Mystique Soldier Ch.7 (Patreon)

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Chapter 7– Leaving the states

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1st August, 2007,

World Council meeting

Alexander pierce was frustrated. And it wasn't the first time this particular subject has caused him grief.

"Just to clarify, Captain Ares." He started sternly, his eyes boring into the man in front of him. "A troubled ten year old with powers he shouldn't possess, asked to leave Shield...and you let him?"

The Director of Shield looked utterly unbothered by his frustration. The respect that should've been present when meeting some of the most powerful people in the world was absent in the man. He might as well have been standing in front of some highschoolers with the way his eyes dismissed them.

It irked Pierce, it really did. But there was nothing he can do about it.

"I think you didn't understand me clearly, Mr. Secretary." Steve replied calmly. "Mr. Dursley didn't ask for permission, neither did he need it. He respected the terms of our contract, stated his intentions, and left."

Alexander took a deep breath, calming down his boiling blood. It wouldn't do to scream at the Director of Shield, especially when the entire nation of America kissed the ground beneath his feets. The man could've practically been the permanent president of the country if not for his beloved Shield. A wrong move here, and the tight image of good samaritan that he'd formed over the years would vanish in smoke.

"My apologies Captain, but I hope you understand my... worries with this subject." He started anew, making his tone as worried as he can. "The boy is a risk to the society. Not only is he too young to wander on his lonesome, he also possesses powers that shouldn't be in the hands of a child. We can all agree on this atleast, yes?"

"That is not for you to decide, Mr. Secretary." Ares spoke, his cold voice sending chills inside Pierce. "I have judged my Agent to be competent enough to take care of himself. As for his magical abilities, they aren't any of our concern. He comes under the jurisdiction of the magical world. And should he do anything unlawful, he will be punished accordingly. You need not concern yourself with this subject."

Alexander smothered his urge to snarl. 'Not any of his concern'? This entire thing was his concern! The Mystique Soldier was his creation! How dare this weak old man tell him what to do!?

'Why?' Alexander bemoaned, knowing he'd lost the case. 'Why was this man still alive?'

Ares has always been a massive pain in his arse. He was the sole reason that Hydra hadn't been able to gain a solid foothold over Shield.

And here he was once again, ruining any chance Alexander might have had to salvage the Mystique Soldier situation.

He glanced at the other members then, hoping for some support. But each and every one of them looked uncomfortable with the subject.

"I think," Hawley started, and he held his breath. "That it is in our best interest to let him go."

'Oh this fucking bitch! Where did her fire go all of a sudden!'

He opened his mouth to retort but the woman held her hand up. "I understand the risk. Perhaps more than anyone else. Which is exactly why I'm saying this, Mr. Pierce. You do not want trouble with the magicals. Especially not with the I.C.W."

Alexander knew he had a headache incoming soon.

Over the last year, he'd been plotting on how exactly he could terminate the huge pain in the ass that was Harry Dursley, right from underneath Ares' nose.

He had tried once, when Dursley was given an intercontinental mission. It had been the perfect time to capture Hydra's lost fish, while also finishing off Coulson's protege, Aleka Amador, who had been causing problems for Hydra ever since her integration in Shield.

The plan had been perfect; release the mission's details to Vanchat, and let the two-bit criminal do Hydra's work for free.

What he hadn't expected was for the boy to kill the entire armed squads without any trouble whatsoever. The camera footage that Vanchat sent showed exactly how much the boy had grown ever since his escape, and Alexander was left seething at the missed opportunity.

Had the boy been with Hydra right now, it would've only been a matter of time before they usurped the entirety of Shield.

Now though? Now he didn't care anymore. He just wanted the boy dead and buried.

But just when his men were finally ready once again, the boy suddenly disappears! All of his carefully laid plan went down the drain just like that.

Oh, how happy he'd been when he found the boy had taken shelter in one of the Shield bases. Now he felt right stupid for getting his hopes up. The boy seemed to have an invisible armour that gave him maximum luck in avoiding danger.

"I know what you mean." Singh sighed from his side, and Alex returned his attention to the council. "Not a day goes by without me worrying about the possible consequences if a war breaks out among us."

Alexander wanted to scoff but he knew better than to show his contempt so openly. Sometimes, he found himself cursing at the choice of character that he'd created for himself.

But it was necessary, he reminded himself. Necessary for his image, necessary for his plans, and most importantly, necessary for Hydra.

"Then we all agree to not interfere in the magical business?" Hawley confirmed, looking around.

And he could only nod with the rest of them. He had hoped to manipulate the council in his favour and just outright eliminate the blasted boy...but of course luck wasn't on his side. It never was, where the boy was concerned.

Fine. Whatever. He will simply have to do it by himself...just more discreetly.

Perhaps it was time for another Winter Soldier mission. How poetic would it be, the man who first kidnapped the boy will be the one to deliver his death sentence.

He could only hope luck doesn't play a role in this. Oh, he'd be so pissed if the boy survives again.

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1st August, 2007,

Bayonne Port, New Jersey

Harry wondered if it had been a bad plan to leave Shield with just a letter to Kara.

Will she be angry? Of course she will, was that even a question. But harry simply didn't know how to break the news to her. The Gamer's mind had helped him against Ares but for Kara...

He sighed. There was nothing to do now. He can't go back without looking like a child. He will simply have to man up and face the consequences when they meet again.

...If they meet again. Goddammit, this might be their last time seeing each other and he left with a letter!?

"I'm so stupid..." He muttered, as the sun peeked at him from behind the clouds.

The shipping port that he'd arrived at wasn't as crowded as he thought it would be. Why was he on a shipping port in the first place? Well, after a few nights of careful planning, Harry had arrived at a single feasible plan to take him away from this damned country without Shield's, or possibly Hydra's, knowledge– Merchant Navy.

His knowledge of the world has increased a lot in the past year, thanks to the internet. So he knew how difficult it would be to sneak into a plane. Ships were the only possible way to crossover an entire continent in secret.

And after another day of careful spying, he got just the info he needed. There was a cargo ship leaving from Bayonne port directly to Southampton, which was quite close to Surrey. The estimated travel time was 6-7 days which might increase depending on weather...and sea related things that he didn't know about. And frankly, didn't wish to know about either.

15 minutes before the time of departure, Harry carefully sneaked upon the ship. It wasn't hard, atleast compared to some of his missions, and by the time the loud horn of the ship honked in his ears, he was already hiding between two large cargo blocks.

From his scouting of the crew, he determined there were around 20-25 members on board, and each monitored a specific function on the ship. So the chances of him getting swarmed and discovered were low.

His conclusion came true as rest of the day passed in utter boredom, and the ship sailed for Southampton.

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The days passed bleakly for Harry. Every hour or so he would need to sneak away from the crew members that decided to visit his tiny corner of the ship. May it be cargo inspection or just to smoke a cigar. He would have to either change his position or hide inside some cramped space until the men left.

But apart from the constant paranoia of discovery, it wasn't all that bad. You would think after experiencing the luxury of a proper home, he would be miserable with his current hardship...but you'd be wrong. The feeling of getting found brought with it a unique sense of excitement that he had missed inside Shield's safe walls. It felt good to be back in similar grounds...almost liberating.

It helped that the Gamer's body made this experience much more easier for him. He didn't produce any sweat or waste so there was no need to take any risk for cleaning up. His sneaking Lvl 62 was always top notch due to his skills never growing rusty. Again, courtesy of the system.

Really, the only time he took any risk was when the food was prepared. He would wait till the cooks were finished serving everyone and were busy eating, then he would sneak in to steal any leftovers. Thankfully, the disappearance of food usually went unnoticed by the cooks. Usually. Well...it wasn't his fault if the cooks got suspicious and took out their anger on some innocent crew members...

So the trip passed...Not smoothly but safely atleast.

But of course, nothing ever went smoothly in his life anyway. And it became even more clear when on the 5th day, it started to rain.

The captain barked orders, commanding everyone to take shelter. They were about to hit a storm...and he's decided to brave through it.

For the crew, it was just another day in the unpredictable sea. For Harry, it meant that he will have to huddle in his tiny corner like a wet cat.

Pitter patter of rain sounded around him as the droplets of water smacked the metallic containers. The wind went wild and Harry had to duck down inside a small gap created by a couple of containers to protect himself from the storm. The sound of booming thunder and screaming wind only made his day worse.

Just an hour into the storm, one of the containers a couple meters away from him started to tip over the board. The metallic box slowly but surely started to loosen around the rope as the whole ship swayed upon the waves, making terrible metal on metal noises. It got so bad that two crew members quickly came to inspect it, even though the storm didn't seem to be lessening.

The men were dressed in neon jackets and plastic raincoats, each holding a torch to see in the darkness.

From the hole that he was tucked inside, Harry had a clear sight of the men as they approached the gigantic stacked boxes.

He quickly left the small but very noticable gap that he'd been occupying, and ducked behind the corner of another metal block, not caring about the fierce raining drenching his entire body. He got ready to run if they ever start inspecting his side of containers. The way he was crouching right now, a single look down the knee will give them a clear view of his head.

"Right, mate." One of them started as finished scanning the blocks. "You tighten the harness and I'll keep a look out, yeah?"

"Like hell you will, you drunk dickhead. You go tighten the fuckin' rope and I'll hold the torch."

The pair kept arguing and he began to relax. They clearly weren't going to do additional work if they were this reluctant to do their job. Though he hoped they will be done soon because the rain was simply increasing even more.

"Yo, hold out your hand. We'll settle this like true men. Rock, paper, and mother fuckin' scissors. Best of three, alright?"

The two weirdos started pumping their hands up and down, and Harry couldn't help but curse them. Why were they taking so much time!?

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoe!"

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoe!"

On and on they went until at last one of them came victorious.

"Aha!" He cheered. "I win! Go do your thing, Campbell. I'll chill out here."

"Dickhead. Whatever. You're so drunk you might just tip over the board. Good fuckin' riddance, I'd say then."

The rain that slammed upon Harry's back was now painful. Thick fat drops of water smashed into his skin, and he blamed himself for wearing such thin clothes. Why didn't he think of these things when he decided to board this ship? He felt stupid for not even considering it.

The two men spent the next 15 minutes lingering around the area, forcing harry to suffer the onslaught of almost solid globs of water with gritted teeths.

Thankfully the two finished their job quickly after, and had no intention to stay. But just as relief was spreading through him, a cold splash of water entered his shirt, sending such fierce chills through his spine that he instantly shot upwards.

His head hit the metallic container with a loud thump, and he went down with a groan. Unfortunately the strength behind his headsmack tipped the entire 10 feets long metallic box over, sending it crashing towards the other side.

God-fucking-damn-it.

"Holy fuck, another one!?"

Oh no.

"You go check it out this time."

"Nah, mate. Another round of rock, paper–?"

"Hell no! I did my part, it's your turn now. And you better do it, pussy. Cap's gonna be right pissed otherwise."

The grumbling man approached his side of containers, making Harry scramble to his legs, ignoring the splitting headache the metal container has given him.

He looked around, trying to find a way out but he was completely boxed in. He'd chosen this spot specifically to hide away in a corner.

He tried to think of a way out but his time was up. The man stumbled around the corner and his eyes fell on Harry.

He squinted at him slightly, before his glazed eyes widened. "Goblin! A filthy little Goblin! We've got a fuckin'–!"

The sudden shouts brought a violent reaction from Harry, and a blade of magical force cut the man's throat open mid sentence. Red hot Blood bubbled down the man's raincoat and Harry was there to catch his body as it slipped down like a stringless puppet.

"What!? What goblin!? Robert you're scaring me you dickhead!"

Harry quickly dragged the man's bleeding body to the very edge before dumping it down the river.

He'd hoped the noise of storm and ship's engine would muffle the body's sound, but luck must've truly given up on him, because the body met the water with a horribly loud splash.

"What the hell Robert!? Where are you!?"

The second man was directly behind Harry.

'Shit. When it rains it sure pours i guess.'

Harry was already running as the man came in direct sight of him.

"Oyy, who's there! Stop right...now..."

Harry didn't turn to see why the man stopped shouting. He was already skipping over some cargos to vanish from sight.

"Aaaaaah!!" The most girliest scream Harry had ever heard came from behind him and he wondered if the man somehow discovered the body.

The fact remained, he was now living on borrowed time. The crew will surely start hunting for him soon, and there was only so long before he was found on this ship. No matter how large the ship may be.

'Such terrible luck. Why can't everything proceed peacefully?'

Well...he didn't need that answered. What he did need though, was some kind of place to hide.

Sighing, he stared at the dark clouds overhead. This was gonna be a long night.

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Against all odds, no search party hunted for him in the morning. And the afternoon...and the night. The whole day slowly passed on and everything was calm and quiet.. No one raised a fuss about the killing, no one seemed to care that there was a killer on the ship, or that one of their own was killed. It looked like the entire crew completely forgot about the night's events.

Now this might sound like good news, but Harry knew better. And he grew paranoid. The cause of his paranoia? The ship was too silent. All of the crew stayed in their rooms, even though the rain stopped around midnight. Even the captain did not leave his cabin.

They were hiding, he realised.

And the cause became clear when the Southampton port came into view, and a welcome party awaited them on the docks.

Police. They called the freaking police. Over a dozen police cars blocked the entire port. There was absolutely no way to escape from this. If the ship docked successfully, Harry would either have to fight over a dozen police personnel, or say goodbye to his freedom. Harry wasn't willing to do either. Fighting the police risked revealing his identity. How embarrassing would it be to leave Shield only to get thrown in jail right after...

Saying goodbye to his freedom on the other hand...yeah, he'd rather slaughter the police.

There was only one option remaining for him. Jump off the ship.

And that was exactly what he did as soon as he processed this line of thought. He left his hiding spot and ran for the edge of the ship.

But the police were a step ahead of him because he could hear the whirling blades of a chopper approaching their position.

Great. So now he will have to swim over 200 meters without breaking the surface for air.

Hopefully lvl 30 swimming was enough for the task.

And thus, in the August of 2007, Harry Potter made the dive of his life, successfully escaping the police's notice at the cost of another day as a wet kitten.

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9 August, 2007,

Little Whingings, Surrey, England

Harry strolled the neighborhood of little whinging, searching for a Matchbox shaped house. After touring through the streets of New York, every house in here looked old school in comparison. Not a place he would like to live in. Not anymore.

But he had a job to do. Some old grudges to settle. He truly hoped the Dursleys were still here. After all the hardships he'd experienced, he deserved to have a little fun.

His eyes soon narrowed in on a familiar house, standing at the side of 4th privet drive street, and all hopes of revenge left him.

The house was abandoned.

"Oh, c'mon..." He approached the bunglow, his eyes taking in the dirty blackened walls, rusted garage shutter, and most importantly, the ruined garden on the front.

As soon as he walked closer though, Harry felt a tingling in the back of his ears. Normally he'd have dodged or something, thinking it was an ambush from behind. But the blinking blue screen in front of his eyes said otherwise.

[Skill Created: Mana Sense] Lvl 1

Ahh, so it was mana that he was sensing. Why was there magic around this crappy house though? As far as he knew Harry was the only wizard little whinging had ever produced. Atleast, according to Hydra's database.

Suspicious. Very suspicious.

Of course that wasn't going to stop him from entering. He needed to know what happened to the Dursleys. The thought of revenge had kept him from drowning back in Hydra's rehabilitation program, which had been quite painful, unlike what the term suggested.

He didn't knock on the door. A single punch to the latch had it flying open instead.

Utter silence greeted him as he walked inside the house, broken only by the bang of door closing. The inside was...not pretty.

Unlike the overly bright and normal house that he remembered, it was now a dead mockery of the original. Spider webs covered each corners, even bigger than the ones that used to be in his cupboard. Heavy layer of dust was present everywhere, from the floor to the ceiling, to the walls and the doors. It was a disgusting place.

Harry smiled. He realised he quite liked it this way. The only thing missing was the live bodies of those three Dursleys wrapped in gift paper, ready for some good old torture sessions.

But as he finished the house tour, he knew his dreams would never come true. The Dursleys were dead. Most likely killed by Hydra 6 years ago. Though they must be particularly incompetent in that case, as someone had done a piss poor job of hiding the blood stains, but left behind some really weird patterns.

There was no blood trail at a single glance, but anyone who was trained in assassination and espionage could easily find out the trails after just a few minutes.

The scene was screaming 'Amateur'. The Winter Soldier was many things...amateur he was not.

It was unusual. And suspicious. Very very suspicious. And Harry was starting to get worried.

A loud alien sound of cracking blasted outside the house and Harry quickly scrambled to peek out the window.

Men and women appeared through thin air, their arrival announced by those loud cracks in the air. Every single one of them clutched a wand in their hands.

Harry slapped his face. Hard.

Of course this was a trap! Hydra set it all up! Where was the first place Harry would go after leaving America? His old fucking house! How could he be so predictable!? He was known for his unpredictability for fuck's sake!

Damnit harry!

He slammed the gamer's mind upon himself, embracing the unnatural calm. Now wasn't the time to berate himself. He was surrounded, and capture meant death...or worse.

The best move? Go out fighting. Because that was all he could do. Wizards were not an enemy he had been trained against, and without a wand his meagre spell list became non-existence.

That didn't mean he can't take some of them down with him.

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James potter stared at the doors of Dursley residence with complicated feelings.

It felt only yesterday that they'd arrived to get back their son from the clutches of those magic hating muggles, only to find three dead bodies awaiting them instead. With no sign of their harry. The worst came when they discovered the cupboard under the stairs, which was most likely his son's bedroom.

The sheer thought of his child getting abused was enough for his temper to explode, even now. Not a day passed that James didn't regret his life choices. Had he simply avoided the war, his family would've been safe. Harry would've grown up amongst a loving family, and his wife would never accompany him to saint mungos, wasting away their lives as victims of war.

6 years. 6 years gone in that bloody hospital, courtesy of that mad witch Bellatrix Lestrange. 6 years they wasted, Lily and him, recovering from the aftereffects of cruciatus, while his son slaved away in this horrible house.

His attention shifted to his wife, whose entire body was shaking almost to the point of hyperventilation.

"Lily." He clutched his wife's arm. "Honey, calm down."

She seemed to come into her own, turning her eyes away from the Dursley house and taking deep breaths in. A good thing she was so proficient in occlumency.

They were on a job right now. The Dursley wards were tripped, and the order was deployed to check it out. Dumbledore was probably on his way too.

But the sheer thought of entering this wretched house made him disgusted, to speak nothing of his wife who felt much more strongly about this than he could ever do. He still remembered the wrath and rage his wife had unleashed when they found that cupboard under the stairs.

Suffice it to say, they had to collect the pieces of the three Dursley bodies well into the evening.

Since then, Lily had distanced herself from anything named 'Dursley'.

Case in point being her hesitance to even enter the house.

"Honey, it's fine." James comforted his sweet wife. "I'm here for you. We'll do this together alright?"

His beautiful wife shot him a small smile, though her attention was still divided.

And he didn't blame her, knowing what she was going through.

The cruciatus had hit her much harder than him, worsening her mental conditions to an extreme degree. He theorized it was likely due to her facing the brunt of Lestrange's attack, having stayed under the torture spell for far too long.

The fact that she was still here, fighting beside him, and not having given up hope on their son yet, was only proof of her extremely strong Will.

"If you're done with your... frankly disgusting display of affection, we may move forward."

The sneering voice of Snivellus reached his ears but James had already learned to ignore it. It was especially easier now that he knew it was out of sheer jealousy.

Thus, James decided to be the bigger man and let go.

...Well he tried to, atleast. He couldn't help but shoot him a discrete smirk, enjoying the look of irritation that passed over the man's face.

Alright, maybe he wasn't as big a man as he liked to think he was. But hey, it was Snivellus! Some exceptions could be made.

"Come on, then. Let's get this over with." Lily took command, waving the other two over.

They both followed without another word.

The house looked even more broken down than before. Now it's outside truly matched what it really was from the inside; Bitter, Pathetic, disgusting, and wretched.

Perfectly describing a family of abusers. Merlin, he hoped they didn't have a good death. Even that fat pig of a boy.

Shaking his head, he focused.

"Homenum Revelio." He intoned quietly, swishing his wand around the house.

"One hiding just behind the door." He announced, sensing the small figure ready to ambush them. "I'll take charge."

Lily squeezed his hands, her eyes reluctant and ready to argue. He just smiled in assurance, firmly taking the lead. Lily wasn't a delicate flower and he knew that, but hell would freeze over before he let her take such risks.

The three years that they've spent reconnecting with the world again had done wonders to her health, especially the last year when she joined Hogwarts teaching staff. And he really did not want all that forward progress to disappear if they encountered something unexpected.

Even Snivellus didn't argue. Though it might be due to Lily still holding his arm. The sight of them together never failed to make the greasy man uncomfortable.

Well, as the muggles said...one man's bad luck was another man's good luck...or something along those lines. He couldn't remember, muggle wisdom was so ever changing.

"Alright, blaze out with stunners on my mark." He whispered to the two as they came closer. "One, two...three!"

"Stupefy!"

Three stunners slammed on the wooden doors, blasting it off the hinges. Normally he would've liked to use something more offensive like confringo, but their primary objective was to stun and capture this trespasser. He couldn't risk injuring them.

As soon as the door was blasted off, their enemy opened fire. All three of them had their shields up already, but he was surprised to see that they weren't attacked by magic...but with muggle weapon. Those tiny bronze... ahh bullets?

Yeah, bullets. They smacked uselessly against their shields before falling to the ground, completely ineffective against magic.

Did they make a mistake? Did they just attack a muggle burglar who was so desperate that he thought to rob this pathetic house? All such thoughts went out of his mind the next second.

Why? Because the dust cleared and he got his first look at the enemy. It was a boy. A 5 feet tall boy. A very very familiar looking boy. And as those cold familiar green eyes met him, James couldn't hold himself together.

"...Harr–?"

He wasn't allowed to finish as a wave of sharp magic cut into his chest, directly piercing his weakened shield that had almost dissipated due to his distraction. Those few motes of his shield must have surely saved his life as blood rapidly started flowing down his chest.

Wandless magic! Bloody hell!

"James!" Lily screamed, already moving behind him to catch his falling body. Severus moved in on the target who started retreating with a steady shots of bullets to tie off the man.

There was a unique crack of disapparition, announcing the arrival of Dumbledore but there was only one thing that James had in mind, and he wanted to desperately get it out of his mind as darkness creeped in.

"You better not hurt him, Snivellus! Or I'll shove your greasy hair down your bloody arse!"

And then he was out like a lamp, too tired to do anything else.

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AN:

Hello, my dear Patron/s! If you're reading this ahead of schedule then you've decided to support me financially. And for that, you have my utmost gratitude.

Seriously, thank you.

Let me know your thoughts in comments and what you would like to see in the future.