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47 Underestimated
🕑 Added 2024-12-10 18:15:00 +0000 UTCWhen Harry apparated into Nick Fury’s office in New York, an unsettling knot formed in his stomach. A level seven threat was a threat that Earth was not ready to handle just yet. He knew SHIELD’s threat scale inside out, being their resident expert on all things magical had made sure of that. But a level seven? That was reserved for the most extreme situations, the kind that made the World Security Council think up Phase 2.
According to SHIELD’s manuals, it meant that an extraterrestrial entity with combat capabilities far beyond what the current military could manage was attacking Earth. The last time SHIELD had considered anything close to this would be the destroyer in New Mexico. But even that would be a level 5 at max.
As he materialized, his senses immediately tuned in to the stillness of Fury’s office. No sharp orders, no tense voices. That was strange. Fury’s absence only added to his growing sense of unease. Harry stepped out into the hallway, eyes scanning the area. Agents were moving around in panic. Whatever was happening, it had people on edge. He hurried down the corridor toward the situation room.
When he reached the door, Harry stopped for a moment, taking a breath. Pushing the door open, he was greeted by the sight of Phil Coulson along with a bruised Nick Fury and Maria Hill, huddled around a table scattered with files and live video feeds. Fury’s one good eye tracked his entrance, and he gave a brief nod of acknowledgement.
Harry moved toward Fury and Hill. “Hold still,” he muttered as he directed a soft, green glow from his hand over their bruises and cuts. The injuries mended quickly, the bruises fading as the magic worked itself. Hill gave a small sigh of relief, while Fury simply grunted his thanks, not one to dwell on such things.
“There. Good as new,” Harry said, sitting down across from them with a small, satisfied grin. “Looks like you three have been through the wringer. What happened? Trip over your own feet?”
Fury glanced at Phil, then back at Harry with a raised eyebrow. “Coulson, why is Potter suddenly cracking jokes? I thought he’d turned into a brooding asshole since his return from Asgard. I’ve been dealing with Grumpy McGrumpface for weeks now. Did I miss a memo?”
Harry snorted. “Yeah, well, I’ve bottled up all my emotions for now. Figured I’d get through the day without dragging everyone down in my storm cloud.” He waved his hand in mock flair. “Just for you, Fury. Can’t go meet Captain America looking like an Ebenezer Scrooge, can I?”
Fury crossed his arms and shot him a sceptical look. “So, you’re telling me you’ve been a mood-killer for weeks, and now, suddenly, you’re sunshine and rainbows just ‘cause I asked you to go play nice with Rogers?”
Harry chuckled but there was a tightness to it. "Just following through on your little request, Director." He made a mock flourish with his hands. "Had to go and play nice with Captain Rogers. Figured showing up as my usual brooding self wouldn’t make the best first impression."
Fury shot him a skeptical look but there was a hint of amusement in his voice. "Took you long enough. I’ve been asking you to meet Rogers for weeks now."
"Yeah, well," Harry shrugged, "didn’t want to make him feel like he’d woken up in the wrong century twice over."
Fury shook his head, leaning back in his chair. "I didn’t realize you’d need to bottle up your entire personality just to make a friend."
Harry smirked, though there was a flicker of something deeper in his eyes. "Hey, you wanted results. Steve Rogers probably doesn’t need another brooding figure in his life."
Coulson, watching the exchange with mild amusement, finally spoke up. “Well, at least he’s back to cracking jokes. Might be the most normal thing I’ve seen all day.”
Harry shot him a look. Despite his playful tone, his mind lingered on the mess of emotions he’d locked away behind the walls of Occlumency. Natasha’s face flashed in his mind, and for a second, his smile faltered, but only for a second. He shook off the thought and refocused on the task at hand. There were bigger things to worry about now.
Hill cleared her throat, shifting the tone from light-hearted to serious in an instant. “There are more pressing issues than both of your banter,” she said curtly, as she brought the focus back to the emergency.
Harry’s relaxed expression tightened into a serious one. “What’s going on?”
Coulson stepped up to explain. “We’ve had energy fluctuations coming from the Tesseract for the past week, spikes in power, unlike anything we’ve seen before. At first, we thought it was a malfunction or a side effect from its containment, but it quickly escalated. The readings were erratic and powerful enough to trigger alarms across our facility. We evacuated everyone as a precaution.”
“We were on the verge of conducting a full shutdown when things spiralled out of control,” Hill added, taking over seamlessly. “Dr. Selvig reported that the device had begun to generate massive amounts of energy on its own. Unstable, but contained. Until it wasn’t.”
Coulson nodded. “The three of us were on-site when the Tesseract’s energy spiked higher than ever. Before we could initiate a full lockdown, Selvig’s experimental Tesseract Accelerator activated. Completely on its own.”
“That’s when Loki appeared,” Hill said grimly. “He stepped right through a portal opened by the Tesseract’s power like it was his personal doorway. Introduced himself as the rightful ruler of Earth.”
“Loki didn’t come unprepared,” Hill continued. “He had a scepter, some kind of weapon or artefact. He used it to take control of several of our agents, including Dr. Selvig. One touch from that scepter and they were under his control—no resistance, no hesitation.”
“Barton too,” Coulson added grimly, his voice tinged with regret. “Loki’s got him.”
Harry’s expression hardened further. Losing Barton was personal. "How many?"
Hill responded immediately. “Selvig, Barton, and about a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. They’re now in Loki’s hands, doing his bidding. They cleared out the facility before we could stop them.”
“And Loki made sure to take the Tesseract with him,” Coulson finished. “All of our attempts to track him down have failed so far. We don’t know where he is, but wherever he’s gone, he’s got the Tesseract and an army of mind-controlled agents.”
“Let me make sure we are talking about the same Loki? Asgard’s god of Mischief, Loki?” Harry asked, his eyes narrowing. “Thor’s baby brother, long greasy hair like he’s auditioning for a shampoo commercial? Dresses like he’s ready to host some medieval dinner theatre? The guy struts around like he’s too good for this universe, and don’t even get me started on that stupid horned helmet of his. What’s he compensating for, a bad haircut?”
Coulson tried to suppress a grin, while Hill remained as stone-faced as ever, though her lips twitched ever so slightly.
“Seriously, he’s like a walking ego trip in shiny leather pants. I mean, I get it, you’ve got some daddy issues because you’re technically adopted or whatever but come on!” Harry threw his hands up in exasperation. “He acts like he invented the concept of being an ass. And don't even mention his speeches! The last time I fought him, he monologued for so long that I thought I’d grow a beard before he finished. Every other sentence out of his mouth is some pompous garbage about how he’s the rightful king of everything, including things he probably doesn’t even know exist. It’s exhausting.”
Coulson chuckled under his breath as Harry kept going.
“And his tricks! Don’t even get me started on those!” Harry said, eyes widening in frustration. “The guy’s a magical con artist with an illusion complex! ‘Oh look at me, I can make copies of myself. I can vanish in a puff of smoke!’ Yeah, mate, real impressive. I swear, if smugness was a weapon, he’d have wiped out half the galaxy by now.”
Hill finally raised an eyebrow. “Are you done?”
Harry smirked. “I could go on. The guy’s got enough issues to fill up an entire psychiatric ward, but yeah, you get the idea.”
Hill, maintaining her professional demeanour, nodded as she pulled up the footage of the attack. “That’s the one.”
As the security camera footage rolled, Harry’s smirk faded into something more serious. He watched Loki step through the portal, causing chaos with that same smarmy arrogance that made Harry’s blood boil. His jaw clenched as memories of their past battle resurfaced. The footage showed Loki using his scepter to enslave Barton and Selvig, manipulating them with just a tap, and Harry’s eyes darkened.
“Yeah, that’s him all right,” Harry muttered, his voice low. “And this time, I’m going to make sure he gets exactly what’s coming to him.”
Fury jumped in, as Harry was reaching the end of the video. “I don’t think Barton and the others are completely brainwashed. Barton had a clean shot to take me out, point-blank range, but instead of aiming for my head, he took a shot at my chest.”
Harry leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. “Barton doesn’t miss,” he said flatly. There was no doubt in his mind about that fact.
“No, he doesn’t.” Fury’s expression was grim. “It’s like they’re under some influence, but it’s not total. He’s fighting it.”
Harry exhaled, his mind racing. “Are we ready to deploy Phase 2?” He didn’t want to wait, not when Loki was out there with a weapon as powerful as the Tesseract.
Fury’s one good eye locked onto Harry’s. “No, we’re not. Not even close,” he replied, the weight of the situation hanging between them. “We don’t have the arsenal to take on a full-scale battle against an alien force. We’re outgunned and outclassed. Hell, Loki alone is a problem.”
Harry clenched his jaw. His previous battle with Loki was still fresh in his mind. The god had toyed with him as if Harry’s considerable magical abilities were nothing more than parlour tricks. The humiliation had burned, and now Loki had the Tesseract in his possession.
“The first plan of action,” Fury continued, “is to locate the Tesseract and neutralize the threat before Loki can call for reinforcements. We have to stop him before he brings more of his friends down here.”
Hill, folded her arms, “We’re deploying a helicarrier as a mobile base of operations. But it’s going to take time, almost a week to get fully operational.”
Harry frowned. A week felt like an eternity. “And what happens in the meantime?”
Hill exchanged a glance with Fury before answering, “We wait and watch. Our analysts believe Loki will need the Tesseract to power any device capable of bringing in reinforcements. But from what we’ve seen, he didn’t bring anything sophisticated with him, just the staff. That means he’ll have to use Earth’s resources to build what he needs.”
“That’ll buy us time,” Fury added. “But it won’t be much. Loki’s clever and he has Barton working under him. If we don’t act fast, he’ll have whatever device he’s planning ready to go.”
Harry mulled this over, his eyes scanning the room. “So we’re gambling on the fact that he has to build this thing here, on Earth?”
Hill nodded. “It’s the only advantage we have. Loki can’t bring in his reinforcements until he has something capable of harnessing the Tesseract’s energy.”
Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. “And we don’t even know how long that’ll take. Great.” He looked up at Fury, his eyes hardening. “Let’s not wait too long to take a swing at this. Loki’s dangerous enough without giving him more time to prepare.”
Fury stood, his expression serious. “That is why my first play is you,” he said, cutting straight to the point. “If you can use your magic to locate Loki or the Tesseract, we might be able to stop them before they finish whatever they’re planning. That cube is the key to whatever Loki is planning Potter, and I don’t want to wait around to see what it unlocks.”
Harry frowned, contemplating the weight of the task ahead of him. “And if I find them? What then?”
Fury stepped closer, leaning on the table with both hands. “Once we have a location, we send in a highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. task force with a wizard of our own to take Loki and his mind-controlled goons down. Neutralize the threat, recover the Tesseract, and stop this thing before it starts.”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “And if it doesn’t happen that way? What if Loki slips through the cracks, and we’re looking at a full-scale intergalactic invasion?”
Fury’s gaze hardened. “Then we move to Plan B.” He paused, letting the weight of his next words sink in. “The World Security Council’s against this, but I’ve reactivated the Avengers Initiative.”
Harry couldn’t help the flicker of surprise. “The Avengers?” He hadn’t heard that name in a while, and frankly, he hadn’t thought Fury would pull the trigger.
Fury nodded. “We start recruitment as soon as the helicarrier is fully operational. It’s not ideal, hell, it’s barely a contingency, but if Loki calls in an army, we’re going to need every bit of firepower we can get.”
Harry exhaled, nodding slowly. He could sense the gravity of the situation and how much was riding on his ability to locate the Tesseract. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said, his voice steady.
Fury turned to Coulson. “Take Potter to a secure location so he can work his magic.”
Coulson smiled wryly. “I know just the place.”
Fury straightened up, his voice carrying authority. “You know the drill, people. Dismissed.”
As Harry followed Coulson out of the room, he couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to spiral out of control. Loki was dangerous enough on his own, but with the Tesseract in his hands this was a ticking time bomb.
Coulson gestured for Harry to follow him as they exited the briefing room. They walked briskly through the corridors of the SHIELD facility, passing agents who were either too preoccupied with their tasks or smart enough not to question what they were doing.
"Got a quiet space for you," Coulson said, leading Harry into an isolated, reinforced room designed for high-level security meetings. The walls were lined with thick concrete, and the dim lighting gave the room a cold, sterile feel.
Harry started to feel the pressure of the task weighing on him. This was not going to be easy. Loki had bested him once before, and the memory still stung. Harry started by waving his hand through the air as he murmured a series of direction charms. He traced an arc with his hand, trying to sense any magical imprints of the Tesseract or Loki. The spells fizzled out, his hand glowing faintly before losing its light.
“Too much interference,” Harry muttered under his breath. The Tesseract's powerful energy field was creating a kind of magical static, making it difficult to pinpoint.
Next, Harry drew out runes around him using chalk that he had conjured. “This might take a bit more,” he said to Coulson, who had taken a seat across the room, watching silently. Harry, once the runes were done, started muttering an incantation as the runes began to glow faintly.
The room grew colder, and the runes shifted, the chalk disassembling to form a vague map of the southwest region of the US. Harry’s brow furrowed in concentration, but the runes only pointed to a vague area. “That narrows it down to somewhere in the southwest U.S.,” Harry said, frustration evident. "Not enough."
Undeterred, he took a deep breath and prepared for something more extreme. Harry reached out his hand to conjure a small, silver knife, his expression turning grim. Coulson raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“I need to perform a blood ritual to enhance this spell,” Harry explained. “It’s not something I like to use, but Loki’s magic is tricky. His energy is foreign to this realm, and it’s going to take something more primal to track it.”
He nicked his palm with a conjured blade, allowing a few drops of blood to fall onto the floor, where they began to glow faintly. He murmured an ancient chant in a language even Coulson couldn’t recognize, watching as the blood seemed to pulse with magical energy. Harry’s eyes glowed briefly as he connected his blood to the arcane currents, reaching out across the magical spectrum to find any trace of Loki.
The room seemed to warp slightly as Harry’s blood magic interacted with the lingering energy of Loki’s sceptre. For a moment, Harry felt a tug, like a thread pulling him toward something. But it was slippery, like trying to hold onto water.
“Come on... come on...” Harry gritted his teeth, pushing harder as his magic collided with the chaotic energies surrounding Loki.
Suddenly, the chalk, now coated red due to Harry’s blood reformed itself to create the exact map of the location where the Scepter was located. Once the magic had settled around Harry, he asked Phil to come over and look at the location.
Phil stared at the well… drawing Harry had created, the shape and features of the desert facility familiar to him. “That’s an old SHIELD research base,” he muttered, frowning. “It was decommissioned in the 90s. Nobody’s used it in years.”
He quickly grabbed his walkie-talkie. “Get the task force prepped, and ready for the quinjet. We’re heading to New Mexico.”
The tension in the air mounted as the team mobilized. A group of ten elite SHIELD agents, fully equipped with tactical gear, assembled alongside Coulson and Harry. The quinjet roared to life as they boarded. Inside, Harry sat across from Coulson, with a focused look.
As they approached the desolate desert landscape, the old SHIELD facility came into view, worn down from decades of neglect, blending into the barren surroundings. Harry’s eyes narrowed as they descended. "It's here," he confirmed. "I can feel it. Loki’s definitely in there."
Coulson took command as they approached the location and started to brief the task force. “We’re going in silent. No flashy entrance. Team, prepare for deployment. This could be a trap, so stay sharp. Our priority is to secure the Tesseract and apprehend Loki."
The jet touched down quietly, its ramp lowering as the team swiftly disembarked. The SHIELD task force moved swiftly, weapons drawn as they combed through the dilapidated corridors of the abandoned facility. Dust floated in the air, and the silence was unsettling. The base looked as if it hadn’t seen a soul in years, let alone housed something as powerful as the Tesseract.
Harry’s brow furrowed as he trailed behind the agents, his wand outstretched. "This doesn’t make sense," he muttered to Coulson, who walked beside him.
“No sign of life anywhere,” Coulson echoed, glancing at the hollow rooms, the empty labs. “It's like a ghost town.”
Harry, sensing the familiar but faint magical signature he had detected earlier, closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating. He could feel the residual traces of Loki’s magic lingering, but it was faint, scattered, and elusive. Like a trick.
"I can still feel something it’s faint, but it’s here. He’s hiding," Harry murmured, pushing his magic further. He moved instinctively, leading Coulson and the team through the facility, down several flights of stairs, each level growing darker and more decrepit.
The further down they went, the stronger the magical presence became. Harry's pulse quickened as they reached the bottommost floor. a level that seemed almost untouched, colder than the rest, and utterly silent.
“This is it,” Harry said in a low voice, pointing ahead.
At the far end of the dimly lit corridor, Loki stood, leaning casually against a wall, a smirk playing on his lips as his piercing gaze locked onto Harry.
"Ah, wizard," Loki drawled with disdain, his voice echoing through the abandoned facility. "I see you took the bait. How predictable." His eyes gleamed with a superiority complex that could rival the cosmos itself. "You may think you’re clever, but you are nothing compared to me. Your little parlour tricks pale in the face of true power."
Harry remained unfazed “Where’s the Tesseract?” he demanded, his voice sharp, ignoring Loki's taunts.
Loki chuckled darkly, twirling his scepter in his hand. "Oh, you poor fool. The Tesseract was never here," he said, stepping closer, his expression darkening. "This was merely a trap. A demonstration of just how insignificant you are. You cannot hope to defeat a god."
Without another word, Loki raised his scepter, unleashing a violent beam of energy straight at Harry. The air crackled as the blast hurtled toward him but Harry didn’t flinch. Without even moving, he conjured a shimmering shield of pure magic, the beam crashing against it and dissipating harmlessly.
"I’m not the same person who fought you in Asgard," Harry said coldly. His hand moved faster than the eye could follow as he fired a powerful Stunning Spell at Loki. But the Asgardian was quick, raising his scepter to block the attack with a flourish.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Loki sneered, but before he could finish his taunt, Harry launched a flurry of spells at him, one after the other, each more aggressive than the last. Expulso, Incendio, Stupefy, Harry’s magic was relentless, a rapid barrage that Loki hadn’t anticipated.
The room filled with bursts of energy and flashes of light as Loki’s magical shield strained to hold under the onslaught. Loki gritted his teeth, his confidence wavering as Harry’s spells came at him faster than he could retaliate. His shield flickered, barely deflecting a curse before a Bombarda Maxima shattered the air. The force of the spell smashed into the shield, sending Loki staggering back.
The explosion blew a chunk out of the wall behind him, debris raining down as Loki scrambled to regain his footing, visibly rattled. His smirk was gone, replaced with a cold fury as he realized he had underestimated Harry.
“You’ll have to do better than that, Loki,” Harry shot back, his hand glowing with unrestrained energy. He was far from finished.
Seeing that Harry could match him magically, Loki's confident smirk faltered, replaced by a flicker of irritation. In one swift movement, he lunged forward, staff in hand, attempting to overwhelm Harry with brute force. But before Loki’s weapon could make contact, a spectral sword materialized in Harry’s grasp, effortlessly intercepting Loki’s strike.
The sound of clashing metal rang out as they circled each other. Loki, ever the opportunist, made the first move, raining down a series of aggressive strikes with his staff. But Harry parried each blow with a gracefully. His footwork was fluid, his counters sharp, as though he was several steps ahead of the trickster god.
Loki, realizing his staff was meeting more resistance than expected, pressed harder, unleashing a barrage of rapid attacks. But with every clash, it became clearer, Harry was not only holding his own, but he was gaining the upper hand. Harry countered with quick swings, forcing Loki onto the defensive. The God of mischief began to falter, each parried strike making him a step slower, his smirk replaced with a grimace of frustration.
“Getting tired?” Harry taunted, spinning his spectral sword in a fluid motion before pressing his own offensive. The onslaught of blows came faster, more forceful, and Loki struggled to keep up.
Desperation flickered in Loki’s eyes. Close combat had never been his forte, and he was quickly being pushed back. With a frustrated snarl, Loki summoned his magic, launching a powerful blast that exploded between them, forcing Harry to leap back and giving Loki the precious distance he needed to regroup.
Panting slightly, Loki sneered, "You surprise me, wizard. But tricks and swords won’t save you.”
Realizing that his plan to defeat this wizard was faltering, Loki’s eyes flickered with renewed determination. A sly grin spread across his face as he stepped back, raising his arms dramatically. “You may have grown stronger, wizard,” he sneered, his voice dripping with arrogance, “but I am Loki, God of mischief. Did you really think this would be so easy?”
Without warning, Loki’s form shimmered and split into dozens, then hundreds, of identical copies. The room filled with his clones, each wearing the same smug expression, their cold eyes fixed on Harry. They began to circle, surrounding him in a dizzying swirl of motion. Taunts echoed from every direction, creating an eerie chorus.
“You can’t stop what you can’t catch,” the clones chanted, their voices layered, multiplying, a wave of misdirection and confusion aimed to overwhelm Harry.
But Harry remained still, eyes scanning his surroundings to find the true form of Loki. The air around him began to ripple with heat as he whispered an incantation under his breath. With a flick of his wrist, a small flame sparked to life in his hand. It danced, glowing brighter by the second, casting flickering shadows across the sea of Loki duplicates.
Loki’s copies paused for a moment, sensing something was wrong.
Harry’s eyes swirled with power as he took a deep breath and hurled the flame skyward. It shot up like a comet, spiralling above his head before bursting into a blazing inferno that expanded in every direction. A roaring sphere of fire exploded outwards, spreading in a perfect 360-degree wave, its searing heat engulfing the entire chamber. The flames twisted and roared like a living beast, devouring everything in its path.
Loki’s clones were consumed in an instant, their sneering faces dissolving into ash as the firestorm tore through them. The heat was blinding, scorching the walls, and licking at the edges of the room with a hunger that seemed unstoppable. Harry stood at the centre of the inferno, untouched by the flames, a lone figure in the eye of the storm.
And then, as suddenly as it had erupted, the fire began to subside. The swirling flames dissipated into embers that floated harmlessly to the ground. The chamber was silent, the air heavy with the scent of smoke and singed stone. Harry surveyed the aftermath.
But as the last of the flames flickered out, Harry’s eyes scanned the room to find Loki was gone. He hadn’t been among the burning clones. He had used the spectacle to cover his escape.
A wave of frustration swept over Harry. The trickster had slipped away, leaving not even the faintest trace of his magic.
Harry clenched his fist, thinking about how Loki had baited him, deliberately setting up this trap to break his spirit. But it hadn’t worked. Not this time. Harry smirked to himself, he wasn't the same wizard Loki had toyed with back in Asgard.
For the first time since that humiliating defeat, Harry felt a surge of satisfaction. Loki had underestimated him, assuming that Harry would crumble like he did last time. But Harry had grown stronger, more resilient. The trickster had wanted to crush him, but Harry had proven he wasn’t someone to be dismissed so easily. Still, he knew this victory was temporary. Loki wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Drawing a deep breath, Harry turned his attention back to the task at hand. He reached out with his magic, sending invisible tendrils through the facility, searching for any lingering trace of the Tesseract, Barton, Selvig, or even Loki. But all he found was emptiness. The energy he had followed here had vanished, slipping through his grasp like sand.
Frustration crept in as he tried again, casting every detection spell, rune, and charm he could think of, even tapping into some of the more obscure branches of magic. But there was nothing—no trace, no signature, no direction to follow. It was as if Loki had wiped the slate clean, erasing all clues from existence.
Harry frowned, his chest tightening. For now, the trail was cold. But one thing was certain: this fight was far from over.
