Chapter 31
Harry stood outside Clint's door for a long time, getting his thoughts together. It felt like years ago that they had last been hanging out in his living room, but it was barely a week. So much had happened, so much was still going to happen, and he didn't want to do any of it without his friend. So taking a deep breath, Harry opened the door and stepped inside the small medical room.
Natasha looked up at him, though she kept talking to Clint. "You won't be blamed for any of this."
"She's right." Harry shut the door behind him. "I've told you about the Imperius before and what Loki did was the same thing."
Clint groaned, his head falling back on the bed. "I need to know if he's…"
Natasha stood and motioned toward Clint. "You're the expert, apparently."
"Be nice, 'Tasha…"
Harry smiled and sat down next to him on the bed. "She's fine. I need you to relax, okay? At least, relax as much as you can. This might feel uncomfortable."
"I'm good."
"Liar." Harry shook his head and cast a quick spell. It wasn't going to tell him much, but it would at least help reassure Clint that the nightmare was over.
"We shared memories," Clint murmured, reaching out for Natasha's hand. "He saw everything I knew, and I saw everything he knew. And Selvig. And the other agents he took."
Natasha took the hand and leaned close. "Can you focus on Loki and just remember if he had any actual plans?"
"Can't, it's all… Everything is twisted together. I can't tell what's his and what's mine."
"Hive mind mentality?" Harry leaned back. "Let me get something to calm you."
"I don't think Loki was working for himself…"
Both Harry and Natasha looked to each other for a moment before Natasha leaned closer and asked him, gently, to clarify that he meant. Clint let out a breath and struggled into a sitting positions, putting his free hand over his face.
"Something was weird. It's like he was taking orders and passing them down to us."
Harry put a hand on Natasha's back. "In my room there's a blue bag. Can you grab me the green and purple vials?"
Natasha didn't look thrilled with the request, but she squeezed Clint's hand once and got up to leave. "We'll talk later about all of this."
"Yes, ma'am."
They were silent for a long moment before Clint groaned and leaned against Harry. "This is—"
"Don't you even say that this is your fault. This is not your doing, understand? What happened was out of your control." Harry shifted so he could pull Clint into a half hug. "We're going to take care of this."
"We?"
"You want to help kick some ass, right?" Harry rubbed Clint's back softly. "I thought you would want to, but if you want someone else to take your place, I'm sure—"
"No." Clint sat up and rubbed his eyes. "No, I'm going to help. My own actions or not, I need to fix what I helped ruin."
"Good."
Clint looked to him. "Good?"
"Yeah, good." He stood up. "Because Loki is currently causing havoc at the tower. I think he might be trying to get into your game collection."
A small smile quirked at Clint's lips. "That asshole. Okay, I'm in."
"Go wash up. I'll find us a ride."
"Already done." Natasha tossed Clint the two vials. "I'm assuming you know which one is which."
Clint gripped them. "I'm going to pay for keeping secrets, aren't I."
Natasha just inclined her head, leaving Clint to swear as he went into the bathroom. Once the door was closed, she turned to Harry. "We're taking a jet."
"Steve tell you, then?"
"I passed him on the way here. He said he found the one in best working condition."
"Great. I'm going to fly ahead, replace my suit if I can. Just wait for my word to—"
"Tony."
Harry hesitated and turned to look at her. "Hm?"
"You need to slow down, we don't know what exactly is going on yet. Go, fly ahead if you need to, but keep us informed."
"Will do." Harry gave her a small wave and left the room. As soon as he was in the hall, he put the comm unit back into his ear. "Edwin? Jarvis, is he there?"
Nothing but static, great. Really, Harry should have known better than to think Loki would leave the power intact – he needed everything for the tesseract. Considering how much power the reactor held, it was a miracle that the invasion hasn't already happened.
Which means Loki was stalling. For what? Why? Harry didn't know.
Either way, it wasn't going to be a fun ride back to New York. The suit was ruined, damaged beyond anything worth salvaging. He let out a breath slowly, then shook his head. There was no way he'd make it back in that thing. That left doing it the old magic way.
He didn't have much cores left, but he also didn't have much choices. It was either attempt the suit and probably have to jump anyway, or just get there faster and take care of the problem later.
Ah, well, there was no guarantee that he would survive this war anyway. Box of cores and his helmet in hand, Harry counted to five before Disapparating from the Helicarrier.
Landing in the middle of his lab was, honestly, the perfect spot. He sucked in a breath as he chest constricted, but the pain soon went away. Not that he would be able to wait for it if it didn't – he had to get moving. Edwin would probably be two floors down, but Harry didn't have enough time to go down and get him.
He went straight for the consoles, tapping them awake. The blue hue of the main Jarvis light system slowly came into the room and he smiled. "Hey, buddy. I need you to get Edwin on my comm and use all available power for his computer and our communication.
'Of course, sir.'
Harry patted the console once before looked around the lab. Most of his suits were still in Malibu, but there was still one upstairs. Untested, but this would at least be one hell of a test run.
"Edwin, you there?"
A slightly crackle and then finally, a vice that Harry desperately wanted to hear. "For the moment. What's your plan, sir?"
"Mark seven when I call it. I'm going to have a small talk with Loki first."
Harry could hear the disappointment when Edwin spoke, but he ignored the tone. "Not the wisest of choices. On your word, then."
Good thing Harry lived for bad choices. He checked the status of the core in his chest (not too bad, could probably make it), and then went to the elevator. He had a god to talk to.