Harry stepped out from behind the pillar, hands raised. Natasha immediately moved behind him, her gun raised to the back of his head. One wrong move, and he could have his brains blown out. Thankfully, it seemed that this 'Madame Hydra' wanted him alive for something.
This knowledge had given rise to Harry's latest plan- stall. "Well, I suppose congratulations are in order." Harry told her.
"Just like that?" Natasha probed shrewdly. That was a huge difference between the staff and the imperious curse. The imperious made you a mere puppet of the caster, the staff, as Clint had described it, warped you into a version of yourself that was loyal to the wielder. Natasha and Skye still had all their skills and knowledge at her disposal.
"You were the one who told me to give up." Harry pointed out "Can't help but think that you were right. Three on one, I don't like those odds." He turned his attention to Madame Hydra "So… who are you?"
"I've told you that, Harry." She responded, cautiously walking up to him, wary for any possible trap "I'm Madame Hydra."
Harry waved her off "Yeah yeah, but who are you? I've never heard of you before, let alone met you. None of us have. What's your deal? Why are you here?"
She smirked. "I'm here for the staff… and for you." She paused, seemingly for effect "And you're a little more familiar with my work than you realize. I was in London until recently."
Harry's eyes widened fractionally as he took that in, a new coil of loathing for this woman forming in his gut. "Ah, so you were the one behind the Dementor. I guess that was your team who's souls got devoured, eh? Is that why you're all alone?"
She sneered "They're meaningless. I've got what I wanted, didn't I?" She stepped up to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. Her touch had him suppressing a shudder of discomfort. He didn't want her anywhere near him, let alone touching him, but he had to endure this, humor her for the time being. "The staff, my own Avenger pet." She nodded to Natasha. "And now…" Harry felt another, stronger assault on his mind. Her touch made the effect stronger, and the force of the compulsion ramped up another level when she placed the tip of the staff to his chest.
Previously, throwing off her influence had been child's play. Now it actually took quite a bit of focus to push through the icy-cold waves of the staff's influence and return to himself. "As flattering as this all is, with all due respect- fuck you."
There was a beat of silence, and then Skye snickered. The glare that Madame Hydra directed at her was caustic, prompting Skye to justify herself "What, just because I'm on your side, doesn't mean that wasn't funny."
Madame Hydra's glare returned to Harry, fingers digging into the fabric of his suit as her hand clenched "So much bravado. You think you can resist, but you will give in. I will break you, and you'll be nothing but my obedient little pet." She was practically spitting into his face, and Harry couldn't help but flinch away from her. "You're all alone. No one will know what happened to you. I have all the time in the world to do what I want with you."
Harry was about to ask her what it was she wanted from him- secrets to his magic, information about how he came here, something else? But he never got the chance because Wanda chose that exact moment to prove her wrong. Both Harry and Madame Hydra's heads whipped around at Wanda's sudden appearance, which was explained by Pietro's presence next to her. While the speedster was looking between Harry and Madame Hydra unsurely, Wanda had a steely glint of resolve in her eyes.
"Wanda." Harry breathed in relief.
"Wanda Maximoff." Madame Hydra's eyes glittered greedily as she beheld her "It's a shame that this is the first time we're meeting. Strucker really had no idea what he was doing with you. I could teach you. You could be great, powerful, you could-."
"I'm going to stop you right there." Wanda said shortly. "I have no idea who you are, and I don't care." With a flick her hand, wisps of red energy flickered out to Natasha and Skye. As her magic slipped into their heads, their eyes cleared, for a moment they held almost identical looks of confusion, until the reality of the situation set it.
"Oh my god." Nat said softly, while Skye nearly gagged.
Madame Hydra shook her head in denial, taking a step back from Harry "You're being ridiculous. You're part of Hydra now, Wanda. Do you think you can just… walk away? You can't. You're ours, and now the Avengers know it. They'll never truly accept you after what you've done."
Her words were cutting, but any response that Wanda might have had to them was halted by a gunshot. "Shut. Up." Natasha hissed, her pistol held rock-steady in her hands even as her eyes were narrowed in rage. Uncharacteristically, the bullet missed, impacting somewhere behind her target. Undeterred, Nat fired a volley, but each bullet went wide.
"What are you even doing here?" Madame Hydra sneered "You don't have-"
Skye interrupted her with a shockwave while Harry simultaneously sent a blasting curse at her. Both attacks sailed through the air where she once existed, and Harry blinked as he readjusted. She could apparate.
Suddenly, he found himself pulled forward, and a bolt of blue energy scorched through where he'd been a moment before and vaporized the section of wall behind him. "Don't touch him." Wanda snapped, and Harry couldn't help the flicker or warmth in his chest at her protectiveness.
He only had a moment to contemplate that, before hearing the ominous groaning and rumbling emanating from above them. The explosion was going to cave the ceiling in on them. Madame Hydra (and he loathed even mentally referring to her like that) could get away with her apparition, but Harry… he'd never even tried to apparate without a wand. He hadn't wanted to risk splinching himself- and injury that could easily be fatal. The convenience just wasn't worth the danger, but if it was life or death, he might not have a choice.
He wouldn't let it come to that. With one hand, he forcibly held up the crumbing ceiling, while with the other he willed his magic into repairing the damage. It was more difficult to repair something that had been completely vaporized, rather than just cracked or shattered, but he'd gotten plenty of practice after the battle of New York.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Skye launching another shockwave. Madame Hydra flickered across the room, firing a bolt of energy at Skye, while simultaneously launching a twisted piece of metal at Harry. Wanda halted the projectile inches from his face, the telltale red glow of her magic enveloping it, and she sent it back to Madame Hydra with a flick of her wrist. Skye was rescued by Pietro, who scooped her up in a blur too fast to see and deposited her across the room.
Harry was forced on the sidelines for a good minute while he repaired the wall, but he wasted no time as soon as he was free "Accio staff!"
"NO!" Madame Hydra bellowed as the staff flew right out of her hands, and into Harry's. It wasn't his first time holding the staff, and as before he was taken aback by the sheer power he felt in his hands. Something about the staff was… different- ancient and powerful.
"Looks like-" Harry began to taunt, but Madame Hydra didn't give him the chance to. She apparated in front of him her hands clenching around the staff. Then, with a final smirk, she apparated away. Harry could feel her magic preparing to transport her body and flowing into the staff to take it with her. It was foreign, somehow different from his own magic, yet he could still recognize the similarities to his own magic.
In a split second, Harry made a decision, and when Madame Hydra disappeared, he went with her, willing his magic to latch onto hers and apparate him with her while Madame Hydra took care of their destination.
Harry felt the familiar sensation of being sucked through a straw, before being dumbed into a dingy room not at all dissimilar to where he, Nat, and Skye had been staying. Madame Hydra stumbled with him, falling on top of him in her surprise. "What the-" She hissed in shock, a wild, unbalanced look in her eyes.
For a moment, they blinked at each other stupidly, but Harry quickly regained his bearings. "Stupefy!" He bellowed, releasing a hand from the staff to strike at her. The gambit almost worked, but Madame Hydra apparated away just moments before the spell would have struck her. Harry once again followed her, refusing to let her go. He wouldn't let the staff fall into the wrong hands again.
When the apparition dumped them again Harry already had another spell on his lips, but he was forced to reevaluated when he realized he was surrounded. "Kill him!" Madame Hydra shrieked.
The half dozen agents scattered around them blinked in surprise, while Harry belatedly realized she had teleported them into a Hydra base… and he was obviously an Avenger. Fuck.
His shield charm was up in time to block the volley of gunfire, but in his distraction Madame Hydra was able to rip the staff from his grip and a moment later she was gone.
Harry cleared the small base with a resigned ease. It seemed almost pointless now. He'd been looking for the staff this entire time. He'd had it in his hands, and then he had lost it. He failed.
On his second pass through the base, checking for any stray agents that might have slipped past him, he spotted a TV, which still had a live news broadcast playing. He was completely in the dark about what was happening outside of his little bubble, so the news that Avengers tower was under attack and that the Abomination, Hulk, and a new Iron Man suit were fighting in New York was a complete shock.
At least his friends seemed to have the advantage in those battles, but the news out of DC was far less reassuring. Following Fury's assassination 'Shield' had put out an arrest warrant for Steve Rogers. Steve had been laying low after breaking out of a Shield facility but had just reappeared on top of Fort Meade.
Why? How? Those questions weren't so important to Harry right now. All Harry knew was that he was fighting for his life. The Winter Soldier was easy enough to pick out- Harry would recognize that arm anywhere, but the other occupants of the roof could also easily be super-soldiers if Harry's experience today was anything to go by. They certainly seemed to pack a punch, and the battle quickly shifted into a four-on-one beatdown.
Harry's gut clenched. He felt absolutely useless. Here he was on a wild goose chase that had gotten them nothing while one of his friends was about to get captured or killed on live TV while Harry could only watch. There was nothing he could do… wait.
Maybe there was.
-----
Robbing Fort Meade to acquire advanced weapons technology hadn't gone exactly according to plan. The plan had been simple in concept- Sam's wings were kept in Fort Meade, and they needed all the help they could get. Breaking in and getting to the wings had gone off without a hitch, the military had been completely blindsided and didn't even try to mount a coherent response. As soon as Hydra had gotten onto the scene, however…
The Winter Soldier wasn't the only super-soldier Hydra had. Steven now knew from experience that Hydra had at least three more. There was little he could do but evade and delay, saving himself from being trapped or outflanked. If he held out for long enough, Sam might be able to extract him as he just had Clint… if he could even get back to him.
It was only a matter of time- the Winter Soldier had him in a headlock, his metal arm across his throat as Steve thrashed and struggled impotently against his captor's superior leverage.. Another soldier walked up to him, pistol ready to shoot him point blank in the head, but the Winter Soldier shook his head subtly.
No, they wouldn't want to execute him in front of the cameras. Better to do it in private.
It was at this point that Harry, completely surprising everyone involved, appeared out of thin air, and careened right into the Winter Soldier. The following scuffle was a blur as Harry and Steve extricated themselves and tried to hastily fend off their attackers, but soon Steve was able to insert himself in front of Harry, using his Shield to maximum defensive advantage. This gave Harry the space to launch a barrage of blasting curses out their opponents, forcing them to take cover. Harry and Steve quickly followed suit, ducking behind a concrete barrier, where Harry immediately hunched over and began retching.
"Steve." He moaned pitifully "I'm so dumb."
"I thought you were in Europe." Steve said absently, even as most of his attention was focused on not dying.
"I was. And now I'm here. Because I'm dumb."
"Uh."
"I apparated halfway across the world!" Harry groaned, obviously in severe pain "I'm an idiot. Nat's going to kick my ass!"
"I'm not going to argue with that." A new voice chimed over the comms.
"Tony?" Harry rasped.
"I thought you were in New York…" Steve uttered; he'd heard something about Iron Man fighting Abomination...
Whatever, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. With Harry and Tony, they didn't just have a chance, they had a chance of ending this right now. It had been a miserable day of ducking his head and hiding in the shadows, but that was over.
"Oh, that's not even the half of it." Tony's voice rang smugly, first over the comms, and then in person as he touched down behind them with a solid thunk.
Harry, still looking rather ill asked "What do you mean?"
"You aren't the only one who's took a surprise trip to London, and guess who I ran into on the way."
Ah, of course. Steve smiled.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Thor landed beside Tony with slightly more force. "I had to make sure Jane and Darcy were safe. But as soon as I saw that you were on the roof, I came with all haste. Now-" He cracked his knuckles "Let us defeat our enemies and get drunk!"
The fight turned out to be easy. The fight wasn't a tense struggle for survival, it was a mop up filled with quips from Tony and Thor as they took down their opponents one by one. Harry's stunners were very effective- without the Winter Soldier's metal arm to block them, their only defense was to dodge, which left them open to other attacks. And while they could go hand to hand on even terms with Steve, Thor simply outclassed them.
The Winter Soldier was the last to succumb, and he went down hard. Even when Tony had gotten a solid grip on his arm and began to leverage him to the ground, he still fought. He was relentless, almost rabid. He thrashed so hard against the grapple that he actually broke free from Tony's grip, tumbling to the ground and dislodging his mask in the process. Thor intervened by placing his hammer on his arm, leaving him completely pinned.
But Steve barely noticed. All he could see was the Winter Soldier's face… Bucky's face.
He couldn't breathe, he could barely even think. It felt like his brain was involved in a trainwreck. What could he do? How could he even explain what was happening? What could he even say?
"Bucky?" He heard the words leave his mouth.
And then, in a voice that was unmistakably Bucky's, the Winter Solider replied "Who the hell is Bucky?"