Chapter 12: Understanding Chaos
The Iron Man aka Tony Stark was out of his depths, the Palladium core of the arc reactor in his chest was slowly killing him and he couldn't find any other element to be a substitute for it. The military and government were all over him again for the Iron Man Suit, how would he know that two monsters will fight and destroy Harlem while he was away in Monaco. Then there is the case of Ivan Vanko, he took part in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix to have some fun before he dies but he was attacked by Vanko who somehow made an arc reactor.
Tony made Potts the CEO of Stark Industries and now she is unhappy for his behaviours, oh how he wished he could tell her about his problem but he didn't want her to worry. Then last night in his own birthday party he got extremely drunk and fought with Rhodes and now Rhodes was away with an Iron Man suit, he could have stopped Rhodes but he didn't want to.
Tony was sitting on a big donut shape above a restaurant wearing his Iron Man Suit eating Donuts when Nick Fury came to him, "Stark, I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut." With that Fury went inside.
Tony sighed and came down and entered the empty restaurant and sat down across Fury, "I told you I don't want to join your super-secret boy band." Tony said with a sigh.
Fury snorted, "No, no, no. See, I remember, you do everything yourself. By the way, how's that working for you?"
"It's... It's... It's... I'm sorry, I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye?" Tony sighed, "Honestly speaking, I'm a bit hung over. I'm not sure if you're real or if I'm having..."
"Oh, believe me Stark, I am very real. I'm the realest person you're ever gonna meet."
Tony sighed as he leaned back, "Just my luck. Where's the staff here?"
Nick indicated toward the poison markings on Tony's neck, " "That's not looking so good."
Tony shrugged, "I've been Worse."
Just then Natasha who has been posing as Pepper secretary Natalia Rushman came in in her black one-piece tight suit.
"Huh, You're fired." Tony said while staring at her.
"That's not up to you." Natasha replied back and sat nearby Fury. We've secured the perimeter, but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer."
Fury grinned while looking at Tony's shocked face, "Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff."
"Hi, I am SHIELD Shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury." Natasha replied.
"I suggest you apologize." Tony replied while looking at Natasha.
Fury interrupted, "You've been very busy Stark. You made your girl your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit. Now, if I didn't know better..."
Tony interrupted Fury there, "You don't know better. I didn't give it to him, he took it."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're saying that he took it? You're Iron Man and he just took it? Your friend walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit? Is that even possible?" Fury asked.
Natasha decided to answer, "Well, according to Mr Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorised usage."
Tony gave an irritating sigh, "What do you want from me?"
"No . . . no . . . Stark, the question is what do you want from me? You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the centre of my universe. I have bigger fish to fry than holding your ass." Fury turned to Natasha, "Hit it."
Natasha quickly stood up and injected a serum on Tony's neck with a syringe, Tony cried out. "Ouch! Oh dear, are you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?" But Tony started feeling a lot better suddenly, "What was that? What did you do to me?"
Fury replied, "What did we just do for you Stark? That's lithium dioxide and it's gonna take the edge off. We're trying to make you go back to work Stark."
"Give me a couple of boxes of that thing and I'll be right as rain." Tony suggested.
Natasha replied, "It's not as cure Stark, it just relent the symptoms. Your problem is not gonna be an easy fix Stark."
Tony snorted in reply, "Trust me, I know. I'm good at this stuff. I have been searching for a viable replacement for Palladium for a long time but still my hands are empty. I've tried every permutation, every commutation of all the known elements but it's all for nothing. Hell, I have tried the new Dilithium that Potter created and not even that works."
"Well, I'm here to tell you, you haven't tried them all. Let's get you home, we will talk there." Fury said and got up, Tony too stood up with a sigh.
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"The Arc Reactor in your chest, it's based on an unfinished technology." Fury said as he sat down on the chair in the destroyed balcony of Tony Stark's house.
"No, it's finished. It was never very effective until I miniaturized it and put it in my . . ."
Fury shook his head, "No, you are wrong. I knew Howard after all he was one of the finding members of SHIELD." That shocked Tony but Fury continued, "According to Howard, the arc reactor was a stepping stone for something greater. He was on to something big, something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery."
Tony snorted, "Just him or was Anton Vanko on this too?"
Fury sighed, "Anton Vanko is the other side of that coin. Vanko was a Russian spy who befriended your father for his own profit, he was planning to sell it and get richer but Howard found out about it. Howard had him deported and when the Russians got to know that he couldn't deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia. He spent his next 20 years there in a vodka filled rage, swearing revenge on your father."
"Not a great place to raise a kid huh."
Fury nodded, "Ivan Vanko, the son you had the misfortune of crossing paths in Monaco. His father made him hate the Stark name and he invaded the Monaco Grand Prix to get back at you."
Tony nodded, "Well I heard he is dead now. By the way, what happened in Harlem? I heard that Dr Bruce Banner turned into a big green monster and fought with something similar to him."
Fury sighed, "Dr Banner aka the Hulk is working for Marauders Ltd, when he gets angry he turns into a big green rage monster. He came back her to meet up with his friend but the military tried to get him again and this time they used a uncomplete super soldier serum and Hulk's synthesized blood on a soldier who turned into an Abomination, the destruction of Harlem is the result of their fight."
"I heard a figure in black overcoat killed the abomination and teleported away with Hulk, what's his name?"
"I have my suspicion on who it is but I won't be telling you, he didn't give any name." Fury answered back.
"You know what, I think I might call him the Paladin. A guy swoops in, kill a monster and goes away that sounds like a knight but also magic but magic isn't real right?. I'm gonna leak the news that his name was Paladin." Tony turned to Fury, "You said that I haven't tried everything. What do you mean I haven't tried everything? What haven't I tried?"
"Howard said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started."
Tony stared at Fury, "He said that?"
Fury gave a single nod, "Yes, but are you that guy? Because if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart."
Tony snorted, "I don't know where you get your information but he wasn't my biggest fan, most of the time we didn't see eye to eye."
"What do you remember about your father?"
Tony answered with a long sigh, "He was cold, he was calculating. He never told me he loved me. He never even told me he liked me, so it's a little tough for me to digest when you're telling me he said that the whole future was riding on me and he's passing it down. I don't get that. You're talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."
"That's not true Stark, he may have been a little slow but he always loved you." Fury stood up as a few agents with Phil Coulson came in holding a trunk, "This belonged to your father and it's time I return it back. You are good now, Natasha will remain at Stark Industries with her cover intact. Remember tony, I've got an eye on you."
"Wait! Wait! Just Wait, what am I suppose to do with this stuff?" Tony asked.
Fury shrugged in reply, "You are your father's son, I am sure you'll find something." With that he left.
"We've disabled all communications. No contact with the outside world until you are good enough." Coulson said as he stepped forward.
"First thing, I need a little bodywork. I'll put in a little time at the lab. If we could send one of your goon squad down to The Coffee Bean, Cross Creek, for a Starbucks run, or something like that, that'd be nice."
Coulson still in a purely professional voice replied, "Mr Stark, I am not here for that. I've been authorised by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet."
"Ok, ok I am scared you bad man." Tony said sarcastically.
Phil gave a small smile, "Enjoy your evening's entertainment." With that he left leaving other agents behind.
"I want to take your head and play a baseball with it, that will be surely an entertainment." Tony grumbled and went for the trunk that Coulson brought in.
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"Paladin huh, not a bad name."
Harry snorted, "Really Betsy, who thought of this name?"
Emma replied, "From what my sources tell, it was Tony Stark."
In a short amount of time Betsy had become a very good friend of Harry and Emma, Harry told his same secrets that he shared with Emma. The three had developed a great friendly relationship in a short amount of time, the three were watching the news report on Hulk and Abomination fight in Harlem and the reports on the mysterious figure that killed the Abomination and vanished with Hulk.
"How's s Dr Banner?" Emma asked.
Harry replied, "He's good right now, he and Hulk have formed a small partnership and it's doing wonders for him. By the way Emma, Black Phantom is really awesome."
Emma smiled, "I got the idea of it when you told me about the X Men jet Blackbird, I decided to work on a similar jet but much more advanced and with some heavy firepower. Tony Stark wasn't the only person that can build good weapons but to say the least Black Phantom is fully loaded and it is the best fighter Jet in the world right now. It has enough firepower to destroy about half of Europe, it has the cloaking technology that makes it invisible and in addition it is made from the combination of Vibranium and Adamantium. I spent a lot of my time on it and once you created Dilithium I had no problem in thinking about the power problem, it can go outside earth atmosphere or nearer to the moon but it isn't meant for travelling in space yet."
Harry nodded, "It will be soon, according to Dr Banner we will be completing the space project in a year. Emma, Betsy I want the both of you to look for astronomers and get some good students and started training them to live in Space."
"What are you planning?" Betsy asked because she knew whenever Harry tell something to do like this he plans to do something big.
Betsy wasn't wrong as Harry replied, "We will be creating a very big floating Space Station above the earths atmosphere, the Space Station will hold most of our larger space Ships that we will make and this way we don't have to worry about the area required to keep a spaceship. Tell our researchers to start making jet designs similar to Black Phantom that will be used to transport people from earth to the Space Station."
Emma frowned, "Making a Space Station will take time Harry, it will take a lot of time."
Harry grinned, "Emma, you remember Amadeus Cho?" Emma nodded as Harry continued, "He is a big fan of sci-fi fiction and this was his idea, he with my elves worked a lot to made its designs and I will bring out around 500 more house elves to start working on the Space Station with all other human workers. Cho is confident that he can finish the design of Space Station with the Space Ship and that is within a year, I believe in him and Dr Banner has taken him under his wings and have been helping him out."
Emma nodded, "I'll start looking for people who will love to or be comfortable to work in space and start their training after I return from the Stark Expo."
Harry was about to say good luck to her but Fawkes just suddenly flamed into his office and interestingly she was holding a letter in his beak. Harry took the letter and said, "You know Fawkes, it is very stupid of you to come here when you know there can be someone else that doesn't know about you." Fawkes gave Harry a irritated glare that said, 'I am not idiot dumbass.'
Harry sighed and opened the letter, it was from Jean Grey. Harry opened the letter and read its content.
"Hey Harry
I wanted to contact you but didn't have your number or mail id, Fawkes brought a pen and paper to me so I wrote this letter. I am writing this because I need your help or more specifically a young girl needs your help, she is as powerful as me and her powers are strong enough to put Logan in bed for couple of days.
Her name is Wanda Maximoff and we found her in Transia nearby Wundagore Mountain where she was kept captive, we took her in and tried to help her out but she has locked herself within her mind as she has no control over her powers. I can't get into her mind and she is in desperate need of help that we here can't give her here, I thought you may be able to help her or prof Xavier is trying to contact someone called the Ancient One.
Please reply back.
Jean Grey."
"Who wrote it Harry?" Emma asked.
Harry handed the letter to Emma and Betsy joined her in reading the letter, "Looks like I'll be going to New York with you Emma, Betsy you should join me as well."
Betsy nodded, "Sure, I'll love to see the school of mutants."
"What do you think her powers are Harry, Jean Grey has the essence of Phoenix inside her then what could be powerful than her?" Emma asked.
"Jean only has the essence of Phoenix Emma not the full power of Phoenix, Phoenix isn't the strongest or only cosmic entity out there. I have to feel her powers to know what it is." Harry made a quick note saying that he will be there in a couple of days, "Take it back to Jean Fawkes." Fawkes nodded and flamed away with the note.
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Harry, Emma and Betsy arrived in New York in Harry's Private Plane and from there they went their separate ways, Harry and Betsy went to the X Mansion while Emma left to setup everything in Stark Expo. When Harry and Betsy reached X Mansion he was greeted by Charles Xavier and Jean Grey, "Hello Mr Potter and you must be Elizabeth Braddock, Mr Potter Secretary but I didn't know you are a mutant as well."
"Is there any problem with that?" Betsy asked hotly.
Charles gave a small but genuine smile, "No, I was just surprised."
"Hello Charles and you too Jean, so where is Miss Maximoff?" Harry asked.
Charles indicated Harry and Betsy to follow her, "She is in her room right now, her mental health is unstable due to which sometimes she gets very sad or sometimes extremely happy for no apparent reason and sometimes very angry. No matter how her mood swings her powers are way beyond anything I have ever seen and after seeing the Phoenix Force of Jean that is saying something, I thought that maybe her powers are connected to the Mystic Arts so I contacted the Ancient One. She said that she you two have met and that she will be coming here to see Wanda most probably today."
They reached near a room and Charles opened the door, Harry peaked inside and found a 14 year old girl with auburn hair floating things in air with some reddish waves. Harry was shocked, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Harry's voice was a thin whisper, "Chaos Magic."
"You said something Mr Potter." Charles asked.
Harry turned to all of them, "I think I know what her powers are, I need you to leave me with her alone for some time."
"Will you be safe?" Betsy asked with a frown.
Harry smiled, "Don't worry, just wait outside and I'll go and talk to her."
Charles nodded, "As you wish but please be careful."
Harry nodded and went inside, Wanda didn't seem to notice him. Harry waved his hands and conjured a simple chair and that got Wanda's attention, Harry sat down on the chair and said. "Hello Wanda, I am Harry Potter."
Wanda didn't say anything in reply but tried to do what Harry did with her powers, Harry waited and watch as she couldn't make a chair no matter how much she tried and that was frustrating her. "I know why you can't do it Wanda, I know a way to help you to make a chair out of thin air." Wanda stared at Harry as if she wants to know the answer so Harry obliged, "Your powers Wanda, they are not logical and that's the beauty of it. The logic will barely work for you and that is because you are Chaos, conjuring a chair from the air is like changing air particles and combining it to make a chair and that is based on logic and that's why you can't do it. Chaos is the power of your imagination Wanda, you may not be able to change the air into a chair but you can change the reality to make a chair, why don't you try that?"
Wanda stared at me for a long time but finally nodded and used the red waves in her hands all around the room, the room suddenly started changing as the colours changed, all the books and painting vanished and beside Harry's chair there was another thin and weak chair. Wanda smiled for the first time, "Are you like me?"
Harry smiled, "I knew a few people that used powers similar to yours and they were very strong, I learnt to do a few of those things but I never had the talent and the connection to the Chaos to do what you are capable of Wanda. Chaos never work with logic and that's why it makes you see the world in chaos, I had a friend who was very similar to you and her name was Luna Lovegood. Luna was like my sister and she was very different from others, she always saw the world from different perspective that others couldn't understand and it was because she had a connection with Chaos. The chair you made is very weak and it's because although you are connected to Chaos you are still not capable enough to fully harness it, you know what let's go outside and see what we can do with your powers."
Wanda nodded and the red waves covering the room died down changing everything to as it was, Wanda got up and Harry led her out of the room. The others were waiting outside the room but they got a shock of their life when they saw the ever-gloomy Wanda had a genuine smile on her face, Harry didn't stop to talk with any of them and headed towards the ground. Many children's of the school started staring at the pair as the two strode forward out of the manor and on to the ground. Wanda looked around and shrunk back, "They are staring at me."
Harry smiled and patted her, "Let them Wanda, we are not here for them rather we are here for you." Harry called forth the Elder Wand and chanted a powerful magical dome around himself and Wanda, "Protego Maxima. Fianto Duri. Repello Inimicum."
A strong magical dome sprang up Wanda looked at the shield and said, "I can feel it but I can't explain it, what is it?"
Harry smiled and replied, "It is a dome or shield that will contain your powers inside this and not go outside of it. I am going to show you what little bit I can do with powers similar to yours, watch closely." Chaos magic was one thing that Harry could never master, Harry was a very logical person with a completely organized mind so it was nearly impossible for him to work with the disorganized magic that was Chaos. Harry concentrated and use what he could of Chaos magic and just like Wanda's red waves Black waves started gathering around the Elder Wand, Harry concentrated and focused on the patch of grass nearby him and use the Chaos Magic to change it into a small water hole with a single Lily flower in it.
"This is what you can do Wanda, this and much more because that's the power of Chaos." Harry said and then recede back the black waves changing the area back to the original Grass Patch. "Now, why don't you try it?"
Wanda concentrated as red waves started pouring out of her and collided with the magical dome, Wanda concentrated very hard but it was proving to be too difficult. Harry saw this and he could tell that it was Wanda herself that was stopping her progress, she was fearful of what might happen, she was fearful about hurting someone, "Let go of your restrains Wanda, let go of them. No one can hurt you Wanda, you have to come out and face your fears. Come on Wanda Maximoff, you are the wielder of Chaos, reality is in your whim, nothing else matters anymore."
Finally, Wanda came out of the fearful bubble she was in and her powers exploded out of her and collided with the magical dome nearly breaking through it, the whole area inside the dome was covered in water and in the centre of it was one Lily flower. Wanda's powers were keeping him up and Harry quickly levitated himself in the air to not get submerged in the water, Wanda had a very big smile on her face as she turned to Harry. "Thank you for helping me, thank you very much."
Harry gave a small nod with a smile, "Let's change this back, shall we." Wanda nodded and the red waved subdued down as everything changed back to as it was and Harry dissipated the dome. Harry sensed someone else watching this while staying hidden in a mirror dimension, "It's rude to listen to someone talk while hiding."
There was a crashing sound as the Ancient One came out of the mirror dimension, "My apologies Mr Potter, I was mere curious of what you were doing."
Just then Charles came forward with Jean, Betsy, Storm and Logan. Charles looked at Wanda, "Are you ok Wanda?"
Wanda nodded, "Thank you prof Xavier for what you did for me." Wanda turned toward Logan, "I am sorry for attacking you that day."
Logan waved it off, "No problem kiddo, what's matter is that you are alright now but how did that happen exactly?"
Harry answered, "Wanda was fearful of her powers and since her powers are vastly different it is not possible for someone who doesn't know about it to understand it, Wanda wrapped herself in a mental bubble to prevent herself from hurting someone. That didn't do her any good as she slowly and slowly started to stay inside that bubble and rarely ever come out, she knew what was going on around her but she wasn't able to respond to it. Once she released her full powers she broke that bubble."
Ancient One snorted, "Her powers are not something that should be taken lightly Mr Potter, Chaos is a very dangerous power to handle and the only entity I know who could do it was a demon named Chthon."
Harry snorted, "Chaos is beyond your understanding Ancient One, we normal human beings have organized minds and we live our life according to logic and calculations but Chaos is the opposite of it. One of my teacher who taught me about Chaos said, 'If you think something will happen for some reason then Chaos is the thing that will never happen'. A demon wielding Chaos is not a very bad thing because demons don't have the creativity, imagination and brains of humans that's why they never understood the full potential of Chaos and that's the reason you are able to defeat them."
The Ancient One didn't replied back, Charles asked. "So, what now? Will Wanda be able to stay here with us or will there be any problem."
Harry replied, "Wanda can't stay with your Charles Xavier, she needs to learn more about her powers and how to control them. Chaos is much bigger than Phoenix prof Xavier and Wand will need time maybe years to get the hang of her powers." Harry looked down at Wanda, "Will you come with me Wanda? I'll help you control your powers and I'll teach you whatever I can."
Wanda nodded, "I will go with you Harry Potter." The way she said brought tears into Harry's eyes, only Luna his adoptive sister had that kind of voice and now Wanda had the same sweet voice that can melt a rock.
Harry quickly wiped the tears and turned toward the Ancient One, "You are master in the mystic arts and Wanda will need something to balance out the Chaos in the near future. I can't teach her my ways of doing things because she doesn't have that capability in her, I need you to Wanda have access to Kamar-Taj library again for Wanda and once she becomes a bit older she can be one of your students."
The Ancient One nodded, "Once Wanda has her powers under a bit of control the library of Kamar-Taj will be open for her. I bid you all farewell." The Ancient One created a portal with her Sling Ring and went through it.
"That was an interesting way to travel." Betsy commented.
Harry snorted, "Wanda, this is Elizabeth Braddock or Betsy but she also goes by the name Psylocke, she is my secretary. Betsy, I want you to stay for a couple of days with Wanda here. I'll be with Emma at the Stark Expo, once done we will pick you Wanda and return back."
Betsy nodded, "Sure."
Harry turned to Wanda, "I'll see you in a couple of days Wanda. Prof Xavier, Jean, Storm, Login we'll meet again but till then Toodles." With that he vanished.
"Gah, I always hated that word. It annoys the hell out of me." Logan shouted.
Betsy gave a snort in reply, "That's why he says that word, Toodles." Logan glared at her but she shrugged off.
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AN: - The conversation between Fury and Tony is mostly from the movie, Iron Man 2. Peter Maximoff will come during the Apocalypse arc but whether Wanda and Peter are brother and sister, whether their father is Magneto is a question that you'll find out later on.
I was gonna choose the name Mage for Harry but that was to on the nose so I went with my second option Paladin which just sounds really cool and if you Google it I think it fits well. Also the author who wrote this story actually named Harry The Reaper which I found to be completely rubbish and as I will be continuing this story from where he left off it's only right that I name the mc…. Toodles
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