Chapter Text
– Landing Area –
Still handcuffed, all the wizards were guided into the common room of the Avengers’ complex. Several of them looked around in awe, as if it were the first time they’d ever seen anything like it — which, in fact, it was.
“So here’s the deal,” Steve began, falling naturally into his leader stance. “We brought you here under our boss’s orders, so you’re going to be given a different set of restraints to avoid… incidents.”
The spy who had interrogated them earlier spoke first. “I recommend not trying anything against us. We’re simply following protocol.”
“The cuffs we’re putting on you are Stark tech,” Tony said as he picked up a box from the counter, while the wizards watched in utter confusion. “They’ll give you more mobility without the chains, but if you make even the slightest suspicious movement, they’ll deliver a shock that’ll leave you stunned. Same thing will happen if you leave the premises without permission or one of us escorting you.”
Everyone listened carefully to the man’s instructions. One of the redheaded boys raised his hand slightly.
“So what can we do?” he asked, eyeing the cuffs curiously. “You know… so we don’t accidentally mess anything up.”
“Once the cuffs are on, we’ll take you to the floor you’ll be staying on. You can hang out in your rooms or come to the common area to use the flat-screen. You’ll eat with us, and if you have any questions you can ask JARVIS,” Tony said while handing out cuffs to the rest of his team.
“Who’s JARVIS?” the bespectacled boy asked, glancing around.
“He’s my AI,” Tony replied, visibly more pleased with himself than before.
“What’s an AI?” one of the adults asked. Nearly all the “prisoners” looked equally confused — except the frizzy-haired girl, who seemed to understand at least part of it.
“Artificial Intelligence. I created him myself. He’s connected to the entire tower and makes sure everything works properly.”
Then, as if remembering something, Tony turned toward the redhead on his team. “Nat, have we introduced ourselves yet?”
“No, you haven’t,” the scratched-up man answered. “You know our names, but we don’t know yours.”
“I really thought we had,” Steve said, clearing his throat. “I’m Steve Rogers, but you can call me Steve. The one who explained the cuffs is Tony Stark, and next to him is Bruce Banner.”
“You already know us,” Clint added, pointing at himself and then at Natasha.
“Is that everyone?” the bespectacled boy asked.
“For now, yes,” Steve said. “But more people live here. We’ll introduce them when they arrive.”
– Wizards’ Rooms –
After the introductions, they were taken to their floor and left to choose their own rooms.
Tony did not mention that JARVIS could report everything they did or said.
They all gathered in the room Sirius had chosen — the teens spread across the bed, the remaining adults sitting on the floor. Except Severus. He preferred to stand.
– Avengers Common Room –
The team had settled across the couches to discuss what to do with their unexpected guests. They couldn’t leave them alone in the tower — especially not alone on an entire floor — but given how sudden the situation was, that’s exactly where they had put them.
“Sir,” JARVIS’ voice echoed through the room, “the prisoners are speaking. Reporting as you requested.”
“Play the video and audio,” Tony ordered.
Everyone turned toward the large screen, which showed all the wizards gathered in one room.
“Let’s list what we know so far,” the brown-haired girl said.
“We’re not in London,” the scarred man spoke first.
“What do you mean we’re not in London?” another adult nearly shouted.
“You didn’t ask where we were?” His tone made his disbelief clear.
“Well… no,” the girl admitted, irritation creeping into her voice. “We just thought they weren’t letting us leave because it was a restricted area.”
“I asked. We’re not in London. They’re not letting us go because they don’t know how we appeared in the middle of nowhere.”
“We don’t even know what happened after the veil exploded.”
“So… where are we?”
“United States. They told me New York, specifically.”
“Fantastic. We turned up on another continent. That’s not even possible through apparition,” the redhead girl said, shocked. “So what do we do now?”
“I don’t know. We don’t even have an answer for what happened. And we can’t leave — these cuffs are pretty good, they haven’t failed yet.”
“We haven’t tried anything to make them ‘fail,’” the brunette said, making air quotes.
“We don’t want MACUSA involved.”
“It’s our best option, Severus,” the scarred man insisted.
The dark-haired man shook his head. “Not now.”
“At this moment, they either think we’re dead or blame us for entering the DOM.”
“It was them or the Death Eaters,” the bespectacled boy muttered.
“That doesn’t matter, Harry. We’re in a complicated situation. The best we can do is wait and hope the cuffs malfunction.”
“We can discuss this later. None of us have slept since entering the DOM. Let’s rest and think about this again afterwards. All right?”
Everyone agreed and left — except one, who immediately fell asleep the moment the others walked out.
Back with the Avengers, the room was filled with confusion.
“What the hell is ‘apparation’?”
“Everything they said is weird. We don’t even know what MACUSA or the DOM are.”
“The explosion must be related to this ‘veil,’” Natasha said, adding air quotes. “Whatever that is supposed to mean.”
“Someone must be able to help us with this,” Bruce said. “Fury still wants intel on them.”
“When have we ever done what he wants?” Clint muttered.
“We still need to know why they’re here. They could be dangerous — like Loki.”
“Well,” Tony said with a grin, “I do know a certain little wizard. I could go see him and ask if he can figure out why these people showed up here.”
“Just admit you want to see your boyfriend,” Steve teased.
“Do you want me to go or not?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.
Everyone nodded.
“Great. I’m going,” Tony said, smiling as he headed out of the common room.