Forged of Metal, Crowned in Jewels

Forged of Metal, Crowned in Jewels

Chapter Two: The Disappearance of Tony Stark

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Hari began to worry when a week passed without seeing Tony or receiving a text from him. When it reached a week and a half, she felt close to panic despite the multitude of comforting murmurs from the Soul Stone, her heartbeat thrumming from within her ribcage with all the frantic energy of a caged bird trying to fly free. She thought about calling the number he gave her, the one to his personal phone and not the one he gave to blow people off when he had no interest in speaking to them. She gave in near the week and a half mark, calling his number almost ten times before she gave up on him answering. Perhaps he was busy and couldn’t talk, or his phone died, or perhaps—no. But no matter what reassurances she fed herself, her mind always returned to her fears until eventually she broke down and called the number under one of two saved profiles, one simply labeled as Happy and nothing more, though now at least she had a general description of the person attached to it from Tony. 

At first there was no answer, then after a few rings a man picked up, speaking as frantically as her heart beat. “Hello? Tony? That you?”

 He was breathless with hope, and Hari hated to crush it, but she had to, she needed answers. Not only did she not know where Tony was, neither did this Happy person Tony mentioned but never introduced to her. “No,” she sniffed into the receiver, trying not to cry. Now isn’t the time, Hari. Pull yourself together! “This is Hari, Tony’s friend. He programmed this number into the mobile he gave me. Is he—is he alright? I haven’t seen him in a week and a half and he always comes at least once a week. Is he…?” 

The question hung in the air between them for what seemed like an eternity, the words left unsaid heavier than any damning admittance. 

“No, no, we don’t think so,” the man, Happy, replied. He sounded as if he were trying to convince himself as much as her. “But he’s missing. He’s been missing for a week and a half. They nabbed him while he was out of the country doing business.”

Hari felt her blood run cold, then start to simmer with a quiet rage like a slow burn. “They did what now?”

She felt more than heard or saw a flinch, no doubt a reaction to the carefully controlled wrath in her voice. So calm, yet so deadly—too calm, too controlled, too conscious of what the speaker was capable of doing. 

“They took him. They took Tony.”

“Who,” Hari bit out. 

“Some terrorist group called the Ten Rings.”

Hari’s nostrils flared as if she were a dragon about to breathe fire—or an enraged Minerva McGonagall descending in all her furious glory. Rein it in, Hari, she thought to herself ruefully as she rubbed at her scar, something she did when frustrated. “Look.” She sighed. “Tony gave me this number for a reason, so I could reach his people if he couldn’t reach me. Will you come get me? I can meet you at one of our usual spots.”

“One of your usual spots?” 

Hari bit the inside of her cheek to keep from reacting to his tone of voice. She would not allow herself to feel like a chastised schoolgirl caught out of bounds after curfew. “Yes.” She rattled off the address of the closest one. “You can find it? I only need twenty.”

Mostly, she needed twenty minutes to gather her nerves, to compose herself. She’d already been dressed, already showered and eaten. She’d spent the rest of the morning pacing, calling Tony’s number with crossed fingers, even praying to her father’s family’s gods, especially Mā Kali. She’d Apparate while invisible to the alley nearby, out of sight of the cameras. 

“I can find it,” Happy assured her. 

“Good. I won’t be late. Look for red hair, green eyes, and a scarlet and gold coat.” 

Hari hung up, tucking the Stark phone into one of her voluminous pockets. She strode quickly to where her coat—transfigured to hold Gryffindor’s colors—and her trusty Gryffindor scarf (living an extended life under a Preservation Charm) hung on the wall hook. She slipped her arms into the sleeves absently, winding her scarf around her neck as she thought of what Tony must be going through—kidnapped! She glanced around her flat once, making sure she hadn’t left any magical items out by accident, and activated one of the wards that would let her know if someone tried breaking in while she was away. Then, already fading from sight by the power the Cloak granted her, she turned on her heel, displacing the air. The squeezing, rushing sense of Apparating, then she found herself at her destination. Luckily she detected no one when she bled back into visibility, walking briskly to the end of the alley. She made her way to the spot she picked, a lovely little library themed cafe that also offered a bit of privacy. Like the original science-themed cafe where they met, it had been one of their favorites, as they could easily disappear from the hungry gazes of any observers into the stacks and take a seat near the back. 

Happy—who apparently served as Tony’s driver—showed up like clockwork. She knew the moment he spotted her as he pulled up to the curb. Without preamble, she opened the door and slid inside, closing it behind her. She could feel Happy staring at her as she fastened the buckle. Without looking up as she pulled off her fingerless Gryffindor gloves, she said crisply, “What is it, Happy?” 

The man seemed startled to be caught. “Just—when you said red, you weren’t kidding.”

Hari glanced at his face in the mirror, her emerald eyes meeting curious, slightly abashed bark-brown. “It’s natural, if you’re wondering. From my mum. She gave me her eyes, too.”

She tried not to giggle or smirk at the blush washing over the man’s face, neck, and ears as he pointedly looked away from her, his attention once more fixated on driving. He did, however, sneak more glances at her when he clearly thought she wasn’t looking. 

“So….” Happy cleared his throat awkwardly. “How did you two meet?”

Hari, rubbing the heel of her thumb roughly over the ridge of her wrist bone, relaxed slightly at the benign—if nosy—line of questioning. “At a coffee shop. The one with the science theme.”

Happy nodded, taking it in stride. “Right. I think Mrs. Potts mentioned that to him.”

Despite her anxieties over his well-being, Hari smiled fondly, remembering exactly how they met. “Someone there—I don’t know if they were just knackered or if they don’t like him for some reason or another, but they misspelled his name as Toonie Stork on his coffee.”

A half-strangled sound of amusement told her that Happy, too, found it amusing. Once he managed to swallow his snickers, he continued with his questions.  “And you hit it off because of that?”

“Something like that. We had a few things in common.”

“Oh? Like what?”

Hari sighed. “He might not have mentioned it to you, but I’m sure you’ve noticed what kind of stress he lives under—the burden of his parents’ legacy, the scrutiny, the expectations, the money-grubbers. I’m...familiar with it. We had an understanding.”

“Oh.” Happy paused. “I think I do get it.”

He lapsed into contemplative silence, eyes darting to her every once in a while as he drove smoothly through the city. When they finally pulled into the private lot of Stark Industries, Hari didn’t wait for him to get the door for her. Before he could finish turning off the car, she’d already unbuckled herself and gotten halfway out of the backseat. She tried not to bounce impatiently as she waited for him to join her. As soon as he clicked the lock, she was shooting toward the only elevator in sight. She fidgeted a bit as Happy caught up to her and swiped his security clearance. The ride up seemed to take eons—though perhaps that was her anxiety again. 

As soon as the elevator dinged and the doors opened onto the appropriate floor, Hari exited, only pausing to let Happy take the lead. He guided her past the personal receptionist’s desk toward a back office where a small group of people huddled, including a willowy redhead whose fiery hair fell in shimmering waves about her shoulders. Hari marched right into the fray, making a beeline for the other redhead, her gingery mane reminding Hari almost painfully of the Weasleys. If her memory served her correctly, Tony had mentioned that she was his assistant—a woman whose name he divulged over the course of their meetings. Like Tony’s and Happy’s personal numbers, the one belonging to this woman had also been pre-programmed into the phone Tony gifted Hari. Tony apparently just couldn’t stand his friend not having a way to reach him, let alone not having a cellphone at all, and so she came into possession of a Stark phone. 

“Pepper Potts?”

Clearly startled, the woman broke off mid-conversation and turned to acknowledge her. She looked harried, as if she too had been fraught with worry. “Yes?”

Before Hari could say more, a different voice interrupted them. “And who might you be?” 

Hari blinked, turning to see a middle-aged white man in a suit. Some sort of agent, maybe FBI? That’s what the Muggle Americans had wasn’t it?

“A friend,” Hari replied feelingly, standing even straighter. “An incredibly concerned friend.”

One of the security guards blurted, “Stark has friends?” 

“He has bedmates,” the guard next to him muttered. 

Hari spun, eyes flashing and blush barely contained. “Of course he bloody does! And no, we are not sleeping together.” In a fit of temper, she forgot herself and reached into her pocket, Summoning two of the five gold Galleons she kept loose for emergencies into her palm. She tossed one to each of them, who stared at her gobsmacked, eyes popping out of their heads. 

“This is solid gold!” One exclaimed, looking between his coin and her wildly. She ignored the burning stares of the others present. 

“And it’s got to weigh at least five ounces,” the other man added. “Do you know how much this is worth, Matt?”

The other, evidently named Matt, nodded. “This is worth at least ten grand if not more.” 

The second, unnamed guard turned to her. “Uh, Miss? What’s this for?”

Hari scowled. “Shutting the bloody hell up. You’re both being arses. A man is missing—Tony is missing—and you’re making disgusting jokes at his expense! You should be ashamed.”

Both men managed to look properly chastised under her no-nonsense stare. Hari turned her back on them in a clear snub, cutting them out of the conversation. She instead sized up Pepper Potts and the agent, who himself had her pinned underneath a shrewd assessment. Hari clapped her hands and clasped them together in front of her, trying to smooth away her irritation to look more pleasant. “Now—” Even she could hear the almost painful false sense of cheer. “Where was Tony last seen? Is he hurt?” 

The suit spoke up then, clearing his throat to garner her attention. Hari’s furious gaze swung over to him. “He’s been kidnapped, Miss…?”

Hari sighed. “Hari, but he probably called me Red if he mentioned me at all.”

A sharp intake of breath from the woman nearby drew Hari’s attention to her, just in time to see the recognition lighting her eyes. 

“Hari, the heiress he met at the cafe?”

Hari cringed. “Yes.” 

At that bit of information revealed, the agent’s eyes glinted like the cat that got the canary. “You know this woman, Miss Potts?”

“Sorry, Hari, this is Agent Coulson. He’s helping us find Tony. He disappeared in Afghanistan a few days ago when some terrorist group called the Ten Rings attacked the convoy escorting him.”

Hari nodded at him in acknowledgement. “How do you do, Agent?”

“I’m well. Miss Potts?”

“Of course—Agent Coulson, this is Hari, Tony’s friend. They met at a cafe a few months ago.”

“I see.”

The calculation in his baby-blue eyes had Hari repressing a shiver of unease. Hari shook off her discomfort. “Where are we on finding him?”

“Nowhere close to where we’d like to be,” Coulson admitted. “As Miss Potts is well aware, I’m with the ‘Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division’. Despite our resources, we’re having a bit of trouble locating Mister Stark.”

“Well, if there’s any way I can help, just let me know,” Hari offered instantly. “Tony means a lot to me.” It was true. During the last several months, she and Tony had grown close enough that she counted him among her friends. 

“Actually.” Coulson stepped closer. “If you have a moment, Miss, I’d like to have a few words with you.”

Hari’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded. “If it’ll help.” She turned to Pepper. “I’ll text you my number. Let me know if anything comes up on your end.” 

Pepper smiled at her. “You’ll be one of the first to know. Tony spoke fondly of you, and I gather you think fondly of him as well. It’s clear you’re important to each other.” 

Hari felt her heart thud painfully with that news. Suddenly emotional, she gave a half-bow, using the opportunity to wipe away a tear that gathered at the corner of her eye. “Thank you.” 

“My pleasure.”

Hari waved goodbye to Happy as Agent Coulson gestured for her to walk with him. He started back toward the elevator. “So, Miss Hari, how did you and Mister Stark meet?” 

Hari chuckled, causing Agent Coulson to give her a curious sideways glance. “I take it there’s a story there?”

“Sorry, just, you’re the second person to put me through the ringer. His driver, Happy, asked me the same thing.”

“And what did you tell him?” He pressed the button to call the elevator to their floor. 

Hari eyed him neutrally as they waited. “The truth. That we met at a little science-themed cafe called the Mitochondria Grind. It was completely by chance. I’d just gotten my latte and he’d just gotten his Americano with Toonie Stork written on it. He thought I was laughing at him, so he came over to speak to me. The rest is history.”

“Uh-huh.”  The doors opened with a ding. 

Hari got in without turning her back to Coulson, who seemed to notice her behavior with some amusement. “Got a reason to be paranoid, Miss Hari?”

Hari shrugged carelessly. “I don’t know you at all. Plus, you’re a strange man and we’re alone together.” A lie that wasn’t a lie, seeing as, while it was completely true and perfectly valid reasoning, it was not, in fact, the reason. Her status as a war veteran and her need to keep her magic under wraps for the moment contributed far more heavily than she would reveal to Agent Coulson at present, if ever. 

Coulson leaned back casually against the far wall—too casually. “And yet you’re not afraid. You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop but you’re not afraid.”

It went unspoken that many people, especially women, might be uneasy to the point of fear in a strange man’s presence, but she was not and Coulson had spotted it. The Agent proved to be clearly observant and not a fool. Hari lifted her chin. “I’m not. I won’t say how but suffice to say, I can handle myself, Agent Coulson.”

Coulson took her in for one long moment, then reached out and stopped the elevator. Hari tensed, ready for a fight at the drop of a hat. Coulson regarded her with far more solemnity than before. “Let me be clear, Miss Hari. We’re aware that you’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time with Tony Stark, that you seemingly caught his interest and earned his friendship. We’re also aware that cameras tend to malfunction around you, and that you don’t exist anywhere. Believe me, we’ve tried searching.  If you’re in any way involved in his disappearance, if you earned his trust to get close enough to him to help orchestrate this, then we will find out and you will be held accountable.”

Hari’s spine straightened, the lines of her face hardening and steel entering her voice. “I would never betray a friend, Agent Coulson. That sort of betrayal of friends is what got my parents killed. They put their trust in the wrong person, and he turned on them and stabbed them in the back when they needed him the most. I won’t do that to someone I care about—ever. I’d rather die. You have my word.”

Hari felt a small tingle in her chest, heard a ringing of truth in her every feelingly delivered word. She saw it in Agent Coulson’s eyes the moment he accepted her words as true. He allowed the elevator to continue its journey downward. “You understand why I had to be sure.”

“I do.” Hari’s eyes never left him, nor his her. 

“We’ll still be watching.”

“I didn’t think otherwise.”

The doors slid open. Their eyes met, and seemingly coming to an understanding, they exited together, avoiding walking too close to each other while making sure that neither left their back unguarded to the other. They parted ways in the lobby, where Coulson met up with another Agent. “Until next time, Miss Hari.” 

Hari inclined her head and took the long way around the room to keep Coulson and his partner in her sights until she could leave through the front door.