Chapter 76 Plot is the Strongest Armor

*Random Not Evil Djinn returns.*

"Oh, you want another Chapter? Well I would be delighted to grant you such a wish. I'm sure you won't regret it in any way."

Chapter 76 Plot is the Strongest Armor

Harry wasn't sure if he should be surprised or not, but Tony didn't call him that week. Link however informed him of the 'training exercise' fiasco where a fighter jet was destroyed while pursuing an unknown object.

On the TV, Harry saw a few bits on the news of the Ten Rings directly taking over Gulmira and wondered if they did it for convenience or as a taunt. Though it could only be considered a taunt if they knew Stark would come after them and considering Stark's previous psyche profile, there is no way anyone would have been able to guess that, so it was probably just for convenience. There was no footage of what happened, but that ballsy reporter who somehow got a lot of footage most people would be shot at for trying to get showed a large number of destroyed machines and even a wrecked tank.

Harry parked his rental car at the Stark International Parking lot and headed inside. Sitting in the lobby was Agent Coulson who turned and seemed happy to see Harry.

"Professor Potter, glad you could make it. Have you heard any word from Mr. Stark?"

Harry shook his head and said, "He has my number but seems to have been quite busy over the last week."

Harry sat two seats away from Coulson and took out a cell phone and started looking through stuff on the internet. It was 7pm on the dot and Harry had no idea if or when Tony would actually show up.

Coulson looked over and asked, "Have you heard anything from Khan?"

Harry shrugged, "If he is still alive? No."

Coulson asked, "If? What exactly did you do to him?"

Harry nonchalantly answered, "Nicked him with a poisoned blade. Why?"

"And you just happen to carry poisoned blades around?"

"Is that any different from carrying a gun around? Besides, we have something of a history."

"You've met him before?"

"Yeah. Before I started teaching there was no University Class for Metaphysics, so my research required more esoteric sources. While I was studying at a temple, that dick head showed up and tried to steal a rather valuable book. Don't ask what book, you'll have nightmares. Anyways, I got in his way and tricked him into destroying the book before I ran away. We were never going to be friends after that."

Coulson seemed rather stunned at the short story. He was beginning to realize that they had probably been trying to handle Potter all wrong. He was remarkably open about a number of things Coulson didn't think he'd just casually reveal.

"I was hoping I could ask more about Obscurus."

"Ask what you want, but I don't tell other people's secrets. He can refuse to act even if I make a request and provide the payment so I'm not inclined to give away any info you should really be getting from him."

"Then is there a way to meet him?"

"I can't ask him to meet you if that's what you're requesting. I'd have to pay him to do so and he could easily refuse such a request. If I ask him to do something and he refuses, he may stop taking my requests altogether. So the only way to meet him is to find him yourself or for him to meet you."

Coulson considered it and found it reasonable. Harry had been willing to give private information about himself and his past with the Mandarin which Coulson could extrapolate a lot from, but was not willing to give details about Obscurus. There may have been conditions to working with him and Harry wasn't willing to break them lest he lose access to such a powerful asset.

Harry didn't have to use the slightest bit of telepathy of psionics to make Agent Coulson think what he wanted him to. Nothing from Harry's past could be used against him so giving away those details only made it look like Harry was willing to cooperate when he was just making them drive around in circles.

Before Coulson could ask anything else, the pair noticed Pepper rapidly walking down the stairs into the lobby.

Coulson got up and said, "Miss Potts, we had an appointment. Did you forget about our appointment?"

Pepper looked both grateful and relieved once she noticed both Harry and Coulson there. She immediately answered, "Nope right now Come with me."

Coulson followed her, "Right now?"

Pepper replied while walking towards the exit. "We're going to have it right now."

Coulson asked almost unbelievably, "Now?"

"Yeah, walk with me."

Harry got up as well and followed the pair.

Pepper looking almost out of breath said, "I'm going to give you the meeting of your life. Your office."

Harry felt a glare from behind and looked back to see Stane looking at Pepper from the second floor with murderous intent.

Since Harry knew he was working with the Mandarin, Harry decided to play a small prank on him. He didn't have the time for something fancy, so Harry got out the Apple of Discord from his inventory, turned it into a Crumple Horned Snorkack, and tossed the mini purple horned pig hippo directly to the upper floor where it smacked into and then grabbed onto Stane's face.

The bald boss shouted in terror when it grabbed his face and wrapped its tail around his neck, "Ahhh! Get it Off! Get it off me!" He then ran to the side in terror and slammed directly into a wall.

Pepper and Coulson both turned back to see Stane screaming and saw the fuzzy purple thing on his face. Both also simultaneously looked at Harry who shrugged and said, "You said meeting of your life right? Let's go."

"Ahhh! Will someone get this damn thing off me!"

Security guards were running upstairs so Pepper and Coulson decided to get out when Harry walked with them out the door.

Harry took his car and followed Pepper's car which followed Coulson's car. By the time they reached Shield's LA office, both Pepper and Coulson only remembered seeing Stane have a panic attack of some kind that was completely unrelated to Harry. The security cameras would show the same and the footage of Harry throwing 'nothing' had already been altered through a technopathy spell.

Once they got to the office, Pepper started rambling about what happened. She was asked by Tony to get the shipping manifests of every shipment made overseas. The method he gave her to download those files opened a secret hidden file Pepper looked into and saw a translated video of the terrorists who kidnapped Tony, directly addressing Stane and demanding more money in order to kill Stark.

Harry could only shake his head. He thought that Stane was working with the Mandarin from the beginning, but it was more likely now that the Mandarin's involvement only happened after Tony escaped and all the goons who were keeping him captive were killed.

Pepper then explained the plans she saw on the file. They looked like plans to build a metal suit.

Harry considered what happened and realized how the Mandarin got involved. He must have excavated the destroyed cave himself using his Transfiguration magic ring and found the original plans for Tony's suit. The Mandarin probably then approached Stane for a partnership in this. If it was someone else, Stane probably would not have agreed, but saying no to the Mandarin was not nearly as easy.

Coulson asked the slightly hysterical Pepper, "Can you call Mr. Stark and tell him to come over? If Obadiah paid to have him killed, his life is in danger."

"Oh, okay. Just give me a second." He nearly fumbled when she got out her phone and set the speed dial.

After a few rings, the phone was answered, but after another moment, Harry heard a high pitch sound coming from the end of the phone. Pepper frowned and asked, "Tony are you there? Hello?"

The line went dead.

In the next moment, Harry got a text message from Link. Harry opened it and said aloud for those in the room, "Jarvis was just disabled. Something is going on at Stark's place."

Link chatted with Jarvis pretty often and according to Link, Jarvis had just been turned off. There was no reason for that to happen and since Link was pretty smart, he thought to inform Harry.

Pepper said, "My god. I'll call Rhodey."

*Ding*

[New Quest: Sword and Shield

-Defend Virginia Potts, Phillip Coulson, and Anthony Stark.

-Eliminate Threat targeting them.]

Harry sighed and said, "I'll call Obscurus and ask him to protect Stark."

Coulson looked surprised while Harry was pulling out his cell and asked, "How long would it take for him to get there?"

Harry sent out a few texts and answered, "Not long."

Coulson said, "Alright. We need to arrest Obadiah."

Pepper said, "Whatever he's building is in Section Sixteen of Stark International. I have clearance and can get you in."

Harry shook his head and asked, "Pepper, do you plan on assisting in the approach and arrest of a criminal with access to advanced weaponry while you are wearing high heels?"

All eyes looked down and noticed Pepper's strikingly high heels.

Pepper blushed and said, "I have some sneakers in my car."

Harry nodded and said, "I'll come too then. I also have some goodies in my car."

Coulson said, "I don't think that's a good-"

Pepper interrupted, "It's fine. Harry is shareholder of Stark International and should technically have clearance anyway."

Coulson looked like he wanted to say that Clearance was not the issue, but he decided to drop it. Though Harry claimed and even showed evidence of his skill, he was still considered a potential asset for his mind and Coulson would hear no end of it if Harry was killed. That being said, if Harry brought 'goodies' and had the common sense to remind Pepper not to enter a combat zone wearing high heels, something Phil himself neglected to remind her of, then Harry should not prove to be a burden.

Harry pretended to go over to the trunk of his rental car and pull out a bunch of things when he was, in reality, just taking nice things from his inventory.

Harry's tech company and prowess in metaphysics had reached a point that Harry didn't need to visibly hold back like he had in the past. Harry took out an advanced looking gun which was in reality, just a prop wand which funneled any spell cast using it through the muzzle. Thanks to the background Harry had built up over the years, Harry could use a prop like this to fire all the spells he wanted to right in front of muggles without anyone questioning it. He still wouldn't use portals in front of anyone, but he could do pretty much anything else using Tech as the excuse.

Once Harry was loaded up on goodies, he got into his car and followed the group back to Stark International along with half a dozen agents from the Shield Headquarters who were there for muscle.

Harry wondered if it was a coincidence or not that the Shield Office was ten minutes from Stark International. The fact that Harry's quest icon didn't show Stark dying on the way meant Harry had successfully used a Time Turner to go back and protect him. A self fulfilling prophecy isn't straightforward to set up though. Harry had to text a system which confirmed that another Harry existed in the time stream which confirmed Harry had already gone back in the past. If that system showed Harry had not gone back in the past, then the current him would have had to knock out Pepper and Phil and modify their memories and then portal to Stark's place to save him to complete the quest. Harry didn't like touching memories if the situation did not absolutely require it.

Harry also wondered why this section of Stark International had Tanks parked out front. Were they going to be used? Were they display models? Do some people who work here actually drive to work in a Tank?

After passing by the highly inefficient Muon generator in the main space, Pepper led them to a side hall and a door with a heavy duty lock on it. Pepper set her badge on the lock but a negative sounding beep occurred the three times she tried.

Pepper said, "It's not working."

Without looking back, Coulson put his hand behind him and someone handed him a small device he then walked up to and placed on the metal lock.

Pepper asked, "Oh, wow! What's that? It's like, a little device? It's like, a thing that's going to pick the lock?

Harry shook his head and said, "You need to get out of California, you are saying 'it's like,' far too much in your sentences."

Pepper gave Harry a slight glare and Coulson said, "You might want to take a few steps back."

Recognizing a white phosphorus charge when he saw one, Harry took a few steps back and turned around just like all the other agents in the room. You don't look in the direction of white phosphorus going off. After a small sizzle sound and a light bang, the sound of the door opening was heard and everyone turned around to head inside.

After a few moments, Coulson spotted Stane at a computer station looking over several monitors.

"Don't move."

Stane turned around without the slightest bit of fear. He saw Pepper and said, "Ah Pepper, I'm sorry about Tony. Terrible tragedy."

Pepper frowned and asked, "What are you talking about?"

More than willing to comply, Stane continued, "Oh, you haven't heard yet? Tony's dead. Some men broke into his house and ripped his Arc Reactor out of his chest. I was just on the phone with him a few minutes ago and was able to say my goodbyes. I wish I could have been there for his last moments as his heart slowly gave out and his body grew colder and eventually stopped moving. Seeing the light vanish from his eye would have been a sight to see."

Pepper was already in tears and looking at Stane like he was a monster.

Harry asked, seemingly uninterested, "And why didn't you?" Harry knew Stark wasn't dead so he looked like he didn't care about Stark's supposed fate.

Stane looked over at Harry with some recognition and said, "Ah, that would be because of you. Khan never did tell me what you did to him but he's been on life support all week. Many of his organs had to be replaced and he's still fighting to stay alive. I've had to watch over him to make sure he stayed alive of course."

Stane then looked over to Coulson and said, "Since Stark is dead I'm the current CEO of Stark International and you are trespassing on Private Property. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Coulson stated, "Mr. Stane you are under arrest for Suspected Treason and Murder in the first degree."

Stane smiled at that and said, "You don't have the slightest bit of evidence and even if you did, I can't leave." Stane pushed a button on the keyboard before anyone could do anything but all the button did was bring up a monitor of an extremely sickly, skeletal looking man covered in numerous tubes and wires and metal plates. Stane said, "Someone needs to watch over Khan. Potter really did a number on him."

Coulson said, "I'll leave a few men to keep watch, but you're coming with me."

Stane said, "No need for that. I have just the thing. You see Khan showed me these drawings of a rather well designed suit he found in a cave. He brought over a lot of his men we've been working together to build it. The suit will act as a mobile life support system so all that is needed is to get him in the suit and he'll be up and ready to go."

Pepper said in horror, "He built a suit like Tony's. They're gonna put that Khan guy into it."

Coulson lifted his hand and was now directly pointing his gun at Stane. He knew who the Mandarin was and knew what that suit could do from the reports he'd gotten from the Military encounter with it.

He said, "You know we can't let you do that."

Stane smirked. "'Do that?' I'm not a comic book villain. Do you think I'd stand here explaining everything to you if there were even the slightest possibility you could affect the outcome?"

He pointed at the monitor of Khan and zoomed into the timestamp. "This feed is from 35 minutes ago."

Harry felt the surge of energy behind him and grabbed Coulson and Pepper before jumping out of the way of the great metal arm that swatted through where they had been standing. Two of the other agents were broken like twigs when the arm passed through where they were standing and the pair were sent to the opposite wall. Harry slapped a bracelet with a red gem on Coulson and a bracelet with a green gem on Pepper during the confusion.

A sixteen foot tall sleek metal mech slowly stepped forward out of the shadow. A heavy rasping voice Harry somewhat recognized shouted through the speakers, "POTTER!"

The Agents who survived the initial swat because they were standing away from Coulson started shooting at the Mecha Mandarin but other than the sparks that shined off the silver haul, no damage was shown.

Harry took out his 'gun' and fired three Stunner spells, but the red blasts harmlessly washed over the shell much to Harry's disappointment. Tech that was powered by magic did not simply break like other forms of tech did in the presence of wizard magic so no one hit KO. That unfortunately implied that this mech was likely powered by Khan's rings. Harry figured they couldn't guess how Tony's Arc reactor worked so they used a readily available alternative.

Harry then fired a half dozen Bombada spells which each caused the Mecha Mandarin to take a step back from the force, but once it braced itself it started charging forward.

Coulson stood his ground and continued shooting at it but the massive metal monstrosity but with a wave of its arm, Coulson was thrown directly through a nearby wall.

Harry shot the ground with a transfiguration spell to make it weaker and with the Mecha Mandarin's next step, it fell through the ground into the floor below.

From the other end of the room, Harry heard a gunshot and saw Stane pointing a smoking gun at Pepper saying, "Your services are no longer required."

His pleased expression changed to confusion as he noticed Pepper didn't have a gunshot hole. Harry shot him with a stunner and ran over to a different wall where Pepper was actually hiding.

Pepper asked, "What happened?"

Harry tapped on the bracelet which he slapped on her wrist, "Prototype hologram doppelganger. Only one use." It was actually a single use illusion spell that activated when the target's heart was beating really fast.

Harry then ran over to see Phil walking out of the wall he had been thrown through and dusting himself off. He saw Harry and while holding up his wrist where he noticed the bracelet Harry slapped on him and said, "Thanks for that." He'd seen the video interview and recognized the Metagem Ruby 's effect which protected him.

Harry said, "It's single use and I don't have any more, let's get out of here."

"POTTER! YOU WILL DIE FOR ME POTTER! NOTHING WILL STOP THE MANDARIN!"

The mech jumped up from the lower floor back into this floor and started charging again.

He pointed a metal hand forward and shot a missile. Harry threw a small device forward which generated a red shield which blocked the explosion before vanishing.

At the moment the explosion hid them from view, Harry took out an Amethyst and a moment later, the entire room was filled with a heavy layer of mist.

Harry grabbed Pepper and Phil and used his Map to run back out the way they came in. He wanted to get them out of there before he tried to fight this thing. Thankfully, the Rings seemed to be only powering the suit and they weren't being used directly.

The trio ran back through the main room and out into the parking lot. Harry noticed a motorcycle there which wasn't there before meaning someone else entered the facility after they did.

Coulson asked, "Is there anything you have which can take that suit down?"

"If it was made solely by Stane, then easily. But that thing was definitely designed using Alien tech and was powered by those rings of his."

Coulson asked, "Alien?"

"What? You didn't know? I heard those rings and his tech were scavenged from an Alien spaceship he found decades ago."

"What about your Hard-Light system?"

"Only works in enclosed spaces and I didn't bring the portable version with me because I wasn't planning on pranking anyone this week."

Coulson rolled his eyes that what could be the most advanced system he'd ever heard of was only useful to Harry as a pranking aid.

The ground split open and the Mecha Mandarin jumped out. However Harry felt a distinct difference.

Pepper saw the glow on the Mecha Mandarin's chest and said, "Tony's Reactor!"

Harry frowned and said, "Leave, he's after me."

From the speaker, Khan said with absolute venom, "No Potter. I will kill everything you care about. If you protect them. Then they will die."

The mech pointed a hand forward and blindingly bright sun fire shot out. Harry quickly took out another gizmo, but it was just a prop. He cast his most powerful shield while trying to prevent the strain from showing on his face as the parking lot, the cars, the pavement, and even the tanks behind them liquified.

From the speakers Khan said, "Impressive, But how long can you keep up? With the Arc Reactor as the main power source, I am now free to use my rings as I please." He then lifted his other hand and lightning shot forward at the shield.

Harry couldn't cast a different spell or use any toys while maintaining the shield to protect against the sun fire and keep Pepper and Coulson alive. He wanted the Mandarin to stop the flames and use his disintegration beam. At this point Harry was willing to modify memories and his silver portals could be released much faster than a Sorcerer Portal. If the Mandarin fired his disintegration beam, Harry could make a silver portal which caused the beam to shoot the Mandarin himself.

Unfortunately, the Mandarin was playing it safe. Well, the fact that playing it safe allowed him to slowly torment Harry until he was burnt to death probably had something to do with that.

Suddenly, a metal suit of red and gold flew down from the sky and right into the Mecha Mandarin. The weight of the impact shot the pair through the ground down three floors back four walls and to the highway below.

Everyone looked up and also saw a speeder bike looking vehicle hovering in the air where a demon mask wearing individual wearing a basilisk hide long coat was sitting down. From the bike the mask wearing Obscurus shouted, "Potter, this is going to cost extra."

*Notes from Not an Evil Djinn.*

"Your wish has once again been granted. Oh look, a Alien Tech Iron Man Suit powered by an Arc Reactor, piloted by the Mandarin, and has the power of the Mandarin's Rings?

For the curious, here is a list of the power of the Mandarin's ten rings.

Absolute Zero Ice Blasts

Affect Mind

Lightning Generation

Sun Fire Blast

Intense Laser

Light Absorbing Darkness Shroud

Disintegration Beam/Intangibility

Whirlwind and vortex generation

Concussion force beam

Matter Rearranger

Of course, I'm sure you can patiently wait for the next chapter and don't mind the cliff hanger at all.

*Insert diabolical Evil Djinn laughter here*