Chapter 87: Going to Germany! (Patreon)
Content
'As troubling as the concept seems, maybe. It could be that another one of my soul's fragments survived and simply had more luck getting its own body.'
'How would they do that? We looked for years, and the best lead we got was Voldemort's ritual—and that wouldn't have worked.'
'I have no clue. Perhaps this attack is meant to attract the attention of any other Lokis.'
Harry shook his head. 'No, that can't be. You'd be far too arrogant to believe that any part except you had survived without evidence.'
"Zeus?" Coulson said.
Harry took a moment to remember that Zeus was his codename, and realised he had been zoned out for a few seconds. "Sorry, I was just entranced by how handsome that fellow is." He grinned. "Now, tell me all about our operation."
Coulson turned back to the screen and Harry smirked. 'I've been waiting for this moment for years.'
'The moment when you finally met a physical version of me so that you could sexually proposition me?'
'No—well, that too. I mean, my opportunity to prove that I can beat you in a fight without having to repeatedly punch myself in the face.'
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"You're needed in the meeting room. It's urgent. We—"
"Alright." Harry interrupted, cutting off Coulson's voice through the earpiece. "I'll be there in a sec." Harry clicked the earpiece off and turned back to the scientist. "So, can I have some of it then?"
The man spluttered. "I just told you that it's—"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard—it's ten times more powerful than octanitrocubane, and is able to be detonated underwater or in space, because it defies the laws of physics, which it can do because we work for a shady superhero organisation." He picked up the vial. "Now, I'll be taking this—I'll test it for you. I may've never attended a chemistry class, but I am rather knowledgeable when it comes to explosives."
'Is this really necessary? You know, with the massive amount of explosive spells you know?'
'Yes. Explosives are cool, and I can reverse-engineer them to make even more explosive spells.'
Harry wandered through the corridors of the base until he made his way back into the meeting room, threw the door open and stepped inside. "Hello, guys. You said it was urgent?"
Only Coulson was there, and a black guy with an eyepatch and a leather trench coat. "You're late," Coulson said.
"I can see that." Harry eyed the other man. "I see that the guy weirder than me has already broken into the base and taken you hostage."
"This is Director Fury."
Harry paused. "Are you sure?"
"I am Director Fury," said Director Fury.
"You're wearing an eyepatch and a trench coat, pretending that your name is Fury…and you're leading a secret government agency?"
Director Fury glared at him.
Harry laughed. "I mean, I try not to judge on looks—that's actually a lie—but what the hell? This is like something out of a comic book." He turned to Coulson. "Are you sure that he wasn't hired because of a diversity quota? I mean, he ticks four boxes: black, disabled, dresses like Neo and is a bloody pirate."
Before Fury could angrily interject, Coulson said, "As I was going to say before you turned your earpiece off, our facial recognition detected the threat; he's in Germany. The rest of the team is heading to the Quinjet already; if you move fast enough you might catch them before it leaves."
"Where's it parked?"
"The hangar where you arrived."
Harry nodded. "Okay." He turned around and took off at a sprint, Loki directing him on his route through the winding corridors.
He made it to the hangar as fast as he could without damaging any walls. Luckily, the Quinjet—or at least what he assumed was the Quinjet—was yet to leave, and Harry ran up the landing ramp.
"Hello, guys." Only Captain America, a dozen or so SHIELD agents, and the redhead he'd learnt was actually called Natasha were in the jet. "Where's Hulk and Iron Man?"
Natasha glanced at him as the jet began to rise. "Stark doesn't exactly need a jet, and Banner isn't here for a combat role."
Harry frowned. "Then why is he here?"
Natasha matched his frowned. "Weren't you briefed?"
"No, I went to look at all the cool science stuff because Coulson implied I was acting childishly, and a child obviously wouldn't understand cool science stuff."
"What?" Natasha shook her head. "Forget it. Anyway, Banner is tracking down the radioactive signature of the object that Loki stole."
"He stole something?"
"How did you manage to miss the entire briefing? He used his sceptre, which can control people, to steal the Tesseract, a powerful alien energy source."
"Why did the humans have an alien energy source?"
"Hydra was trying to use it in the second world war."
"Well, it can't be that powerful, seeing as they didn't win."
Natasha snorted. "You can thank Captain America for that."
Harry looked at Captain America. "Thanks, Captain America."
Harry moved over to a seat and sat, glancing out the window at the clouds rushing by and the ground far below. With how fast the aircraft was moving—well over a mile a second—it wouldn't be long until they reached their destination. He set about planning what to do.
The time flew by, and it was not long before people were standing from their seat, ensuring that their parachutes were secured. Harry didn't pay any attention to them.
Captain America moved over to him and offered him a parachute.
"No thanks, Cap."
He raised an eyebrow. "What, you can fly or something?"
Harry frowned. "It's more like gliding. I tend to depend more on the fact that my terminal velocity is nowhere near fast enough to injure me."
"If you say so."
Harry nodded. "I do." He smiled. "I just did what I dreamed of doing since I was a child."
"What?"
"I said, 'I do,' to Captain America."