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The repeated strikes allowed Thanos to call upon a medical bot from his ship, which helped repair his ravaged face and then replaced his boot thruster. Harry's spell had ruined one of his eyes to the point he would need to build a replacement, as he had for the hand he'd lost in his first fight with Guardian, but that and a scar that the medical bot sewed shut were the only long term wounds from that strike.
Meanwhile, Harry found himself battered across the lightyears for a bit before he was able to dodge fast enough to not be hit by a follow-on pulse. The next pulse that attempted to hit him instead hit a Sciath na BhFéadfadh that Harry flung up between them. Then Harry was zooming back into the attack, lashing out with long range spell chain towards Sanctuary and Thanos alike. He didn't try to split them up, figuring that would just make it more difficult to deal with them both. At the same time, help arrived for Harry.
From the nearest Warp Gate, the Human Torch, Polaris and Dark Star arrived, followed by Clea. Dr Strange had stayed with the defense fleet facing off with the Skrull Fleet. As the most experienced, Johnny called the shots, blasting out a beam of fire so hot it more resembled a solar flare than anything else. "Polaris, if you can't grab onto anything on that big bastard, wait at range for now, Dark Star with me. We need to make it split its fire."
Sanctuary was already doing so even as the trio came within their own range, however, not even turning to address them, keeping it's spinal mounted weapons pointed at Harry. Clea's shields saved them from that return fire a time or two as the massive ship seemed to have no trouble firing on enemies that were merely human-sized. Still, it had diverted much of its fire away from Harry, and that in turn allowed him to strike back, both against Sanctuary and Thanos.
Thanos dodged through the multiple spells that came his way, frowning in anger. The Power Cosmic did not have infinite range, and here in space, even Thanos's eyes weren't good enough to see all that far away. Guardian didn't seem to have the same limitations, and while unformed magical blasts dissipated even more rapidly than the Power Cosmic, his formed spells did not. That gave him much the same range as Sanctuary and more than Thanos himself. Very well, I will need to close, I already have proof enough that I can overwhelm him in close combat. The newcomers will be annoying but worthless in the main and—
The titan's thoughts cut off as a huge spell blasted out from Harry, crashing into the shield of Sanctuary, followed by a spell that Harry had used previously on Thanos. But instead of a small cube of antimatter. Several yards of the substance appeared, held at first within a modified Bubblehead Charm, but when that Bubblehead Charm failed, it instantly went critical, exploding with enough power to rock the massive vessel despite its myriad shields, the explosion large enough to be caught by sensors across the star system.
Roaring, Thanos charged forward, entering his own range and blasting Harry with several bolts of Power Cosmic, barking out a command verbally to Sanctuary, so furious was he. The ship didn't need verbal commands, after all, given the subcutaneous communications device embedded in Thanos's brain to send his mental commands to the ship. "Sanctuary, concentrate on defense. Keep all shields up, diverting energy from weapons systems as needed. Guardian's energy conversion magic is too deadly for anything of mere physical material to withstand it."
"Complying. Warning: Normal anti-material and anti-energy shielding down to 85% from that strike. This unit cannot stop Guardian from using further spells that are targeted not at this unit, but at the surrounding area," Sanctuary warned.
"Acknowledged," Thanos answered, this time mentally as he dodged around several more spells from Guardian. Each of those, he realized with a slight bit of worry, were much larger than the equivalent spells he'd used when they'd been fighting on Earth. He no longer needs to hold back, Thanos thought, his lips curling into a fierce grin. Good.
While Harry was more mobile, he wasn't any faster in a straight line, and Thanos was able to close.
Harry's eyes, which were still hidden behind the goggles of his Crysis suit, widened, and he ducked under a blow from Thanos, his own hand flashing up with a Bombarda with enough power to shatter a city contained within. It cracked into Thano's chest and did nothing more than cause the larger Titan to grin as he blasted Harry with a face full of Power Cosmic. Harry reeled, then even as his goggles cracked despite the enchantments on them, returned fire. Spell chains flickered out point blank, but the yellowish energy shield was back, blocking his best attempts.
At the same time, Harry realized that his air bubble had been gone for a while. Huh, so much for the need to breath. That's interesting, even though I knew Thanos didn't need to breath before this. Pity, spells to attack his lungs could've been something to try when we were in an atmosphere. Right now though it doesn't matter. Lightning, fire, ice, water, raw force, Thanos' shield seems to block all of it, and I can tell whatever battery he was using to power that shield was replaced when he got his ugly mug repaired.
Harry knew he had the advantage at range, with his magic easily overcoming Thanos's in terms of range and type of use. Further, Harry was quickly realizing he was just as, if not more durable than Thanos when it came to taking Thanos's energy blasts in comparison to Thanos taking magical strikes in turn. My suit's kind of wrecked by this point, but the Titan Transformation is more than making up for it, Harry thought with a wild grin even ashis head rocked back from a blow that cost him a tooth.
Sanctuary took that moment, however, to remind Harry of its presence. A blast of energy took Harry in the side, causing him to grimace in pain and opening himself to Thanos.
Thanos grabbed his arm with one hand, bringing his other hand around to break Guardian's arm, a wild grin on his face.
But before he could, Harry lashed out with a spell he aimed with his eyes. This was something he had trouble with before but the Piercing Fang spell, the penetrating type spell he had come up with on the fly when fighting Galactus that acted like a drill or Rifela-like spell on steroids, blasted into Thano's chest. His shield held, deadening the spell, but the raw impact of the spell still halted him, and the next moment, a Lumos Proxima followed.
The light, as bright as a star going nova, blinding not only Thanos but everyone in the vicinity as Harry accidentally overpowered the spell. This included Sanctuary, who lost a appreciable percentage of his auspex equipment based on sight, and and Harry himself. Both titans reeled back, with Thanos releasing Harry. Harry recovered first, and two more spell chains flashed out, hammering into Thanos and the more distant Sanctuary.
As his ship rocked once more from not one but multiple near-contact antimatter explosions and the other three humans took advantage of this quickly, Thanos found himself grimacing even as his anti-magic shield protected him from the worst of Harry's assault on himself.
The Mad Titan was feeling it more than a bit. His fight with Thor had wounded him somewhat and while he'd come through his fight with the Avatar relatively unscathed, she had still cost him energy. His Power Cosmic abilities could mitigate Guardian's unformed magical skills, and his formed magic could be handled by his shield, but that shield was again slowly losing power, just as Sanctuary was. Even with his ship there to back him up, Thanos was slowly being pummeled, and he knew it. Potter's Titan transformation… and how he achieved that I have no idea… seems to have given him just as much durability as I possess.
Thanos had entirely lost the initiative at this point, and even as he rallied, Dark Star shouted something into the intercoms, which Harry somehow picked up, the back of his helmet the only part of his Crysis Suit that still looked like it was in one piece. "Guardian, I can sense some kind of sub-dimensional connection between the ship and it's owner! The ship's got to be powering that yellow energy field, he can't create it himself."
With that, Harry turned a significant portion of his attention towards dealing with the ship. Even as Thanos closed, Harry remained entirely defensive, creating small balls of Bubblehead-enclosed antimatter to keep Thanos at bay. He paid for it with more than a few bruises and a lot more strikes coming in than Harry was able to block, including one that rocked his head and nearly blinded him in one eye, with Sanctuary also joining in despite everything that the other three could do.
Thanos had no idea what Harry was doing. He thought that perhaps the fool had latched onto his antimatter creation spell for some reason given how well it had worked before, and pressed his advantage without further worry. He should have.
Suddenly, Harry shifted tactics. Between one raw magical attack and dodging a blow from Thanos, Harry hit his shield with the Shield Breaker Spell. Not just once, but ten times in a spell chain, overpowering each iteration so much it could have shattered a shield fit to protect a planet the size of Mars. Thanos's anti-magic shield held, but the raw power of that spell blasted him away much like the pulse-type attack Sanctuary had used on Guardian earlier. Between one second and the next, Thanos found himself going from within hand-to-hand range to nearly forty miles away, well outside his range of sight if not the Power Cosmic.
Before Thanos could recover and close the distance again, Harry twisted around, launching a spell not directly at Sanctuary, but the space nearby. "Expecto Praetorian MAXIMA!" Harry shouted, his words making no noise in space, but helping him to concentrate through it.
In the previously empty space around the diving quartet trying their best to engage Sanctuary, a white light blazed and a magical construct appeared. It almost gleamed like an Expecto Patronus, but Harry was somewhat surprised to see more fiery red and orange colors mixed in with the sharp white light. Moreover, the Expecto construct did not take the shape of the massive knights that Harry had used to clear out Hogwarts all those months ago.
Rather, a giant version of Hedwig appeared, easily larger than even Sanctuary, reaching down to grasp the ship in claws of raw light and, Harry realized with a start, life-based magic. The transformation to a Titan seems to have given my magic some extra oomph. A gift from the Pheonix Force, perhaps? It didn't change Harry's orders though, which flowed along the spell even as the Praetorian Maxima appeared. "Destroy that ship!"
The claws of the magical construct grabbed onto the shields of Sanctuary, and to the surprise of the vessel, it did not instantly dissipate on contact with the anti-magic shield. Instead, its attack continued, the construct renewing itself as it's claws closed on the yellow shield. Technology-based energy met magic in a continuous conflict, and instantly, Sanctuary blared a warning down the nigh-telepathic link to it's master. "Warning! This unit is sustaining considerable strain. All offensive actions halted. Kinetic and Anti-magic shielding failing at a rate of 2.75% per second."
Even as Thanos closed with Harry, forcing him to defend himself less Thanos just pummel him under, Clea, who had been holding back, zipped down. She began to use attack spells all around the ship. Along with Dark Star and the Human Torch's assault, this forced Sanctuary to keep its shields up all over the vessel.
And into this, Polaris soared. Previously, the anti-material and energy shield Sanctuary had kept up had been enough to defeat her ability to find any ferrous material within it, disrupting her ability to feel such. Now, though, the shields began to flicker, and Polaris struck. Even as Harry found his jaw broken by a blow from Thanos and his chest blasted by a strike of Power Cosmic energy, Polaris's magnetism found several panels within the ship. A wrench, and those panels were torn open. Small-scale things, but they began to escalate.
Thanos turned to stare towards his ship for a second in shock as Sanctuary blared out another warning. His attempts to force Harry to pull his power back from the construct he had created having thus far failed, but the bad news was about to get worse. "Alert, Alarm! This unit's internal structure is under attack! Analysis suggests magnetic assault of some fashion!"
As Thanos watched one of Sanctuary's shield nacelles exploded as bits of it tore out from the rest. Most of the ship wasn't ferrous, but enough was and most of that was in some way important. And worse, without that shield nacelle, a quadrant of the large ship was left without its anti-material and anti-energy shield.
Dark Star and the Human Torch both pounced. Flame and other-dimensional energy struck tearing further into the ship as more of its systems began to fail.
That was all Thanos could see before a spell chain slammed into him. Or rather, into his fake hand. A series of overpowered Shield Breaker crashed into the anti-magic shield, followed by a cutting spell that Harry had learned from Hela. It was part deific spell, part death magic, and as the yellowish anti-magic shield failed, the cutting spell launched into Thanos's his sliced his mechanical hand in two.
With a whine that went unheard in the depths of space, Thanos's anti-magic shield failed, leaving him with only his Titan durability and quasi-fourth dimensional existence to protect himself. No transfiguration spell could work on him, but this definitely opened up Thanos for a world of hurt, something that he learned in the next second as the Piercing Fang spell slammed into him with no protection available to take up any of the impact.
The mix of Light, raw, and piercing magic, the mix of which had become something of a specialty of Harry's, still couldn't penetrate Thanos' skin but the spell caught him in the side, shattering ribs and hurling Thanos down through space as the titan soundlessly groaned in pain.
With a start, Harry realized the battle had taken them across the solar system so far they'd left Saturn well beyond and had entered Neptune's orbit. The blue ball of gas, methane and what-have-you hovered in the distance, creating a backdrop to the fight along with the far closer moon that Thanos was rapidly approaching. It's large, and looks mostly stone-like from here, so… Oberon, I think?
Shaking his head, Harry followed, flashing forward so fast that even Clea couldn't follow him, hitting Thanos several times more and taking a few blows in turn before the two Titans crashed into the moon. They struck with all the power of several nukes going off, creating a massive plume of dust, ice and rock, a crater appearing under them the size of Asia.
Groaning, Thanos tried to give as good as he was getting, but without his antimagic shield, there was no way he was turning the tide without Sanctuary. And reaching out to the ship, his eyes widened. "Sanctuary!" He sent, via a mental link to his ship, the same ship that had saved him the last time he clashed with Potterm the same he'd used throughout the fight in space to give his ship its orders. "Sanctuary, come to me!"
He blocked the next few strikes retreating as he did, his immense jaw locked in a rictus of pain as he called on all his Power Cosmic reserves to redirect Harry's spells with extreme difficulty, each exchange weakening him further. But there was no response. No response until he turned his eyes upwards, and saw Sanctuary itself. The ship was racing towards him, but it's engines were being destroyed as it came, a significant portion of one wing was already gone, and none of it's weapons were firing.
"Thi, this, unit is failing. Hyperdrive engines repaired from earlier jump, but compromised by new damage. Losing power. This unit is…" The AI's voice cut off as a large chunk of it's 'face' was suddenly transfigured into glass, before shattering leaving the ship listing as most of the power flowing through it disappeared, leaving only a few scattered shield nacelles and the central power generator, the glow of which was beginning to grow dramatically as Thanos stared. The next instant, the ship exploded, shredding itself in its explosion, hurtling the Human Torch, Polaris and Dark star away before Clea could shield them, destroying the magical construct that had plagued the vessel up to this point.
The Human Torch rode the explosion, but Dark Star and Polaris both were teleported out by their emergency medical portkeys. Even Johnny needed a second to shake his head, before he and Clea raced to Oberon to help Harry.
Seeing this, the final destruction of his seat of power, Thanos howled in fury, rage and hatred rising, his home for literally longer than humanity disappearing into so much scattered bits was gone now and he could feel nothing but hate for the being who had destroyed it. That was almost worse than knowing he could not retreat, but for a moment his anger overrode that thought.
Thanos's attacks pushed Harry back, but he was still able to concentrate on a second spell. A hammer of roiling magic appeared above them, growing until it went from horizon to horizon around Oberon, then shrinking, condensing until it looked almost solid with raw magical potential. It crashed down, and Thanos found himself smashed into the surface of Oberon with such power that he began to be sent deeper into it's outer crust, to the point where the whole moon trembled. He fought back, tried to use the Power Cosmic do defend himself, but he couldn't until the spell cut off.
Harry rained down further, smaller spells, cutting spells now, on Thanos. These were a mix of his own, and those he had learned from Hela, and some he created now, and when the Mad Titan finally forced his way back up onto the surface of the planet, he was a wreck. Like Harry, all of his armor was nearly gone, leaving him in rags that barely covered his legs, let alone anything above the waist. Whereas Harry was covered in a mass of bruises and bleeding from a single cut to his side and was missing several teeth, Thanos had more flayed skin than whole, more bruises than burns and far more of both than uninjured surface.
Yet still, he glared across at Harry.
Scowling, Harry gestured, and a bubblehead Charm the size of a city block appeared, covering both of them, letting them speak. Even someone like Thanos deserves to have his last words heard. "You brought war and death to my world, Thanos. Not once, but twice. You launched your followers like a pack of mad dogs at the head of an army of hyenas. But there is another saying among us humans. Pride comes before the fall, and it is time for you to fall."
With that, he gestured to one side, and a spear of fire, Pheonix Force-tinged magic mixed with light and raw magic appeared, causing Harry to once more almost shake his head in shock at how easily his magic came to him in this manner.
Across from him, Thanos glared back, teeth bared, and he slowly raised his arms, in a defensive stance. Whatever else, Thanos would not die without still trying to do his best ot bring Guardian with him.
It was now, as Thanos realized that he had lost all chance of escape, of all chance of living through the next few minutes, when he accepted his fate, that he saw his Lady. For the first time in several years, Death herself appeared to one side of the titans.
She appeared so abruptly it was like the whole universe had simply blinked, and she was there, a moment stretched into infinity, everything around them, the dust, ice Clea and Johnny frozen in place, not keeping up with this one extended moment. Reality bent around Lady Death, the ultimate end of all things so real that everything else became false in her presence.
This was not the first time Harry had dealt with Lady Death, and he simply bowed his head respectfully as she looked at the two of them from the side. "Lady Death."
For his part, Thanos breathed in, his face shifting to one of abject adoration, of religious fervor? Harry couldn't tell which. Regardless, it was highly disturbing to see such an expression sent Lady Death's way. Not that Harry didn't recognize that she could be… attractive… if you were into bones and skulls, but by the very nature of the woman in question she could not love, and Harry had never gotten the impression that she was unhappy with that state of affairs.
Obviously the Mad Titan did not see it that way however. "Lady, at last! At last I see you in person, for the, the first time in ages you have responded to my overtures. You, you are even more beautiful than I dreamed… your eyes, the, they draw me in. I…" he coughed up blood, before reaching his one remaining hand out to Lady Death as if to offer her something, or to request something in return. Again, Harry wasn't certain. "All this, all I have ever done, for you…"
Death did not respond, instead staring right at Harry, not even looking in Thanos' direction. Instead, Harry felt her gaze locked on his forehead, specifically the two runes that had replaced his lightning bolt scar there. Sensing that something was being demanded of him, Harry bowed his head deeper this time than before. "As you can see, I took what knowledge you and your sister gave me and ran with it. I cannot believe this was outside your calculations but I do suppose I need to say it. I will not abuse any of my new powers… including the possible immortality that comes with it. I will always be grateful for the aid given and will respect the balance of nature. If you wish me to swear an Oath to you on that score, I will do so."
Although much of that last had been pulled out of the ether (or his arse, Harry wasn't certain which) it seemed to satisfy Death. Her expression could not change, indeed it had never done so in all their interactions, yet her body language seemed to ease a bit and she slowly nodded.
This did not sit well with Thanos, who cried out, his hand slumping back to his side, anger giving him some strength but blood loss and pain almost enough to force the man to his knees. "Wh, why do you speak to him!? Why do you not even, even look at me. Please!" Thanos nearly screamed, his voice both passionate and desperate, and not just desperate because he knew he was at the ends of his rope. No, this was the desperation of someone who was looking at the love of his life, who he had done impossible, awe-inspiring things for, still not giving him the time of day.
"I, I know I failed to give you the ultimate prize, this ones soul and that of the Phoenix Force's avatar," Thanos babbled. "But surely, surely there must be a reason you have appeared before me despite my shortcomings! Please, tell me what I must do to gain your favor, to have you look at me as I do you! Even were I to die myself for us to be together, I would gladly accept that price!"
Only now did Death turn her attention to her would-be suitor. That was a strange thing, one she didn't understand, even now several millennia after she first became aware of Thanos. It was then when he had slain his race, starting with his family, and had done so in some kind of misplaced belief that she would look favorably on him for it. An idea he had carried forward, as if he believed she cared about the trillions of beings he had killed in the centuries since, how they died. For all the death he caused, Thanos did so because he had somehow convinced himself that Death would love him back, if only he could gain her attention.
Such was far from the truth but given what he had done supposedly in her name, Death had deemed that she should appear in person now, as she so rarely could. But Harry having a rune tied to her realm on his forehead allowed for this. And, although it annoyed her, she also needed to speak.
"PLEASE!" Thanos looked almost close to a full mental breakdown now, staring back. "I, I have slain worlds, star spanning empires, all for you, all for the glory of Death!"
Death flicked a single finger at her side, the motion enough to fill both men with dread. Then she spoke.
To Harry Death's voice sounded as it always had when she pulled his spirit to her realm: like the slamming of a tomb's doors, or of two gravestones banging together. By the expression that crossed Thanos' face, he did not share Harry's opinion, although he also didn't seem to like what Death was saying. "When have I ever asked for such?"
Death waited a brief second, showing some knowledge of conversational mores, surprising Harry somewhat. But then she went on. "I AM DEATH. THE ENDLESS. THE CONCLUSION OF ALL THINGS. SUCH IS MY BEING, SUCH HAVE I BEEN SINCE THE START OF TIME. WHY WOULD I COME TO LOVE ANYONE? I CANNOT."
She shook her head, once with all the finality of scythe going through wheat. "FURTHER, WHY WOULD I COME TO LOVE ANYONE WHO WISHES TO SIMPLY BRING MORE DEATH? IT WOULD BE LIKE THE COLOR BLACK FALLING IN LOVE WITH A PAINTER WHO USES THAT COLOR more than any other. Foolish. I HAVE NEVER WANTED MORE THAN MY DUE. NEVER FELT LOVE, NOR WANTED TO. EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE TO GARNER MY ATTENTION HAS MERELY BEEN A REFLECTION OF YOUR OWN SOUL."
Harry watched grimly as Thanos stared, before slowly shaking his head, unable to believe what he was hearing, but also unable to disprove The Endless's words. And as that final revelation hit him, Thanos, for perhaps the first time since he had slain his parents in cold blood, looked at his actions without the lens of his obsession with Lady Dath. And in so doing, he knew they, like the trillions of deaths he had caused since, had no purpose. Knew he was just as much a madman as a common serial killer. There had never been a real justification for what he did. All of it had been in his own head.
When that hit him, Thanos's mind broke, and he fell to his knees, screaming. "AAHHHhhhhhhaaaaaaaaa!"
Shaking his head, Harry lashed out with the spear-like spell he had prepared. It was time to finish this, at last.
Even with all the power he had put into the spell, Thanos' natural resistance to magic was far higher than Galactus' ever had been, and it took a while for the attack to finish it's work. Minutes of Thanos' screaming, before the magic finally finished eating into his face, searing skin, bone, teeth away followed rapidly by his skull and brain. Moments later, Thanos' body fell the stony ground of the planet below, his entire head seared away by Harry's magic.
For a moment, Harry waited for something to happen, some final last gasp trap, or for the universe to acknowledge the Mad Titan's passing in some fashion as Harry gasped, nearly slumping to his own knees in exhaustion. As he gasped in air, waiting, for a second, there was nothing.
Then from Thanos' corpse an image rose, an image made in black, red and dark purple, with ice blue eyes. It was an extremely detailed, well-formed soul, showing how powerful Thanos had been in life. Thanos's soul seemed to still be screaming, but thankfully Harry could no longer hear him.
Death could, but she ignored it, waving her hand. The soul continued to cry out soundlessly as it shifted, compressing, becoming a small white and black-colored ball of gaseous energies. When the process concluded, the ball floated into Death's outstretched hand. She stared down at it for a few seconds, then clenched her hand. The ball burst, and for just a second, Harry imagined he could hear a last, despairing wail on an unseen wind.
For some reason, perhaps the connection forged between him and Dath's realm in his Titan Transformation, Harry knew that meant that Thanos' soul was simply… gone now. There would be no return to the wheel for it. The soul would not be made to forget it's past self and be reborn. Death had judged him, and, perhaps because of everything he had done to gain her favor, felt it within her right to judge Thanos' soul permanently rather than give it a chance at eventual redemption.
At that, Harry had to suppress a shudder, a small, tiny part of him wondering if even Thanos deserved that. Yet he said nothing, simply bowing from the waist this time towards Death, who, to his surprise had not yet disappeared. "With your leave, Lady. Cleaning up after this war will not be an easy chore, and the faster we start, the faster we finish."
Death nodded her head imperceptibly, not looking up from where the energies contained in Thanos' soul were still slowly dissipating. By the time they were gone, so too was Harry. Death stood there still though, turning her gaze towards the distant Earth. No physical eyes could ever see so far, but Death could. After all, was she not already there? Was she not already everywhere?
Beside her, a flame appeared for a moment, a flash of crystal visible behind it as the Phoenix Force appeared in this realm of reality for a second. Soon the living embodiment of life stood beside her opposite in companionable silence, both of them staring towards Earth, and the still young human male who had become so much more, and who now wore the marks of both on his brow.
For Death, the silence was enough, lacking the spark of imagination to mark the moment with words. But she still nodded in agreement when Phoenix Force murmured, "We will continue to watch your career with great interest, Harry Potter," before both of them disappeared back to their respective realms.
The Titan War was over.
Epilogue: An Ending and a Beginning
"So we're agreed that technology and, in particular, medical supplies will be the core of our demands? You'll note I'm not bringing up the breakdown of who can get how much again," Harry drawled, looking around the table at the other delegates, his eyes both sharp and annoyed.
All of the delegates around the table, bar Dr. Doom, looked tired, although Harry found, not for the first time since his Titan Transformation, he still had energy to spare despite how frustrating this conference had been. The symposium on what to demand from the Skrull Fleet and their Empire up to this point had been quarrelsome, to say the least. Several of the nations that had wanted to be part of this discussion sought compensation straight from Harry and the empire. Others wanted specifics, while the American president wanted the Skrull fleet's smaller units to be turned over to Earth entirely so that the UN could start building its own space navy.
But finally, with a few concessions on his part, a few side deals between the others, and a lot of discussion, the peace treaty that the humans would agree to with the Skrull was written. This process had taken two weeks in Harry's time dilation chamber, and yet, all of the locals hadn't suffered more than a minor headache thanks to some changes made to the time dilation array. It was now much more power-intensive, on a scale of fifty to one, but that was fine by Harry.
"I am not looking forward to telling my people that we have made this agreement with the Skrull. The public will want a scapegoat, and I don't doubt we all saw the hundreds of demonstrations worldwide demanding blood before we came up here. But I do agree that this distribution of resources is one that we can all live with," Chancellor Wen Lo Di of China said, running one hand down his face and then up into his hair. He looked nervous at being the first to speak but also grateful that the others allowed him to do so as he stood up.
Contrary to the prediction he had rather casually thrown off to Jean in her Phoenix persona, the Mandarin had discovered that truth had its own sharp tip. The nuclear assault on the gateway, recorded by his own drones and then snatched out of the communications network by Pinoptes only to return after hostilities had ended, had proven too much. The fact that those missiles, which he had ordered launched against a target inside China's own borders only to explode in Chinese cities when Thanos had redirected them so easily, had been simply too much. The mob had come for the Mandarin.
Sadly for the Mandarin, the military apparatus that should have helped the leader of the People's Party stay in power had been gutted by the invasion. Whole bases had been wiped out by surprise Skimmer assaults, the air force had been shredded, and the navy, such as it was, had been mauled when they followed orders from on high to assault Taiwan and run into the US 7th fleet's buzzsaw.
Harry had added still more impetus to the mob's hatred of their former leader, although only partly because he knew it would, in fact, hurt the Mandarin's position further. No, that had merely been a side benefit of, as Melody still put it, being a hero. In this case, that meant opening up hoarded amounts of Magical Minds potions and medical supplies and then offering his own and Ororo's magic-based healing to the, well, the entire world, frankly. Harry had started in China, while Ororo had started in America, and they'd worked their way towards one another via Europe.
They hadn't been able to save everyone, of course. There had been far too many wounded, both civilian and combatants, for that, even with Harry being able to heal busloads of people at a time thanks to his Titan Transformation's powerup and the added skill being connected to the Phoenix Force had given his healing ability. Harry had even retreated into a time-dilation chamber to meet with Strange and the other magicals to figure out spells that could heal radiation damage.
Between them, Harry, Odin and Freya, who had joined the conversation surprisingly, and Steven had figured out a spell that could reverse the cellular degeneration caused by radiation. A spell that, once more, most would have had trouble powering without asking for aid from the Elder Gods of magic as Strange did. Harry didn't need it, and coupled with another spell to fight the background radiation, Harry had saved hundreds of thousands of lives outside of the original nukes' blast zones that had been the centers of Wuxi and Wuzhou.
In so doing, the magicals had rather accidentally opened up an entirely new study for Reed Richards and the bio-scientists of Magical Minds, but that didn't really matter much to Harry. What did matter was that the Mandarin's power had not survived a week after Thanos's death. China was still very leery of foreign influence, but Harry had not only extended medical aid but also aid in many other areas, and had offered a seat at this table to the Chancellor who came into power after the Mandarin was ousted.
Ousted, he thought now, watching Wen Lo Di address the room. Such a small, banal word. The man was literally torn limb from limb despite his 'magic' rings. If I hadn't been busy healing the radiated civilians around Wuxi… well, I suppose that even as a Titan, one thing hasn't changed. I can't be in two places at once.
Wen Lo Di was a middle-aged Chinese man who had served with distinction in the Eurasian War against Russia before being wounded and medically discharged. At that point, Wen entered the CCP. He had been a city mayor when the Chitauri invasion struck and had taken control of the local military base, maintaining order in his area and setting up defenses that downed hundreds of skimmers and even a few Rippers. After the war ended, he was one of the very few CCP officials who had gained notoriety during the invasion that could also be accepted by the remnants of the Chinese military apparatus. That made him one of five who stood for a general election among their fellows in the National People's Congress.
Two weeks since the start of this conference, and Wen had yet to get used to the fact that this entire meeting was occurring in space aboard a space station (complete with a garden, a restaurant run by house elves whose cooking could match any five-star chef's) and magic in general. Let alone Harry himself. But he tried and, far better, he had not allowed himself to be browbeaten by the older, more politically experienced members who made up the conference. He belabored the point that China needed far more in the way of reparations, either from the rest of the world or from the Skrull, without losing an ounce of pride in his nation and continually pointed out they still had one of the world's largest populations and industrial sectors.
After Wen finished speaking, President Jacque D'Merceau of France pontificated for a few moments before Duncan stood up, frowning a little as he brought up a holographic representation of the document they were in the process of finalizing. "I'm afraid that my points are not nearly as heartfelt as Wen or Jacque's. My nation didn't come under direct assault, after all. There are, however, a few issues with the wording of this, and in particular this segment, where we warn against further reprisals against Earth and what we will do if such are attempted."
Duncan manipulated the console in front of him, and the portions he was speaking of enlarged, copying itself and hovering in front of each of the delegates. All of them had gotten used to the controls of the conference room by this point. "Specifically, we mentioned that any hint of infiltration will be answered by force. I don't think that is a tone we should take for two reasons. One, we're still not in a position to wage war against an opponent the size of the Skrull Empire. We can bring more power to a point, for certain, thanks to the Custodes Mundi, yourself, Dr. Droom, and so forth. But how often can we do so before our spear tip starts to break?"
"I see you are practicing your eloquence on us. Very well, consider us if not impressed, then at least amused, Duncan," Doom announced, causing Harry to snort and then nod as Doom went on. "Yet you bring up a good point."
"But they need to understand that they cannot get out of not paying their reparations to us! Given our meetings with Len'dok and the conciliatory note he has thus far taken, we have kept our demands deliberately light so far. China understands what it means to be under the roots of a conqueror and how little choice you have in certain matters under those circumstances. But still, they must pay," Wen argued, not understanding the point Duncan was making.
"I still think we're being extremely lenient there," the Russian representative grunted, wiping his glasses on a small silk handkerchief. Andre Ilovoko had been the man Harry had thought of as the 'thoughtful Russian' in the discussions after the Eurasian War and had been elected to take part in this debate. "Industrial and medical technology is well and good, but we need more ways to get out of our gravity well in an economical manner."
"We've already been over this," Samuel Northton, the American president, said, shaking his head and somewhat glaring at Harry. "And if anyone at this table should be rightfully annoyed at the fact that our space defense relies entirely on a secondary party, it should be me. So unless all of your nations are hiding some kind of plan to create a similar ability as magic can?"
"The only talk of that nature I know of comes from a joint European Union space station program, and it has barely gotten off the ground for lack of funding. And admittedly, trust in Harry Potter and the Avalon Empire," The Frenchman muttered, shaking his head in turn. "That has become quite powerful, and it has to be said, in my nation, at least, there is more trust in them than our own government."
Like the Chinese presence, the French presence at this table might well have surprised many people despite the recent battle for Paris. Those people would've been idiots, hung up on the French surrender during World War II. Armchair historians who didn't realize that it had been the French who had mostly held the line in World War I and who had a proud martial tradition going back far longer. Now, though, Harry doubted that anyone would ever doubt French élan again.
Once it became clear that the aliens were no longer in any position to send cutting-out expeditions away from Paris, the French had ordered the ODMs and the rest of the foreign aid out of the city. Not that there were that many of my men left by then. The final reclaiming of Paris had been done by the French alone. It was a matter of pride, and one that Harry had felt was rather self-destructive, but he hadn't argued at the time, as he needed more hands on deck in China. The French had paid in blood for their pride, as the Chitauri had not given up or tried to surrender after the portals had closed. No, they had fought to the end, no quarter given.
"Turning the discussion back to reparations for a moment," Dr. Doom said, looking over at Harry. "When will you and your lady begin to work on rebuilding the various cities destroyed during the war, and in what order? You hinted at doing so, but you didn't give us a set time frame."
"While we've been stuck in here, Storm should already have begun the task. I believe it was her plan to start in Paris and work her way outwards. Storm doesn't plan to completely repair each city before moving on, but rather to concentrate on the most historically and socially important areas first," Harry explained. He sighed then. "Realize, however, that when you're talking about laser weapons and plasma-based weapons. Magically assisted reconstruction will not be a cure-all. There will still be a lot of hard work ahead for every nation hit by the invasion."
The American president barked a laugh, and Dr. Doom snorted inside his mask. "I believe that no one at this table could raise their hands and say that their country is afraid of hard work."
Doom's gaze flicked over to the Frenchman, who bristled a bit at that shot. It was a well-known fact that French work hours were considered something of a joke in much of the world.
"Getting back on the point I tried to raise, please, gentlemen," Duncan said, rapping the table with two fingers gently. "The other reason why I think we should change the wording on this area of the document is because it, in fact, tells the Skrull that we can discover such infiltration."
The others all blinked, and Duncan read that segment of the document aloud before asking, "Do we want the Skrull to know we have magical means of outing their shapeshifters? How would we explain that away, and would that very explanation cause further issues?"
That was a good question, and Dr. Doom leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers together thoughtfully, creating a metallic tink-tink sound that echoed around the room while Harry touched the marks on his forehead in thought as well. "You do bring up an interesting dilemma. Is it better to play our cards close and hide such abilities so they are ready to use when they attempt to attack us again? Or is it better to try and stave off that almost inevitable assault by hinting at such abilities? Yes, that is quite the conundrum. My vote would be to keep it close or make the wording deliberately vague rather than an outright statement we can discover their infiltrators."
"How certain are we that we will be able to detect them? I know you're anti-infiltration arrays were supposed to work against those dire wraiths that tried to take over Russia, but how accurate do you think they will be when it comes to the Skrull, Harry?" Samuel asked.
Harry scowled a bit, leaning back in his chair as he looked over at the Russian. He hadn't shared this information yet, but he knew trying to hide it would probably not be well received, so… "We went over the wreckage of the space battles, and we were able to collect a lot of DNA samples from the bodies of dead Skrull. Dr. Pym tested them, and it turns out that the Dire Wraiths seem to be a genetic offshoot of the Skrull race. We don't know enough about the Skrull to know why that happened, but the Skrull powers are based on changes on the genetic level that act much the same as the Dire Wraiths'. So, the same array can find both of them. We're not 100% certain, but we're close, and Reed and Dr. Doom both have developed scientific means."
"Which Latveria will cheerfully sell to any nation that is able to meet my price," Doom stated firmly, showing no sign, amusingly enough, of the mention of Reed Richards and how he had also achieved this difficult scientific feat. Then he seemed to look only his eyes could see underneath his mask. "And I note here that you took prisoners in that battle. Several thousand, in point of fact."
"Repatriating them could be a feather in our caps," the American president mused, looking narrowly at Dr. Doom. "And why did you bring it up now?"
"Will your runic arrays work on Skrull when they are not shifted into other forms?" Doom questioned instead of answering the other man.
Harry shook his head, and Dr. Doom nodded. "In that case, we would have to… coerce them into acting as we wish. And we surely do not need to send them all back. There are numerous experiments we could run to discern ways to actually halt their transformation skill rather than simply reveal it. I will admit that my own ability in that is somewhat limited in how it can be emplaced, so other means of discovering such infiltrators can only be a good thing."
That was a cold, somewhat scary thought, which fit Dr. Doom, obviously. And much against his will, Harry found himself nodding a little. It made sense from a leader's perspective. Yet Harry wasn't just a leader. He was a hero. And there were just some things he could not condone. Not and show myself to Melody or any of the youngsters who look up to me again. "Those prisoners are mine, Dr., and I am afraid I cannot accept experimenting on them in such a manner. If they agree, that is one thing, but no medical experiments whatsoever."
While Doom scoffed, the others all nodded. The changes to the document were quickly made. A few other minor word changes, mostly proposed by Duncan and Dr. Doom, were finalized, and the document was completed. With that done, Harry shut down the time dilation array and then initiated a communications call to the Skrull flagship.
At the same time, he reached out to Emma. "Emma, would you mind listening in to this talk for me? I'd love a second opinion on Len'Dok's state of mind and his general trustworthiness. I know from our previous interactions that he is a patriot and a professional, but how that will impact how he takes our demands, I don't know."
Emma answered him instantly, agreeing, and moments later, Fleet Overlord Len'Dok appeared, looking somewhat haggard and tired. "I realize you humans do not run on the same clock as my fleet, but surely you could've figured out that this is the middle of the night over here."
"Since when do prisoners dictate such terms to prison guards?" Doom asked caustically. "You're in no position whatsoever to make such comments. Let alone demands."
"Dr. Doom is quite correct. We wouldn't even need our conventional forces to deal with you, remember that," Harry warned before mellowing his tone. "However, we are not calling you to remind you of the balance of power here. We are calling you to tell you we have finalized the peace document between the Skrull and humanity,"
"You have!?" The Fleet Overlord barred his teeth in annoyance. "Surely you mean you have completed the document you wish us to go over and edit to our mutual satisfaction, correct?"
"Such a thing would only happen between equals. We are not," the French president leaned forward. "This is called shotgun diplomacy by our American friends. I have a shotgun; therefore, you will be diplomatic."
Harry cocked his head. That was not what that phrase meant, in point of fact. But he was willing to go with it for now and did not speak up as Wen continued from where Jacque had left off. "We are dictating these terms; it will be up to you and your other leaders as you have stated you have no wish to push to take over as sole leader of your people, who will make the final decision. In that case, I hope they are simple enough for this old sailor to understand and not nearly as horrible as they might be."
Len'Dok snarled and made to speak, but Harry held up a hand, counting off points on his fingers. That this allowed him to give the Skrull his finger was merely incidental, even if it did earn him a few carefully disguised snorts from the Russian and American presidents. "You lack magic. You lack sufficient superpowered individuals to fight us on an equal footing, while we have enough to launch attacks and defend Earth simultaneously. Your basic scientific level might be more advanced than ours, but that gap is closing rapidly due to the presence of our resident geniuses. You have the numbers and industry but also have prior commitments both within your empire and in the form of sharing a border with a par enemy in the form of the Kree, which means there is a severe limit to how much force you can pull away to bring to bare on us."
Len'Dok flinched at that, but Harry went on inexorably. He held the alien man's gaze, allowing his eyes to glow with power just a bit, causing the man to flinch a bit. "We are well out from your empire, and if it came to a conflict, would have power to a point. And we humans are extremely aggressive when our homes are invaded."
"Could you find a way to destroy Earth? Possibly, I'm not an idiot to speak in absolutes and say we could create a perfect defense," Doom spoke up, his tone deep and ominous as he piled on. Just because they weren't going to slaughter the Skrull fleet out of hand did not mean that any man at that table wished to be too soft on them. "The question is, could you do it before we launch attacks on your home worlds? How many worlds would we destroy in retaliation? War between us would be pyrrhic at best and serves no purpose but weakening us both."
Again, the man was made to speak, and this time, no one stopped him. "That may be, but you're still a single system polity. No matter your achievements in stopping this invasion by the Mad Titan, there will be members of my government who look down on you for that. And there will be many who resent strong-arm politics."
"Resent or envy the fact that we are in a position to do so?" Doom asked, his tone making the question almost into a statement.
"My helmeted colleague is correct. It seems as if what we call human nature is far more normal throughout the galaxy than anyone would otherwise have thought. But they can resent us all they want, so long as they do not make war upon us," the American president said firmly.
"And that you pay the reparations demanded as part of this peace agreement," the French president added, with the Russian and Chinese representatives both grunting in firm agreement. "You were in the wrong, and you must be made to pay. And I would think our letting you and the rest of your fleet live when we could have wiped you all out easily would be enough largess."
Harry hid a frown at that, as it would not have been the French or United Nations who did that wiping, but his men, Harry himself, and Strange. That would have been a grim business. I wouldn't do it if they weren't a threat, and with Strange beside me, they wouldn't be. Still, I can't argue with threats like this.
"Resentment can fade. A leader needs to be able to see reality. And at the moment, this is your moment to do so," Wen said.
The Fleet Admiral argued back for a few moments, refusing to be cowed. But every time he glanced at Harry or Doom's way, he seemed to lose the momentum of whatever he was saying. This hindered his attempts to assert himself to the others, and eventually, he was forced to acquiesce, as everyone at the table knew he had to.
Including the Fleet Overlord himself. As Emma had warned Harry from the start, a lot of this was no doubt going to be re-broadcasted into his fleet for local consumption. And in that light, the Fleet Admiral could not come off as weak.
"What do you think of his acting then?" Harry asked mentally, contacting her once more, just as he had when he ended the time dilation effect in the conference room.
Emma had been joined by Jean, and for a brief second, Harry could see them, Emma allowing him to see through her eyes for a second as the blonde very deliberately nuzzled into the redhead's currently naked breasts, taking delight in one of her semi-downtime moments. Such had been very few and far between since the invasion for everyone at the command level of Avalon Empire and more so for the Custodes teams.
Yet despite having her head nestled into her lover's chest and thinking extremely carnal thoughts currently, Emma responded quite promptly, showing the multitasking ability that had been ingrained in her from a very young age. "Judging from what I've caught as I skimmed over their minds, I believe that the majority of his fleet's personnel understand their current position. But I don't know if the Fleet Admiral understands the extent of resentment within that fleet towards not only us but also the government of his people for how quickly they capitulated to the Mad Titan. I think his acting will play decently well, but all of his officers and sailors know that they were badly overmatched and have to accede to our demands."
"Emma's right, but there is also a great deal of fear throughout his fleet," Jean added, her greater ability to feel out emotions making her more certain than her lover. "I've sent my telepathic powers out towards the fleet subtly several times since the invasion ended, and that is the main impression I've gotten most of the time. We terrify the Skrull. A lot of them are just going to be very, very grateful that we're letting them go at all and will be very vocal against any move against us in the future."
Jean hesitated for a second, then continued. "A lot of that fear is centered on you, Harry. I know you don't like to hear it, but your battle with the Mad Titan across the star system definitely garnered a lot of onlookers. The fact that you killed the being that almost single-handedly conquered their government..."
"Hey now, you softened him up for me, love," Harry interjected quickly. "I would've had a much harder time of it if Thanos still had access to his throne when we fought, especially while we were still on Earth. Don't sell your part in that short, Jean."
Jane could feel Harry meant it, of course, and was also more than a bit sad at the fact that he was so feared, even by an alien society. Yet Jean could also feel Harry's reluctant understanding that it actually served their purposes quite well to be so. So she allowed Harry's interruption to go unremarked, simply sending back an affirmative feeling of thanks and the final thought, "And I'm also getting the impression, Harry, that Len'Dok is really telling the truth about wanting to hand over power back into the hands of the civilian government of his people. Mind you, I don't think that what the Skrull think of as a civilian matches what we think of when we use the term, considering how many members of that government are also serving officers, but..."
"But it is still a good sign for his overall trustworthiness and maybe a sign that the Skrull Empire can really retain its power even after having been conquered by Thanos," Harry mused. "Good point. And good for us too, if we can eventually create a few trade agreements down the line as the others are already talking about now."
The only one at the table who wasn't talking about that kind of thing while Harry was having his mental conversation was Doctor Doom, who had leaned back in his chair and was watching the American, Chinese, British, French and Russian members all talking about normalizing relations between themselves and the Skrull Empire. But the Skrull Empire would not deal with individual polities on a single planet, something Len'Dok was very adamant about. They would deal with humanity as a whole or not at all.
Deciding that hearing Len'Dok's voice rising for the second time in a row on that point was as good a moment as any to resume taking part in the conversation, Harry sent a burst of love and affection down his telepathic link to Jean and Emma, and then leaned forward, saying aloud, "In that case, the Earth Defense Force and the Avalon Empire would be more than willing to serve as a go-between. You just stated that it's the ability to get into space and colonize that routinely makes one power or another more acceptable to the Skrull Empire as a trade partner, correct? Would you be willing to see us as the space-going arm of an umbrella human government, the United Nations?"
The conversation continued for a few more moments on that score, then returned to the peace treaty, with the Admiral agreeing in principle with most of their points quickly before starting to argue about specific items in the reparations segment. Again, Emma proved helpful here, peering into the man's mind and seeing that he was hoping to not only not need to pay too much from his own fleet's stores but also to seem as if he had brokered as hard and as firmly as he could with the government at home, whatever type of government that might be once his people learned their conqueror was dead.
Although, in many ways, to Len'Dok, the form of government, who led it, or how it came about was immaterial. Len'Dok knew that his people liked scapegoats and was determined that he would not be one of them for the Skrull's part in this debacle. "Which, to them, is more about the massive loss of face being defeated like this will entail," Emma finished.
Harry could well understand the need to place blame on this kind of utter FUBAR, although he felt that there was already someone perfectly well-placed to take the blame for this entire incident. Thanos himself. Whatever reports he had about Earth, the Mad Titan had vastly underestimated humanity's willingness to fight back and had run the invasion so poorly it put many a person in mind of Hitler at his worst.
How much of that had been arrogance, and how much was simply misunderstanding human nature or lacking information on how many super-powered heroes the Custodes could all on, Harry didn't know. But he felt Len'Dok could at least take some solace in the fact that his portion of the invasion had been merely sidelined instead of wiped out to the last sentient.
Because that was what happened on every front on Earth. The Chitauri did not believe in surrendering and refused to be taken prisoner. Several times, Jean or one of the others had attempted to take a prisoner, but they always committed suicide somehow. Some hidden circuitries within their cyborg systems flash-fried their brains or hearts when they were knocked unconscious, or their weapons were taken away for more than a few minutes.