Unexpected Gifts

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Gringotts, in Harry's opinion, was a necessary evil. But then, they did hold the monopoly on the finances of the magical world. Oh, there were the gnomes of Zuich, but they weren't as wide-spread throughout the world like Gringotts was and thus, when Harry'd decided to leave Britain and to travel the world, it was an easy decision to leave his gold with the goblins.

Well, easy in that he didn't have much choice. Gringotts branches could be found all around the globe. And in every single one of them, Harry's reputation followed him; a reputation that carried a double-edged sword.

Because of the Potter and Black accounts, his vault balance (all combined, of course) ensured that he was afforded deferential treatment, treatment that very few wizards were given. On the other hand, because of the fact that he'd broken into London Gringotts, half-destroyed the branch and 'stolen' one of their dragons, he was all but considered 'persona non-grata'. Yes, he'd paid restitution and the Ministry of Magic had paid even more on his behalf, thus cancelling out the debt, but that didn't erase the damage to Gringotts' reputation that he'd caused.

Thus, while he'd been made to wait on an extremely uncomfortable rock bench for his appointment, the wait wasn't as long as it could have been.

"Lord Potter," a younger goblin grunted at him, "come this way."

Harry quickly rose from his chair and nodded fractionally deeper than he probably needed to. His attempt at showing respect was ignored, however, as the goblin simply turned, opened a nearby door and strode through it.

For a species that was so much shorter than humans, they moved deceptively fast and it was all that Harry could do to keep up with his guide. It didn't help that the corridor that they'd entered was slightly lower than was comfortable for a human and thus he was forced to walk with his head slightly bowed.

At one particular door that obviously was the correct one, not that Harry could tell, seeing no signs or markings anywhere in the corridor or on the doors, his guide stopped. A single sharp claw was scraped down the door before a grunt was heard from inside.

A simple wave of the goblin's hand indicated that Harry should proceed. After a single nod, Harry pushed open the heavy rock door and entered.

"Account Manager Schist," he said, bowing low just inside the doorway and being extremely careful – just as he was every single time that he had to come here – to keep any emotion or inflection out of his voice.

"Lord Potter. What do you want?" Schist asked in his deep gravelly voice.

Harry stood straight and, keeping his eyes fixed firmly ahead and away from the various axes and swords on the walls to either side of him, approached the long, wide, irregularly-shaped rock desk. Carefully, knowing how uncomfortable it was going to be from past experience, Harry lowered himself into one of the chairs on his side of the desk.

"I am interested in having some work done on one of my properties," Harry stated.

"What sort of work?" Schist asked.

"Primarily some buildings constructed," Harry began before he was cut off mid-sentence.

"Then you've wasted my time and yours as well; Gringotts does not create buildings above ground," Schist snapped.

"I am aware of that," Harry replied patiently. "However, Gringotts are masters of warding. And the property that I would like improvements made to it also need its wards altered and upgraded. At present, the property – Paradis Noir – is under unplottable wards, muggle-repelling wards, a fidelius and a host of other wards that were placed there hundreds of years ago by the then Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black."

"I see," Schist said, sitting back in his chair, his eyes narrowed.

"Because of those wards, I would like to hire Gringotts to coordinate with the dwarves and the technomages of Nippon to see to the alterations to the wards and the construction of the buildings that I have in mind," Harry continued.

Moving slowly so as to not cause any undue suspicion, Harry pulled a swath of papers out of his pocket. Channelling some wandless magic, he enlarged them and placed them on the desk in front of Schist.

The old goblin leant forwards and leafed through them one by one. Harry watched as lists of the ward upgrades that he wanted were perused; designs of each of the buildings were examined; and the modifications that he had in mind that only the Nippon Technomages could accomplish were read through. The gleam in Schist's eye told Harry exactly what the goblin was going to say before he even said it.

"Gringotts could do as you ask, but it will come at a price."

The fact that that price was going to be steep was left unsaid but also entirely expected.

"What would Gringotts ask to see that all of this is done?" Harry asked.

Schist's hand rested on the stack of paper, one fingernail tapping as his eyes bored into Harry's.

"The Ancient Blacks are well-known for their ... creativity in their ward creation," Schist stated. "Thus, there will need to be some consideration given to the potential danger. Not to mention coordinating the different groups, ensuring that they complete their work within a satisfactory time frame and to a high standard. Gringotts will, of course, ensure that the location of their work is obliviated from their minds afterwards thus preserving the location of the Black ancestral island. None of that will come cheap. I can see it being accomplished for no less than ten million galleons."

Ten million galleons was a much higher starting price than Harry was expecting and it took every ounce of control to not react. Thankfully, it was only a starting point. Now, he just had to bargain them down to something much more realistic. Fleetingly, Harry wondered whether he should have brought Tony with him before instantly rejecting that notion – Stark was more likely to cause an interspecies incident with one of his snarky comments than be any help here.

"I can, of course, provide you with access to Paradis Noir as Lord Black," Harry began, "and also as Lord Black, I can ensure that any potentially harmful wards are taken down before any others access the island. I would think that, with the 'danger' galleons taken out, five million galleons is much more reasonable a price."

Schists' immediate full-throated laugh told Harry that these negotiations were going to be long and difficult and it was all that he could do not to sigh with the thought of what was to come.

ooo00ooo

Sweat dripped into Ted's eyes as he backtracked but, as much as he would like, he had no opportunity to wipe it away. Before him, a grinning Doreen advanced, her fists and feet coming at him almost too fast for him to counter.

This was their final sparring session before ... Well, it was their last unofficial one; their last official one had been yesterday afternoon, but Teddy had insisted on the two of them having this last go. And this time, he was determined to beat her. For once.

His eyes tried to stay focussed on her own, really, they did, but it was immensely difficult not to watch her hands and feet, especially when they were flying at him so rapidly and with so much force. Every single one of his trainers – Bobbi, Nat, Steve, even Clint when he was around – all insisted that it was the eyes that telegraphed what the body was going to do. And, considering how often he lost, maybe they were right.

Left fist block.

Right fist block.

Duck under the second right.

Arch the body forward while slipping his feet backwards to dodge the kick.

Ted's eyes widened at the left swinging fist aimed at his head and he did the only thing that he could think of – he allowed gravity to take him.

Landing flat, he immediately rolled over and then rolled again to miss the foot aimed at his chest.

Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and danced backwards to give himself a little more room – a movement that was in vain as Doreen simply advanced with him.

In rapid succession, he blocked four fists, the sound of his hands slapping away at her arms echoing throughout the room.

Defensive, he was always on the defensive. He was sure that that was why he never won, never mind Doreen's advanced reflexes and stamina.

With that in mind, he decided to try something different, something completely unexpected.

Dancing backwards, he avoided her roundhouse kick. And then, when she next struck out at him with her left, instead of blocking, he swivelled the top half of his body to simply avoid it. The unexpected movement must have caught Doreen off balance for a moment for her hand seemed to hang in mid-air for longer than usual.

Out of instinct, Ted grabbed it and yanked, twisted his body some more and threw her, just as Bobbi had taught him, up and over his hip.

Ted's feeling of victory was incredibly short-lived as Doreen's hand grabbed on to his forearm as she flew, bringing him with her.

"Oof!" he exclaimed as the air was knocked from his lungs when he landed on his back.

Regardless, he scrambled about, managing to get most of his body on top of Doreen's. His hands reached out and grabbed her hands.

"Got you!" he grinned, his face mere inches from her own.

"You really think so?" she asked.

"Yep," he replied.

A subtle tensing of her muscles underneath him told Ted that Doreen was about to throw him off and that there was nothing that he could do about it, especially with her enhanced strength. And then, he did the unexpected.

He kissed her.

Feeling that tenseness instantly evaporate from her body, Ted deepened the kiss. Her fingers entwined with his own and he felt her begin kissing him back.

"Wow!" Doreen breathed when they finally separated.

"Yeah. Wow!" Ted agreed, staring down into her chestnut brown eyes from where he'd lifted his head.

"Gotta say, though, Ted, your timing sucks," Doreen stated. "You're going back to England after the party tonight. You couldn't have kissed me weeks ago?"

"We've still got this afternoon," Ted replied, trying to find the positives.

"I think we're done here," Doreen said, "let's get out of here and spend your last day in New York City doing something a little more fun."

"I like that idea," Ted agreed, standing up before offering his hand to assist her to her feet. "At least I finally won one."

"Don't expect that move to work next time, buddy," Doreen grinned.

ooo00ooo

Originally, this room had been designed as a conference room or a mission briefing room within Avengers Tower. But with the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the rise of HYDRA, both Steve and Maria had insisted that they needed a command centre. Thus, Tony had gone to work adding banks of monitors to the wall as well as smaller touch screen computers in the big conference desk in front of every chair.

Currently, Steve, Maria and Bucky were using the room to analyse the data that they and Coulson's team had gathered about HYDRA. Healer Greengrass was also in attendance, as she usually was whenever Bucky was doing something that might cause him some stress. And for this, Steve had to agree that she could be needed.

In the last half hour that they'd been digging through the data aiming to identify possible HYDRA bases, Steve had noted a tensing around Bucky's eyes, a sure sign that, despite his cool exterior, this was getting to him. But then, how could it not? For over the past seven decades, the Winter Soldier had been HYDRA's asset, the one they'd call in to do their dirty work and, while Bucky didn't remember a lot of that time – unsurprising after the way they'd wiped his memory after each mission – what he did remember was a far cry from the boy that Steve had grown up with.

Four of the monitors were arrayed with lines of data, names of once-were S.H.I.E.L.D. bases. Further information about each base could be gained from simply touching the appropriate name.

"I don't think that we're going to be able to go any further with the information that we have," Maria stated.

"Agreed," Steve sighed. "I just wish that this list was a bit bigger."

There were nods all around the room at his statement, coinciding with his finger tapping the monitor containing the shortest list – the list of bases that still remained in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands. Of the remaining three lists, by far the longest was the list of bases that they had no idea who now controlled them. The two mid-sized lists detailed the bases that were now controlled by the government where the base was located or the bases that HYDRA had won in their uprising. Unfortunately, of the last list, there was no indication whether or not HYRA still controlled them or had simply stripped them as they had done with the Fridge and moved on.

"I'm certain that HYDRA have a base somewhere in southern Connecticut," Bucky stated, frowning at the data on the screen that he was using.

"There's nothing about a base in Connecticut anywhere in these files," Maria replied, her fingers dancing over her keyboard.

"I know it's there. Or it was," a frustrated sounding Bucky reiterated. "I can remember it! It was near a river. But the boats I'm remembering aren't modern. This was maybe thirty or forty years ago."

"Don't push it," Healer Greengrass said, coming up behind him and laying a hand between his shoulder blades. "Let the memory come naturally."

"It's okay, Buck," Steve added. "The fact that you can remember something gives us a place to start. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes us a long time to check every single one of these as it is, not to mention finding all of their secret bases, and by then, more of your memories will have returned."

"I'll send these lists to some of my contacts," Maria said, "see what their intelligence says. There's a couple on here that we really don't want HYDRA keeping – the Treehouse, Barracuda and The Swamp among them."

"That's what the Avengers aim to do – take the fight to HYDRA and clear them out completely, no matter how 'strategic' the base happens to be," Steve stated. "For now, I'll start working on putting together our first potential target."

"And I'll help," Bucky added. "No one here knows more about how HYDRA operates than I do."

ooo00ooo

"I'm telling you that Ultron is more essential now than ever before," Tony argued.

"And I'm not debating that," Bruce shot back, "especially with all of the enhanced individuals that HYDRA released when they had their coming out party ..."

"I'm sure that we could take them," Peter chirped up from where he was seated at a computer console across the room, his fingers never straying from their dance.

"No one's saying we couldn't, kid," Tony replied. "What I am saying is that we shouldn't have to. With Ultron out there, our job would be cut in half at the very least. At best, we'd be out of a job altogether."

"Hey, no one'd be happier than me if we could retire the other guy permanently, but it's just not going to happen," Bruce sighed.

"You're giving up?" Tony asked.

"Yes. I am," Bruce replied and pushed himself away from his computer station so that he rolled a couple of feet back on his stool. "Creating an AI that's capable of monitoring the entire world – every satellite, every piece of intelligence gathering system in existence – as well as controlling dozens of suits or robots or androids or whatever at the same time is simply out of the question. It'll take too much computing power, especially if you want it to be intelligent enough to know when it's needed and when it should simply leave the problem for the appropriate authorities to handle."

"The human brain is the most sophisticated computer ever designed," Peter commented, "couldn't we just use that as a template for Ultron?"

"What do you think I did when I built Jarvis?" Tony asked rhetorically.

"Jarvis is one thing, he's state of the art, the most advanced AI in existence, but even he's not good enough to do what we want Ultron to do," Bruce stated. "Not even a computer as advanced as a single human mind could do what we have in mind for Ultron."

Tony stared at Bruce, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"Admit it, Tony, the tech simply doesn't yet exist to do what you have in mind," Bruce continued.

"I thought that that was what we were trying to do, create it," Tony groused.

"And maybe someday we will," Bruce sighed. "But that day isn't today."

"But we can still work on it, can't we?" Peter asked. "In our spare time or something? If we don't invent it, then who will?"

"We aren't the only smart people in the world," Tony said. "But maybe you're right; we aren't going to solve this now. Perhaps we should shelve the project and come back to it later when there's been a breakthrough in computering power and processing speed."

"Glad to hear you finally talking some sense," Bruce said, nodding his head. "And maybe now you'll let me get a bit of sleep instead of waking me up and dragging me down here at all hours of the night?"

"Don't count on it," Tony countered. "When the muse strikes, you've gotta follow where it leads, right kid?"

"Well, I don't know about 'muse'," Peter replied, "but my spider-sense has a nasty habit of going off at the most inconvenient times imaginable."

"Great. As long as that's settled," Tony said, clapping his hands together. "Whenever our muse or 'spider-sense' goes off, we have to follow it."

"But if it's your muse, I don't see why that means that I can't get extra sleep," Bruce near-whined.

"Hey, you're not going to let me have all this fun by myself, are you?" Tony asked.

Bruce's expression told the other two exactly what he thought of that idea.

ooo00ooo

"Here you go, kid," Tony said, tossing a box wrapped in blue paper at Teddy.

"Thanks, Tony," Teddy replied with a large grin.

The wrapping paper was quickly torn off and discarded to the ground alongside all of its brethren – it seemed that most of the inhabitants of the Tower had elected to get Teddy a 'going away' gift. By far the most impressive had been a joint gift given by Darcy and Lavender: a large poster of all of the Avengers, including the recruits, all suited up and standing together. Well, apart from the web head who'd thought that lowering himself into the shot upside down on one of his webs was 'cool'. And it was, not that Tony ever planned on telling him that.

The poster had actually been created using one of the latest photos from the recent photo shoot that Lavender had arranged as part of her on-going public relations things. She thought that, after the press release that they'd done with the recruits and the Academy, it'd help with their image if they could market some new products and to also get their names out there, especially the newest ones.

The only downside that'd come from the press thing had been the old geezer with the greying hair and moustache and glasses wearing red spandex sporting a blue lightning bolt image on his chest, black underpants and a blue cape that had insisted that he was Academy-worthy. Stan, he'd said his name was. Tony'd shouted Happy a cheeseburger for dealing with the guy and getting rid of him.

"Woah!" Teddy exclaimed, bringing Tony's attention back to the kid.

The black box that the watch had come in had been discarded and Teddy was now holding the watch in his hand. Obviously, he'd already found the button that produced a holographic

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