Metal and Magic (Ch. 13)

( Every character in this story is a legal adult over the age of 18 )

Metal and Magic

Chapter 13

As Harry hovered above the concrete ground, he swung his arms in circles, trying to keep his balance. “Keep your legs together and ankles locked,” Tony instructed him. “Use the thrusters in your palms to keep balance and change directions.”

Harry followed his advice and held his palms face down. His balance improved, but he knew it would take much more practice before he became proficient. “Sir? Is it wise to fly over open water on his first-ever flight?” Jarvis asked, concerned about Harry’s safety.

“Sometimes you have to run before you can walk,” Tony told him.

“Yes, I do believe I’ve heard that somewhere before,” Jarvis said with a sarcastic tone.

“Alright … Let’s do it!” Tony shouted in glee. It was clear that he felt the same way about flying as Harry did. Tony shot forward and rocketed through the curved tunnel leading out of the underground car garage.

Harry couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he leaned forward with his arms down at his sides. The acceleration was insane. Harry shot forward with such speed that he couldn’t avoid scraping his shoulder against the side of the tunnel. His body jerked, but with slight movements of his hands, he kept himself steady. The walls, floor, and ceiling blurred past him, and when he shot out over the ocean, his HUD targeted Tony off in the distance. Keeping his arms and legs steady, Harry ramped up the power and closed the distance, leaving the deafening crack of a shockwave behind. Pulling up right beside Tony, they looked at each other. Of course, he couldn’t see his expression, but he could certainly hear the excitement in his voice.

“Fun, huh?” Tony asked as his suit spun like a bullet leaving a rifled barrel.

“It’s definitely faster than flying with wings!” Harry called out. Harry then tried to spin like Tony, but wasn’t able to pull it off, and he struggled to keep steady.

“Slow down, rookie!” Tony said, sounding amused. “Leave the fancy tricks to the professionals,” he joked. Instead of trying any more tricks, Harry spent the next few minutes getting used to making minor adjustments and maneuvers.

“There it is … over there,” Tony stated, and when Harry slightly turned his head, he saw the boat in question. It wasn’t large by any means. It was maybe thirty feet in length and looked to be at least several decades old. It was sitting low in the water and leaning heavily to the right. Five men were huddled together on the roof of the cabin, waving frantically. One of them shot a flare into the sky, which was somewhat drowned out by the deep orange and red sky of the Pacific sunset.

Suddenly, the boat began capsizing, and two of the men tumbled over into the water. The other three fell onto their bellies and desperately clung to the edge of the cabin’s roof. “Get the two guys out of the water. I’ll handle the boat,” Tony told him and rocketed forward.

He flew right up to the boat and dived into the water. Harry only hoped his suit could handle his underwater exploits. Harry slowed as he reached the boat and hovered wobbly over it. The Elder Wand appeared in his hand, and with a simple wave, the two men were levitated from the water and hung in the air. Their soggy clothes dripped salty water, and they thrashed in the air as though they couldn’t understand what was happening. Harry sometimes forgot that not everyone understood magic. Hell, he didn’t know if anyone in this world even knew it existed.

The boat then began righting itself, or so it seemed. Tony’s hands broke the water’s surface as he clung to the railing along the side of the boat. Then his head appeared, and then his torso. He was pushing the boat from the side to level it out.

“Can you fix the boat … You know, like you did with the roof of my garage?” Tony asked through his helmet. Harry didn’t see why not.

“Sure. I’ll give it a shot,” he said, and waved his wand, hitting the boat with a powerful Reparo Charm. The boat was still sitting very low, and he remembered that the hold was likely flooded with water. Harry lowered the flailing men down to the deck and landed on the ship next to them while Tony kept the boat from sinking any further. Harry turned to the terrified fishermen. “How do you get down into the hold?” he asked over the speaker. Harry was momentarily taken aback by the slightly robotic sound of his amplified voice. The men looked at each other, shivering from the cold.

“They probably don’t understand English,” Tony explained. That would explain their confused looks, Harry thought.

“Facial analysis shows that they are likely from Argentina,” Jarvis said through his helmet. “I can translate it for you, if you’d like.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Harry told Jarvis. The sound of Harry’s voice speaking Spanish blared over the speaker even though he hadn’t said a word. Thankfully, Tony was indeed correct, and hearing his question in their native language seemed to have done the trick. One of them ran over to a hatch and yanked it open. Harry walked over and looked down. Nearly the entire hold was full of water. “Step back,” Harry ordered, which was then translated for the fishermen. They quickly did as they were told, and Harry pointed his wand at the open hatch.

The water began swirling and lifting, forming a small column that quickly grew in size. The column soon towered over them and arched through the air, splashing down into the sea. As the water was pulled from the hold, the boat slowly rose until it was sitting high on the water. “I got the water out,” he told Tony.

Tony let go of the railing and only left when he was sure it wasn’t going to fall over again. He joined Harry on the deck. “I’ll go down and check your work,” he said before dropping down into the hold. Harry heard his heavy metal boots clunking around as he checked it for damage. A few minutes later, he slowly rose out of the hatch and landed next to Harry.

“Everything looks good. I couldn’t find a single leak,” Tony reported. He then turned to the fishermen who were watching with wide, unbelieving eyes. They had likely seen Tony’s exploits on the news and couldn’t believe they were getting a firsthand view of his heroics. Tony then said something to them, which was translated by Jarvis. One of the men quickly went into the cabin and tried to start the engine. It didn’t work.

“Water probably got mixed with the fuel. I don’t suppose there’s anything you can do about that?” he asked Harry. Harry shook his head.

“Not that I know of,” he said. By then, a Coast Guard helicopter finally showed up and circled overhead.

“That’s our cue to leave. The Coast Guard can handle it from here,” Tony said, and Harry agreed. He knew the US military wasn’t too pleased with Tony at the moment. They had started contacting him and trying to get him to hand over the technology. Tony outright refused, though. They stepped away from the men and fired their thrusters. Both of them soared into the air and headed straight back to Malibu.

The flight back didn’t take too long, and Harry followed Tony down into the tunnel and back into the garage. Tony gently landed while Harry landed a bit harder with a loud, metallic clank. He did exactly what he had done to put on the suit, only this time, the robotic arms removed the pieces from his body. Harry followed suit, and soon, he was free of his armor. He couldn’t help but stare at the glowing Arc Reactor in the middle of the suit’s chest, and he was delighted he didn’t have to have it installed in his chest like Tony had. Tony sighed and stretched his limbs. Harry agreed that the suit was a bit rough on the joints.

“Well … Now that our good deed for the day is done, how about we grace the gentlemen’s club with our esteemed presence?” Tony asked with a happy smile. Harry chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Sure, but you’re buying,” Harry replied, and they went to get ready.

Metal and Magic

Maria took three extra-strength Tylenol to try to fight the stress headache that had formed after talking with her boss. Apparently, the previous night, Stark and Potter had rescued the crew of a distressed shipping boat and kept it from sinking. That wasn’t what had Fury’s panties in a bunch, though. The team monitoring Stark’s Malibu mansion recorded two armored suits leaving and returning, which meant that, in all likelihood, Harry now had access to an Iron Man suit as well. Maria could imagine the vein in Fury’s forehead pulsating as he pounded his fists against his desk. She would have chuckled from the mental image if her head wasn’t throbbing so much. Needless to say, Fury wanted her to pick up the pace.

Maria sighed and turned on the sink faucet in her bathroom. She cupped her hands under the stream and scooped some cold water onto her face. The water helped cool her hot skin. Turning off the water, she then grabbed a towel and dabbed it against her face. ‘Fury expects everyone to be miracle workers,’ the annoying thought ran through her head. He had forgotten what it was like out here in the field. Truth be told, she had also forgotten.

To be fair to herself, she had done an excellent job so far, if she was being honest. She had quickly made contact with Harry and had even weaseled her way into his life. There was no doubt in her mind that he would hire her, but unfortunately, the job wouldn’t even exist for another couple of months. That wasn’t good. She didn’t have that long to wait, and Fury was already riding her ass. She would need to pick up the pace and take things to another level. She had hoped to avoid it, but Maria knew it was a realistic possibility. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to go too far.

Metal and Magic

“Oh, god! I think I’m dying,” Harry groaned as he stumbled out of his room. He had forgotten to put the vials of Hangover Cure in his room before leaving for the club the previous night. As such, he stumbled into the living room like a zombie looking for fresh brains to eat. He couldn’t even remember where he had placed them.

“Serves you right,” he heard Pepper’s pleasant voice from the kitchen.

“Pepper?” Harry groaned in a scratchy voice. Pepper walked out of the kitchen in her typical business attire. She had a cute smile on her pretty face and took a sip of her coffee.

“Yes, Harry?” she asked pleasantly. She was obviously enjoying watching him suffer. After seeing him and Tony on the news after the whole burning hospital thing, she figured out that he was the one with the strange powers. Of course, he hadn’t filled her in on the details, and Tony refused to without his permission, which somewhat peeved her.

“Have you seen these small glass vials around?” he pathetically asked, scanning the room through his crusty eyes.

“Small glass vials … small glass vials …” she repeated while tapping her chin in thought. “Nope! I don’t think I have,” she said with an evil smirk. “If only I …”

“Found them!” Harry chirped after summoning them when she wasn’t looking.

“Damn!” Pepper cursed under her breath, hoping he would have to suffer just a little while longer. She watched him remove the top and drink one down. Harry closed his eyes, and a few seconds later, he sighed in relief. “What exactly is in that stuff anyway?” she asked him.

She hadn’t tried it herself since she rarely ever got drunk, but even she could see that it would be a significant money maker. She only wished Harry had sold the rights to it to Stark Industries instead of him and Tony going at it alone. Harry told her all the ingredients, and she knew he wasn’t lying. Still, it didn’t make sense. None of the ingredients was anything special, and they certainly wouldn’t produce such amazing results when mixed or cooked.

“The secret is in how it’s processed,” Harry smirked at her. Pepper raised an eyebrow.

“Really,” she said in a drawn-out tone, sounding skeptical.

“That’s right. It takes a lot of love and care, and as I’m sure you know, I have a whole lot of love to give,” Harry cheekily said and took her hand. He pulled her in, and Pepper squeaked when she lightly smacked into his chest. Pepper sniffed him and wrinkled her nose.

“Yes, I can smell all the love you gave last night. Let me guess, there’s another hooker in your room that I need to get rid of,” she said with a slight look of annoyance.

“Oh, Pepper,” Harry teased. “Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers?

Pepper rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him away right before Tony stumbled into the room, looking like he was seconds from death. “Ugg,” he groaned pitifully. Harry tossed him a vial, but he was so hungover that he completely missed the catch. He was forced to chase after it as it clanked across the floor. Down on his knees, he drank it as fast as possible and breathed a sigh of relief when his throbbing headache dulled. “This one worked even better than the last batch,” Tony ecstatically declared as he slowly got to his feet.

“Yeah, that tank I designed really did a good job. I guess it passed the test,” Harry proudly stated. “Now I just need to wait for the rest to be delivered.”

Pepper then came out of the kitchen holding two cups of coffee. She handed them to Harry and Tony, which earned her many thanks. “You need to go get ready soon,” she told Tony. “We have that meeting in a couple of hours.” She then looked at Harry.

As always, Harry didn’t ask any questions, which she knew annoyed Tony. Tony wanted Harry to ask questions like, “With whom?” or “What kind of meeting?”, so he could respond, “Sorry. Company secrets.” Harry just sat there sipping his coffee with a look of indifference, which amused Pepper to no end. Tony and Harry were remarkably similar, yet distinctly different. She found it hilarious. When Harry continued to drink his coffee without a peep, Tony sighed and got up, taking his coffee back to his room.

“When the girls wake up, have Jarvis order a car,” Tony told him, and received a thumbs up from Harry. Pepper giggled and shook her head.

Metal and Magic

With the house free to himself and nothing else to do, Harry decided to see if he could upgrade the suit that Tony had so generously provided. He would need help, though. Harry went down to Tony’s lab and punched in the secret code. The lock beeped, and he entered the room.

“Hey, Jarvis? Are there any unused metal plates from either suit?” he asked his digital companion.

“There’s a box in the corner with discarded pieces of the Mark II armor. Most have manufacturing flaws,” Jarvis told him. Harry walked over and rummaged through the box until he found several plates with various nicks and scratches.

“Will the engraver I use work on this type of metal?” Harry wondered.

“No, Harry, not the engraver you’ve been using. The power output is too low. However, Mr. Stark has one suitable for the job down in the workshop, on the back wall … second machine from the left,” Jarvis explained.

“That big one with the large, flat table?” Harry asked.

“Correct,” Jarvis affirmed.

“Excellent!” Harry happily declared. “I want to engrave some runes into these things,” he explained, wiggling the plates in his hand.

“I have a suggestion. You’ve stated you have many books on runecraft. Why don’t you scan them into my system? Not only will I be able to help you come up with new and improved sequences, but I can also scan the runes themselves and upload the design files straight into the plasma engraver,” Jarvis said, sounding hopeful. He enjoyed being helpful. Harry liked that idea a lot. Harry wasn’t close to an expert on runes, so anything to help him out was a godsend.

“That’s a great idea! I’ll go get the books,” Harry said and quickly went to his room. He would spend the next several hours flipping page by page, book by book, while Jarvis scanned each one into his memory bank and then analyzed the data. By the time they were done, Jarvis seemed to know much more about runecraft than he did.

“Fascinating,” Jarvis said in wonder. “Yes … I see it now. It was difficult for me to understand when you explained it, but now that I have much more data, it’s vastly easier.”

“So, do you think you can help me? I’m trying to harden and lighten the metal and make it heat-resistant.”

“Child’s play,” Jarvis said with enthusiasm. Tony’s holographic emitter came to life, and a chain of runes appeared hovering over the high-tech table in ghostly green light. “I believe this will work. I’ve already calculated the size of each rune set by cross-referencing it with the suit’s schematic stored in my database. The size of each set will depend on the size of the armor piece. I suggest engraving it on all of these pieces,” Jarvis explained, and the rune set disappeared and was replaced by an image of Harry’s suit. The suit suddenly broke apart into dozens of pieces. Harry whistled.

“That’s a lot of pieces,” Harry commented.

“Indeed, but you will be safer for it. Many of these extra pieces add structural integrity to the suit. The extra effort will keep the suit from being crushed with you inside of it.”

“That’s probably a smart idea,” Harry agreed.

“Thank you, sir,” Jarvis replied. “As for the armor plating … I would suggest this rune set,” he said, and the image of the suit disappeared. A new rune set replaced it.

“It functions just as the other set, but I’ve added a bit extra to help with kinetic dissipation.”

“So bullets won’t impact me as hard?” Harry asked for clarification.

“Bullets, flying debris, tank shells, speeding vehicles … all of the above,” Jarvis stated happily.

“Wow! You’re way better at this than I am,” Harry admitted.

“I appreciate the kind words. Shall I start disassembling the suit while you create a test piece?” Jarvis asked in a hopeful voice. All Harry could do was smile.

Metal and Magic

Tony was wiped when he finally got home. He absolutely loathed meetings, especially when they lasted for more than five hours. Then he had the joy of having a meeting about the meeting with the Board of Directors. He was downright mentally exhausted when he walked into the house. “Harry?” he called out, not seeing his delinquent friend.

“He’s down in the workshop, sir,” Jarvis stated. Tony went downstairs and found Harry standing in front of his enormous and powerful hydraulic press. The part of his armor that covered his thigh was placed in the press, and Harry pressed the button. Tony was about to freak out when he discovered the apparent destruction of the suit he had just created, but he was shocked when the piston pressed against the piece of armor and stopped. The pressure gauge was maxed out at twenty-five thousand PSI, and the hydraulic press groaned in stress.

“That’s enough, Harry. I believe the test was successful,” Jarvis said in a happy-sounding voice. Harry pressed the button again, and the piston slid back up. Tony walked over as Harry picked up the armor piece and examined it. The black paint was completely messed up, but the part was perfect, as far as he could see.

“Pretty good, huh?” Harry said with a smile as he handed Tony the piece. Tony dumbly nodded as he ran his hand along the top before flipping it over. On the underside of the piece, he could see Harry’s runes laser-etched into the metal. Tony could also instantly tell that the piece was way lighter than it had been before. If the rest of the armor was like this, Tony calculated an immediate increase in flight speed of at least seven percent. Jarvis then explained exactly what they had been doing for the last eight hours. Tony’s eyes narrowed.

“I knew you were jealous of Iron Man from the very beginning,” he told Harry, who was smirking at him. “You’re always looking to one-up me!”

“What can I say? A true hero like me deserves nothing but the best,” he told Tony, beaming with joy that he had annoyed him so much. Tony shoved the armor back at Harry.

“Well, the joke’s on you, pal, because you’re staying up all night and upgrading MY suit as well!” Tony huffed and rolled up his sleeves. “Jarvis, order some pizza. Now, hotshot, let’s get to work.”