AN: Ogremen: First up, in regards to the chapter, PROPS to whoever got the George Carlin reference to one of his more funny jokes, lol or would it be jokes that have a story behind them? Regardless, I recommend looking up George Carlin Cute Little Fart on youtube, its hilarious, lol it will also explain the title! ^w^ Anyway, in this chapter, Cap makes his grand entrance, so to speak, and Lily says her first words, and then some, that is if we didn't have her say anything before in a previous chapter, if so, OOPS, lol if not, then YAY, lol Anyway, now for a word from the Mistress of Words, Oracle!
Oracle: We are slowly drawing closer to the events of Avengers, but before we can get there we have to make sure all the 'players', are on the field so to speak. So in this chapter, as stated before, we are bringing in Cap and introducing him to Harry and some of his family. We decided to only do some becuase, let's face it, Cap ain't ready to know how many wives Harry's got nor meet the insane but lovable other family members like Sirius and Bellatrix. But not to worry, we're pretty sure you'll get a good amount of enjoyment out of this chapter. So sit back and enjoy the show. ^^
Now then, let's get to the chapter.
~w~
If anyone had asked Harry to describe how he thought his life would be after marriage, the one word he certainly never would have thought to use would be boring. After all, he has an Auror, a spy, and an assassin for wives, one child already, three more on the way, more money than he would ever know what to do with, a company working toward uniting witches, wizards, mutants, and humans as well as redeeming those villains that want to get out of the 'life' of crime, and to top it all off, his father is none other than the god of Mischief himself, Loki. Add into that the famous 'Potter Luck' and there was no way he should ever feel bored out of his skull.
At least that's what he kept telling himself as he worked on the paper work that Natasha had him doing today. He had no idea where the rest of his family was, though he hoped that at least Laura was looking after Lily, so that his daughter would have one responsible adult around her, Natasha however, he knew was a few floors down dealing with a minor issue that had popped up. That was one of the things he loved about Natasha. She was calm, cool, collected, taking something mega to shake her, and always seemed to know what to do no matter the problem put before her. Harry understood he was lucky to have landed a woman like her, even more so to have earned her love, and he wouldn't trade that away for anything. He wouldn't trade any of his wives for anything. Each one made him feel loved in their own ways and brought something interesting to his life as well skills and abilities he hadn't even known he'd need in life.
However, that didn't mean he liked Natasha for leaving him to do the paper work all alone this morning. He now understood why Tony called it 'The Devil's Torture', it was so mind numbingly boring he would more than happily be on the receiving end of an Unforgivable curse right now if it would get him away from it.
The ringing of the phone suddenly made Harry jump out of his seat in fear, having not expected a call and the room having been silent apart from his pen moving across the papers he was working on for so long he'd almost forgotten what other sounds were. Once he'd calmed down he grabbed the phone. "Hello, Lord Harry Potter-Black speaking." He greeted, praying he was needed elsewhere and wouldn't have to do more paper work.
"Um, sir," the voice on the other end said unexpectedly, "We need some help up here in the artic, we haven't found the settlement you told us about, but, we may have found something else..." the voice finished uncertainty.
Harry sighed at that. He'd learned about an old Wizarding settlement out in the artic that was built before magicals created the magic spells that allowed them to better hide from muggles, back when witches and wizards were still being hunted openly. He'd found out about such places in some of the old books from his many vaults and had wanted to see if he could recover anything that might still be at such places. To hear that his team of half-bloods hadn't yet found it was upsetting, but the claim they found something else, as well as how the guy had trailed off interested Harry. "What do you mean you found something else? What did you find?" He questioned.
"Well, sir, um, how much do you know about Captain America and how the war ended?" the leader of the search team on the other end of the line asked.
Harry frowned at that. "My American history is very poor at the moment, haven't had time to read up too much about it." He had no idea what the end of the war had to do with this. "Which war around you talking about by the way?' America seemed to have been in almost every war out there, but as far as Harry could tell none of those were anywhere near the artic.
"Um, I would recommend you take a look at some of the images I am emailing you now then sir, as we found a Nazi super plane and a body," the search team leader said.
Harry brought up his email, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he did so. Why would a Nazi super plane and a dead body be so special he'd get a call about it? That sort of thing was more suited for some muggle specialist then him. However as the images loaded, Harry's eyes were right away drawn to the red, white and blue disk like shape trapped in the ice. He might not know much about the war, but he'd seen enough stuff to know a little about who Captain America was, at least enough to know what to look for, and that right here looked like his shield. "Oh my god," Harry breathed in shock. If they had really found Cap's body at long last, that was the find of the century. He had to get on this right away before someone else happened across that sight. "Alright let's a get a team on this right away and get both that plane and body someplace secure before some random people show up and try to take them from us. But for Merlin's sake take care with the Captain's body. I'll get down there soon!" Harry then was about to hang up his phone and fire off a quick text to Natasha saying he needed to see her right away when the leader spoke again, almost urgently.
"Um sir, you should know, Captain America, he appears to still be alive!" the leader said, his shock evident in his voice.
Harry froze at that, his mind going blank at that incredible claim. "What?" He asked in shock. "He's still alive? He's been frozen all these years and he's still alive?!" He couldn't believe it, how could anyone have survived being frozen so long and still be alive? It should be impossible. Cap was a muggle as far as Harry knew, and the people that worked to make him who, and what, he is were all muggles too, and yet here they were in this day and age with Cap still alive, and, well, maybe not kicking, yet, but, definitely getting close to it. Harry was now questioning if a magical might have been involved after all. He would have to see about getting the names of the people involved and look into them, one of them must have had a magical connection somewhere. "Is he awake?" Harry questioned, trying to refocus his mind on what he should do now rather than all the things he needed to do to figure out how this was possible.
"Um, no sir," the search leader said, "We have started the process of thawing him when we noticed his pupils reacting to the light we shone, but it will take some time, I recommend we ship him to HQ and have him go through a full magical recovery," the search leader recommended strongly on this, after all, Cap might be an enhanced human, but he was still no magical.
"Yes, I will arrange for his transport immediately. We need to get him properly thawed out and comfortable!" Harry agreed, "Poor guy might think the war is still on when he wakes up, so we'll have to show him that he's safe," Harry then thought about the amount of time that had passed between Cap going down and now. "Also need to figure out a way to ease the news to him about how long it's been since he went down," Harry started typing at his computer, getting the jet to transport Cap, the Magical team of healers to ready up for their surprise patient they would soon have, and also trying to figure out who would be best to greet the Captain when he woke up. "Get him ready for transportation immediately! Let's bring the blue guy home!" he ordered.
"Of course sir!" the search leader said as he repeated Harry's orders to those behind him, many of whom had been gawking at Cap like he was a relic, which, in a manner of speaking, he was.
With his orders given Harry hung up and called Nat to his office. They had a lot of work to do before Cap would get here. He initially toyed with the idea of a room designed to look like something from the forties, but quickly threw that out as the point was to ease Cap into the modern day and show he was safe. Can't do that if the first thing he sees from you is a lie. But how to keep Cap, who will most likely still be in war mode, calm? Maybe a calming potion? No, that wouldn't work as Cap wouldn't be willing to trust any food or drink given to him for the first little while. A thought then popped into Harry's mind, one he wasn't proud of, but was sure would work. Lily...If one of the first things Cap sees is a mother and daughter when he wakes up, then he might be less likely to go into fight mode and at least be willing to listen. Problem would be getting Natasha and Laura to agree to it. Nym wouldn't be too much of a problem, since she'd be more than happy to help out with this, since she would get a chance to freak out Cap, and Lily, well she'd be her adorable self and most likely get Cap wrapped around her little fingers in no time.
Nat walked into the room, tablet in hand and a question in her eyes and on her face, "You called dear?" she asked, while her free hand idly rubbed her early sign of pregnancy, something she had taken to doing without realising from time to time.
Harry smiled at her, a little nervously. "You remember that team I sent to the Artic? The one you told me I should hold off on because you felt we didn't have enough information to track down the settlement?" He began cautiously. Natasha had been entirely against the idea, stating that they should try satellites before sending anyone to wander in the snow and ice for something that might not even still be there. But Harry had insisted and sent the team behind her back, something she still was annoyed at him for.
Nat's face never changed, her questioning look only intensifying, causing Harry to become a bit more nervous.
Harry cleared his throat. "Ahem, well, they haven't found the settlement…yet…" He trailed off. However before she could give him the dreaded, 'I told you so' look, he continued. "But they did find something incredible! Something not even Shield could find, and its a huge discovery for America!" He wanted to see if he could get her to guess what had been found, though he doubted she would.
Nat narrowed her eyes, "Harry dear, you know I hate guessing games, just tell me, or I will have Laura deprive you of those massages you so love her giving you," she replied with a smirk.
Harry pouted a little at that. "Makes me do paper work most of the day then ruins my fun and tries to take my massages that ease my back away. You are evil…" He mumbled before smiling at her. "They found," He paused for dramatic effect...and to annoy her, "Captain America, frozen in ice, and still very much alive. I'm having him brought here for thawing, healing, and so that we can help him adjust to the changes in the world," Harry explained.
Nat arched an eyebrow, "And it has nothing to do with you lording it over Tony in the future does it?" she countered with an amused smirk.
Harry couldn't help the grin that spread across his face, "I actually hadn't thought of him yet," He laughed. "I've one upped both Shield and Tony! Oh I can't wait to tell him this." He laughed hard at the thought of Tony's face once he hears the news. After all, Tony was all about being the best, and the first when it came to a lot of things, and getting the best of Shield was one of his favorite things to do whenever he got the chance. So to be beaten by Harry at his own game, well...Harry wasn't sure if Tony would be mad, annoyed or just plain proud of him. What Harry was sure about though, was that Tony was going to pout at least once after hearing the news and he loved it.
Nat sighed, "You fail to realise that Tony's father was involved in the project that made Captain America what he was, and so fail to see the significance of finding him when Tony's father couldn't," Nat said with a smile.
Harry blinked at Nat questioningly. "My American history is very weak Natasha," He reminded her, getting an annoyed look from her. "Hey don't go blaming me for that. You've kept me busy with work and then I need to spend most of the night with the other two and Lily. I haven't had the chance to study any history in any depth because of that," He defended.
Nat sighed, "Alright, I will take care of this paper work," she then tapped and moved things around on her tablet, "You go study everything I just sent to your email, it's all on Captain America and the Howling Commandos," when she saw him hesitate, she went behind him and goosed him, "Go, mister!" she ordered.
Harry glared at her and shifted away from her reach. He hated it when they would do this to him, mainly cause when he would try to get any of his wives back, they would easily dodge him and sometimes even goose him again. "Alright, alright I'm going. But I'm not going to the penthouse. Won't get any reading done there..." He mumbled to her. "I'll be in one of the smaller board rooms if you need me." Harry stated walking but stopped. "Oh, um, about how to ease Cap once he wakes up," Harry took a deep breath. "I was kind of thinking that Lily and Nym should be the ones to greet him." He told her, bracing himself for the hell he was sure was about to hit him.
Nat gave Harry a flat look, "You're going to introduce Captain America to the twenty first century via Nym and your daughter..." she paused, "Do I need to get a mind healer?" she asked cautiously.
Harry sighed to himself. "I thought about making it you, but you just have a natural aura that screams of 'danger' about you. And as for Laura, well...she's got her own dangerous look but she also knows little when it comes to dealing with people who are in fight mode and could be triggered to attack at any moment. Felicia is out because she's off doing a recon job for us involving that boss guy that tried to approach me two weeks ago," Harry sighed again. "I really need to get more people in my inner circle..." He frowned in thought. "Maybe Peter would be a good choice if not Nym?" He questioned.
Nat smiled, "I would recommend Agent Hill from Shield, she is Fury's number three," she said with a smile, "Now, go mister, your stalling!"
Harry shook his head. "If we turn this over to his number three Fury will want to do this his way and that will most likely start things off with a lie to make Cap think he's still in the forties." He then smiled. "Why not Coulson? Everyone loves Coulson. Bet he and Cap would get on great," Harry suggested before frowning at Natasha's look of amusement. "What?"
Nat smiled, "Firstly, I was suggesting bringing Agent Hill in as a member of your inner circle," she said, "And secondly, everyone in Shield knows that Coulson is a Captain America fan boy, has all the cards and even managed to convinced Fury to let him buy Cap's old shield that the Red Skull punched," she concluded.
Harry had to laugh at that. "Really?" He found he could actually see it. Coulson just had that look about him, the fanboy of a great hero look. "That further makes me want him to be the one to greet Cap when he wakes! And we've still got to introduce Coulson to Lily, he'll adore her." Harry laughed before becoming serious. "Get Coulson over here so we can explain what's going on. As for Hill, I'll have to meet her and see what kind of person she is before I can be sure I want her in our inner circle." Harry had to be careful with who he let in. After all, he'd let in just about anyone he thought was good before and that had gotten him used and almost married to a crazy stalker. But now that he was wiser, and more importantly, had a family to think about, he had to be more careful with his trust. So first he would meet with Hill, get to know her, then he would make his choice. "Anyway, I'm off to do my 'homework' on Cap. If Coulson gets here before I finish send him to me, I'm sure he's a fountain of information on Cap and will be more helpful then the documents you sent me," He then waved to Nat, leaving everything in her hands, as he left the room.
Nat smiled and sent a 'cryptic' message to Coulson, one that would entice his curiosity, while telling him virtually nothing about what the meeting was about, her own little prank on Coulson.
~w~
~Two hours later~
Coulson was surprized when he had gotten the message, and, colour him piqued, but, he had accepted the invitation, and had quickly come over. When the elevator had opened, he smiled when he saw Nat, then gapped when he realised she was showing a bit of a dome over her lower front.
"My eyes are up here Phil," she greeted with a smile.
"Sorry Nat, I am just glad that they were able to help you and that you're now going to be a mother!" he smiled happily.
"Yeah, you say that now, but guess who's going to be the godfather to my three babies and thus most likely to be called on to babysit them?" she countered with a smirk.
Though shocked at the news she was having triplets, Phil couldn't help but smile at being named godfather to them. "I'm honored Nat. I'm sure you'll be a wonderful mother, after all you pretty much are raising your husband and at least one of your sister wives," He joked.
"Very funny," she smirked, "However, Harry has a surprize for you Coulson, go to board room seven, please," she said before leading him to the board rooms area.
Coulson wasn't sure if he should be excited about what the surprise might be, or have an Advil on standby. After all, the Potter-Black family had caused some interesting chaos in the past, and even forced Shield to have to change a few of their plans. But regardless of past headaches, Phil headed for the board room she'd pointed him to, knocking on the door once he reached it.
There was a muttered 'Come in,' and when Phil entered, he was speechless, as all over the walls were articles that Harry had apparently printed out about his favorite hero. "Hey..." Harry said without looking up.
While Phil could understand that draw to Captain America, he himself being a huge fan of the guy, he couldn't understand just where this new found interest the young man had suddenly developed in the hero came from. "Hi Harry..." Phil greeted back awkwardly as he walked through the room, having flashbacks to his youth when he first started studying Cap. "What's all this for?" He questioned as he finally reached the young man.
Without looking up, Harry said distractedly, "Our team we sent way up north discovered a crashed Nazi super plane and Cap was inside..." Harry then went right back to reading, unaware he had dropped a bombshell on Coulson as his attention was focused more on the information around him then it was on the man he was talking to.
Phil stood there for a moment in stunned shock and disbelief. Captain America's body had been found? After all these years and countless people, including both Shield, and Howard Stark himself, looking for the war hero, he had at last been found. Phil had to take a seat upon hearing that and just let it all sink in. Captain America had been found. And Harry had said he'd been found up north, which had to mean in the colder areas of the world, meaning the body had to be intact after all these years. He had the chance to see his hero as he was during those last moments of his life. To say his inner fanboy was freaking out would be an understatement at this point.
Nym having come looking for Harry, and, having heard the words said by Harry walked into the boardroom, and, seeing Harry was too focused on whatever hell he was reading and their favorite male agent Coulson was sitting with a look like he was struggling to keep it together snapped, "Ginevra Weasley Alert!" she screamed in alarm.
Harry's head snapped up in a panic and immediately said, "Nym, Code Green Lightening!" only to stop when he saw Nym laughing her ass off at him. His panic immediately changed to a glowering glare. "Something you want Nym?" he asked with a deepening glowering glare.
Nym smirked as she finally managed to real in her amusement, "Sorry love, couldn't resist using the stalker alert to shake you out of your concentration!" she smirked.
Harry just continued to glower, "Nym," he began, "Using the stalker alert code is not for your amusement, now, what did you want?"
Nym, sighing said, "Your hanging around with Nat too much," she pouted, "Anyway, some guy in a red, white and blue suit and ice all over him was just taken to quarantine," she said with obvious confusion. "Care to explain why you suddenly have a boy on ice in the building or is this some new kink you only just found out you have."
Harry sighed, rubbing his forehead, "Nym, that's Captain America, I just wasn't expecting them to get him here so fast though..." he began only to finish with a mumbled sighed. However, he noticed when Coulson's head shot around to look at him in an instant upon herring that Cap was in the building, and he smirked.
Phil quickly stopped looking around when he noticed Harry's smirk. Reeling back in his inner fanboy and fighting back a blush that threatened to take over his face, he cleared his throat. "While I'm very happy to hear that a hero like Captain America has been found and brought back to American soil, I really have to ask why I am here? What does this have to do with me?" Phil just knew that Nat had to have informed Harry about his love for Cap as a fanboy and hoped he wasn't called over to be the butt of some jokes.
Harry smirked, "Oh, did Nat not tell you?" Harry asked with a shit eating smirk still on his face, "Cap is still alive!" he said excitedly.
Phil's eyes widen comically at that. His hero, Captain America, was still alive? That should be impossible. After being frozen for so long, the body should be too damaged to live, and yet Harry was, sitting there, saying he was alive. It took a lot not to demand to see Cap. "W-what do you plan to do with him?" He questioned. Phil knew Harry was a good kid, part of the reason he was glad Nat had ended up married to him after all, but this was a VERY important matter to Phil, and he needed to be certain that Cap was in good hands. And if possible, get a few minutes of alone time to talk to Cap once he was up to talking to people.
Harry mock gasped at Coulson, "Do with him, he's not an object Coulson, he's a person!" Harry said in mock outrage, then huffed, "But if you must know, we intend to thaw him, and help him recover, as for why your here, you, and my wife Nym, along with our daughter Lily, are going to be the first ones to introduce him to the new era!" Harry said with excitement.
Nym blinked in surprised at that. "I gets to be part of special mission?" She questioned, trying speak like that internet cat with the cheeseburger does. "YAY!" She cheered. "Lily and I won't let you down sir!" She mocked saluted Harry.
Harry then looked to Coulson who was sitting there, gaping like a fish, "Well, will you agree, you will, of course, be paid well for doing this as a consultant," Harry said with a smirk.
Phil was being asked to be one of the first people to greet Captain America when he wakes? He couldn't believe he was getting this honor, having never thought he would ever see his hero in person in his life time, and yet it seemed once more Harry was making impossible things happen. "Yes, yes, of course I want to do this!" He couldn't agree fast enough. He didn't even care about the money, he just wanted to make his childhood dream of meeting Cap come true.
Harry wore his shit eating grin, "Good, but, you know for a fact if Fury was handling this, it wouldn't be as smooth as I plan for it to go, you know that, right?" he asked seriously.
Phil sighed. "The director has a certain way of handling things, and sometimes they might not always be the best way to do so," He admitted. "But the director does have the best interests of the world at heart."
Harry huffed, "So did my old headmaster, and now my family and I have plans to deal with him, eventually, your boss should make sure I do not plan for his fall from grace either..." Harry said mysteriously.
Phil had to smile at that. "Given your rising fame in the world, and fact that you have Natasha as your wife, and even a few other agents of Shield showing interest in working for you, I somehow don't doubt that you could ruin Fury if you wanted to." Phil had heard a number of agents talking about Harry, about the good he'd done, and what he was clearly aiming for next, and how they wished they could be a part of that. Even Clint had mentioned wanting to part time at Auror Corp because he agreed with a lot of what Harry clearly stands for, not to mention the generous hiring bonuses courtesy of Nat, or the fact he would, for the most part, have free reign on security measures.
Nym smiled at Coulson, knowing that there were a lot of interested Shield agents that were thinking of leaving Shield for Auror Corp. She'd even teased Fury last time they'd seen him for the monthly update, that in a couple years they'd have stolen his entire work force out from under him just because Harry's a 'more awesome boss' then he is. "So, Coul-Man, Lily darling Lily, and I, get to greet this Captain guy when he wakes up," She chuckled. "It's going to be so chill in that room we won't even need any calming potions." Nym was already planning to use Lily's adorableness to wrap Cap around their fingers. Who knows, if this guy is important to Shield they might be able to use him to pry Shield open more for themselves. And given that Nym's latest new friend, who happens to get visions from time to time warned her that something big was coming, she knew they needed a better opening in Shield if they wanted to be part of the cleanup.
At that moment there was a thud and the door suddenly caved in, "Oops, sorry about that boss," a voice said from the other side of the doorway, "Just wanted to let you know sir, the meatsickle has been thawed and moved to a secure healing chamber," the voice continued, "Anyway, came to let you also know that security has been beefed up thanks to us hiring that Shocker guy," the voice added.
Harry smiled, "Thanks Cain," Harry said, using Juggernauts first name, "Would you be so kind as to escort agent Coulson, my wife Nym, and my daughter Lily to Captain America's room? Besides, I don't think Coulson has met you yet either," Harry replied.
Juggernaut smiled, "Sure thing boss," he said as he stepped back to let people exit, when he saw Coulson, he smiled mischievously, "Aren't you part of that group that arrested me before releasing me to Harry's custody?" he asked.
Coulson gave Cain a smile. "Several times if I recall, I was very pleased to hear that you'd turned over a new leaf and came to work for Harry." This was true, Coulson was glad to Cain had turned his life around, mainly because he was getting a little bored with sending agents to catch him. Coulson had been sure had the big guy not turned his life around, they would've ended up on a first name bases with each other just on the fact that they saw each other way too much through work.
Cain smirked, "Yeah well," he paused, "Your not the only fan of Captain America," he smirked at Coulson.
Coulson blinked in surprise at that claim. After all, Cain didn't seem the type to admire Captain America given his life choices, but what did he really know about the guy. Still, his surprise was still there because of it. "Oh?" Was the only thing he could think to say in response. After all what do you say when you find out the former criminal you helped to catch a number of times happens to also be in the Captain America fan club?
Cain smirked, "Yep, it was cause of my admiration for him that I joined the army, it was after I let the power of the Gem of Cyttorak go to my head that I started my life of crime, well, past life of crime anyway. Now I can be a force for good, and use my powers for good," he then smirked, "Besides, I am the Unstoppable Object, can't really argue with a nine foot five inch tall bodyguard, right?" he finished.
Coulson chuckled. "Well one could try, but it's not advised if one wants to remain alive," He agreed.
Nym let out a huff. "You boys can get your Captain rocks off later, we have to go collect Lily and get ready to welcome the frozen guy into the world right now."
Cain smirked, "Of course Nymphadora," he said, using the name Harry had told him to use when he wanted to get a reaction out of her.
Nym in response, huffed, knowing there was little she could do to Cain for his use of her first name.
~w~
~Fifteen minutes later~
The first thing he became aware of as consciousness returned was a slow and repeating beeping sound. That's when he heard a voice say, "Shh, I think he is waking up now!" It was a feminine voice, that much he could tell, and young too. He also thought he heard a little girl giggle but couldn't be sure.
"Please try to reframe from saying anything too extreme. Let's be polite and respectful," A polite male voice spoke up.
The woman seemed to snort at that. "When am I not?" The silence that followed from the man was telling.
As he slowly opened his eyes, he blinked at the brightness and quickly closed his eyes, letting them adjust, after a moment he gingerly pushed himself up, and was stunned as there was a giant, a woman with pink hair holding a little girl, and a man in a suit. "Um, hi?" he started, unsure of how to react, "I'm Steve Roger, where am I?" he asked.
"Whoa! Blond with baby blues! Damn! Were I not already married I'd so be all over this one for a couple nights," The woman commented, much to the amusement of the giant and the seeming horror of the man in the suit.
"Mrs. Potter, please try to control yourself around the Captain." The man in the suit scolded before turning a bright, but slightly nervous smile to Steve. "Sorry about her. I'm Phil Coulson, I work for Shield. This is Mrs. Potter and her daughter Lily, and that is Cain Marko who works as a bodyguard for Mrs. Potter's husband." The man, Phil, introduced. "As for where you are, you are currently resting in one of the medical rooms at Auror Corp, which is located in New York city. You are safe and back in America, Captain Rogers."
"And the war?" Steve asked almost fearfully.
Before Coulson could respond, Nym beat him to the punch, "Sorry to say dude, but, the wars been over for about seventy odd years," she said, only for Coulson to face palm and Cain to being laughing.
"What she failed to mention, Captain, is that we won the war. Your actions ensured our victory, Captain," Coulson swore he would have words with Nym later about how not to go about speaking to someone like Steve. "If you want, I'm sure Lord Potter-Black would be more than happy to give you everything there is about the end of the war and what transpired while you were frozen."
Before anyone could say anything else, Lily escaped Nym's hold and toddled her way over to Steve, holding up her hands to him in a sign she wanted him to pick her up, which Nym found adorable by itself, her daughter was already trying to get the guy under her thumb, that was just the cutest thing in the world and Nym couldn't be prouder of her daughter.
Steve was numb for a moment, "S-seventy years..." he mumbled leaning back against the pillow, ignoring the child much to her pouting at not being picked up. He had missed so much, especially his chance with Peggy Carter. He was in shock, too much too quickly.
Lily, not one to be ignored when she wanted up, started swatting at Steve's arm as best she could from where she stood on the floor, trying to get his attention, making herself known to him, and more of all punish him for ignoring her.
Nym almost couldn't hold in her laugh at her daughter's tantrum at being denied what she wanted. Yep, Nym feared for the first few relationships her daughter would get into, those people wouldn't know what hit them if they aren't careful.
Steve came back to the present when he felt something hitting his arm, looking down he saw Lily swatting him with a pout, he picked her up and placed her on his chest, "What's the matter little one?" he asked cautiously, he was still in shock, but, he was adjusting.
Nym chuckled at that, "You're a new face in the building. Lily loves to meet new people, but you were ignoring her so she did what she normally does to get attention. She hit you until you noticed her!" Nym smiled at her daughter. "She's stubborn like that. Just like her mum."
Lily giggled when she noticed she finally had his attention and he'd picked her up. She patted his cheek with one hand while using the other to hold onto his shirt so she wouldn't be at risk of slipping. She might be young, but she could tell Steve was upset and, while she wanted his full attention, Lily didn't like it when people are upset. So she was doing what she could to try to help. Which was pretty much be as cute as possible until she could get a smile out of him.
"Youse are funneh!" Lily said slowly. Nym smirked, Lily's first words had made he so proud. After all, she had been playing with Nat when suddenly she seen a picture in that day's Dailey Prophet and had immediately said a word she heard her momma say a lot whenever she saw this woman in the picture. "Bitch!" Lily had said proudly, making Nat gasp. Needless to say, Nym had been in hot water for this as there was no question in anyone's mind where Little Lily had learned such a word, to quote Nym, it was worth every punishment just to see the recording and make it one of their home videos of Lily.
Lily then tilted her head at Steve cutely, "Is tere a bitch asound?" she asked cutely, shocking Steve and Coulson, and making Cain roar with laughter.
Nym threw her arms up in the air with a huge grin. "I REGRET NOTHING!'' She shouted in the proudest tone of voice she could muster, making Lily giggle at her. Though Nym knew she'd be in for it again when Nat and Harry hear about this, but it was so worth it just to see the scandalized looked on both of the men's faces.
"Um, what?" Steve asked intelligently in his shock that a little girl had just cursed. When he got control of himself he said, "You shouldn't say that word Lily!" he tried to scold her.
"Why?" Lily asked innocently.
"Cuase its a bad word?" Steve replied honestly.
"Why?" Lily asked, "Momma says bitches be bad! That's they makes peoples mads!" she replied innocently again though with heat in her voice.
Coulson sent a glare to Nym, fully planning to report her to Harry for this. "I can't believe you say those things around your daughter." He scolded before turning back to Steve. "I am so sorry about this Captain Rogers. Clearly Lord Potter-Black needs to have words with his wife later about what she's teaching their daughter."
Nym shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, I could have used other words that'd be worse. I got a whole list I've actually made up of words not to use around her until she's older. Besides, Bitch is also a term for a female dog and those women are just as bad as some of those!" She rolled her eyes.
Cain, who'd managed to get his laughter under control finally shook his head. "I can't wait to tell Jen about this. She might not find it as funny but damn if this won't make for a good story!" He chuckled.
Lily, ignoring them said, "Why sads?" she asked innocently.
"Everyone I knew is gone," Steve replied.
"Noes," Lily replied cutely, "Youse is members of my familys now!" she continued, "I says so, and Papa has to do as I says, Momma says so!" she said proudly while crossing her arms cutely.
Nym smiled at her daughter. "Yep that's right. Your daddy has to do it or else he gets the 'Pouty Puppy Dog Eyes' from you." Nym then thought about her family to date and chuckled. "Why not adopt the guy? We've already got a mangy dog, an old wolf, and a grumpy mountain man, a more or less normal family with a brilliant daughter, a goddess of death, a god of mischief, and a lot more that I can't even begin to list. Why not add a World War 2 hero to the list?" She shrugged to herself.
Steve frowned at the way Nym had described her family. She'd mentioned a wolf and dog, also two supposed gods. Just what kind of family did she have? Or was Nym one of those types to make up stories to amaze her daughter? He just couldn't tell with this woman. Also, were his eyes playing tricks on him or was Nym's hair changing from pink to blue before his very eyes?
Cain suddenly spoke up, "Hey, Cap, think you're ready to get out and walk around the building?" he asked carefully. The people who'd checked Steve over before they arrived said it would be best to check for any stiffness or lack of muscle use as early as possible, and the best way to do that, would be to get the guy to walk for a bit. Also Cain knew that Harry would want to meet the guy as soon as he was comfortable with his new settings.
Steve thought about it. Did he really want to get out of bed and see just how little of the world he knew remained? A part of him wanted to refuse, to just go back to sleep and pray this was all just a crazy dream. But the other part of him told him that would be pointless, that he'd just wake back up in this room and nothing would be different so he might as well get it over with now. Besides, Lily was tugging at his shirt in a cute attempt to get him up.
"Let's find papa!" Lily cheered in agreement.
Steve couldn't help a small smile at her for that. She was clearly set on this whole 'him being part of her family' thing and he couldn't help but feel a little warm and fuzzy at being wanted by such a cute, if a little odd, girl. Deciding to get out of bed for that walk, and wanting to meet this 'Lord Potter-Black' that was clearly behind him being back in America, Steve wrapped his arms around Lily and sat up in bed with his legs over the one side. "Alright, I'll get up Boss." He told her.
Lily cheered, "Yay, yay!" much to the amusement of the others, especially her mother.
~w~
~Harry's office~
Harry had decided to get some work done while he waited for Captain America to be led to his office. After all, he wanted to make a good impression on the guy for what he's got planned. After reading all about the Howling Commandos, Harry was convinced that he should follow the example of Cap's old team by building teams like them. He was going over the list of people in his employment, from mutants, to enhanced, and even criminals/villains that were redeeming themselves, trying to picture the best combinations for these teams. Maybe he could get Captain Rogers to help train the teams. He'd have to wait to see if he could even get Rogers to accept working for him before he could pitch the idea to him. Harry also had opened the file on Fury's little hero team idea and was already trying to reach out to Dr. Banner, having sent magical agents of his to find the guy so Harry could try to meet him at the very least. If all went well, Harry would have a good number of connections into Shield as well as have half of Fury's hero team on his side, what with Thor being his uncle, and Tony a good friend. Now that Harry thought on it, the only one he really still had yet to think about fully winning over, was Clint Barton. So in reality, he pretty much had the whole team nearly on his side. This made him chuckle.
"Dada's orfice!" Lily said proudly from the other side of his office door. Nym wasted no time opening said doors though as she barged in saying, "Dear, how elegant you look this afternoon!"
Harry smiled at Nym. "And I'm sure Natasha is already getting ready to punish you for whatever you've done this time..." He teased with a drawl, knowing that Nym had to have done something both he and Natasha didn't approve of.
Steve was a little shocked at how young Harry looked. He'd been expecting an adult, but Harry looked to still be in his teens even though he had a wife and daughter.
"Er...I regret nothing!" she said before turning around and heading back to the penthouse.
Lily giggled, "Momma in trouble, Dada?" she asked, looking at Harry expectantly as she raised her arms outwards.
Harry smiled at his daughter and picked her up before turning to Steve. "Captain Rogers, I hope my wife and daughter behaved themselves around you. I'm Harry Potter-Black, it's a pleasure to meet you at last."
If there was one thing Steve always tried to do when first meeting someone who'd done nothing wrong, it's be polite. No matter how strange or odd things might be at first, he always strived to be polite when meeting someone for the first time. His mother had drilled it into his head to always be friendly and nice to people, unless they gave him reason not to, and he certainly wasn't about to go against that teaching with the young man here before him. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, though I'm a little confused as to how to address you. Your wife says you're a Lord but you seem very young to have a title like that, not that there's anything wrong with it. It's actually very impressive that you are running a company and have a lordship at your age." He'd asked a few questions along the way, just to get a feel for the kind of person he was meeting before hand, and what he heard surprised him.
Harry chuckled a little. "I actually have a few lordships but let's not get into that right now," Harry waved off. "As for what you can call me, let's not waste time with formalities, you can just call me Harry. Pretty much everyone else does, and it's what I'm more comfortable with to be honest," Harry waved off again. "Please have a seat, I'm sure we both have a lot to talk about." Harry gestured to the chair sitting across from him and closed the window on his computer with the Avengers file in it. He left the other windows open, hoping to show Steve what he had planned if Steve would be interested in joining him that is.
Harry smirked, "I have been reading up on you and your old unit, the Howling Commandos," Harry began, "To be honest, I didn't know much about you before my team found you in the ice up way up north," he continued, "You and your team had similar ideals to what I am trying to achieve with my company, peace, understanding, and even acceptance of those different to you, oh, and of course standing up for the little guy," he chuckled.
Steve was happy to hear that, but a little unsure if Harry was telling the truth. After all, anyone could say they wanted to stand up for the people that need it, as well as help those in need, and while he had heard some nice things about Harry from both Phil and Nym, he had some doubts about it. "Sorry to have to say this Harry, but anyone can claim those things. In fact it makes a good slogan for in public, and I've met a few people in the past who'd tried to convince me they felt the same way, but were really the kind of people I hate. Why should I believe you are any different from them?" Steve asked. Harry might have been nice enough to find him and bring him home, but that didn't mean he was trust worthy just yet.
Harry smiled, "Very well," he tapped a few things on his computer, "How would you like to be my companies moral officer?" he smiled, "And no, I do not mean morale, I mean moral, you would be in charge of making sure we stick true to making the world better, not worse, Steve Rogers," he then turned his computer around. "These are some of our projects, we make a point of making sure all our military contracts are for the betterment of the soldiers, not weapons," he said, "And on the home front, we developed anti-riot gear that causes non-permanent harm, then there is our super villain reformation program, with its star graduate, Cain Marko, aka the Juggernaut!" Harry finished proudly.
There was a lot in there for Steve to take in. Between the job offer and the showing of projects, Steve was a little surprised by the things Harry had taken on at his age. But then when Cain had come up Steve found himself latching on to that. "Wait, Cain, the guy who is your bodyguard is a, what did you call him, former super villain? What do you mean by that?" He questioned.
Harry smirked, "Cain Marko is a former criminal, I took a chance on him, one he was happy to take as I offered him a chance at a new life," Harry said, "It also doesn't hurt that with the amount I paid him initially as a salary made any offer to hire him as muscle seem paltry by comparison," Harry added. "And that's not including the hiring of the former thief Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat, and there's also that newest hired ex con known as Shocker," Harry added.
Steve was in pure amazement. If Harry could get a giant like Cain to turn his life around then Steve was left to wonder just what else this kid could do. "That's...very impressive Harry, I will say. Tell me more about these other projects?" To say Steve was starting to get interested was an understatement.
Lily meanwhile had climbed from her father's lap to the table and was sitting on it, munching on a slipper no one seemed to have noticed the entry of into the room.
At that moment, Nat came into the room and frowned at Lily, she then snatched the slipper away, remembering how the child had bitten a piece out of a slipper once before and swallowed it. Needless to say, Lily's fondness of eating strange things had only gotten weirder since she had grown the ability to move about on her own. Some of her known 'conquests' as she herself called it, included a Lego man, a marble, and even a bottle cap, that last one had worried everyone, including Nym, but Lily had said it had been 'hours' since she ate that last one and seemed fine, they had still given her an x-ray as a precaution, but could find no sign of the bottle cap. Anyway, Nat, looking at Harry and Steve talking who were talking about some of Harry's ideas, coughed into her hand, loudly. When that failed to work, she loudly said, "Honey, my water broke," in an almost conversational way.
Harry jumped out of his seat and stared at her in shock for a moment before glaring at her. "Really Natasha?!" He shouted. "That's a cheap move from you!" He grumbled as he sat back down and crossed his arms. After a moment he let out a sigh. "Was there something you wanted?" He asked her.
Nat smiled mysteriously, "Yes actually, Fury is here," Harry said, "Along with Clint Barton," she added.
Harry rolled his eyes at that. "Surprised that he didn't get here the second we requested Coulson to come over," He sighed. "Have them wait in one of the board rooms for now. Captain Rogers and I are still discussing matters and it would be very rude of me to ditch him to talk to someone else." Harry then glanced over at Lily. "Also could you be so kind as to bring Lily something to munch on before she tries to eat my desk...again?" Harry chuckled as he removed a pen from Lily's hands. "Lily, we've talked about putting things in your mouth that isn't food." Harry told her when she pouted.
"Munchies!" Lily protested as she grabbed another pen off of Harry's desk and began to nibble on it.
Natasha shook her head, "I blame Nym for this trait in her." before she turned and left to show Fury and Clint to the boardroom and grab some cookies for Lily.
Harry tried to take the new pen away from Lily, but she managed to dodge his many attempts. "Sorry for the interruption. Where were we?" He asked Steve as he gave up on trying to take the pen and just watched his daughter out the corner of his eyes.
Lily stuck out her tongue and continued to munch on the pen.
Steve blinked, "Um, sorry, I think we were going over your various programs you have, many of which interest me to be honest," he said honestly, "However, I have to ask, whose Fury?" he asked in a confused voice.
"He leads an organization known as Shield, and sees himself as a big player in protecting the Earth. Problem is, I find with his ways he has so many secrets and often at times with holds much needed information from his own people," Harry explained. "However we do work with him in a way to try to help keep everyone safe. Natasha, the lovely red head that was in here a moment ago, even works for him, though she spends more of her time here helping me then over there. Good thing too, cause I would be so lost without her helping me with everything," Harry then added, "Chances are Phil has informed him about you and thus he's here to talk you into working with him. And while I have nothing against you helping him out, I have to tell you that, if you really want to do good, be informed, and if you do not want to worry about if you can really trust those in charge, you would be better off working for me and aiding Shield when needed. In fact I can tell you right now why he wants you and about the people he's planning to have you work with, hell I can introduce you to most of them well before he will even think to have you meet them in person," Harry offered.
Steve frowned in thought, "So he is like that Dumbledore fellow I met during the war?" he asked, missing the surprized looks on Harry's face, along with that of Lily.
Lily meanwhile, after a few seconds said, "Bad Cap, bad Cap!" she said pen still in hand as she shook her finger at Cap like she had seen Nat do to her mother when her mother was getting a scolding, "Youse says bad man's name!" she added, much to Steve's confusion.
"Forgive Lily, but she is right about that Old Goat being a 'bad man'," Harry sighed. When he noticed the further confusion on Steve's face he explained. "Dumbledore was the headmaster of my old school back when I was still living in Britain. When I first met him he seemed like a 'kind old grandfather' type that 'had my best interests at heart'. But shortly after my fifth year, I was informed that he had been manipulating my life, stealing from my vaults and family homes, making marriage contracts behind my back, amongst other crimes. Thanks to my godfather, all of this was brought to light for me and I was able to break free of his control and leave all of that behind. I moved here to America to get as far from him as possible to ensure he stood little to no chance to try to force me back under his control." Harry then chuckled, "Even though he no longer has as much sway in the world, what he claimed only I could do what was done by another without any 'help' from him." Harry then shook his head, "While I do not agree with many of Fury's practices, I would not, at the moment, put him in the same boat as Dumbledore, purely on the account that Fury is capable of actually caring about others and doing what is truly right, rather than claim some 'Greater Good' that even he can't truly define."
Steve nodded with a solemn look, "I guess he either wasn't who I thought he was back when I met him during the war, or he changed after the war," Steve said, "Anyway, I think I will accept your offer of employment," he said with a smile, "Just so long as you're not planning to you know, take power over the government or something," he said jokingly.
Harry smirked, "Don't worry, I'm not planning any Palpatine like moves or Imperial Marches any time soon, unlike my predecessor," he admitted, "Even if I do have my own private army of security," he added.
Steve frowned at the name Harry had dropped. "Who's Palpatine?" He asked, to which Harry promptly started laughing and talking about movie marathons.
~w~
AN: Ogremen: Well, we hope you got TONS of laughs out of this chapter, and look forward to Harry surprizing Steve with more pop culture references that go right over his head in the future! rofl Anyway, now for a word from the Goddess of words herself, Oracle! ^w^
Oracle: This chapter was surprisingly very easy for us to write up. With in one day we got most of it done and were very happy with ourselves for it. We knew we wanted to get Captain America out of Shield's hands and what better way then to have Harry be the one to find him and thaw him out. And yes, as you saw, Harry is planning to steal the Avengers Initiativeout from under Fury more or less, but that's mainly because he's either related to them through blood or marriage, already has a friendship with them, or just needs to meet with them and offer them what they really want with no real strings attatched. Also, as you saw in this chapter, Harry is planning to create his own teams of heroes/reformed villains, so place your bets on who ends up on these teams. Anyway, we hope you all enjoyed this chapter and we look forward to hearing your thoughts and we'll try to bring more as soon as we are able to.