark Harry's movement towards the Base.
A sharp jerk from Thor before his eyes began darting about and his grip tightening on Mjolnir had Steve and Sam also beginning to search for danger.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked quietly.
"The Seidhr. He's coming back," Thor replied.
Harry's return seemed to be much quicker than his outgoing trek.
"Harry?" Thor asked.
"Oh, sorry, you guys can't see me, can you?" Harry said before his magic washed down his body, making him visible once again.
"Is something wrong?" Steve asked.
"What? Oh, yeah," Harry replied. "It's Teddy. He's on holiday, came especially to see me, all the way from England. I really shouldn't have left him. I've got to get home and spend time with him."
"Teddy?" Sam asked, sounding confused. "But I thought your wizarding government asked you to do this and you agreed?"
"I was wrong. Teddy's much more important," Harry nodded emphatically.
"I am sorry, my friend," Thor said before promptly slapping Harry across the face.
Harry's head whipped to the side and his eyes went unfocussed. When he turned back, a hand holding his cheek where Thor had slapped him, he had a puzzled look on his face.
"What?" he asked. "What am I doing back here?"
"I thought as much," Thor said. "You were under some kind of enchantment."
"I was?" Harry asked, looking between the three of them.
"You came back early claiming that you had to get back to New York to spend time with Teddy," Steve frowned.
"I did?" Harry asked.
Comprehension seemed to dawn then.
"Wizard-repelling ward," Harry said. "Had to be. At least I can't think what else it would be."
"Wizard-repelling ward?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. It's magic designed to stop anyone magical from coming into a certain area," Harry explained. "Anyone who does will get an overwhelming desire to go do something else that seems eminently more important. They're not all that common, unlike muggle-repelling wards that keep non-magicals away from magical areas."
"And you walked into one?" Steve asked. "Who put it there?"
"Good question," Harry said, staring towards where the invisible ward must be. "Only a magical could put it there. And there's nothing in the files that the ICW gave me to indicate that the undercover wizards put anything like that in place. No, something's not right here."
"Should I fly in if you can't get in?" Sam offered.
"No, I'll do it," Harry said determinedly.
"But the enchantment ..." Thor reminded him.
"Won't affect my Animagus form," Harry replied.
A second later, in Harry's place, stood a sparrowhawk. It took one last look up at the three men standing around it before launching itself skyward. They watched as the sparrowhawk soared high above, seemingly catching wind currents before diving, rising once again and winging its way down the ravine.
"He's in," Steve stated.
ooo00ooo
Harry felt the magic of the wizard-repelling ward wash over him as he soared through it. At the speed that he'd been going, though, it had absolutely no chance of affecting him, assuming that it was likely to in the first place. That was the one drawback of such wards – although the ring around the warded area was usually quite thick, it was possible to get past them if one went fast enough. Not that that had ever happened before; even at a run, a man couldn't move fast enough to do so. Only the fact that Harry was diving through them as a sparrowhawk afforded him the protection that he needed.
As he soared towards his target, his brain idly wondered what would happen if a muggle tried to fly a plane or helicopter through muggle-repelling wards. Of course, exactly what the consequences of that would be on the electronics of the vehicle was anyone's guess. Thankfully, that was one scenario that had never occurred.
To human eyes, even aided by the binoculars that they'd been using, Kratos Base appeared deserted – not that they believed that for a second. To Harry, though, with his enhanced hawk vision and from his much closer position, he could see that there were a number of guards stationed at various vantage points inside the Base.
At first look, the guards appeared to have all angles of approach covered but Harry wasn't prepared to take that at face value.
Flaring his wings, he landed on a small outcropping, shuffled himself around and settled in to take a closer look. His sharp eyes picked each guard out and he examined their line of sight.
Unfortunately, even after nearly half an hour of watching, he determined that his first assessment was correct: there was no way to approach the Base unobserved. That, of course, left the direct approach.
The position of the eight anti-aircraft guns meant that any approach by air had to be via a low flight through the ravine itself. That wouldn't be a problem for Thor and Sam, nor for himself, either as he currently was or on his broom. Steve, unfortunately, couldn't fly. At least by himself. Once they were inside, though, that's when the real fun would begin.
Finding ten men who may or may not be alive in a base that size wasn't going to be easy.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by the sight of two men walking past the long, glassed in windows overlooking the ravine. The fact that both were wearing wizarding robes completely threw him off his previous train of thought.
Leaping skywards, Harry flew in for a closer look.
His eyes zoomed in on their faces seeking confirmation. And then he got it. Mavrodi and Lawnton, he identified them from their ICW files. Alive and well inside a HYDRA base. They were HYDRA? If Harry could have, he'd have shaken his head right then. Exactly how that'd happened, he had no idea. Wizards tended to stay out of muggle politics, except to observe and keep and eye on what they were doing.
And then things took an even more confusing turn. Something golden around Mavrodi's neck caught his attention. A symbol on a chain. A symbol that he knew well, albeit from many years before. A triangle with a circle inside it and a line bisecting it all. The symbol of the Deathly Hallows.
These men were searching for the Deathly Hallows? He supposed that it was possible. Pointless, but possible. After all, Harry himself was the only one who knew where the three powerful, legendary objects were hidden – separately, he might add – and he wasn't telling.
The memory of when he'd first seen that symbol swept through Harry's mind and the conversations surrounding that particular time surfaced as well. That symbol had even been used on the very gates of Nurmengard Prison, built by Gellert Grindelwald and eventually holding him until his death at the hands of Riddle.
Grindelwald.
Once again, Harry eyed the symbol. Surely not ...
With a twist of his wings, Harry spun about and raced back up the ravine.
ooo00ooo
The spray from the rapids below had all four Avengers damp in seconds. Harry was currently flying so low that the tops of Steve's boots were only inches above the water. Beside him soared Thor, gripping his hammer, a fierce expression on his face. Sam flew slightly behind and above the other two, his wings needing a little more room to manoeuvre in than what was offered so close to the river.
Harry glanced back at his passenger, assuring himself that Steve was seated properly on the Lightning Bolt.
"We're about to hit the ward," he called. "Make sure I don't turn us around."
"I've got you," Steve called back.
And then, as he hit the leading edge of the wizard-repelling ward, Harry felt his mind fog. Knowing what was happening only marginally helped. As though he was fighting through soup, Harry forced his hands to remain firm on the broom handle, only altering its course as necessary due to the zigs and zags needed to avoid crashing.
A sharp pinch on his arm had Harry shaking his head. Through the fog of his mind, he noted that Thor had pulled ahead. That was significant for some reason and he frowned, trying to work out what it was. A second pinch, this time on the other arm caused him to glance down. There were four arms. That seemed wrong. He really should get that checked out. New York. That's where Greengrass was. She was a Healer. She'd know what was wrong and how to fix it.
With that thought in mind, Harry began to turn the broom around only to receive a third, much harder pinch to his arm. This time he shied away, incidentally dragging the head of his broom back on course.
And then, almost all at once, the fog lifted.
Shaking his head, Harry looked back at his passenger, almost in confusion.
"Steve?" he asked.
"I'm guessing we're through," Steve replied. "You might want to do something about our speed, it really dropped off when we were passing through that."
Looking back ahead, Harry could see Thor and Sam well ahead, almost directly underneath the Base itself and beginning to climb towards it.
Funnelling his magic into his Lightning Bolt, Harry put on a burst of speed. At least, as much as he could while carrying a passenger.
ooo00ooo
The first crack of a gunshot had Sam dodging. The second, this time a burst from what sounded like a mini-gun, had him veering back the way he came.
Shooting straight up, Sam pulled his wings in so that they were all but wrapped around him and spun like a corkscrew. His hands slapped his sides and his guns attached and assembled themselves.
Pulling out, he took aim and fired at the glass.
"It's bulletproof!" he called over his earbud.
More gunfire sent him shooting further up and then into a loop to head back down – no way did he want to get high enough for those anti-aircraft guns to have a crack at him.
"Let's see what Mjolnir makes of it," Thor replied.
Through his aerial acrobatics, Sam watched as Thor flew straight up, veered towards the window and crashed straight through it.
"We're in!" Sam called, angling his wings towards the opening.
ooo00ooo
Harry pushed his broom to the limit, aiming for the opening that Thor had made, just as he saw that Sam was doing as well.
A jet of deep orange light shot out from one side of the building towards Sam and Harry's wand whipped forward. The shield spell that he wanted to use, though, was held back – the distance between them was simply too great.
Thankfully, Sam appeared to have seen it coming, for he barrel-rolled over the top of it.
"What the hell was that?" Sam yelled.
"Wizard. Get inside, I'll handle him from here," Harry called back. "Steve?"
"Just get me close enough," Steve replied
A slight change in angle had Harry whipping towards the opening directly from its side. Behind him, he felt Steve shifting and Harry gritted his teeth, doing all that he could to keep the broom steady. And then, just as he shot past the opening, he felt the weight on the back of his broom shift dramatically.
Whipping his head back, Harry saw Steve rolling into the building through the broken window.
Now that he was free to move, Harry rocketed up, high above the building, drifted so that he was directly above where that sniping wizard was and allowed his broom to stall out.
As he dropped back towards earth, Harry's wand began spitting spell after spell, exploding hexes impacting on the side of the building directly where the wizard had been the last time that he saw him.
ooo00ooo
The instant that Steve landed, he rolled back to his feet, plucked his shield from his back and threw it down the corridor. Even as it spun away, Steve raced after it.
He watched as it impacted one man in black clothing, knocking him unconscious, his gun falling limply from his hand before striking a wall and bouncing back towards Steve. Grapping it out of the air, Steve brought it around in front of his body, just in time to block a purple spell shot from a man wearing robes.
As Steve expected after training with Harry, the spell gonged on his shield before fizzing out. The unknown wizard, though, hadn't expected that, freezing momentarily when his spell was simply absorbed. He stayed still just long enough for Mjolnir to come out of the wizard's blindside and smack into his head.
Steve didn't bother acknowledging Thor's help, instead turning back the other way and letting his shield fly once more. It's path this time took it bouncing off of multiple walls, allowing Steve time to close with the HYDRA agents and engage them. Slapping one hand down, he knocked the gun off target. Grapping that hand, he spun the agent about, directly into the path of a slew of bullets.
His shield began its return journey then, striking one of the remaining two men in the stomach and distracting the other long enough for Steve to close and drop him with a right downwards hook after leaping up to and down from the corridor wall.
ooo00ooo
Sam had been exchanging shots with four HYDRA agents when he felt his world shift away from him. A soft, lilting voice encouraged him to turn around, that the enemy was back the way that he had come. Obediently, Sam did as instructed, his eyes searching and coming to rest on a man in red, white and blue, a circular shield on his arm.
The wonderful, whispering voice suggested that Sam shoot this man and Sam frowned slightly, wondering exactly why he should. There was something about him ...
His objections were overwhelmed by the musical voice in his head and he found himself raising his guns, taking careful aim. His fingers were just about to squeeze the trigger when his world exploded.
Sam felt himself being flung away to come crashing down hard into one wall. Dust and smoke billowed around him and he coughed and then coughed again as his lungs demanded air.
From out of the dust, a hand appeared, offering to pull him up. Sam stared at it for a moment before grasping on.
"Sorry about that," Harry said. "Are you okay?"
Sam stared at him for a moment and shook the last of the fuzziness from his brain.
"What happened?" he asked and then, noticing the massive, jagged hole in the floor, added, "never mind."
"Huh, looks like I got one of the wizards when I busted through," Harry grunted, nodding at the robed man laying awkwardly in the middle of the floor some metres away.
"Thanks. I don't remember seeing him," Sam replied.
The sound of fighting had the two looking different ways down the corridor.
"I've got this way," Harry stated.
With a nod, Sam activated his wings and soared over the hole that Harry had made and down the corridor
ooo00ooo
A jet of sickly green light shot out of a doorway and Thor instinctively thrust Mjolnir in its path, batting the spell harmlessly away into a nearby wall.
"That's not possible," the wizard muttered making Thor laugh.
"I have been dealing with magic most of my life, Seidhr," Thor called as he strode towards the man.
A plethora of spells began peppering him and Thor barely paused, simply using Mjolnir to block each and every one.
"My brother, Odin rest his soul, loved nothing more than to cast spells at me. I got quite good at blocking them," Thor told the now-panicking wizard. "Except his illusions. Always fell for them for some reason."
The wizard's eyes were wild now, searching this way and that for a way out of the room that he'd trapped himself in. Seeing no way out, the man brought his wand up once more only for Thor to reach out and pluck it from his hand. A simple twist with his thumb was enough to snap it in half. A strike to the side of the head from Mjolnir put the wizard out of the fight completely.
ooo00ooo
Harry burst through a door and instantly dodged to the right, a shield forming in front of him. He was glad that he'd thrown it up a second later as two spells impacted it, a third shooting through the door that he'd left open.
A further step to the right, a spin and duck had him dodging the next three spells aimed at him while also giving him some room to move.
It looked like he'd hit the jackpot. Three wizards were currently holed up in here, apparently waiting for the invaders to come in and to curse them in a cross-fire.
Channelling his magic, Harry caused his small magical buckler to appear on his off-hand even as he flicked a spell away with it.
And then he began attacking, doing his utmost to keep all three on the backfoot.
Bludgeoners, bombardas, piercing hexes and stunners flew across the room, each spell flowing effortlessly into the next. Chairs exploded, sending wooden splinters towards two of the wizards. The cry of pain from one had Harry grinning, the splinters being blasted back towards him had him spinning about. His dragon hide cloak did the trick, though, taking the impact effortlessly without any harm to himself.
Harry's momentary lull away from the attackers allowed him to transfigure a filing cabinet into a black bear and directing it towards the other wizards.
Turning back, Harry found that his own trick was being used against him. A pair of wolves were on the approach, their jog rapidly turning into a run.
Pointing his wand at the floor, Harry turned it to ice. Instantly, the wolves' grip evaporated and they were left scrabbling and sliding about. Harry turned side on, allowing the two to slide straight past him. An exploding hex blew a hole in the wall behind him, allowing the wolves to slide out; conjured bricks prevented them from returning.
In the time that he'd taken to deal with the threat of the wolves, the bear had also been killed, but not, it seemed, before falling on one of the wizards, pinning him to the floor, his wand splintered in his hand.
The spells shot towards him were simply dodged and Harry retaliated with a jet-like flare of flame. Small fires erupted as the desks and splinters of the chairs caught fire causing plumes of smoke and steam from the quickly melting floor to engulf the room.
Ducking low, Harry slipped to the side of the room and crept up while he couldn't be seen. From what he could tell, the remaining two wizards had stayed exactly where they were.
"Gloria sagittis!" he whispered, shooting a trio of arrows from his wand.
Triple thunks told him that his arrows had missed entirely, striking the far wall instead. His second set of three elicited screams of pain. Honing in on the sound, Harry snapped off a stunner, giving a satisfied nod at the sound of a body thumping to the ground.
When there had been no sound of any movement for nearly five minutes, Harry waved his wand at the air, vanishing the smoke and steam. Peaking out, he took in the room, searching for the last of the enemy. A twisted boot under a smouldering desk was enough for Harry to find him.
Slowly, carefully, his wand trained before him, Harry approached. Seeing an arm still clutching a wand poking out from the desk, Harry strode across and kicked, sending the wand rolling away.
"Mavrodi," Harry stated grimly, frowning down at the trapped wizard.
"Mage," Mavrodi returned, telling Harry that he knew who had bested him.
"What are you doing, throwing your lot in with HYDRA?" Harry asked. "You're a respected Hit Wizard, an operative of the ICW."
"HYDRA?" Mavrodi repeated, spitting out a glob of blood. "We do not serve HYDRA."
"You don't?" Harry asked.
"No! We are the last of Grindelwald's Knights, charged with bringing about the proper order of the world, with magicals ruling all for the Greater Good of the whole world," Mavrodi stated vehemently.
"Sorry to break it to you, but Grindelald's been dead for years, along with his 'Greater Good'," Harry said with a shake of his head. "And there's a lot more than just muggles out there that you have absolutely no idea about."
"You think so? Why do you think we placed ourselves within S.H.I.E.L.D. and allied ourselves with HYDRA? To gather knowledge, to understand how to take our rightful place," Mavrodi replied.
"Well, your rightful place from now on is the inside of an ICW prison," Harry stated.
From one of the pockets on his belt he pulled a pair of magic-suppression cuffs and dangled them in front of the wizard.
"There's an ICW delegation waiting for you at the Grecian Ministry of Magic; I'm sure that they'll be very interested in hearing about what you and your compatriots have been up to here. Who know, they might even give you a little something to drink, to make sure that you don't leave anything out when you tell them all about it," Harry grinned.
ooo00ooo
"We're trapped in here, mate," Myers stated grimly, a boomerang in each hand, as he stared at the wreckage of concrete and steel that blocked their path back to the surface.
Sterns barely spared him a glance.
"No. We're not. We simply need the right tool to create a new exit," he replied.
"And what would that be?" Osborn asked from where he hovered on his glider ten feet in the air on the far side of the room.
A great hiss of air and a cloud of billowing white mist coalescing around their feet told Sterns that their answer was nearly ready. A series of taps to the computer had the last of the locks released, announced by the thunk from the great steel door in front of them. The wheel set in the middle of the door spun on its own and Sterns looked up in eager anticipation.
The ten-foot tall door being pushed open from the inside had both Myers and Osborn spinning around and raising their weapons. Not that they would do any good. Sterns, in comparison, merely stepped forward, his hands behind his back and his head tilted back slightly.
The fingers of a great hand was the first to emerge from the cell. And then, with one massive push, the door slammed back.
The man ... creature ... abomination standing there was nightmarish to behold. He stood ten feet tall, muscles rippling in his legs, arms, chest, even his neck. Spikes made of what could only be bone could be seen at his elbows and heels. His bald head appeared proportionally small but the ferocious expression that it sported more than made up for it.
"Sterns!" he growled and the sound vibrated the very floor that they were standing on.
"Captain Blonsky," Sterns replied with the smallest incline of his head.
"I should kill you where you stand," Blonsky stated.
"Perhaps. But if you did, then it'd be that much harder to exact your revenge on Banner," Sterns replied.
Blonsky's eyes darted to the other two in the room before piercing Sterns once more.
"Where am I?" Blonsky asked.
"Alaska. A secret army facility," Sterns replied. "After your last battle with Banner, you were brought here and placed in cryostasis. You were supposed to stay in there for the rest of your life."
"How long?" Blonsky growled, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly.
"A couple of years," Sterns replied.
"This revenge you speak of, does it include Ross for what he did to me?" Blonsky asked.
"It could, if you wish," Sterns replied.
"I'm listening," Blonsky stated with a grin that sent shudders down the spine of those who saw it.