"Yeah, I will." Harry said before taking a deep breath. "Back on my old world I did what many considered to be impossible, I beat the worst dark lord of all time, Voldemort. It wasn't easy, I started fighting the war as a teenager. People used to fear Voldemort, so much that they couldn't speak his name, they'd call him 'he-who-must-not-be-named' and 'you-know-who'. But during the war time I was able to gain a reputation even bigger than his, unlike him I didn't harm innocent people and kids and so on, but much like him I was not the sort of person you should mess with him.
Voldemort and his army tried to kill me so many times and failed each and every time, nothing they did would work. Killing curses, which were supposed to be unsurvivable, would barely slow me down. Other spells would hurt and temporarily stop me but never anything beyond temporary, even if they captured and tortured me I would eventually find some way to escape. As far as everyone was concerned I was death incarnate. Voldemort wasn't immortal like me, but he was pretty close."
"What do you mean?" Bruce asked with a frown on his face, he like everyone else was giving Harry their full attention.
"He used some very, very bad and evil magic to split his soul." Harry answered.
"Split his soul?" Tony repeated with disbelief. "You're saying that a soul is real?"
"Oh I don't Tony, why on Earth would a soul be real?" Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "You know a guy who can control thunder and a girl who can crawl up walls along with me who can turn you into a frog, yes a soul is where the limit is."
"Sorry," Tony said with a small shrug. "but come on, a soul? You have to admit that it's hard to believe."
"I will concede that part," Harry replied. "but I must remind you that you can fly at supersonic speeds and Cap can shoulder press a car."
"Maybe when my arm is better." Steve joked.
"Anyway," Harry continued, "I was eventually able to destroy Voldemort's soul pieces, making him mortal. Then one day I found him, I didn't make his death a quick one and it ended with me ripping his heart out of his chest before I smashed his skull."
"Sounds pleasant." Gwen said in a dry voice.
"It was," Harry nodded. "after I killed him I wanted to just live the rest of my life in peace, you know? I had done my part, I avenged my parents and I stopped the worst dark lord of all time, I had done my part. The government wasn't happy with that idea, I was the most powerful and dangerous wizard alive and despite constantly announcing the fact that I wanted nothing to do with any of them, they kept trying to turn me into their poster boy.
Anyway, a few years later I found out something rather interesting. Voldemort was still alive."
"How?" Sif asked. "You said you killed him, you did kill him, didn't you?"
"Oh I did and I made sure of it, repeatedly," Harry replied. "it turns out one of his more devoted followers was able to bring him back using a dark ritual."
"Dark?" Steve asked.
"Ten people were unwillingly sacrificed," Harry said with a dark look in his eye. "it wasn't a permanent solution either. For every year that Voldemort stayed alive they would need to sacrifice another ten people and Voldemort would be in constant pain, he wasn't the same as before. All of his worst traits had gotten even worse, though he was smart enough to stay out of my way and hide. He knew that if I found out he was alive then he'd be killed all over again, but he also knew that he was going to die eventually. The ritual would only keep working for a limited amount of time, he had only a few years to live and every year he spent alive was more time he spent suffering and growing more crazy. Too crazy."
"What did he do?" Natasha asked, her voice soft, it didn't take a genius to know that this story didn't have a happy ending.
"Well, he figured that if he was going to suffer then everybody should suffer," Harry said, a haunted look on his face. "he hated and feared death more than anything and he was driven more crazy than usual, especially knowing that death was on his tail again. So he decided that if death was going to be in his future then it was going to be in everyone's future."
"Harry?"
"Have… have you… have you guys ever wondered how many nukes it would take to destroy the world?" Harry asked in a deceptively calm voice.
"He didn't!" Tony gasped.
"He did," Harry nodded. "by the time I learned he was alive it was too late. I tried to stop him, but he was able to get multiple nukes to fire up into the air at the same time, I couldn't stop him." Harry choked up at the last part. "I tried, but I couldn't stop it. He knew he was going to die and he had nothing to lose. That's the memory that the Maximoff girl saw, the memory of when my world ended and she felt the moment that I realized that I was the only one left alive."
....
Everyone looked at him, they were all stunned into silence. None of them knew what to say, none of them knew what they could say to the man who had lost his entire world. In that moment they all developed a new found respect for Harry, how could you not respect a man who had been through what he had?
"I… I don't know what to say." Tony said after a few moments, even his witty brain was struggling to think up something.
"Then don't say anything, I'm not asking for pity. I'm telling you all of this so you can all understand." Harry replied, glancing between each and every one of the Avengers. "The first year of my life was undoubtedly the happiest, because I was an innocent little baby with family and I don't even remember that. Everything after was abusive relatives and bullies and then dealing with politics, fickle people, near death experiences before spending the rest of my life in a war, only for the main asshole to come back and wipe out my entire world. I have more anger than I know what to do with and I am trying to work on it, all I ask is for some patience. Now, let's put that aside and how about we finally start working on stopping Ultron?" Harry suggested. "What do you think, Fury?" Harry asked.
"I'm thinking of a lot of things." Fury said as he walked into the room.
"How long have you been here?!" Tony demanded.
"He got here at about when I said 'Sif's right'." Natasha answered.
"How did you even know?" Tony blinked.
"Ahem." Harry coughed. "Can we get on with this?"
"I feel like we should." Fury nodded in agreement. "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself some time, we're trying to look into what he's been doing and all we have right now is the belief that he is building something. With all the Vibranium he's made off with it, I don't think it's just one thing."
"Lots and lots of things make sense, but it could also be one large thing or several medium sized things." Harry replied. "Unless he plans to use some now and store the rest for a later project."
"So long story short all we know is he's taken a lot of vibranium and is planning to do something with it." Gwen sighed. "Isn't that wonderful?" She said in a sarcastic voice.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.
"Oh he's easy to track," Fury said with a shake of his head. "he's everywhere. The guy multiplies faster than a catholic rabbit. It still doesn't help get an angle on any of his plans."
"Unfortunately." Harry sighed, hoping for better news.
"Is he still going after launch codes?" Tony asked.
"Yes he is, but he's not making any headway." Fury replied.
"Are you sure?" Tony frowned.
"I am, why?" Fury asked.
"Oh no reason, just the fact that I cracked the pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony replied, letting everyone around him know how easy it should be for Ultron to hack into the codes. In Tony's opinion it was laughably easy.
"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that." Fury replied.
"The Nexus?" Sif and Steve asked at the same time.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo," Gwen explained. "every bite of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."
"So what did they say?" Harry asked.
"He's fixated on the missiles but he's not making any progress because the codes keep changing." Fury responded.
"By whom?" Tony asked.
"Parties unknown." Fury answered with a small shrug.
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked, she wouldn't mind having another ally at this point.
"Maybe, maybe not." Harry replied.
"He's right," Sif nodded. "Ultron has an enemy yes but that doesn't guarantee that they are on our side. There have been several cases in the past where myself and Thor along with our friends have worked with others, only to have them attempt to betray us. If this person or group is an ally then we should assume that they are temporary aid, at least until we have more information."
"I agree with that. Still, I'd pay folding money just for a clue on who it is." Fury replied.
"I might need to visit Oslo, find our unknown." Tony said.
"Tell me when you're ready, I'll drop you off there with a portkey." Harry replied.
"This has been great and all, really it has, but I was kind of hoping that you would have had something more than that, boss." Natasha said to Fury.
"I do, I have all of you." Fury said, causing everyone in the room to look at him. "I have eyes everywhere and ears everywhere else to assist you whenever I can, you kids have a sufficient amount of tech to work with. You have the suits, the gadgets, the magic, everything. And if that is not enough in the face of possible destruction then we all have our wit and our will to save the Earth. I believe I'd be correct in guessing you have plenty of motivation in stopping that from happening." Fury said, his eye locked onto Harry. "Ultron says that the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand, and outwit the platinum bastard." Fury said as if it was a simple problem.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha joked, hoping to lighten the mood.
....
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