OH MY WORD I HAVE NO EXCUSES AND MANY APOLOGIES.
Take four chapters right away while I hide in disgrace. :(
Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.
"Hey guys!" Harper threw open the doors to the training room, and the Avengers and Team Two stopped mid-fight.
"Harper!" Will was the first one to Harper's side, grinning. "How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Great!" Harper bounced a little. "Especially since the warden finally freed me from my prison."
Steve rolled his eyes as he entered the room. "Warden? Really?" He nudged Harper's shoulder. "I made you stay home for a week so your body could recover. Seven days."
Harper made a face. "Seven days? Really?" She shrugged. "it felt like longer." She smiled at the group around her. "So how's everyone doing?"
"Awesome." Tony smirked. "Team Two might be improving, but we can still kick their butts."
"Watch it old man." Avery pointed a finger at Tony. "You'll regret that next capture the flag."
Tony mock-shivered. "Oh..I'm so scared."
"Wow…you guys are children." Harper snickered. Then her gaze turned calculating. "So... you guys aren't tired of each other yet?" She asked slowly, and Thor narrowed his eyes.
"Why?" He asked.
"Well…" Harper hedged. "I was kind of wondering if I could borrow team two for the day."
Thor's eyes narrowed further, and the rest of the Avengers did the same, thought Team Two brightened.
"Why?" Thor asked again.
"Because I miss them?" Harper tried, and when it didn't work, she rolled her eyes.
"I want their help with a small re-con mission." When Steve opened his mouth worriedly, Harper raised a hand. "It's not illegal – technically," she began, "and it's for school. There's no threat to them or me, it's more of an experiment than anything else."
"What is it?" Steve asked, crossing his arms.
Harper smirked. "It's on a need to know." She winked. "So can I borrow them?"
Steve looked to the Avengers, who shrugged.
"It would be nice to have them out of the house for a while." Tony shrugged.
"Nice for all of us." Tasha nodded her head.
Bruce thought about it. "We haven't really had much separate bonding time in a while." He admitted, and Thor just shrugged. Clint opened his mouth, but Harper beat him to it.
"Actually, can we steal Clint too?" She asked, and Clint grinned and nodded his head emphatically.
"Pretty please, papa Steve?" He joked and with a heavy sigh, Steve relented.
"Fine." He acknowledged. "Go. Have fun." Harper grinned at Team Two and they whooped and rushed for the door, Clint right there with them.
"Hey!" Steve called out before Harper could escape. She turned slowly, and Steve pointed a finger at her.
"Don't die." He warned. "I mean it."
Harper smiled widely. "No promises." She answered, and then she was gone.
Steve huffed and shook his head.
"That girl will be the death of me." He admitted, and the avengers smiled.
"Well…" Tony spread his hands. "It looks like we have a day off."
Thor's smile slowly widened. "Whatever shall we do?" He murmured.
The Avengers shared a look.
They knew exactly what they were going to do.
"Oh my gosh, I forgot how much I love this stuff!" Tasha groaned in delight, mouth full.
"How is it that such a creepy, run down restaurant has the best tasting stuff in the world.?!" Thor agreed, mouth also full.
"Maybe because of the emotions we associate with it?" Bruce asked, staring reverently at his plate.
"Don't analyze it." Tony warned. "Just enjoy it." He closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply, and Steve nodded in agreement.
"Enjoy its delicious-y goodness." He moaned, stuffing his face.
"Oh Shawarma." Tasha lifted her food. "Why are you so good?"
The Avengers were the only patrons in the small run-down restaurant, and the table they occupied sat in the very center of the building. The table was covered in plates of food and the Avengers eagerly chowed down.
"So," Tony swallowed heavily. "How're you doing about the whole day of the dads?" Tony turned to Steve, who grimaced.
"I'm coping." He admitted. "It's tough realizing I have to share, but"
"Harper's life sucks." Thor blurted out, and the table shot him confused looks. He cleared his throat.
"I only mean her life USED to suck." He rephrased slowly. "So doesn't she deserve all the love and people who care about her as she can get?" he reasoned. The Avengers nodded in understanding.
"Right." Steve nodded. "Right. So, I mean, Clint, who watched her from birth to six, and then Coulson, who watched her from 9 to twelve, and then me, who's cared for her for less then a year, and then Morris, who lost out all those years and is just trying to make up for it?" Steve shrugged. "I feel for the guy. So we're working on it."
"Does Harper know about…" Tasha twirled a finger. "Daddy Morris?"
Steve grimaced.
"Another secret?" Tony shook his head. "You realize you're going to drown in those, right?"
Steve shrugged. "I know." He admitted. "It's just…. How do I tell her?"
"You blurt it out at random." Bruce advised. "Let it all hit the fan and just watch where you step."
Steve made a face. "Sounds messy." He argued.
"At this point," Tony admitted. "Every tactic is going to be messy."
Steve shrugged in agreement, and Thor brightened. "I know!" He said. "Have Tony tell Harper about her dad, and you take over helping Pepper with wedding."
Tony jerked up right. "Brilliant!" He agreed. "I'll let Harper beat me up and you deal with flowers and cakes and wines." Tony tilted his head. "Actually, I'll still do the cake part, but you do the rest!"
Steve raised an eyebrow. "You want me to help Pep with the wedding?"
"Not in so many words." Tony shrugged. "But I DON'T want to help with wedding stuff anymore, so I'm not too picky about my alternatives."
"You don't want to marry the love of your life?" Tasha asked, confused.
"No, I DO," Tony shrugged. "I just didn't realize the wedding stuff would be such a big deal."
"It's just a way bigger deal than usual because of her hormone imbalance." Bruce shrugged.
"No." Tasha shook her head. "It's always a big deal." Tony made a face, then turned to Steve.
"So?" He asked brightly. "Trade?"
Steve thought it over, then shook his head. "Sorry, no can do." He winced. "Harper needs to hear it from me."
"Agreed." Thor raised his Shawarma. "You are most noble." He tilted his head in Steve's direction, and Steve winced.
"Really?" He made a face. "Because I don't really feel like it."
"Hey Morris!" Harper hopped happily in front of Morris' desk, and he jumped.
"Harper." He said slowly, raising his face to eye Harper speculatively. "And friends?" He peered around Harper to take in the teens surrounding her. He raised a brow at Clint, who shrugged.
"It's 12pm." Harper informed brightly. "That means you get to take a break." She winked slowly, and Morris narrowed his eyes.
"Usually." He agreed. "But I'm really behind on paperwork, so I was just planning on eating at my desk.
Harper shook her head emphatically. "You don't want to do that." She argued. "You want to come eat with US." She winked slowly again, and Morris looked to Clint. Clint nodded slowly.
"Alright then." Morris stood and reached for his coat. "Sounds like a plan."
Harper grinned, grabbing his arm and pulling him out the door with her.
Morris heaved a sigh, hid a smile, and let Harper lead him away.
"So what's going on?" He asked. Harper shushed him and just pushed him down the street.
"Just wait." Harper promised. "We're almost there."
"Almost where?" Morris asked.
"Harper and Steve's place." Clint answered.
Morris made a face. "Really?" He asked. "Why are we going there?"
"You'll see." Clint shrugged.
"And you're welcome." Will grinned.
Morris frowned. "Who are you guys?"
"Oh!" Avery looked surprised. "I forgot we haven't officially met." He nodded. "I'm Avery." He pointed to the rest of the group. "Will is the one in the sick Nike's, Scottie's wearing the hoodie, the old guy is Clint, Dave's on your left, and the Black one's Jake."
"Racist." Harper chastised.
Avery frowned. "But the black one IS Jake." He shrugged.
Jake smirked. "It's cool." He relented. "Avery's allowed."
Harper huffed, but said nothing else, opening the door to her apartment building and herding the group up the stairs.
"Here we are!" Harper beamed as she let everyone in. Morris didn't need to look around, he'd been there before, but the others took their time, checking the place out.
"So what's going on?" Morris asked, and Harper grinned, pulling Morris into the living room and in front of a large box.
He frowned down at it for a moment. Then his eyes widened. "Is this what I think it is?" He asked.
Harper nodded. "I told you I would get it." She said smugly, and Morris smiled.
"That you did." He admitted.
"So….what is it?" Avery peered around Harper's shoulder and she shrugged.
"It's a set of files that all seem to be related." Harper began. "Missing persons reports, that sort of thing."
Avery nodded slowly. "What's the big deal?"
"They were all homeless." Morris continued, opening the box and pulling out files. "So nobody really looked into the disappearances. They just wrote shoddy reports and threw them in a box."
Will's face darkened, and Team Two shared a look.
"Someone's stealing homeless people?" Will asked.
"And no one's looking into it?" Jake frowned.
"Yep." Harper nodded solemnly. "Morris thinks somethings up, but his captain wouldn't give him the files."
"Which is why we went and got them." Scottie added. "Makes sense." He moved to plop on the couch. "So what are we looking for?"
Morris looked at the teenagers around him in surprise. They all waited for his orders, and he shook his head.
"You don't have to help me." He shrugged. "Getting the files was help enough. I can take it from here."
"Morris." Clint interrupted. "You're looking at a roomful of people who knows what it means to be invisible; who've all done our time on the streets." He shrugged. "You have help whether you want it or not. Might as well put it to work."
Morris huffed, smiling. "Alright." He nodded. "Okay. Let's split up these files and see if we can find some sort of pattern."
Harper grinned and took the first pile, and Team Two, Morris and Clint settled in to help a group of people who no one had ever really tried to help before.
Steve opened his front door with a weary sigh, ready to relax in his quiet home.
Of course, when stepped inside, it was to a living room filled with people and paper and…string?
Steve stared confused at Team Two sprawled all over his living room, at Clint laying on his table, squinting down at a stack of papers, at Morris and Harper talking in low tones near the bathroom. When Harper caught his gaze, she grinned bashfully and gestured him over.
"So…what's going on?" Steve asked, perplexed.
"We're helping Morris with a case." Harper explained. Steve raised an eyebrow.
"The homeless person case?" Steve guessed, and Harper nodded.
"Yeah. And it's bad, pops." She admitted. "Did you know that over the course of the last ten years nearly 300 homeless people have gone missing; just disappeared of the face of the planet?"
"And no one knows where they went." Morris added grimly.
Steve's eyes widened. "It sounds like you have an epidemic on your hands."
"More like a plague." Harper rolled her eyes.
Steve sent a glance around his busy apartment, sighing as he saw his quiet night disappearing before his eyes. He turned back to Morris and Harper, rolling up his sleeves. "Alright." He sighed.
"What can I do to help?"
Morris and Harper shared a grin, and Steve's heart sunk.
What did that mean?
Yay, more plot, and fun stuff! And Morris and Harper! And Steve...worrying about those secrets that are about to blow up in his face...yay?
Next chapter up immediately!
~CLC~
