227A/N Hey! Here's another chapter just as promised!
Just something to note, I will not be pairing Hali with anyone, as no matter how I do it, I'd be disturbed, because she's so much younger physically than anyone her mental age, and so much older mentally for anyone her physical age. Not only that, but she's immortal, meaning anyone she goes out with, she'd eventually outlive. And I'm not that cruel to poor Hali to do that to her.
A BIG THANKS TO MY BEST FRIEND JOY OCEAN WHO'S ALSO DOUBLING AS MY BETA FOR THIS STORY!
WARNING: There's blood, lots and lots of blood. (Not overly descriptive or anything. I'd wouldn't like to scare myself when I'm writing this at midnight)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, or Marvel. Else I'd be making cameos Stan Lee style in all the movies, and be too busy running from insane fans (like myself) to be writing fanfiction.
Chapter Five
X - X - X - X - X - X - X
Hel's Realm, Hel's Office. Hel's clock is broken, so Hali doesn't know what time it is.
Hali appeared yet again in Hel's Office, and feeling of vertigo swept over her. Hali gratefully fell into the fancy office chair that just appeared next to her. She'd just died yet again, and for once she decided to take a breather before going back.
Because jeez, were those weird cult members extremely trigger happy. Hali had the unfortunate privilege to get a firsthand experience for just how much they liked making their guns go bang. So therefore, when she'd been killed the umpteenth time, she just didn't let herself go back into the Land of the Living. Instead she was relaxing in Hel's very tasteful gothic office with its dark wooden panels, carvings of roses, and elaborately done furniture.
Enough of being jealous of Hel's room, right now, she needed to get some things off her chest. And what better person to have a therapy session with then Death herself?
"You won't believe the day I'm having. Literally everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong!" Hali complained, huffing at the half skeletal figure of her best friend.
"Ugh, probably not as bad as mine." Hel complained, "We're out of ice cream in the Dead Cafeteria! My Grim Reapers are going crazy! They really like brain freezes, though I've yet to figure out the reason. As they don't technically have brains..." Hel trailed off with a thoughtful look, not noticing Hali was covered in blood (oh her poor shirt!), or just not caring.
"Luckily I still have coffee, or the Grim Reapers would be even worse than they already are." Hel lifted her coffee mug, which had bold black letters saying 'Feeling dead on my feet.' "Anyway, I'm just exhausted, how about you?" Hel did look very tired, she was slumped in her high backed chair, with her half open eye (her other eye was a creepy empty socket), thick black bags under her eye, and footie pajamas with scythes printed all over them.
"My day was so much worse than worse!" Hali said, feeling the need to express that her bad day was worse than Hel's. "I'm getting murdered every time I come back to life!" Hali exclaimed, throwing up her bloody hands in clear annoyance. "I mean really, it's one thing to do it a few times but, this is like the seventeenth time! Not only that, but my Elder Wand is missing, and I am really annoyed by this stupid cult!" Hali ranted, looking at Hali for sympathy.
"Hali, Hali, Hali," Started Hel wisely, taking a sip of her coffee. "It's called getting spawn-killed! Much easier to say then dying for the seventeenth time!" Then Hel's voice changed to a more pitying one. "Well, sorry to say I can't help you with that."
"Why not?!" Hali whined.
"Because, this is your first time being spawn-killed, and if you don't learn to fix your problems for yourself and I'm not around to help you, you'll gonna be in an even bigger mess next time! I won't be here forever you know…." Hali stated. This might have sounded wise, or perhaps upsetting, if it had come from anyone other than Hel. But as it was Hel, Hali just rolled her eyes, and pointed out a loophole in her explanation.
"But you do live forever, and so do I. We're immortal, that's like, and that's literally the definition of forever!" Hali said exasperatedly, throwing up her hands.
Hel looked awkward at that, "I know I'm immortal, I mean, duh. But… I meant I might not always be able come to you." Hali raised her eyebrows, watching as Hel dug herself into a hole. "Actually, I can come to you basically anytime I want, it's just easier if you summon me, anyway…" Hel cleared her throat. "What I'm trying to say is, if I'm off on vacation while you're getting spawn-killed, I'm not getting out of my bathing suit to go get your out of that predicament. A predicament," Hel had to raise her voice of Hali's incredulous protests, "that you probably deserve for not paying attention or being more careful."
"You're no longer my best friend." Hali huffed irritably, glaring at her ex best friend.
"Sure I'm not…" Hel said disbelievingly, "Anyway, think of this as revenge for your LOOSING MY ELDER WAND!" Now most people would probably faint if Death herself started yelling at them, but Hali wasn't most people. And instead of screaming back, she tried to pretend she wasn't feeling guilty about misplacing it.
"Sorry." Hali said uncomfortably, but Hel wasn't listening to her apology – too busy yelling to hear her.
"Do you have any idea how long it took it make that? I mean sure, in the myths it says I just made a plain ol' stick into a majestic wands. But nooooooo, I had to send in papers to the Powerful Objects Committee. And those people are prats, they take so long to read and approve the papers. Then after all that work, I've got to find a way to tell them why I want someone else immortal as well. And my only reason I had was just because I was lonely, and that's just plain embarrassing to tell someone! And, not only that, they watch as you enchant the objects to make sure you're doing it according to regulation." Hel seethed for a moment, glaring at Hali, before suddenly, her angry face turned into a mischievous look telling of revenge (at who, Hali wasn't sure). "Speaking of immortal, if you meet my dad, make sure to rub it in his face that you're immortal in not just age, but also physically so no one can ever properly kill you. He's been trying to make me do the same for him, but he's got too many 'I want to take over the world' tendencies." Hel made this sound like it was such a relatable thing, Hali couldn't help but giggle.
Hel laughed, looking pleased that Hali was happy again. "Sorry to burst your metaphorical bubble, but you've got to get back. I have an appointment soon."
Hali groaned, "Already?!" Hali complained (not whined, she was too old for whining and tantrums thank-you-very-much).
X - X - X - X - X - X - X
In a giant scary warehouse, Hali's Jail-cell. February 16th 2011, 8:15 PM.
Hali was sitting on the floor by now, eyes half lidded as she sat cross legged, waiting for them to start killing her again. These people who just didn't learn, because really, you'd think during the first fifty times they'd killed her they'd have learned she always came back? Well apparently they hadn't, as the cult members (or whoever they were) kept shooting at her, repeatedly.
Hali was trying to get some sleep. Hel had wished her on her merry way about seven minutes ago, and Hali had already temporality given up on escaping.
Her plan had been to summon her invisibility cloak, and escape that way. Except then she realized they could still kill her when she was under it, only difference was that the cloak would get all bloody.
And blood stains were the worst to get off things, something she'd learned after she'd violently murdered that Basilisk when she was twelve. Speaking of, it was pretty cute how her tween-self didn't understand how to get rid of snake blood yet (she should be worried that she found that sweet and innocent).
Hali yawned, jerking upward when she noticed one of the men was walking up to her very slowly.
When he noticed she was staring at him with those unnaturally green eyes, he squealed like Arnold, Ginny's pygmy puff, and fled back to the huddle of cult members.
Approaching her looked like this was the last thing he wanted to do, but (after an encouraging shove from another camouflaged man) he stumbled forward to her, nervously twiddling his fingers.
Hali watched him, waiting for him to do something, anything at all really to rid her of boredom. She supposed she could always tickle him into unconsciousness like the other guy if he tried to attack her. Speaking of the guy who'd been tickled, he was still unconscious, and Hali was a bit worried about that.
Eh, well he was probably okay…. okay-ish, at the very least.
The person who had been not-very-stealthily-sneaking was kneeling in front of her. Now (with scared blue eyes), he slowly reached out a hand, causing a few things to happen: Hali cracked her knuckles and tensed, and her kidnappers leaned forward, holding their breath.
The man squeaked with nerves, and quickly as lightning he slapped her on the cheek.
Hali gave him an unimpressed gaze, because with the force he put into that he might as well have been gently patting a kitten in praise.
The man swallowed harshly, his eyes (the only part of his face that she could see because of his balaclava) were wide and terrified. He hesitantly reached out a hand to slap her again, but Hali allowed her magic to crackle on her fingers, making him to scream a little girl on a roller-coaster. Actually, no, Hali was a little girl and even she didn't scream like that (although, to be fair she'd never gone on a roller-coaster).
Hali shook her head at the 'torturer,' he was yet another person who was most definitely getting fired later. Because really, how could someone fail at slapping a child, or at least someone who looked like a child?
Hali stood up to her full height, which wasn't as intimidating as she'd prefer. But it did the trick, causing the men-in-masks to freeze in place at their spot against the front wall.
Well, everyone but a single man with bulky shoulders, big muscles, and glaring dark eyes.
"Little Devil Girl." He said coldly, almost mockingly. "Stop your games right now, or else your little fingers will be introduced to a blender… and we'll rip out your cute eyelashes, and all your pretty red hair." he threatened, voice like icy spikes. The utmost conviction in his voice left Hali without doubt that he would indeed go through with his threat.
"How about no," Hali said, her face scrunched up at the very idea of her precious black hair being chopped off. She was having an ongoing contest with Hel on whose hair was better, and if that threat went through, she'd certainly loose.
"Too bad, because you're not in charge of us Little Devil Girl…" Dang, Muscle-Man's voice had an awesomely dangerous tint that Hali thought only Snape could do. "We are the ones in power, we are the Ten Rings…" Muscle-Man said, a smirk on his lips. And Hali couldn't help but be impressed, why hadn't they had this guy try to convince her to join them? Sadly, that was a question she'd likely never get the answer for.
"We're the most terrifying terrorist group you'll ever meet…and we will destroy you, you Little Devil!" The man finished, a sneer in full play.
Well, at least now Hali knew what they called themselves, but that didn't really tell her much about them. Except that apparently they were actually a terrorist group, and not a wannabe cult like she'd presumed.
But it still wasn't that much of a help to her problem, her problem being her limited repertoire of wandless spells.
Even after a year and a half or so of practicing wandless magic, she still hadn't been able to master many spells like Hel had. Most of her spells didn't even work as they were supposed to. An image of that grand piano appeared in her mind, and a brief memory of her Aguamentispell producing hot chocolate flashed through her thoughts as well.
Hali gazed at where the huddling terrorists were. They were blocking her exit, the iron bar door that was smacked on the far left on her small grimy cell. Hali had no idea where she even was, though she was crossing her fingers that she was still somewhere in Great Britain, as she would be hopelessly lost any other place. Her extended knowledge of Great Britain's landscapes came from an entire year of camping out in ridiculous, random locations. Such as in the middle of an Ireland cow field, where they'd decided right then and there to get some proper maps so they wouldn't accidentally apparate into a pig sty.
So, after that traumatic experience, and months of studying maps, Ron, Hermione, and Hali had all become experts with finding their way around Great Britain.
But if she was anywhere else, such as Japan, or America for instance, she'd be hopelessly lost. And wandless apparating was an extremely difficult and near impossible wandless spell to accomplish, so Hali wasn't even going to attempt to apparate home.
By now, the muscular man's speech seemed to have gained the support of the rest of the group, and they were gaining confidence. All the terrorists were looking as vicious as the Muscular-Man, except for one small guy. The short man timidly raised a hand over his head, and everyone stared at him incredulously.
He blushed hotly, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here. "I, um… well actually Hydra has been voted more terrifying than Ten Rings." The guy said, his brown eyes scrunching up in a 'sorry about that' expression.
Muscle-Man spluttered indignantly, "No, that was only on some poll websites, not with actual people. Besides, I thought we'd agreed that Hydra had gotten bots so they could repeatedly vote for themselves!" He said, his dangerous voice was gone, replaced with an annoyed one that didn't seem threatening at all.
"Actually, we were voted least scary by some guy named Stan Lee as well. You should do your research beforehand, ugh, Steven, you've gotta know these things!" The brown eyed terrorist rolled his eyes slightly.
"Why should I care about one person?!" Steven, the muscular man, growled.
"He's some sort of celebrity, wrote some pretty popular comics. Personally I never liked Aluminum Man or Captain Switzerland, but Stan's pretty darn famous." The brown eyed man said, wrinkling his face up.
"How dare you, this is why no one likes you Jimmy! Aluminum Man is the best! And the movies are so much worse than the comics!" Someone next to the brown eyed Jimmy exclaimed, and Hali watched in complete confusion as the entire group started talking at once. Each of them determined to show their own opinion of what character was the most awesome.
"SHUT UP!" Steven yelled, and everyone quieted "That...that doesn't matter." He had a putout expression, as though sad they weren't labeled most terrifying "We're scary, and we're in charge here!" Even though Steven sounded like he was convincing himself, the Ten Rings terrorists looked like they were getting excited again.
And so within seconds everyone reverted back to the 'let's beat up Hali' positions, slowly circling her like angry Thestrals, smirking cruelly as they twirled around her like ballet dancers.
"Um," Hali stalled, "oh look, a pegasus!" She pointed a finger at the iron door to her cell, but nobody so much as looked over their shoulder. The terrorists apparently didn't fall for her lies like her family did.
Hali was about to repeat herself, when she started blinking, just to make sure she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing.
Well, apparently her rescuers were here, and they weren't who'd she been expecting. Actually she'd presumed her family would storm the place with pitchforks and attack with terrifying battle cries.
But alas, no, instead there were a large clustering of Thestrals who were grouped behind her iron bar cell door.
"Um. I'm not kidding, now there's actually pegasi behind you. Man-eating pegasi." Finally, one of the more gullible twisted around, and screamed.
He screamed not because he could see the invisible Thestrals, but because the door was knocked off its hinges with a loud crash. Utterly destroyed by the storm of furious and vengeful man-eating pegasi.
The heavy iron door slammed into the terrorist, and the rest of the Ten Rings members all spun around wanting to see what the commotion was all about, only for them to quickly take a few stumbling steps back.
The Thestrals let the gunfire that was being sprayed bounce off their bodies so they weren't hurt, but there was a thudding noise as someone threw a grenade towards Hali.
Hali screamed in surprise, putting her arms in front of her face defensively, preparing to be exploded (something that had never happened to her). Only to cautiously lower her arms when she noticed that the grenade hadn't exploded. She blinked around, tensed up and ready to take cover at a moment's notice.
Hali stared at a particular Thestral who looked very suspicious. There was an exploding noise from the Thestral, and said man-eating pegasus burped up a bit of smoke.
During this, Hali made accidental eye contact with one of the terrorists, and for a moment they exchanged incredulous looks. But, both abruptly remembered they were on opposing teams at the same time, meaning Hali blushed and looked away sheepishly, while the terrorist giggled manically and shot his machine gun.
Hali would have died (again, she really shouldn't have turned her back to the terrorist) if it weren't for the Thestral that stepped neatly in front of her. The winged horse looked extremely smug, nostrils flared out, and chest puffed out smugly. The man with the gun just stared blankly at where the bullet seemed to bounce off air, and he squeaked like a rat.
The Thestral in front of Hali neighed loudly, and suddenly all the other Thestrals were glaring at the one poor guy. Well, now Hali knew for certain her creepy Thestral guard could communicate with each other, that's one mystery solved.
The man's gun fell from his sweaty hands, and he screamed as a Thestral breathed down his neck, warm air rushing down his spine.
The scream was cut off a few seconds later, and Hali daintily stepped out of the way from the spray of his blood, making a grossed out face as she did so.
Hali couldn't work up too much pity for these terrorists, not only because they were clearly evil, but she knew there was something after death.
After all, she'd seen the afterworld herself for crying out loud! So she understood that yes, there was something after death and therefore didn't feel too badly about them being murdered. The only pity she felt for them was that Hel would not be very nice with their soul's' final destination, considering Hel really got angry when people hurt Hali.
Hali hunched over, and moved out of the way of the brutally efficient Thestrals, because those Thestrals were determined to protect her at any means necessary.
A Thestral who wasn't murdering terrorists gave her a look that reminded her of Molly Weasley, like a mother would look at their child. The Thestral neighed, and used its hoof to sketch a triangle, in a puddle of gooey blood.
Hali got the gist of what the skeletal demon horse was trying to tell her, and she summoned the invisibility cloak to her. The Hallow was slipped over her head, causing Hali to vanish from prying eyes.
Creepily, the Thestrals could clearly still see her, as their watchful white eyes followed her while she made a getaway to the far corner of the room.
Hali really wanted to get away from the terrorists that were screaming bloody murder, and she also wouldn't mind getting out of the splash zone for blood, not wanting to ruin her lovely invisibility cloak by shrinking it in the laundry.
Hali's back hit the wall of her stone cell, and she breathed a small sigh of relief when the Thestrals immediately took up guard to stop any Ten Rings terrorists from getting close to her.
Thestrals were incredibly dangerous creatures when angered, and apparently hurting Hali made them very, very angry. Or at least Hali guessed they were angry. Considering the way they munched on the grenades like candy, she would say they were mad and dangerous.
Arms flailing, the terrorists tried to run out, tried being the key word here. Every time one of them fled through the door, a cute little baby Thestral would easily murder them.
Hali shivered slightly, and not from the ruthlessly cold room. Because her favorite Thestral, whom she'd named Brynn, was happily chewing a leg while staring directly at Hali. Brynn's innocent expression was seriously creeping her out, and Hali tried to avoid eye contact with Brynn's blank white eyes.
Hali winced when a sickly crunch was heard clearly over all the screams, and shut her eyes. Deciding it was best to sit this one out, not because she was more than frightened of her normally friendly Thestrals… that was a ridiculous assumption to make.
X - X
Hali only opened her eyes a few minutes later, when there was near silence, and the walls were coated in red blood, sorta like wet paint.
Hali put a hand on the hem of her cloak, and tugged it off. Making her appear suddenly, looking a bit worse for wear as she walked cautiously forward.
She purposefully ignoring the bodies littered on the ground, which various Thestrals chowed down on. She also tried to ignore how in the distance, she could hear screaming gradually sounding farther away. Clearly one of the terrorists had been left alone, probably to spread the word not to mess with Hali, and Hali's spooky ghost-horse gang.
The thought they'd let someone live was truly terrifying, as it meant that the Thestrals were smart enough to come up with a plan like that and properly conduct it.
"Um…" Hali said awkwardly, scratching her head, feeling relieved that she didn't feel any blood in her hair. This was awkward, especially since that guy's annoyingly high-pitched screams were in the background.
"Hi there Thestrals!" She said, wondering what you were supposed to say to some man-eating pegasi who'd just murdered a bunch of terrorists to rescue you. This type of conversation was what should have been taught at Hogwarts, instead of making pineapples tap dance, something that she'd yet to find an excuse to use.
Luckily, Hali was saved having to have a one sided conversation with evil horses, by one of the larger Thestral's loud neigh.
Hali looked at the large beast, who had something odd in its mouth. Hoping it wasn't a body part of some kind, Hali cautiously went closer to get a better view of the orange thing.
It looked suspiciously cat shaped, and her first thought was that they'd killed someone's poor cute cat, and she'd have to apologize to the owner. Something she knew was difficult to do, and to explain, Hali unfortunately was speaking from experience here (Mr. Grilins parrot stood no chance against the hell horses). But then she noticed whatever it was, wasn't bleeding, and that it had a squished up face. Like It'd run directly into a tree trunk, and Hali stepped ever closer to get a better view.
"It's Mr. Nargles!" Hali exclaimed, finally realizing what the graceful Thestral had for her. "Ohmygoodness thanks-so-much!" Hali said, her words combining as she spoke so quickly. Hali ran as fast as she could without slipping in the blood puddles, determined to get to her precious plushy.
When Hali closed the distance between her and the Thestral, the death pony took a step forward, bowing its head to her. Letting the plushy it'd been daintily holding in its mouth go, having it fall into Hali's awaiting hands.
"Thank you! Oh Mr. Nargles, my precious Nargles!" She cradled her plush Nargles to her body. "I'm now going to call you Briella, yup I'm talking to you creepy Thestral!" Hali said with a bright smile that made the Thestrals coo oddly (how a Thestral could coo was beyond her). "And I hope you're a… um…" Hali deflated slightly. "Hopefully you're a girl then." She completed, making an odd face before laughing a bit at nothing in particular.
The Thestral nuzzled her cheek in glee, and Hali smiled, "I've got the coolest friends." She declared, and it was true. Her best friend and sister-like figure was literally Death, then she had a horde of man-eating pegasi to look out for her as well.
Oddly enough, she found the fact that both of her friends would kill for her sweet, and she found herself a disturbed by that realization.
X - X - X - X - X - X - X
At a giant scary warehouse, in the air. February 16th 2011, 8:20 PM.
Tony crashed through the flat roof of the warehouse he was 'sneaking' into, finding himself in a long, dauntingly quiet hallway. The ceiling crumbled in around where he smashed through, and bits of rubble landed around him. Sort of like pieces of fallen popcorn in a movie theater, and just like at the movies, the concrete thudded to the ground loudly. So loudly, he was sure that the terrorists would come running towards him any second now.
And that was actually what Tony wanted to happen, then he could pick them off without having to search this large desolate warehouse to find where they were hiding.
But everything was still… calm even, and it unnerved Tony. He felt a flash of worry that he'd gotten the wrong building, it wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened. And, speaking from experience, it was very hard, and embarrassing when you had to explain to an elderly couple just why you'd broken down their wall.
But, apparently he'd gotten the right place (phew) because there was a high girlish scream around the corner.
He tensed up, stomach lurching (the more appropriate thing to call it would be butterflies, but that sounded much too girly for Tony's taste.) at why a little girl would be screaming with such bone chilling echoing scream.
His face hardened, and he charged down the hallway, ready to destroy whatever door blocked his way, like it was naught but a flimsy piece of wood.
The only issue was that someone met him first, running from around the corner the screams were from. Tony lifted his arms into an attacking position, his Iron Man suit ready to retaliate to whatever puny weapons they tried to use against him.
When Tony noticed the running man hadn't noticed him, he felt a little insulted. People just didn't ignore him, he was Iron Man for crying out loud! He noticed a little too late that his thoughts made it sound like he was whining, something quite frankly ridiculous. Bah, like he, the Tony Stark, would ever whine!
The man who was hightailing away was in utter disarray, his balaclava that the Ten Rings always seemed to wear was missing, making his chiseled features very clear.
The girlish scream was coming from somewhere closer than before, and Tony's first thought was that was odd: He swore it was coming from around the corner, Tony's second thought was that the little girl was being carried over here, thus making the noise closer. And yet another one of Tony's thoughts was how bizarre it was that the man who was sprinting down the long, long hallway towards him had his mouth open in a scream as well.
Oh, wait a second.
Tony stared incredulously at the muscular man who'd make many ladies swoon, he looked strong, and maybe he could look brave. But right now, he was giving the most banshee-like scream Tony had ever heard.
"Seriously?" Tony blurted out, and the man turned his head slightly. Now noticing who he'd missed while he ran from whatever thing that was so utterly terrifying, that he'd been acting like a screaming goat.
Surprising Tony yet again, the man ran towards Tony – and this person was unarmed. No way to defend himself against the notorious Tony Stark.
What was even going on here?
The terrorist quaked at his knees, shuddering and whimpering and – were those tears in his eyes?! Tony stared at him aghast, not for the first time very happy no one could see what expressions he made while he wore his fancy mask (he always had the best poker face in his suit).
Tony's eyes bulged when the terrorist hugged Tony's leg, and Tony tried shaking him off. But the guy must have claws or something, because he stuck there like glue.
While Tony was trying to figure out how he'd gotten so distracted that he had someone hugging his leg, the terrorist was busy whimpering various incomprehensible sentences.
"Tell me what's going on." Tony's demanding voice came out in his awesome (if he said so himself) robotic voice.
"There's a devil child! Save us! Save us! We-" The man stopped talking only because Tony had finally gotten the guy detached from his leg. But, oops, Tony had 'accidentally' shook him off with so much force, he went flying through the air. Right down the echoing hallway, and directly into thick stone wall, where he stopped moving, and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap of limbs.
Tony shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can you do' manner, and charged down the hallway. Clearly that guy was drunk, because really? Why else would someone be as stupid to hug Iron Man, hater of terrorists, if you were a terrorist yourself?
Tony skidded around the corner of the corridor and made an odd choked noise. There was a long hallway with rooms in front of him. One of these rooms had clearly been converted into a jail cell, and worst of all there were large splashes of blood splattered on the floor outside the door.
Tony, unlike most who'd run away from the blood, started running even faster. His heart sunk, this girl clearly couldn't be alive in there was that much blood everywhere.
He stopped just a few feet away from the door, dreading what he'd see inside. He slowly walked forward, noticing that the door was smashed inwards.
He walked in front of the door, blasters ready to kill these evil people who'd murdered a child. Only to freeze, staring in complete shock at the bloody room, and very-much-alive little girl.
The little girl in question was talking to the air quite happily, and Tony was aware that his mouth had fallen open in shock.
He made a whining noise when his eyes flickered upwards, seeing a torso dangling midair. It looked like it was being eaten by some horrifying invisible creature. Tony readied his arms, he would try and protect the miraculously alive girl at any cost.
Tony's gaze was drawn to another floating limb, something resembling an arm, that was slowly vanishing in chunks. The girl was clearly going to need therapy to get over this, and he would gladly pay for the sessions.
The small girl turned around to face him, and Tony made another choked noise. The girl (whose name he'd forgotten by now), had black hair which, stuck up in gravity defying places, had an odd curl to it as well. She also had unnaturally vivid green eyes, Tony knew for a fact that color green was genetically impossible without having something done to them. The little girl was smaller than he'd expected, somehow it hadn't gotten into his mind just how young she was.
But that wasn't what made him choke on his own spit, no it was the tattered shirt covered what looked suspiciously like bullet holes. But his scientific mind found that impossible, as she didn't have so much a scratch on her.
In her dainty (she was so tiny and cute) arms, a fluffy plushy was clutched to her chest. The orange cat plushy had blood from the little girl's shirt seeping into it, the tear in its foot leaking soft cotton.
The girl herself had an alarmed expression on her face, and Tony generally had no idea what to say right now.
"I can explain!" The little girl blurted out, before she halted mid breath to stare at him with an inscrutable expression.
"Oh Merlin! It's a robot. It's a giant robot. What on earth do I do with a robot?!" The cute girl ranted nervously, and Tony cocked his head to the side in bewilderment.
The little girl, who'd he'd been prepared to rescue looked to the air next to her for assistance. Tony was getting genuinely worried for her sanity, had the torture they'd inflicted been that bad?
As Pepper had said countless times, if Tony was worried for someone's saneness, then something was very wrong.
Tony paused. They'd clearly used psychological torture, hence the injured toy, and the terrified expression on her tiny (he wondered if he could keep her) face. Maybe they'd covered her with blood, so they could freak her out? How else would she be that bloody, while looking none the worse for wear?
Well, Tony could ask her that after he took her out of here, away from eerily vanishing body parts.
"Hi tiny girl!" Tony greeted, practically charging into the red splattered cell to grab her, and flee.
"OH MY GOSH THE ROBOT TALKS!" The little girl exclaimed.
"Yeh, that's a thing I can do." Tony said, walking cautiously forward, trying not to step in any of the blood, then he'd have to clean his suit later, and that was always annoying.
"It talks." She repeated faintly, looking at him in growing horror. "Do you have emotions?" She asked him breathlessly, and Tony gave her a puzzled look.
Was she messing with him? He knew for a fact nearly everyone knew about Iron Man, it was only the biggest news of the past year or so.
"'Course I feel emotions!" Tony said, getting so distracted by the enigma of a girl that he slipped on the suspiciously wet red floor, falling and nearly landing on his butt.
The girl stared at him blankly, before an array of emotions flashed across her face, and she looked to be concentrating a great deal.
While the girl seemed to be having an internal battle, Tony clambered to his feet, making a face no one could see inside his helmet.
"It talks. It feels emotions…" The girl ended up repeating, sounding even fainter. And Tony was starting to think she was spouting nonsense about robots, because she was really exhausted. Tony stared at her. He'd forgotten how old Phil said she was, but didn't young children take naps or something?
"Hey, little girl, come with me and you can take a nice long nap! Ok?" He said uncomfortably, not used to dealing with young children at all.
The child meanwhile, was slowly backing away from him.
"Uhhhh." The girl said, looking awfully confused about what to do, before it looked like something registered in her mind. "Don't call me a little girl!" The child said indignantly, and Tony gave her an appraising look towards her very small figure.
"But you're a little girl, in fact, your tiny hands are adorable and I really want to hug you." Tony said, something that in his mind was completely socially acceptable to say.
"Oh you're one to talk, pipsqueak. Does your girlfriend get upset that she has to lean down to kiss you?" The little girl snapped, raising her eyebrows at him in an imperious way.
Tony gave an odd gasping laugh, he'd just got roasted by a six (possibly five) year old kid.
"Ouch… shots fired." Tony said, giving her a look of approval that the girl couldn't see.
"WAIT." The girl cried suddenly, "Did I just make fun of a robot?!" She said incredulously, flailing her arms in clear surprise. "And, and do you have a girlfriend?" The girl (whose named Tony really needed to find out), said, looking like she was dreading the answer.
Tony paused, technically he and Pepper weren't official, but they sure acted like it.
"Yup." Tony said confidently, "Got a girlfriend."
To his bewilderment the girl abruptly leaned backward in a way that stated 'I need a breather', his confusion coming from the fact she was leaning against air.
Tony rubbed his eyes and the next second the girl wasn't leaning against invisible walls, to his relief. Instead she was looking at him with a horrified expression.
"How are you even into girls?" She blurted out, hands coming up to the sides of her face in a 'how does any of this make sense' way.
"Well, I don't swing that way…" Tony said, trying to figure out how to explain gender preferences to a tiny child.
"What the Hel's Realm?! I don't understand what's happening right now! HOW CAN A ROBOT SWING ANY WAY?!" She practically screamed, and Tony gave a small start when she started petting the air next to her, looking like she was trying to relax herself.
"I'm not a robot." Tony said, wondering why the girl was so adamant on that.
But, the girl just gave him a condescending smile – something you'd give a small child who believed in magic.
"Sure you're not," The girl gave him another look. "Anyway do you even understand the implications that a robot can swing? Like, at all? It's, it's...well, it's not possible? Right? The implications are scarier than Thestrals being as intelligent as them are! Sorry Brynn." The girl added, motioning towards the empty air next to her with an apologetic look. Much to Tony's growing bemusement at this girls insane actions.
But the ranting girl was giving Pepper a run for her money with dressing down Tony, as she kept talking. "Wait, of course you can't understand implications! Because you're a freaking robot!" The girl huffed, Tony gave an odd squeak when his gaze fell upon the concrete wall behind her, which was slowly melting.
"Oops." The girl said, looking awkwardly at Tony. "You're a robot, so I guess it doesn't matter if I did accidental m…." She paused mid speech, and made a contemplative noise. "I didn't even know I could still do accidental….." She stared at him as she trailed off, before gasping. Suddenly, she staring at Tony with such intensity with her emerald green eyes, that it creeped him out.
"Oh I get it, I think! Your remote controlled, so it's just someone talking through your voice box or something, oh, ok. Phew." The girl looked extraordinarily relieved by her new insight.
"No I'm not!" Tony protested, his suit was so much cooler than just a fancy remote controlled prosthetic. "I don't like UAV's, so nope! I'm a person," The girl gave him another look, and Tony started getting annoyed. "No really! I swear I'm real, not a robot. I'm a millionaire genius man in a suit!" Tony would have taken down his helmet visor to prove it, if it wasn't for the fact that the floating torso had finally vanished completely.
Tony could have sworn he heard a small burp from somewhere in the air, and Tony cursed himself under his breath for getting so distracted.
"Ok little girl, whadda I call ya?" Tony said, closing the distance between them, and easily lifting the light child into his arms.
"Hey – Let me go!" The girl cried crossly, her feet wildly tried to run on the air, a most disgruntled expression on her face.
"Sorry-not-sorry!" Tony said mercilessly, lugging the stubborn child out of the bloody, body filled room.
The child huffed loudly, but stopped complaining after having a short, and completely silent conversation with the air next to her.
As Tony jogged down the hallway, the girl securely held in his arms, he could have sworn he'd heard another set of footsteps, footsteps bizarrely like a large animals.
X - X - X - X - X - X - X
A giant scary warehouse, in a very big hallway, kind of like the ones at Hogwarts. February 16th 2011, 8:31 PM.
Hali was being stolen away by a robot, and not just any robot, but a robot who really needed a reality check that he (it? She? Who knows) wasn't a human.
She was hoping against hope that it was someone speaking through it, otherwise she was incredibly scared that artificial intelligence had preferences.
A brief image of the world overrun by brightly colored robots, who had wanted to rule the world because they were convinced they were humans sprang to her mind's eye. Hali tried to stop thinking such pessimistic thoughts, maybe the robots would be nice? Well, Hali doubted that, if Dudley's video games taught her nothing, she knew that the robots always wanted revenge on their creator.
Hali had stopped weakly struggling against the strong Gryffindor colored robot. The robots gaudy paint job would've caused even Sirius do a double take. The reason she'd given up so quickly was because the Thestrals trusted whoever his metal robot was being controlled by.
"I'm Hali by the way!" Hali piped up, looking curiously down the long corridor they ran down, Hali being tousled around as he took gigantic steps. The robot-thing seemed to think they were in some sort of danger, and Hali supposed he didn't know that all the terrorists were dead.
Well, all except that one guy who'd run away screaming.
Oh wait, never mind that, Hali had just caught sight of said terrorist slumped against the wall. Considering Hali could logically guess that the robot carrying her had done that, he was probably dead.
"Good to know peanut." The robot said, and Hali just grumbled in response, she was starting to get worried that it wasn't remote controlled, meaning it obviously was an actual robot, because what else could it be?
Hali was greatly disturbed that artificial lifeforms were so smart now, as someone who was a big fan of magic, she hadn't followed technology back in her day. But she knew it wasn't as sophisticated as everything was now, it was weird how many people had their faces stuck in their phones as they walked.
When she'd first been out in the Muggle world, she'd thought they were being mind controlled by those small rectangles. How else could they so easily dodge a telephone pole, while playing a game on their little smart phones?
Shooing away those thoughts, she wondering if the robot would take her back home. Hopefully it did, she really needed to feed Bob his dinner by now, or at least she thought so. Her watch had been broken a few hours before by the mean terrorists, so her sense of time was in great disarray.
There was an uncomfortable silence as the two charged down the hallways, and Hali wondered what to say to a robot who might eventually take over the world.
"Um… Just so you know, all the terrorists are dead. So don't worry about that…" Hali said helpfully, the robot snorted.
"I gathered that much." The robot said, and Hali could picture it rolling its eyes.
"Oh… well…. Um…. Yeh. How was your day?" Hali questioned awkwardly, but she didn't give the robot a chance to respond. "I mean, my day kinda sucked, I'm really hungry actually." Hali said, and now that she mentioned it she was starving.
The robot gave a weird laugh, and Hali made an odd face, pondering if the robot was attempting to become even more human, by learning how to express human forms of amusement.
"Your laugh was decent, could be a bit better though." Hali mentioned, unsure why she was helping a robot who was probably going to use her input to learn how to cackle manically, like any good evil villain could.
"So, bite-sized, are you always this judgmental?" The robot quipped, and Hali giggled slightly.
The robot cooed, and Hali stopped laughing again, trying to figure out just how it could make that noise.
"You're cute, I'm going to ask Pepper if I can keep you!" The robot declared, and Hali nodded solemnly. The robot had most likely recently learned about pets, and wanted to impress her with its knowledge.
"Very good, yes. Keeping someone with you, and caring for them is what we humans called a 'pet'," Hali taught, and she wondered if this was what parenting was like, teaching your child information they could later use to enslave all of humanity.
If so, she could understand why Lily was always so protective of her.
The robot stumbled mid stride, as its head twisted down to the small child in his arms, staring at the girl for a moment, before the robot looked back up and continued jogging down the corridor.
"Yeah, well the only type of pet I want, is a –" The robot stopped himself, and Hali was generally surprised a lightbulb didn't appear over its head.
"Right, no inappropriate jokes." The robot said, and Hali was really wanting to know what the robot's 'name' was.
"What do your creators call you?" Hali questioned, making sure to pronounce everything carefully so its sound detectors, or whatever it used to detect noise, could hear what she said.
"Damn-" the robot started, "I mean, dam, like the wall, not the… curse, I mean…. errr, don't tell anyone I told you that. Ok Thumbelina?" The robot said awkwardly, somehow not mentioning its name in its rambling.
"Um, ok…. Sure…. nice save by the way Not-A-Robot." Hali said, and the robot laughed.
"Have I mentioned how cute and funny you are?" The robot said, and, seeing Hali's expectant look finally gave a name.
"Ok then, I'm Tony, Tony Stark. Billionaire, genius, the best dam-" He caught himself again. "Shi-" Tony the robot started, then he realized he was about to curse the fact he nearly cursed, and stopped himself.
Hali just cocked her head to the side and gave him an unimpressed look, that she'd mastered by giving it too Sirius every time he made a pun on his name.
"I mean, walls. I'm the best god WALL, superhero around." Tony said, as they reached a spot in the hallway where the roof was caved in. "Da- I MEAN WALL, am I bad with kids or what?" Tony said, more to himself than anyone else.
Hali nodded sagely, "Your programmers should program you with better social skills. I think you've got a virus or something, I didn't even know robots knew how to curse until today!" Hali said, in a voice that stated just how creeped out she was by that fact.
"Oh come on kid, how many times do I have to say, I'm not a robot!" Tony yelped indignantly, and Hali chuckled, it was so darling how determined the weird robot was about that.
"Sureeeeeeee" Hali drawled out, purposefully mimicking Snape's voice.
"No, really I am! And I'll prove it too you! I will! I'm a man, in a suit, I really don't know how you don't already know this, like really!" Tony declared stubbornly, and Hali just nodded, a disbelieving look on her face.
She wasn't going to be too harsh on the robot, if she came on too strongly, Tony might just go insane from learning his life was a lie, and try to take over the world a few years earlier than he was planning on.
Brynn the Thestral (who was tailing after Hali with the rest of the Thestrals), smacked herself in the head with her hoof, in a parody of a facepalm.
X - X - X - X - X - X - X
London, Pigmenhorn Avenue, The sidewalk. February 16th 2011, 8:37 PM.
Peter gave an annoyed squeak when Sirius's leg shoved him into his thigh, and he shifted uncomfortably.
If anyone saw them now, they'd rub their eyes and think they'd eaten something funny for dinner. Because it wasn't every day you saw a bundle of adults all squished together on a bright blue bicycle.
James shifted his hands on the steering wheel, making Lily shift, and Peter made a noise of distress when Lily's foot accidentally kicked into Sirius, as it caused Sirius to bump Peter further off the end of the bicycle.
"This was a horrible idea." Remus said, voicing what they'd all been thinking from his unsteady perch.
"Well, no one knew how to drive a car, what else were we supposed to do?!" James countered, defensive of his not-so-brilliant idea to steal a teen's bicycle.
"I still don't see why we couldn't have just apparated in, grabbed Hali, and left." Peter said, no matter how many times the group explained why, he didn't understand why they were wasting their time on a dangerous bicycle.
"Peter…" Lily's irritated voice came from above him, "This is the last time I tell you, ok?" Peter nodded hurriedly, time had not made Lily more relaxed, if anything she was even more dangerous. Practically vibrating with pent up energy, ready to become a human tornado of disaster, and destroy everything in the path of her and her daughter.
And Merlin, if Peter would dare make her angrier than she already was, she might just explode.
"Well, the way the runes connected to Hali's Rune Stone work, is that her Rune Stone is connected with ours. We see a red line connecting us to Hali if we hold the Rune Stone, but the issue is that we can't see the end of the red leash. And if you don't know where the line leads, we can't apparate! Apparating to an unknown location is impossible, people have tried doing it for years to no success." Lily explained impatiently, getting so worked up she bounced on James shoulders.
The shoulders of which she was perched on precariously while the bicycle squeaked and wobbled along the avenue's sidewalk.
Peter still didn't understand her explanation, probably because the entire time she was speaking, he was being distracted. Distracted by thoughts of how impossible it was for them all to be on the bicycle at the same time.
James was steering the bicycle, Lily sat on his shoulders, looking like some disturbing bird of prey. In front of them was Remus, who sat awkwardly on the handlebars, making frightened noises every time James changed directions. Sirius was sharing the small slice of seat with James, while Peter clung to Sirius's back like a demented koala.
All in all, they looked like a bunch of clowns trying to fit into a tiny car. Except they weren't clowns, and therefore weren't trained in the art of squishing into impossible spaces together.
There was a silence as they neared the building, the building where the faintly glowing red leash led towards.
The only noise in the otherwise deserted road was the faint sound of cars a whiles away, the deserted street with abandoned factories, and warehouses was closed off by the police. Luckily for them, a simple Muggle Repelling charm made the police look the other way when they tottered in on their bicycle.
They squeaked onward, the bike wobbling the entire time as the very uncomfortable group slowly to an unsteady stop.
James put his stiff legs on the ground, and in complete silence, the entire group started getting off the bike.
Lily was the first to hop off, still humming with energy she flew through the air and land with a roll. The boys looked at her with jealousy, as somehow Lily was the only one without stiff, sore legs from the long journey.
"Ugh, Peter you get off now, 'cause you're in the back so it's easiest for you." Sirius said, wiggling to get him off his back and causing Peter to slowly sink downward, off the bike, until he landed with a painful thud on the concrete sidewalk.
Sirius, in a much more dignified manner, took his hands off James' waist, and clambered onto wobbly legs, nearly falling from the sudden weight on his unused feet.
Remus slipped forward and off the handlebars, and, like Lily, he managed to neatly land in a bent position.
The bike wobbled even more from the sudden loss of weight, and James stood up, cracking his back and stretching out, ignoring that the bike that had fallen to the floor beside him.
"Let's go!" The energetic Lily said from where she was bouncing around, and the entire group sluggishly followed after Lily's confident strides.
There was a pause, and James made a noise that was a combo of horror and distress. The red leash was moving now, it was moving –
"Up?" Peter questioned, he was craning his neck upwards, trying to figure out how on earth Hali would be flying.
Their question was answer when a Gryffindor robot-like thing shot up into the sky, in its arms was a small figure with distinguishable black hair flowing in the air.
The red and gold metal man started soaring relatively low, and they could hear a whoop of joy from Hali, and her laughter.
"AFTER THEM!" Lily cried, and they gave loud war cries, the friends charging after the tiny figure of Hali.
James picked up the bike, and sat on it, face set in determination to rescue his daughter. Remus got a boost from Lily to get onto the handles, and Lily crawled up James back, like a monkey. Peter clung to Sirius yet again, and they all had the most vicious and determined expressions, that begged for someone to attack them.
"GO!" Lily cried, pointing a finger towards the red line that would lead them to her precious daughter.
The bicycle squeaked, and ever so slowly it wobbled forward, gaining speed with the help of James's furious pedaling.
It made it about twenty feet, before the entire thing tottered, and fell onto his side. Taking the surprised passengers with it in its fall to failure.
X - X - X - X - X - X - X
The European Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. February 16th 2011, 8:43 PM.
A ways away, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad looked up in surprise when one of their detectors twirled away, the name Halimeda Potter ingrained on it, along with an update of her location. The way that the magical detectors worked, was that they would detect uncontrolled magic, and give a location for where the person was, as long as they were in Great Britain.
"Huh," said one of the men, they'd all presumed the young Hali wasn't going to be a witch, as she'd never shown any signs of Accidental Magic as of yet.
"Waittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!" hollered a woman, staring with squinted eyes at the ingrained name. "She's the girl who the Aurors are trying to find! Remember?" the woman said with a gasp, and the entire group shared wide eyed looks.
"She's the one who they came down here to see if she'd done any accidental magic when she was kidnapped? Right?" The woman, who'd accidentally stepped in front of one too many memory spells, said with her usual forgetfulness.
"Well then, we've got to tell the Aurors, right?" another man, the main Obliviator of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, said.
"Of course we're telling them Arnold, don't be daft!" another man said with an eye roll, and the group gladly ditched their stations, tugging on overcoats as they fled the DM-AM, or Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.
They were happy to do something of real use for once, instead of just checking up on families every time they accidentally made a teacup float.
X - X - X - X - X - X -
Well, that's a wrap for this chapter! Its TWENTY-TWO pages long, that's why it took so long to make. Sorry about the wait by the way! But, hopefully you've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!
Please leave your constructive criticism in a review so I know how to improve. If you didn't see anything wrong with it, sure just tell me what you think of it and what parts you liked the most so I know what everyone is interested in. And feel free to pressure me into making a new chapter sooner, I'm guilty of getting caught up with my life as you can tell. ._.
I'll be uploading my new chapter, hopefully in the next couple of days, but no promises. Its very time consuming to write these, as this probably took eight (ish) hours to write, then I got to go over it, go over it again, go over it again, write some more, then I send it to my beta.
Joy Ocean says, "Its twenty-two pages long! What do you want me to do, work 3 hours straight?!", When I said what I want the due date to be.
(Joy's been busy and been sleeping a lot lately, but Joy's very thorough. Blame Joy for the late update.)
(And I, Roserayrose says it really weird that Joy is talking about herself in third person…)
PLOT ISSUE: For why Hali is suddenly able to do Accidental Magic, something I clearly stated she couldn't do with her wand, is because previously she'd always had her wand with her, as her wand was always a part of her, and thus always with her.
So without it, her core is a bit unstable, so that's why she's suddenly capable of doing Accidental Magic.