Chapter 17

His eyes scanned the rooftop and it wasn't until their second pass that he finally found his 'guest'.

The man was casually standing in the shadows, leaning up against the tall wall that abutted his own building. From what little Harry could make out, it appeared that the man was watching down the road, and not so much straight down, but further afield.

Deciding that there wasn't anything overtly threating in the man's posture, Harry began to move out of the shadows.

He'd barely taken a single step, a step that he thought was silent, when the man swivelled about. His hands moved in a blur and before Harry could even take a second step, he found that he was staring down the barrel of some weapon. It wasn't until the man moved slightly, allowing the distant streetlight to glint off of his weapon of choice that Harry realised what it was.

"An arrow? You're seriously pointing a bow and arrow at me?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah. I am. And if you don't want the arrow to get a whole lot closer, a whole lot faster, then I suggest that you remain exactly where you are," he man growled.

Harry obeyed, his movements completely frozen. He knew that he was good with his wand and thanks to quidditch and Dudley, that he had amazing reflexes, but he didn't think that he could avoid an arrow from that short of a distance.

"Whatever it is that you're holding, drop it," the man ordered.

"Um, I'd really rather not," Harry replied.

"And why is that?"

"Well, you see, it's really good tea and it'd be a shame to waste it," Harry replied.

Even from across the rooftop, Harry could hear the man's sigh. A shift in the man's posture showed that the bow had been lowered, although Harry was positive that the arrow was still nocked and could be fired in the blink of an eye.

"You're British, aren't you?" the man said with a shake of his head. Without waiting for a response, he continued. "What are you doing up here?"

"Ah, you see, I own the building and when I heard someone on the roof …" Harry shrugged.

The man moved into the light allowing Harry to see the look on his face. It was clear that he didn't believe that Harry'd heard him.

Hopefully, Harry thought, he'll just put it down to some kind of security camera or something.

The man was dressed in all black, but it looked more military than something that a burglar would wear, not that Harry could imagine a thief using a bow and arrow. Unless they were Robin Hood or something and that, quite frankly, was completely ridiculous. He was also short, roughly Harry's height, with a stocky build and powerful-looking arms.

"Can I ask what you're doing on my roof?"

"I'm with the government," the man replied.

"I'm supposed to just take your word for that?" Harry asked.

In response, the man dug into a pocket and pulled out some kind of badge which he held up but in the dim light, there was nothing about it that Harry could make out.

Deciding to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, Harry moved a little closer.

"And why would the government have you standing on my roof in the middle of the night?" Harry persisted.

"Can I assume that you've heard about the … event that's happening in Harlem at the moment?" the man asked.

"That thing on the news about the two giant … whatevers fighting?" Harry clarified.

"That's it. Well, the government's stationed a bunch of us in a ring around the city, just in case it moves," he explained.

"And I suppose that you're going to shoot them with your bow and arrow if they come this way?" Harry smiled.

The man shrugged. "Something like that. Or we'll just radio in so that those in charge know what's going on where."

"Fair enough," Harry replied. He took a sip of his tea while he thought about that. "I guess, in that case, there's no harm in you using my roof. Next time, though, it's only good manners to ask. You might find yourself on the roof of someone not quite as nice as me, someone who's likely to shoot first and ask questions later."

"I'll keep it in mind," the man replied with a wry smile. "Doubt I'll be here too much longer in any case."

"In that case, I'll leave you to it," Harry replied.

With a last nod, he turned and made his way to the door; after it was sealed shut with a colloportus, there was no fear of the man gaining entry, be he government agent or not. Before he disappeared inside, he paused and turned for one last look at the man. Only the fact that Harry knew what he was looking for allowed him to pick him out of the shadows, otherwise, he'd blended right back in, his vigil resumed.

ooo00ooo

Colonel Nicholas J. Fury stepped from his S.H.I.E.L.D. transport helicopter and surveyed the damage around him.

Harlem was a mess.

Buildings had massive chunks out them; in fact, if he was to guess, there'd be a few that'd need to be demolished due to their lack of structural integrity. There were cars flattened or torn in two. One nearby to his right looked to be almost in pristine condition, if you ignored the giant-sized footprint in its bonnet.

Banner and Blonsky had definitely done a number on the city tonight.

The unexpected part of it all was that Banner had been the good guy in all of this. Every report that the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had read or heard completely reversed everything they had worked up on the scientist. For now, Banner was reclassified as an ally, however tentative that designation was.

For now, S.H.I.E.L.D. would continue to watch and monitor and build contingencies, just in case.

Knowing that two of his top agents awaited him, Fury strode forth, the winds whipped up by the helicopter behind him making his long black trench coat flare behind him.

"Report Agent Barton," Fury ordered, choosing to get the quicker report out of the way first.

"Nothing to report, Sir," Barton replied, quickly, a touch too quickly perhaps.

Fury narrowed his one good eye at the man. There was something there but he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. And if it turned out to be something important, well, he was sure Barton could guess what would happen.

"Agent Romanoff?"

"The lab at Greyburn college is secure," the red-haired woman replied. "Blonsky definitely underwent his transformation there. For what we can gather, Sterns received a cut to his head when Blonsky evacuated, which we think might have been infected with some of Banner's blood; there was definitely a broken vial there. He underwent some kind of mutation to his cerebral cortex, whether it was a result of just the blood or the gamma rays that we detected or a combination of both, our scientists have yet to determine."

"Where is Sterns now?" Fury asked.

"Sitwell has both Sterns and Blonsky sedated and restrained," Romanoff replied. "They're on route to a S.H.I.E.L.D. holding facility. Sitwell didn't tell me which one, said it'd be in his report to you."

Fury nodded. He looked forward to reading that report, particularly in light of Romanoff's information about Sterns.

Hopefully, this would put paid to one hell of a week.

First Stark blows up half of Flushing Meadows and then the New Mexico incident with damn aliens – Coulson was still cleaning up that mess – and now Banner, Blonsky and this Sterns character. The world was becoming weirder every day and it was becoming increasingly harder to police it all.

But he must admit that he did like a challenge. And perhaps, just perhaps, he could use these events to convince the World Security Council of some home truths. It was time that they came to the party and gave him the tools that he needed to get the job done.

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