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.


"Hello?!" Steve squeezed his phone between his ear and shoulder as he used both hands to throw on his uniform.

"Father." Steve winced at the anger in Harper's voice.

"I know we were supposed to be there twenty minutes ago," He began, but Harper interrupted him.

"No, you were supposed to be here an HOUR ago, the event started twenty minutes ago, and my audience is about ready to start a riot of they don't get their promised Avengers!" Steve grimaced.

"There was a bit of a problem," Steve hedged, and Harper growled.

"I don't care." She snapped. "If everyone isn't here and SOON, I'll make all of her run exercises for the next four months, no breaks!"

"Harp," Steve tried, but the dial tone interrupted him. "Crap." He made a face.

"GUYS!" He yelled down the hallway. "I don't care if you're butt naked, we're leaving in five minutes!"


"Morris!"

Detective Morris stood in the wing of the stage, dressed nicely in gray slacks and a white button up, sleeves rolled up to his elbow and a smile on his face.

He turned to the Avengers and Team two, shaking his head. "You guys are in so much trouble."

Tony huffed. "Yeah, yeah, we know. We got here as fast as we could."

Thor crossed his arms. "I blame Will."

Will scoffed. "It's not my fault!" He adjusted his uniform and patted his hair down. "SOMEONE threw out all my clothes the other day, of course I had to retaliate!"

"By spending the night before Harper's event throwing 6,000 pounds of birdseed onto my car?" Tony argued.

"I didn't think you'd spend the rest of the morning planning your revenge, thus making us late!" Will snapped.

"Guys!" Steve interrupted. "Cool it!" He turned to Morris. "Where's Harper?" He asked.

Morris grinned. "She's stalling."

The group in front of him made similar expressions of confusion, and Morris turned back to the stage…

Where Harper stood, wearing a pretty black dress with her hair pulled up into a curly bun at the back of her head, gesturing wildly, barefoot. The audience watched and listened, the children seated at Harper's feet and looking up at her with adoration as Harper explained her heart behind the Manhattan project, and the Avengers listened closely.

Harper's direction was focused on the children as she spoke.

"The Manhattan is a big project, but it's an important one." She spoke sincerely, eyes bright. "Why?"

"Because it helps people!" One child called out, and Harper beamed.

"Exactly! I started this project because I believed, and I still believe, that superheroes come in all shapes and sizes." She winked at the kids. "And we all have different jobs. Captain America and the Avengers fought the aliens,"

The audience cheered, and Harper nodded with a smile. "But they left a mess."

"Shouldn't they have cleaned it up then?" A little girl asked, and Harper knelt down to look that little girl in the face.

The adults laughed, and a few nodded. "Maybe they should've." Harper admitted. "But they did a big job. And they gave us, ALL of us, an opportunity to be heroes ourselves."

The kids looked at each other excitedly. "Really?" One asked, and Harper grinned.

"The Alien attack left a lot of people hurting and in need. And a hero is someone who is noble and brave." Harper stood. "Maybe we can't fight aliens." She looked to the adults in the room. "But we can help a person in need. We can open our hearts to those who lost everything, and we can help them get back on their feet. I'm not talking charity anymore." Harper shook her head.

"The Attack is proof that we are not alone in this world. The Avengers are reminders that the only way we can fight back is together. When one of us falls, we all fall. As a community who has suffered many losses, we need to band together, and support each other, and remember that everyone is important, whether they have everything or nothing. The Manhattan Project was created solely to provide those with everything a chance to share and those with nothing a helping hand. As I said before, when one of us falls, we all fall. And so let us hold out our hands to our neighbors and come together as a community, and when you do that, whether you donate time or help financially or," Harper looked to the kids one more, "or even if you are just friendly and tell someone you hope they have a good day, When you care about your fellow man and you spend the time to help where you can, you become a hero to someone else." Harper smiled. "Everyone in this room has the potential for greatness, to do good." Harper winked. "In other words, Everyone in this room, big or small, can be a hero." Harper put on hand on her hip. "I welcome you all to The Manhattan Project's new permanent facility, and hope today will be a fresh start for Manhattan and the beginning of a community of Superheroes. Let's have a SUPER day."

Harper smiled and lowered her mic, and the entire room burst into applause, standing with wide smiles. Morris and Steve shared a prideful smile and clapped excitedy, and the Avengers and Team Two clapped as well, impressed. Scottie whistled loudly, and Harper turned, catching sight of the Avengers. She sent them a pointed look, then turned back to the large crowd.

"And speaking of Superheroes," Harper grinned wryly. "The heroes of the hour and the newest team to take on the bad guys, The Avengers and Team Two!"

The applause and cheers increased, and Steve shot his team a look as he led them onto the stage. Harper bowed lightly as she exited the stage, send Morris a dry smile.

"Way to stall." Morris joked, and Harper rolled her eyes.

"I'll yell at them later for being late." She shrugged. "Overall, we're not TOO far off schedule."

"Luckily for you I scheduled in a grace period for the Avengers stupidity." Morris shot Harper's Manhattan Project Assistant a look. The kid was tall, scrawny, and had really light curly blond hair. His face was almost permanently set into a sneer, and his light blue eyes were always filled with thinly veiled disdain.

Harper grinned and crossed her arms. "You know them so well, Liam." She joked, and "Liam" hissed.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?" Declan appeared at Liam's shoulder, and Liam rolled his eyes.

Liam had a strong hate for everyone barring Harper, who he seemed deeply impressed with, and Declan, who he tolerated.

Honestly, the kid gave Morris the heeby jeebies. There was just something about him….But Harper liked him, so he must have SOME redeeming qualities.

"What's next on the agenda?" Harper asked brightly, and Liam looked down at his clipboard.

"After the buffoons speak, Declan will go dismiss the crowd to the various booths and activities and open up the "Tell Me Your Story" rooms,"

"Where The Avengers will take residence and Team Two and I will take the opportunity to mingle over at the booths were we might be able to find the At Risk and see if they've seen or know anything about the missing homeless." Morris added.

Harper nodded. "Exactly." She looked down at her phone. "Crisis over at the Home Network Table." She shot the men a smile. "I'll go take care of this. Declan, you're with Morris, Liam, make sure the heroes get where they need to go," She pointed a finger at him, "And be nice." She hurried off, and Declan shook his head.

"She's amazing." He admitted.

"I agree." Morris shot the young man who his daughter-who-didn't-even-know-she-was-his-daughter was dating.

Liam sniffed. "She's tolerable….for a human.

Morris looked at Liam out of the corner of his eye, and Liam just winked.

Where had the kid even come from?!


"How's it going?" Steve appeared at Morris side, and Morris jumped slightly.

"Way to sneak up on a guy!" He muttered. "Warn a bro first."

Steve grinned. "Right. Sorry." He peered around Morris shoulder to eye the busy room. "I'm trying to avoid Harper," he admitted, and Morris smirked.

"Not ready to listen to her chewing you out?" He guessed, and Steve huffed.

"I know, I know, I deserve it," He admitted. "I'm just not ready for it."

Morris rolled his eyes. "How's the Tell Me Your Story going?" He asked, helpfully changing the subject.

Steve brightened. "It's going really well." He admitted. "The stories can be sad, but they're mostly uplifting, and really hopeful. Harper's doing good things here."

"Agreed." Morris nodded. "She's got a big heart and a good head on her shoulders." He smiled a little sadly. "It's a wonderful thing to see."

Steve patted Morris on the shoulder. "Hey." Steve's brow furrowed. "Aren't you from Chicago?"

Morris nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Steve shrugged. "There was a woman I spoke to today who was from that area." Steve peered around the crowd, then he pointed a finger. "There she is. She sounded like she might know a thing or two about what's going on on your streets, too."

Morris caught sight of the woman, and his eyes widened.

"Carly?" He blurt out, and Steve nodded.

"That's her name! Hey, where ya going?"

But Morris was already pushing through the crowd to get to the blond haired woman making her way towards the exit.

As fast as he pushed through though, by the time he made it toward the front doors, Carly was long gone.

"So who was that?" Steve asked, appearing at Morris's shoulder once more.

Morris chuckled.

"That… was my high school girlfriend." He admitted.

"Ooohhh." Steve made a face.

"That's weird."

Morris scoffed.

"Tell me about it."


Two days later...

"So, Miss Kennedy, how do you feel?"

"Well, seeing as I was shot nearly two weeks ago…I feel surprisingly amazing." Harper smiled brightly up at her doctor.

He nodded and wrote something down. "Good, good." He looked down at Harper and pushed up his glasses. "Your test results have all come back positive, and I think we're ready to take off all of your restrictions."

"You mean I can go back to school?" Harper grinned, and her doctor nodded.

"Yes." He agreed wryly. "You can go back to school." Harper threw up in a fist in victory, and the doctor rolled his eyes.

"You make sure to thank your father for this." The doctor advised. "His donation is the main factor of your quick recovery."

Harper's brow furrowed. "Donation?" She queried, and the doctor nodded.

"Your biological father's blood donation." The doctor clarified. "Detective Morris?"

Harper's eyes widened in shock. "Morris?" She blurt out.

The doctors eyes narrowed. "Your other father was quite relieved he was there to donate blood, seeing as you share the same DNA and blood type, it made getting you the transfusions faster."

Harper nodded slowly. "Wow…that's great." She squinted. "I have to go now."

The doctor made a face.

"You didn't know Morris was your biological dad." He inferred.

Harper shook her head. "No, I did not."

The doctor winced.

"Oops."


"Morris."

Morris dropped his keys on his entry table, eyes narrowed.

"Harper." He squinted. "How did you get into my house?"

"How long have you known you were my father?"

Morris made a face. "Oh."

Harper crossed her arms. "Yeah." She said slowly. "Oh."

Morris moved to sit opposite Harper, face solemn. "I found out I had a daughter a few years ago. I found out that daughter was you a few months ago. I found out you already had a…Steve?" Morris narrowed his eyes then shrugged.

"You're my daughter." He said bluntly. "And I was your father. But you already had a dad. I didn't want to mess with that." He shrugged. "You were happy."

"And you're my family." Harper stood. "I had a right to know who you were, and you kept that from me."

Morris made a face. "You're right."

Harper shook her head. "So Steve knows?"

Morris winced.

Harper nodded. "Right then."

She stood and marched toward the door.

"Harper." Morris began, but Harper raised a hand.

"I just…can't right now." She admitted. "Okay?"

Morris sighed. "Okay." He expected Harper to slam the door, but it shut behind her quietly.

So quietly Morris didn't even realize the small click he heard wasn't even the door…but was actually the breaking of the trust between himself…and his daughter.


Harper now knows one of fourteen million things. Will she react well? And what happens when she realizes THIS secret is only the tip of the iceburg? Stay tuned!

~CLC~