There was a man sitting at the table on the upper deck of the Helicarrier that Natasha had never seen before. He was lounging in a chair, feet propped up before him, arms crossed, and a furious look upon his face. He was dressed in combat fatigues and she could count six obvious weapons on his person, and suspected there were many more. He had dark hair and eyes that were even greener than her own that inspected her as she walked in. Hill was hovering next to him, one hand on her head piece as she muttered quietly into the mike.

"Who're you?" Steve demanded from behind her. The man surveyed then dismissed him, glancing around the ship.

Banner was also seated at the table, as far away from the man as he could possibly get, his knuckles white from where they were clenched into fists. He was studiously not looking at the man and Natasha didn't blame him. There was something about him that screamed danger and Natasha trusted her instincts implicitly.

"This is Phoenix," Hill said when it became evident that the man wasn't going to answer Steve. Phoenix's lip curled, but he didn't refute her claim.

Suddenly Phoenix shifted from lax to alert and he rose from his seat. He paced toward the corridor and leaned against the wall with one hand on his hip, reminding her of a tiger stalking his prey. Natasha shivered and placed a hand on her gun.

"Hello Nick," Phoenix purred. "I hear you've been playing with the big boy toys and you didn't think to invite me."

Fury strode onto the command deck, brushing past Phoenix. Natasha couldn't help but notice that he too stayed as far away from the other man as he could without seeming intimidated.

"How the hell did you find out about this?" Fury growled.

Phoenix smirked. "Really, what you should be asking yourself is how the hell did you think that I wouldn't?"

Fury's face twisted with distaste, but he nodded. "Shall I bring you up to speed?" he asked.

Phoenix scoffed. "Don't bother. I think I'll go take a look at that sceptre now." Phoenix stalked away, and the sixth sense that kept her aware of his every movement faded to a low hum from an insistent buzzing.

Stark walked in moments later, looking paler than usual. "Who was that?"

Fury just shook his head.

"Did you call in Phoenix?" Phil asked, hot on Stark's heels. "Because he just walked past us in a hell of a mood."

Fury actually huffed. "No, but he damn well turned up anyway. You know what he's like."

Phil pursed his lips. "Unfortunately," he muttered.

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. "Coulson, brief Romanov and get her to run damage control. The rest of you, let's focus on finding the Tesseract."

Phil inclined his head and she followed him out and into a separate conference room.

"This is security clearance 8," Phil announced, activating the highest level of security a room could have on the helicarrier. Shutters slammed closed over the windows and Natasha placed her electrical devices into the lead box supplied; the most complicated piece of tech left on in the room were the lights. She took a seat while Phil paced before her.

"Have you heard of the Multiverse Theory?"

"Infinite parallel universes," Natasha replied, intrigued. "Yeah."

"It's not a theory. Phoenix is an ancient immortal from another dimension."

Natasha raised a brow. "Ancient as in…"

Phil shrugged. "We don't know how old he is, but we've found evidence hinting to his existence on Earth dating back to at least the American Revolution. He's British, so he may have been in Europe even before that. He claims that he stayed in his own dimension until Earth became uninhabitable, after which he decided to 'move' to a universe where there was extra-terrestrial life other than humans." Phil sighed. "Our scientists say it could be up to a billion years until that could happen, as least in our universe. Take it as you please."

Natasha was sitting very still as she tried to get control of her emotions. A potentially billion-year-old immortal. No wonder her senses had been going haywire.

"Our expert psychologists think it's only a few thousand years, if that helps. Any longer and he'd be even more apathetic than he already is. Currently, he's chosen the path of least resistance; helping SHIELD, at least when he's inclined."

She took a deep breath. "What do you want me to do? Seduce him?"

"No!" Phil's eyes were wide. "Don't try to manipulate him, he loathes deception. Be blunt, be honest, don't hold back, just talk to him. The only people we've observed him interacting with in a non-apathetic manner are children and attractive, red headed woman, and even then..." He shrugged.

"And I fit the bill," Natasha murmured. "I'll go down to the lab then."

Phil dismantled the security around the room.

"Be careful," he called as she walked out.

Harry stared at the sceptre and got the distinct feeling that the sceptre was staring back at him. He ran one finger up the handle, brushing away its attempts to insinuate itself within his mind. He focused on the gem that was pulsing with energy. Did Fury realise what he had within his reach?

"So you're the sacrificial lamb?" Harry commented to Agent Natasha Romanov as she walked in. He could feel her amusement, albeit tinged with a hint of fear. So they'd given her the run down. Understandable, really.

"If you want to look at it that way," she responded. Harry turned, let his gaze drift over her. She was stunning, especially in the skin tight latex suit they had her wearing. She had the customary scarlet hair of the woman that Fury tried to throw at him.

"You're probably the reason those suits were created," he muttered and turned back to the sceptre. He cupped the gem between his hands, careful not to touch. There was a protective layer… but underneath was something he couldn't let anyone else in the universe get their hands on. Not if he wanted it to last longer than his old world. He tapped his fingers along the metal workbench the sceptre was sitting upon, then crooked one finger at Romanov.

"Come tell an old man what you feel when you stand near this," he said.

"Old?" Stark scoffed from somewhere behind him. He and Banner had followed Romanov in. "You're barely past twenty."

He felt, rather than heard, Romanov suppress a flinch. Harry smiled. "Well?"

She shook her head as if attempting to clear it and one hand drifted closer to the staff. "I feel… I feel as if I could do anything. So fed up with these sexists jobs, don't they know who I am? I could take you down, and Stark, and что гребаный монстр баннер, я убью вас всех![1]" she snarled. Harry chuckled and captured her wrist before she could pick the staff up. He yanked her back and shoved her into a wall.

"Соберись, маленький паук,[2]" he murmured. She blinked, then pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes.

"Что, ебать, это было?[3]"

Harry smiled, ignoring the banal reactions of the two other men, squawking like parakeets.

"A very dangerous weapon and the reason Barton's compromised."

Romanov nodded, eying the staff with distaste.

"Sorry about this," Harry said, more out of habit than anything else. He clasped one hand around the protective casing on the gem and squeezed. The blue energy exploded in a flash of light and alarms started blaring. Glass shattered and the lights flickered.

Pain. Such pain. Pain like walking into the supernova of a star, pain like exposing himself to the vacuum of space, pain like trying to atomise every particle in his body. Harry wrenched the gem from the sceptre and pressed it into his chest. Energy danced in the air, curling around his body. It sank into his very being and tried to remake him in its image. No. Harry growled. I am the Master of Death and I will have you. The stone flared, attempting one last time to rend him from existence but Harry exerted his will over the Mind Stone and pressed. He pressed and pressed and forced it into submission until it settled calmly in his veins.

When Harry came to he realised that he was kneeling on the floor.

"Fuck," he swore. He touched one hand to his potions pouch and a headache remedy appeared in his hand. He downed it quickly then staggered to his feet. The lab was ruined. Stark had encased himself in his suit, shielding Banner, who'd impressively not turned green. Harry lazily waved his hand and restored the room to its previous state.

Minds pressed on him from the entire world, from the entire solar system, from the entire universe and Harry was overwhelmed with their pain and joy and suffering and pleasure. He slammed down his Occlumency barriers, only allowing the minds within a fifty-meter perimeter entry before he lost his questionable sanity, then he turned incredulously to Stark.

How did he repair the room. Magic? No. Magic is just science we don't yet understand. Did JARVIS get any of the readings? He's glowing golden. It looks hot. He's hot. Romanov's hot. Banner's mind is hot. Can Banner control the change? Obviously. Where's Agent Agent when you need him? Sucking up to Capiscle probably. He's also hot. Phoenix is staring at me. Those eyes can't be natural. Can that shade of green be replicated? Pepper would look good in a dress that colour. She's hot. She's very hot. Stop! Focus on Phoenix. Why did he destroy the staff? What was that gem? Obviously a power source. What kind? Like the Tesseract? Did he absorb it? He's dangerous. Still hot though.

"You think way too fucking fast," Harry said.

"You can read minds?" Stark blurted out. Could he before? Did the gem give him that power? The glowing's fading. Fury's gonna be pissed. Can I work that to my advantage? Why did… Harry tuned Stark out, as amusing as he was to listen to, as three other approaching minds were of more interest. Rogers, Coulson, and Fury burst into the room. Harry grinned.

"I think it's time I had a little talk with Loki," Harry said and Apparated silently into Loki's cell.

Loki's back was to him, but he stiffened the moment Harry arrived.

"You're no mortal," Loki said. Harry chuckled. He leaned back against the glass and ran a hand through his hair.

"Quite the opposite," Harry agreed. He absently began drawing runes on the glass with one finger. "Tell me, did you know that you had the Mind Stone in your possession?"

Loki frowned. "The what?"

Harry laughed. He couldn't help it. He lowered his voice, pitching it so it was barely above a whisper. "Before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots… The Infinity Stones."

Loki paced back and forth. "What of it?" But there was an anxious gleam to his eye. Harry tugged on the thread connecting Loki to the Mind Stone and Loki stiffened.

"What have you done?" Loki hissed. Harry smirked. He twitched his finger and Loki fell to his knees.

"I've claimed possession of the Mind Stone, of course. Thanos has been using it to control you, hasn't he?" Harry stroked a finger along Loki's cheekbone. He drew the finger up, then pressed it to Loki's forehead, curling the connection around it. When he snapped his finger away the connection came with it and Loki slumped to the floor with a groan.

Harry Apparated out of the cell and activated the runes he'd drawn on the glass. No one could get in without actually opening the cage and Loki couldn't get out. "Don't go anywhere," he said.

"Who are you?" Loki cried, even as his eyes faded from bright blue to forest green.

"I'm the Master of Death," Harry cheerfully replied. "And I think it's about time I stared behaving like it." He turned on one foot and Disapparated away.

Russian translation, thanks google translate.
[1] and that fucking monster Banner, I'll kill you all.
[2] Pull yourself together, little spider.
[3] What the fuck was that?