227NOT DEAD. Oh, I'm truly horrible – no update for months! I've become my worst nightmare: a slow-updating writer. (insert lots of excuses about family and vacations and school that no one cares about blah blah blah)
Also OH WOW I somehow have more than a thousand followers, that was unexpected. Thank you everyone! I love you all and I'll be back on my regular upload schedule of every week!
DISCLAIMER: Still own nothing, wow, who would've thought.
Chapter 7
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In a very fancy totally-not-hijacked jet. February 17th, 2011, 12:19 PM.
Hali no longer thought the jet spa was overkill after using it. She finally cleaned off all the blood on her and was able to get a manicure from a tired flight attendee. She wiggled her fingernails, painted a beautiful shade of black, and though they were covered by a new pair of dainty slippers, her toes were the same. Hali dried her long black hair with a towel and went back into the seating area of the jet, dressed in a blood-free expensive shirt a hundred sizes too big. Stylish.
She flopped her arms, the sleeves flying into the air with them. Luna would absolutely adore this fashion statement, though it wasn't really on purpose – they only had Tony's clothes on board. She yawned – dying was exhausting and even immortal's needed sleep – and was about to pester Tony how much longer til they got to America, when there was a thump of something large thudding against the sheet of the jet.
The distant sound of a machine whirring away could be heard from the cockpit, then the sound of air being sucked out the plane. A scramble could be heard, someone yelled, there was another bang, and then, like nothing had happened, the plane started going at a slight angle. Hali frowned suspiciously, summoning her wand, and finding that now she could finally get it back. She gave a sarcastic thank-you to Hel, and made to ask Tony what was happening.
Except Tony looked just as suspicious and bewildered as Hali felt, "That wasn't supposed to happen, was it," Hali commented – and though it was rhetorical, Tony answered:
"That is the opposite of what's supposed to happen."
"I figured," Hali said; and then made a show of looking resigned, "I'll go check on the pilot."
"Oh no you don't tinkerbell – Pepper would have my head on a platter if I let you go off on your own. And if you get hurt, then Pepper will be serving my head to the CEO's of other companies as she declares that'll be what happens to them if they go against her. I don't want to be an example of Pepper's wrath!"
"Only thing you've proven is that I really want to meet with this Pepper," Hali said, a cheeky smile playing on her face even as their plane was likely being taken over. Could planes be hacked? Probably not. Maybe. Hali didn't know, planes were weird, if Tony's impromptu lecture on planes taught her anything. "BYE!" She yelled as she leapt from her comfortable seat and ran down the aisle, set on her mission to find the pilot.
Tony has only one step behind her, and he was still dressed up in his robot-suit (Apparently he needed another robot to take that robot off – which Hali didn't get, but who was she to argue with a genius?), so Hali sped up.
She burst past the curtain to the driver's compartment, and the woman in the driver's seat turned to her, pushing sleek red hair out of her face. Hali glanced at the unmoving man slumped next to the woman, and up at the roof, which had a suspiciously melded-back-on section.
"Hello," the woman greeted calmly, "You've been rerouted."
Tony skidded to a stop behind Hali, and going by the minor relaxing of his shoulders he recognized the woman in the driver's seat. Or he recognized the symbol on her shirt. "You guys suck." He said grouchily "You really do. Where the hell are we going?"
He didn't ask about the pilot, but Hali could tell he was already making plans to give the guy a huge stipend of money and a free vacation – Tony was like that.
"Where do you think we're going, Stark?" The woman asked sarcastically. "SHIELD, obviously."
Hali groaned – great, another one of those SHIELD prats who wanted to take her to some base "because we can help you".
"I'm out," Hali said, flinging up her arms, her sleeves flapping. "I swear, you SHIELD prats are always popping up when I least expect it," She said, doing a quick stretch, and cracking her knuckles. The woman half-rose from her chair, tapping a button on the digital screen in front of her as she did so.
Hali, with the confidence of someone who'd seen Thestrals flying outside, ran for the large floor-to-ceiling window before the agent could comprehend what was happening, ready to crash through in an epic shower of glass. She could dive for it, it would be incredible – awe-inspiring, astronomical, a picture of elegant power.
THUNK. She hit the glass full on, collapsing where she stood.
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Tony winced, and quickly knelt next to her. He really should've expected the crazy kid to do something like that. Pepper was going to be horrified, which, he thought, probably shouldn't be where his mind goes. Right, tiny six-year-old knocking themselves out, he had to prioritize things. Pepper later, child now.
The SHIELD agent, unlike Tony, was alert, and she gasped, moving forward. The plane, which she'd put on auto-pilot, kept flying steadily even as the pilot raced to Hali's side. Tony side-eyed the console, which now had the words WASHINGTON DC in large glowing letters. Seems like the agent didn't want to go to his Malibu mansion.
The agent, speaking of her, whispered a Russian curse, checking Hali's pulse. She tapped her earpiece, brushing aside long red hair as she did so.
"Romanoff. Stark and Potter are aware the reroute, though I can't say I'm surprised, the way you dropped me onto the jet was less than quiet. I'd dare say it was loud. And when seeing me, Potter was rendered unconscious trying to… escape through a window," Romanoff (Tony had to guess it was her surname), said with a mostly professional attitude.
Tony thought that Romanoff had an awfully nice way to illustrate slamming into a window like a drunken bird, but at the same time he couldn't imagine her saying anything like that. Maybe if he paid her she would…. Hmm….
"Look," Tony said, brushing aside such thoughts and trying to casually lean against a wall of the large cockpit. "I know you got your orders to take me to your dumb base, but I don't want you stealing off with the kid I just rescued to do who knows what."
"Well," Romanoff said, eye's narrowing, "What would you do with her?"
"I would take her to my place, clean her up, and figure out who she belongs to," Tony said without pause.
"We would do the same, but with far more advanced technology, an army of skilled therapists, and other people also with… unnatural powers to help her relate to us," Romanoff retaliated, rising to her feet to look him dead in the eye.
"Really, and you think that wouldn't overwhelm her?" He didn't so much as blink at the confirmation Hali had abilities – he'd be surprised if she didn't. That girl was too… everything not to.
"We know how to deal with this. We would introduce her carefully to one or two people at a time! We're not as stupid as you think, Stark."
"You sure seem to be. And to me, it makes sense she'd be uncomfortable and afraid around so many unfamiliar faces – I've known her longer. She'd be better off with me, I'm her savior."
The two started arguing like they were deciding who got custody, or, maybe more accurate, who got to keep the cute puppy found on the side of the road. All the while, the plane kept going through the star-filled night.
Tony glared at her, "I have more than enough security to keep her safe until someone collects her!"
"We do too. Give me a break, Stark, you don't know the first thing about children, let us help her." Romanoff looked close to calling SHIELD and asking if she could attack him, and for one moment Tony wondered if they'd let her at him. He got the idea SHIELD didn't like him that much, after he went against their orders and spilled the Iron Man secret.
"Pepper knows how, and JARVIS does too."
"It is true," JARVIS said, smooth voice coming from the suit. Tony mentally gave JARVIS a high-five, and nodded.
For a very long moment the two glared at each other – one dressed in a black tee with simple blue leggings, and the other in a full red and gold metal suit. Finally, Romanoff's expression softened just a touch, as she glanced at Hali, lying on the floor with a peaceful expression on her face. Tony cheered mentally, something he said – no idea what, but it was still a win – had made her sympathize with him.
Or, well, Hali, but it still counted.
The Russian woman tapped her earpiece once more, taking a small breath and squaring her shoulders. "There's been a minor change in our original plan," she began, "Stark will be coming to Triskelion as well – no I'm serious, inform Fury of this… new development. Further details will be provided at the briefing."
Tony mimed a talking hand, and rolled his eyes. Romanoff mouthed "Up yours," even as she steadily listened to her earpiece. The two quickly started mouthing progressively nasty things to each other, even as Natasha hummed in agreement and spoke largely in code for the rest of her conversation with the SHIELD agent.
Finally, she hung up, bringing her hand down from her ear. "We're going to SHIELD, and you'll be on your best behavior, if you insist on coming along."
"You wouldn't be able to get rid of me anyway," Tony bragged.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Romanoff said.
Tony rolled his eyes, but didn't answer. That was… probably true, come to think of it. She reminded him, in a very disturbing way, of Pepper when she was stressed out. Maybe that was Romanoff's problem, she was really stressed out. "You tried yoga yet?" he asked.
Romanoff gave a thin smirk. "Yes, but I was there to kill the instructor, who doubled as the leader of a national mafia group. Wasn't too relaxing."
Tony hmphed. "Well you might want to try again, without the assassin-y stuff distracting you."
Romanoff looked pained at how he called her job "stuff", but managed not to murder him, which Tony thought was quite nice of her.
She picked up Hali, who was still very unconscious, and walked back into the seating area. It was Tony's vet, so of course there was a couch large enough to lay her on. Tony hoped the fiery child didn't wake up, because otherwise she might try to attack Romanoff. Maybe if they were lucky, she'd stay that way until the flight was over.
Maybe.
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Passenger plane up real high. February 17th, 2011, 12:28 PM – minutes after Hali being laid on the couch.
Sometimes Peter regretted being friends with Sirius and James.
This was one of those times.
Sirius had been keeping a consistent chant of "wish I could apparate" for the past half hour, and tapping his foot impatiently. The only time he paused was whenever he peered over Peter to look out the window, and then he'd get scared for a while until continuing.
The airplane they rode in was crammed, and there was a funky smell, like maybe someone tried to cover up a gross scent, but only got halfway there. The nighttime sky covered the plane like a blanket, or a potato sack.
Peter had the fortune of being seated next to Sirius, who was chewing his fingernails with his legs drawn up to his chest, and some large woman with a heavy Swedish accent who really wanted food.
At least he got the window seat.
It had taken thirteen memory charms merely to get the plane ticket to Washington. Two for the guards outside the airport who didn't want to let in the ragged and crazy-eyed family – which Peter related to. Then another for an elderly muggle who saw them charm security, and after a desperate search for where they got tickets from (Lily hadn't been in an airport since she was little), they used three more on the receptionist who kept getting suspicious and threatened to call security when they handed Galleons in.
Then Remus accidentally obliviated Peter, so he wasn't sure how they managed to use six more.
After getting their ticket, security confiscated their wands, since the y-rey picked up on their magical cores and the amount of sheer magic caused the machine to malfunction. The wands were pointy enough and polished enough they could act as weapons, which didn't help, so once taken to a little gray interrogation room, the marauders tried to spin a story explaining it away.
That didn't work.
Four more spells were used to escape from that dangerously close call; they needed to find Hali, and all these people we not helping at all. After a lot of Sirius and James being confused by Muggle things and nearly messing things up, they boarded the plane.
There was James now, whispering loudly to Lily that they were flying without a broom. Remus shushed him – Remus was really good at shushing, it was truly a talent. Peter slouched further in his seat, wanting to pull his hat over his eyes to pretend he didn't know anyone. Too bad he didn't have a hat, that'd be very cool and cinematic.
He resisted the urge to snap at the Swedish woman that no, he didn't have food on him, and no matter how many times she asked, he still wouldn't.
"How much longer of this?" Peter said aloud, pretending not to hear Sirius whispering "wish I could apparate wish I could apparate".
"Only another eight or so hours," the woman boomed, accent showing through. And with a hand befitting Hagrid, she patted him painfully on the head, make Peter's buckle.
"Only," Peter said faintly.
Sirius's whispered chant increased in intensity.
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Flying over Washington DC. February 17th, 2011, 12:46 AM – six hours later, and a different time-zone later.
Hali jolted to consciousness and scrambled to her feet. She swayed, dizzy, and rubbed her head. She was more than a little embarrassed; maybe she should've been a little less dramatic and vanished the glass with the Elder Wand. It was no longer nighttime, and instead sunlight spilled into the smoothly flying jet, bright and warm.
Hali debated the pros and cons of jumping out the window again, or blasting the agent and Tony with Stupefy. But something made her hesitate, probably Dumbledore's mischievous voice in the back of her mind telling her she could play along and see what adventure's she found.
She really had been enjoying her fun yet death-free family life, but after being kidnapped, she now suspected that she had to put it on hold. Besides, she had to admit she was painfully curious to know what would happen – it wasn't like they could ever harness the powers of death with their contraptions. And she didn't think they could bottle her magic either. Hel had assured her so. So, she didn't leap out the window, though she kept in mind Hel's warning about SHIELD.
Tony, still in his robot suit, lounged on a huge king size bed that must've popped out of the wall. Muggles were weird like that, even wizards didn't go as far to stick their furniture in the wall.
"Isn't it uncomfy in that suit of yours?" Hali asked. He looked miserable, and kept wiggling for a better position. He'd tried to put a blanket over himself, but it had fallen off.
"It's like sitting on a cloud. I feel absolutely amazing," he replied flatly.
Well now Hali knew he was lying, she'd sat on a cloud before – very overrated. Fell right through.
Hali bounced on the balls of her feet, looking out the window. Her eyes widened. They were passing over a city, one she'd never seen before. It was afternoon, so she could see everything clearly. There were green parks and big, winding river's, peppered on the sides with hundreds of buildings.
"America!" She cried happily. "I already feel like I'm made of freedom and pancakes!" She pressed her head against the window, trying to see everything better. "Where are we? New York?"
"Washington DC," Tony said. "Very different."
"So, we're going to SHIELD!" Hali said, "You know, I wasn't fond of the idea at first –" Tony snorted at the under exaggerating – "But now I really want to know where those pesky people come from!"
Tony shrugged, getting out of bed to stand next to her. The bed itself folded smoothly back into the wall. "Maybe a huge hive, like bee's."
"Hey that's not nice," Hali said, scowling. "Bees are much nicer than SHIELD is."
From the cockpit Romanoff sighed.
Tony smirked. "This is why I like you!"
"I hope it's castle – I love castles. You know, I went to school in a castle," Hali said solemnly.
"You're kidding ri – actually you know what, I don't doubt that. Is it a nice castle?" Tony said conversationally, though his eyes gave way he couldn't believe he was having this discussion.
Hali didn't answer, distracted. She gaped as they flew lower down, face squeaking as she moved to get a better view.
She got a partially obscured view of the White House as the jet flew over endless rows of offices and houses, coming low as they went over the river. Turned out that was because they were coming in to land at the only building there, which though not as large as Hogwarts, was very impressive. It had a lot of windows, which made the concrete tower of sheer architectural power shine with the afternoon's sun's reflection.
Hali didn't appreciate the sheer architectural power, and wrinkled her nose, "It looks ugly."
Romanoff, proving again she was eavesdropping, coughed loudly from where she flew the plane; like she was covering a laugh.
"How'd you do it then, Hulu?"
Hali turned and swung at him, a flappy sleeve hitting his suit with no affect, "Hali! My name's Hali!" She cried, the reference lost to her.
Tony shrugged, "How'd you design it then?" he asked, the plane getting bumpy as it slid into a hanger, which opened automatically.
She steadied herself by clutching the window sill, "I'd make it cobblestone, add a few pillars, some turrets, big arch windows…"
Hali spent the rest of the landing, and the exiting, and the walk to the SHIELD lobby, just describing Hogwarts. Somewhere along the way, Tony handed her Nargles, which had been getting thoroughly cleansed of blood by the plane's washing machines. She held the plush feline as she stared around the lobby, eyes narrowed. It was prettier inside at least.
Big and airy, with a shiny eagle statue in the center, and many people walking briskly to meetings or other scheduled arrangements. A few people gave them calculating looks, but most didn't look twice. Natasha walked briskly in front of them, expecting them to follow. Hali was offended she thought she had their loyalty so quickly, especially after all those agents kept going after Hali for so long and after she'd really nothing.
Hali still followed though.
She didn't want to get lost, after all.
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Outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. February 17th, 2011, 1:11 PM
Lily and her family burst out the doors of the airport, gasping for breath like they'd just run from security. Well, actually they had just run from security, which explained that. Remus, of all people, had caused a stir by growling at a few rude passerby's, getting embarrassed, then tripping over his shoelace and falling onto a man sitting on a bench.
When some employees came over to see what happened, they, like any other innocent person who totally payed for their tickets, sprinted for the doors.
"Go go go!" Lily hissed, shoving James forward, off the sidewalk. They all jolted into motion, James following his tracker's string and leading them towards Hali at full run.
"She isn't that far!" James whispered, relieved and exhausted. Remus and Lily had managed to get some sleep on the plane, but it wasn't much. Other than that, they hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since leaving Privet Drive in a rush.
Sirius collapsed onto the concrete parking lot ground, the hot sun bearing down on the Londongoers who were not used to such a thing. "I – I can't." He huffed. "Go on without me! Everything aches!"
"We haven't been running for a minute yet!" Lily said in frustration, "Stop the complaining,"
"No, no, Sirius is right," Remus said, equally dead inside.
"I am?" Sirius looked surprised.
"He is?" Lily and James both asked, eyes wide.
"We need something to get us there faster," Remus said, "Hali might me in danger! She very likely is! We need –"
"A plane!" Sirius cried, boosted with confidence from Remus actually agreeing with him.
"Not close as all!" Remus said, "Not planes. Motorcycles."
"And where," Lily said, "Do you think we're getting one of those."
Remus pointed, and everyone followed his finger. There was a diner across the intersection, and after a large double decker bus went by, they could see on top of the sign, a decorative, yet very real, motorcycle.
Lily giggled manically, and they all exchanged looks.
"Just to be clear," Peter piped up, "We're stealing a motorcycle, yes?"
"Yup!" Sirius said, mouth bared in a grin. "Then we'll go brutally murder whoever's kidnapped Hali."
"Oh, ok," Peter said, rolling up the sleeves of his cardigan. "Just so you know, my mother would be ashamed of me."
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The European Ministry of Magic, Offices of the Accidental Magical Reversal Sub Department. February 17th, 2011, 1:17
Meanwhile, two very different groups were also on the hunt for Halimeda Potter. Trained Aurors, and the somewhat foolish Accidental Magical Reversal team. The A.M.R had only just finalized the paperwork required for them to get an international portkey to America, so they could go follow the Aurors. They were the ones who gave them the tip, so they ought to be allowed to come along and find the missing girl. And they knew how to work The Orbs, which detected underage magic and were tied to a specific witch or wizard. Halimeda's orb had burned bright for a nearly a day before suddenly stopping.
The Magical Reversal Squad squabbled over who could go on the daring trip, and eventually made no actual decision which meant they were all coming along. The brunette woman who had gotten hit by a few too many obliviates, looked at the old newspaper they were using as a porkey with confusion – she had a tendency to forget what she was doing.
The porkey pulled hard at their naval's, and through the spinning vortex of being yanked across an entire ocean Dave, their leader, managed to yell "This no longer seems like a good idea!"
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Triskelion: SHIELD HQ, February 17th, 2011, 1:20 PM
"What?" Natasha snapped at the agent who had the gale to stop the infamous Natasha Romanoff as she escorted a superhuman. The young lady managed to keep her cool, which showed why she was allowed to join SHIELD.
"Director Fury want's you in his office, ma'am. And he wants to see Halimeda Potter as well."
"What about me?" Stark asked, pouting.
"You'll be getting your Iron Man armor taken off, we have the equipment to do so. Come with me sir, or I will have to ask you to leave the building. Weapons of that kind, in the control of someone who does not work with SHIELD, is not allowed inside Triskelion," She led him off, the billionaire looking over his shoulder at Hali and mouthing "See you in a bit"
Natasha didn't think anything good was happening, this was all very rehearsed. Split up the notoriously nosy Stark, have him taken away, and she didn't recognize that agent either, and Fury always sent someone who's word of mouth she could trust to inform her of anything.
Apparently, she stood quietly for too long, since Hali tugged at her shirt. "We got a person to meet, things to do! No daydreaming!" the child said crossly.
Natasha nodded tightly, and instead of taking the nearby glass elevator, she beelined for the long staircase up. Many more escape routes that way, not to mention harder to box in and easier to protect Hali. Natasha grabbed the superhuman's little hand, which might seem like a sweet thing to do, but was far more loaded than that.
They scaled the floors quickly, Natasha not showing any signs of her stress other than a slight tensing of her jaw. Fury's office was very high up, and after flashing her SHIELD badge to the agents outside the door, she was permitted to go inside.
"Just you." A guard said when she stepped forward to open the door.
"Excuse me?" Natasha asked, stopping to stare at him with narrowed eyes. Hali looked between the two, frowning.
"Just you, Halimeda Potter is next."
There he was with the full name again.
Natasha nodded slowly, looking down at Hali. "You stay here until you're called in, be careful." the weight of her gun against her hip gave her assurance as she walked away from Hali. A bad feeling twisted her gut, and she cracked her neck before she entered Fury's office.
The doors slammed shut behind her, and immediately a jet of white light hit her in the face, not giving her time to do more than reach for her gun. She went completely stiff, limbs snapping together. She tipped forward, not able to move her mouth to scream. What technology was this? Who had it in their control? Where was Fury.
She froze milliseconds from hitting the ground, her body floating, and she was unable to do anything. She floated up, and she could see Fury, standing behind his desk and looking like Fury. Bald head, dark skin, no smile.
"Meeting adjourned," Fury growled – and, yes, that was Fury's voice. There was someone next to him, though, someone pale and young. Young… there was another young person outside about to come – Hali! She couldn't move a muscle, couldn't even struggle as Fury tapped the screen of his computer, sending the green light to the watches outside.
Hali pushed the door open, not seeing Natasha, or the pale boy, who suddenly Natasha couldn't see either.
"Hullo!" Hali said cheerily, "You called for me?"
Fury smiled thinly. "The Girl-Who-Lived, greeting me with a smile? How different."
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Hadn't heard from the chaps from the ministry in far too long, you might've wondered what they were up too, so there you have it. Oh – the little thingy at the end with Fury? Why I can't give that away now can I.
Please remember to badger me to make the next chapter, and to tell me your favorite parts/what you didn't like or thought could be improved! I take constructive criticism as a compliment that someone cared enough to give me advice : )
Next chapter will be released next Wednesday so you have that to look forward to!