Chapter Three: In Which Discoveries Are Made
It was too early in the morning to be stalking people.
Tony hadn't had any sleep last night—he usually went for days on end without sleeping—and the fatigue was starting to take its toll.
The problem was that the park was a mile or so away, and while it was easy for the others (who were in peak physical condition [sans Bruce]) to keep pace with the dark-haired man and the miniature energy bomb, he was having a tougher time.
Finally, Steve slowed, allowing the others to pass him, and slung the protesting billionaire over his—very broad, now that he thought about it—shoulders.
"Steeeeeve!" he wailed, a long, drawn-out sound that alerted the others to his predicament. Instead of helping, however, they laughed, and a petulant, pouting Tony could've sworn he heard a "Called it!" from Clint.
From his rather comfortable vantage point, Tony looked behind him. Bruce, ever the clever one, had decided that his pride was stronger than his curiosity, and left to make sure Loki hadn't turned everything within a mile radius of himself a shocking pink (again).
In the tumult that was Tony's intense struggle to be back on the ground, they had lost Harry, but fortunately for them, the park was only a street or so away.
"I have seen this park once before," Thor remarked. "It was a month ago, when dear Jane visited. She wanted to take a stroll with me in the park. At first, I was confused, but then she presented me with creamed ice of the strawberry flavor. Since then, I have rather liked these parks."
"Yes, very enlightening," grumbled Tony from his compromising position. Steve still hadn't put him down, even though they had arrived. It was possible that he'd simply forgotten Tony's weight.
"Can you let me go, then?" the poor billionaire asked, for while he wasn't tired of the view, the constant motion was making him dizzy.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," Steve replied sheepishly, blushing slightly in embarrassment, and drawing muffled giggles from the rest as he dropped Tony unceremoniously at his feet.
Looking up, a very disheveled Tony realized for the first time how towering the captain was. The guy was at least half a foot taller, and when he glanced around, Tony found (infuriatingly) that while Cap was the tallest of the team, he was the smallest.
Grumbling, he pulled himself up, ignoring the hand extended to him, and pushed past the well-meaning blond. Steve watched him walk away, looking like a kicked puppy, but eventually followed.
"Why are we even following this guy anyway?" Tony groused, once again falling to the back of the pack.
"Because this man is on SHIELD's Persons of Interest list," Natasha explained, and everybody stopped in his or her tracks.
"WHAT?" Tony spluttered, gawking bug-eyed at her. "But I hacked into— I mean, checked those records myself!"
"That's because they're filed on the only material Tony Stark can't hack:" she answered smugly, "paper."
"Cheater," he accused crossly, continuing to search the park. "So, why is Harry Something-or-other on the PoI list?" (He pronounced it "poi".)
Rolling his eyes at the acronym, Clint replied, "We don't know. The only person who does is Fury. We just follow our orders: find the person(s), bring them in, question them/convince them to help us, and let them go." *
"Well, that's stupid," Tony replied mulishly. "No wonder SHIELD almost executed Phase Two under your noses."
Clint scoffed. "Like you know anything about orders," he sniped, turning away as if simultaneously winning the argument and dropping the subject.
Tony conceded to that point, remembering a similar argument between him and a certain former idol. (Hint: he was tall, blond, and not a Norse god.)
"Fine," he grunted. "Let's bring him in."
"Wait," Rogers interjected. "If we're bringing him in, we do so on my terms.
"First off, he needs to know we're doing it. No surprise attacks, agents.
"Secondly, he is not to be harmed unless it's absolutely necessary, and when I say 'absolutely', I mean absolutely. The child is not to be touched. Understand?"
They nodded, the SHIELD agents somewhat reluctantly, and continued in their efforts to track down man. [read: SHIELD target]
~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~
At least the day had started off nicely.
Harry's would-be stalkers were rather loud when following him, and it was all he could do to keep from whirling around and asking what in Merlin's name they thought they were doing.
Even Teddy knew they were there; after entering the park, he'd swerved closer to Harry, whispering, "Who're the pretty aliens behind us, Uncle 'arry?" The poor wizard had had to bite his lip to keep from laughing, and instead had told him that they were customers.
"Why're they following us, then?" the four-year-old had asked persistently. **
Harry had decided to give his godson an honest answer. "I really don't know, cub. Maybe they want to ask us something."
Five minutes later, when nothing changed, Harry decided to confront them himself. He sent Teddy to play on the swings, out of earshot, and turned around so he was facing one sheepish look, two reluctant and guilty expressions, and two masks of indifference at their being caught.
"You five are terrible at tailing a person," he began, looking each of them in the eyes, willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. "Even Teddy had figured it out by the time we reached the park entrance."
Tony nudged Clint with a muttered, "Teddy?" The archer responded with an annoyed, "The kid, Stark." "Oh."
"So," Harry questioned, "do you lot have something to ask me, or do you always spend your mornings stalking people you've only just met two weeks ago?"
Now even Clint was starting to crack.
"Harry 'James' Evans, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me," he stated, somewhat apologetically.
"Why?" he asked, eyes full of innocent bemusement. He wasn't even accusatory.
"Have I done something wrong?"
Now the Avengers looked plain guilty, except for Natasha, and even she was slipping slightly. This man had done nothing except for being friendly and asking a question, and she had been about to knock him out for the sake of orders.
Still, she thought, orders are still orders. This man must be dangerous if he's on the list. Anybody who was on that list was either dead or recruited, and the two agents hoped this time it would be the latter.
They advanced as he took a step back, forehead creasing slightly.
"I'm sorry," he said hesitantly, the slightest panic edging its way into his voice. "Can we talk about this?"
"You are wanted by the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division," Natasha droned, as was standard protocol.
"The Strategic what? I don't know what you're—"
"Oh, but I think you do, Mr. Evans. Please step forward with your hands raised—"
"—Natasha, you don't have to—"
"—and we will escort you to Headquarters, where you will be put under interrogation. Am I understood?"
Harry began to look openly nervous, backing protectively closer to Teddy, who had stopped playing to look at the pretty aliens who looked scary now.
"I'm not exactly sure I want to go with you," he started, but before he could complete his thought, the ever-heroic Teddy charged up to the scary aliens, babbling, "Stay 'way from Uncle 'arry!"
The older man turned to remove his godson from danger, and as he did so, Clint found the opportunity to shoot a hypodermic needle into Harry's pale flesh.
As he fell and looked into the eyes of the American he trusted the most, his last slurred words before he succumbed to the drug were, "Don't… let them… touch… Teddy…" With that, he slumped to the ground, the child crying out for his "Uncle 'arry".
As the four-year-old looked up at the aliens, his hair instinctively darkened to a pitch-black mess, and his features softened into those similar to Andromeda's, not that the Avengers would know.
Steve slowly turned to face his colleagues, his horror-filled face morphing swiftly into righteous rage.
"Why would you do that to a civilian? To a child?" His furious features melted, and he knelt by the boy, whispering softly, "It's okay, kid. Your uncle's fine, he's just going to sleep for a while. What was your name? Teddy?"
"Yeah," the child replied, refraining from making eye contact with these strangers that had apparently scared his godfather to sleep.
"That's what Granma Annie said about my parents. She said they went to sleep for a long time, and they didn' wake up. Is Uncle 'arry gonna wake up?"
This took the captain by surprise, and he paused for a moment before answering quickly, "Yes, of course. Teddy, we're going to go to a big tower, and get your uncle into bed. You'll get to look at lots of really cool things while Uncle Harry gets better, okay?" He extended his hand for the boy to take.
"Uncle 'arry said not to touch people I don' know," Teddy said, looking each Avenger in the eye, much the way Harry had done minutes before. "Does Uncle 'arry know you? Are you aliens? Uncle 'arry said you were cust'mers. Does that mean I can change 'round you?"
Steve chuckled slightly at the order of questions, replying, "Teddy, I've known your uncle for a while, we're friends. You can trust us, I promise, but I have a question for you: will you be my friend?"
Taking his hand, Teddy's hair straightened and lightened into a golden-blond, but his eyes retained that shade of vivid green. He now almost looked like a mini-Steve, which the original would be teased for later.
"I'll be your friend, alien!" the boy exclaimed, grinning up at the super-soldier.
The man smiled back. "Call me Steve."
~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~
Consciousness returned in the form of a pounding head, and a sense of confusion.
What happened? Where am I? I'm pretty sure I didn't have anything to drink, not since… huh, I don't even remember.
Despite the speculations, the first thing that came out of his mouth was an unintelligible groan, that could have meant either that he was dying, or that he was asking for five more minutes. (It's nearly impossible to tell the difference.)
Cracking his eyes open a fraction, he hissed as the artificial light scorched his retinas. Vaguely, he could hear whispers of, "He's awake," and "Dim the lights, J."
"What in the name of Merlin's going on?" he half-asked, half-whispered. Opening his eyes fully, he realized that he was actually in the room alone.
It was circular, with one continuous wall of thick glass. There was nothing in the room except for a speaker, a security camera, and a bed on which he had woken up. Moving, he realized there were no restraints. Groggily, he sat up, searching instinctively for his glasses.
Back in the security room, they watched on the monitors as Harry came to in a room/cell designed to work like Loki/Hulk's prison on the Helicarrier. Harry, of course, didn't know that.
"Hello?" Harry called, the sound breaking the tense silence of the place. The past events were coming back to him, and, horrified, he whipped his head around in search of his godson.
Quickly becoming irritated at his lack of vision, he looked into the camera, stating, "You know, this would be a lot easier if I could have my glasses."
All former confusion and friendliness was gone; there was only annoyance bordering on protective fury etched on his features.
Without a sound, they all looked at each other, except Tony, who impatiently pushed a few buttons. A minute later, a panel opened in the cell, revealing the glasses, which had just been snatched from the R&D department. It had been through all of the screenings, and while the ends could make it seem like a weapon, they doubted Harry was suicidal.
Looking in relief to find his coveted glasses, he put them on, blinking and fending off a headache as his eyes adjusted.
"Right," he began, sitting down in the middle of the cell. "From what I can remember, I'm here under interrogation for something. What that something is, I'm not sure, so you can start by explaining why in Merlin's name I'm sitting in a glass cell, staring into a camera when I can't see you."
"Okay," Tony said, but didn't make a move yet.
"Tony," Steve demanded, "Let him see us." When he hesitated, the captain pressed, "That's an order."
He pressed the button, and a live feed of the security room popped down into the cell. Harry's features softened slightly, as though their compliance was the first step.
"Okay," Harry stated, looking up into the half-guilty, half-composed faces above him. "That's a start. Now, what am I doing here?"
"You were recorded under SHIELD's Persons of Interest List, and we were under orders to bring you in," said Natasha coolly.
"Do you happen to know why, Ms. Romanoff, and if so, are you at liberty to tell me?"
"No to both," Clint answered, "and we'll be the ones asking the questions."
A tight smile made its way to Harry's lips, and he nodded, indicating that they could continue, and Tony did so with gusto.
"Okay, so per your instructions, we haven't hurt the kid—"
"Touched," Harry corrected, the old panic returning. "You haven't touched Teddy, have you?"
Steve shifted, eyes betraying him before his words did. "I took his hand once, and by the way, why does he change appearance? Is he a mutant?" ***
This finally got a real reaction from the prisoner. His eyebrows raised and creased, and he stood, walking closer to the screen.
"He morphed in front of you?" he asked quickly, and after receiving several nods of confirmation, he demanded, "I need to talk to him."
Instantly, Steve said, "Of course," while Natasha replied, "I'm afraid we can't—"
"Let me talk to him, and I'll tell you anything you need to know."
While this was an opportunity, it was against interrogation procedure to bring in a person for bargaining, even though it was done in several of the more underground situations.
Natasha sighed, repeating her last memorized phrase. "I'm afraid—"
In a fit of overwhelming frustration, Harry balled his fists and screamed, "I NEED TO TALK TO MY GODSON!"
Silence fell over the security feed, before Harry saw Tony pick up the phone and say, "Bruce, can you bring Teddy to the security room, please?" This seemed to shock everybody else in the room, for Tony looked like the person who never said "please". Harry thought fondly of another person he knew who never said "please", before returning to the conversation.
Back in the security room, Steve wondered why Harry had Teddy call him "Uncle".
Harry breathed an audible sigh of utter relief when Teddy's inquisitive face appeared on the screen.
"Uncle 'arry!" the boy grinned delightedly, pressing his hand to the edge of the screen and shocking his hair black.
"Teddy, what did I say about changing in front of people you don't know?"
Now, Teddy looked confused, which in turn bemused Harry himself.
"But, Mister Stevie said you were friends! He's my friend! You said I can change in front of Aunt 'Mione an' Grandma Annie an' Grandma Molly and Uncle Ron and— an'—"
"He's your friend, you said?" Harry interrupted as Teddy failed to remember the rest, looking pointedly at Steve and raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah, he said you were friends, an' he knew you a long time, but he didn't answer my question 'bout if he's an alien. Are they aliens, Uncle 'arry?"
He shook his head, a genuine smile reaching his lips for the first time in hours. It almost hurt.
"No, cub, they're not aliens. They're—err, they're friends, I guess. I trust them to keep you safe."
"You went to sleep," the tot remarked. "I thought you went to sleep for a long time like Mum and Dad did, but Mr. Bruce got me a juice box an' a moo-vie, he said, and when I was done, you were all better. It was like magic!"
Harry looked at his godson fondly. "Yes, like magic."
"Okay, Tony said after an awkward pause, "that reunion was cute and all that, but we've still got questions. Lots of questions, actually, so can we wrap up this little family session?"
Harry gave him a sharp look, and relented, sighing, "Very well. What do you want to know?"
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An hour or so of questioning passed. Harry did the best he could without violating the Statute of Secrecy. He did, however, have some lies readily at hand, for these muggles were not the first to be curious.
It was easy to explain away his lack of records: he was British. As for his false identity, he had saved his school from a terrorist bomber in his final year there. After leaving, he'd decided he didn't like the attention, and spent a few years tracking down the terrorist's followers before setting off for the States.
Teddy was a bit harder, so he just went with the mutant excuse he was given, denying any claim that he was one himself.
"So what's your real name?"
"You know my real name. You've called me by my real name for the past hour."
"No, your last name."
"Potter, why?" he replied casually. The name wouldn't mean anything to them.
"So we don't look like idiots when we file the report with no last name," Clint snapped, half-exhausted and half-sardonic after an hour of verbal sparring.
"All right, I think that's enough for one day," Steve said gently. "We'll get you a room—" "Steeeve!" "—that's not a cell, and call it a day. For now, you're under house arrest. Is that understood?"
Harry nodded, keeping his hands raised as a hidden door in the glass slid open, and Natasha entered, stony-faced.
~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~PaMF~
Thor, who had gone to watch over Teddy when the serious interrogation started, greeted the team as they traipsed into the common living space.
"My friends!" he boomed. "How fared the interrogation?"
"He's lying," Natasha replied immediately.
"He's not," retorted Clint, looking at her thoughtfully. "At least, not fully. I think it's a half-truth, but I can't spot the lies."
"The name's legitimate though," said Nat, returning the look with raised eyebrows.
"Oh, so you have procured a name from our young friend," Thor thundered, a genial grin stuck on his face like it was taped there.
"Yeah, the kid's Harry Potter," Clint mentioned. "Pretty common name for an alleged threat."
Thor, however, had paled considerably hearing those words, as Loki appeared in the doorway to seek peace only to find the space crawling with heroes.
"What did you say?" they asked, almost in unison, though Thor seemed horrified and Loki only confused, as though he hadn't heard correctly.
"You are keeping the valiant Harry, Son of James in a cell?" Thor whispered hoarsely, aghast. Loki mirrored his expression.
"Harry Potter?" he asked, in a low voice of half-disbelief and half-terror, as though the name was taboo. "Imprisoned?" He began to stride his way over to his brother, not noticing the tiny Teddy near him.
For one second, the child's hair brushed Loki's bare skin where his shirt rode up ever-so-slightly around his waist, but that one second was all it took. The contact, the warmth alerted Loki to the presence of the little boy, who shivered slightly as the temperature of the room plunged.
One second was all it took for the boy's pale skin to melt into blue, for the short hair to lengthen and straighten, and for green eyes to flash scarlet, until Loki was frozen, staring petrified at a mirror image of himself.
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OVER 3K WORDS! *SQUEE*
* "Them" is being used because even though it's not grammatically correct, it is a gender-neutral word, and could also be used to describe a hive-mind, etc. Acceptance is key, folks!
** This was a mistake I made last time. Teddy is four, not three. Sorry!
*** Mutants are known in this universe, but not really notable, so no X-Men characters. Sorry, X-Men fans!