Harry Potter: Syndicate of Heroes

It was a pleasant spring day and for once, Harry was able to convince Hermione that it'd be fun to get out into the sunshine and just relax. It helped that he was able to remind her of the times back in school where they would just laze around on the banks of the Black Lake or even of their 'camping trip'.

Most of the week that she'd been there, the two had either been holed up at Harry's place just talking or sitting doing little together (usually with Hermione reading a book from Harry's library) or else they'd been visiting the various museums or cultural centres dotted throughout the city that Hermione had always wanted to visit.

Today, the thought was to take a walk through New York's famous Central Park, while Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty would be left for another day.

It hadn't been hard for the two to fall into patterns very reminiscent of ones that they'd shared so many times in the past: walking slowly while talking and telling stories, Harry teasing her and Hermione getting mock-upset and giving him a shove or a playful slap on the arm. Their feet seemed to have no real direction to them, simply ambling wherever the mood took them. At one point, Hermione slipped her hands up around Harry's upper arm and rested her head on his shoulder.

It was as they were standing in line to get one of New York's famous chilli dogs from a vendor with a little cart that their day turned strange.

The sudden appearance of a policeman on horseback startled everyone there.

"I'm going to have to ask you all to move away from this area for your own safety," the officer stated.

"Why? What's going on, officer?" one man asked.

The answer to that came in a great whoosh and roar as a red and gold blur sped by overhead.

"Iron Man!" a young boy screamed excitedly, jumping up and down on the spot.

As though the hero was a magnet, a crowd of people quickly formed around where Harry and Hermione were, surging forward to see what was going on. Unfortunately, the two were dragged along for the ride, quickly holding hands to make sure that they weren't separated.

Unexpectedly, the crowd stopped moving and gave a sudden lurch backwards, leaving Harry and Hermione near the front with a clear view across the large open flat ground. They were near an edge of the park with a road to the left and trees some way to the right. Police barricades had already appeared out of nowhere to halt traffic and divert it away from the area.

But it was the two combatants in the middle of the clearing that had everyone's attention.

One was the Iron Man, red and gold armour glinting in the sunlight, the palms of his hands and circle in his chest glowing a bright white light.

The other was dressed in all black, including the sunglasses that he had on his face. A bag of some kind had been dumped at his feet as both hands held some kind of silver stick-like things that Harry couldn't identify. Looking closer, he noted that there were more of the silver things stuck through the man's belt and even attached to his legs and arms.

"Give it up, Myers, this simply isn't your day," Iron Man ordered.

"The metal man," the other, Myers, sneered. "You think you're so tough? We've all seen that you can be hurt, you're not so invincible."

"Better men than you have tried to take me down, Myers and they've all failed," Iron Man replied. "So, are we going to do this the easy way or the fun way?"

Myer's answer was to quickly bring his arm back and throw his silver stick towards Iron Man before quickly switching his stance and throwing the other as well.

Iron Man seemed to react surprised, standing up slightly, no longer in a combative stance.

"That's the best you can do? Really? Throw some sticks at me and miss?' Iron Man asked.

He was in the process of shaking his head when the two silver sticks returned from their elliptical orbit to slam into Iron Man's back and explode, throwing the hero forward off of his feet. Only some quick repulsar work stopped the armoured man from face planting.

"Boomerangs," Hermione breathed and Harry nodded, surprised with himself that he hadn't recognised them earlier, after all, he'd seen them and even thrown a few himself while he was in Australia with Hermione.

"Bad move, Crocodile Dundee," Iron man stated, having flown himself upright.

Then, setting his feet, Iron Man raised the palms of his hands, simultaneously creating a high-pitched whine, before shooting out a pair of energy blasts at Myers.

Myers dodged and spun, sending another pair of boomerangs at the hero. Iron Man, though seemed to have learnt from the first ones. A quick repulsar blast destroyed one while the second was knocked away.

Unfortunately, that second one was sent flying off-course to impact a food stand, exploding it instantly. People were sent flying and screams of terror filled the air as even more scrambled away and began to flee.

Harry, though, simply narrowed his eyes and dropped Hermione's hand. He didn't expect this to be a long fight, not after what he'd seen Iron Man do on television, but the longer that it lasted, the more chance there was for people to get hurt.

"Harry, no," Hermione hissed, obviously recognising the signs of what she'd dubbed his 'saving people thing'.

Repulsar blasts and boomerangs were beginning to criss-cross the areas between the two combatants. As a second exploding boomerang landed dangerously close to a section of crowd, Harry let his wand drop into his hand, shielded against his leg and with Hermione standing so close.

Taking a quick glance about to make sure no one was paying him any mind, he sent two quick spells.

The first was a simple banishing charm aimed at one of the off-course boomerangs headed towards a crowd of people. It wasn't a perfect shot, but it was enough to have the silver explosive weapon land in a clear patch of grass where it was able to explode harmlessly.

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