Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter Twelve

They were on the airship, which Fury proudly called 'the Helicarrier', when he met another members of the ragtag team that the man had thrown together.

And Harry was truly in for a shock.

He came face-to-face (well, face-to-pectorals really) with someone he had honestly thought he would never see again.

He had left the large control room, walking around the ship with his two animal companions to both explore and hopefully find a bathroom, when they literally ran into each other.

Harry wasn't looking where he was going, instead his gaze was directed at Sleipnir, who had adapted rather quickly to having half the number of legs he was used to. "So, from the way I remember it, you're older than Fenrir. Which explains, kind of, why you're a full grown horse instead of a colt. But that still doesn't explain why you two changed at all-" He was cut off by the sudden jolt of hitting what could only be a wall, it was that solid.

"Glen?!" Alright, not a wall then.

Harry froze right there. He knew that voice. Turning slowly, disbelievingly, he looked up. And up. "... Captain?" He said slowly. He knew there was a possibility that this wasn't the man he had fought alongside, as some places had exact look alikes. He could attest to meeting several. But no look alike would call him by a name he had used at one point.

Which meant this was definitely the man he had befriended and fought in a war with several dozen jumps ago.

The blond looked down at him with surprise written clear across his face. "I-I saw you die!"

Because this whole day just wasn't messed up enough. Harry groaned lightly and leaned slightly against Sleipnir's side. This explanation was going to be fuuuun. The least Heimdall could have done was warned him that he'd jumped to this planet before!

Three hours later, the two were back in the control room sitting at what Harry had figured before as a table set up for the 'team' Cap had told him Fury was building, chatting amicably. Fenrir was chewing on one of Harry's shoes, which Harry was well aware of but didn't really care about because a 'reparo' would fix any damage later, while Sleipnir was leaning against the back of Harry's chair and eating fresh hay that SHIELD just happened to have.

The wizard wondered again if Fury was just prepared for everything.

"So... Bucky?" Steve prompted after a while. Harry was surprised, he figured the man would ask much earlier than that.

Settling back in his chair, Harry replied. "Lived to be... eighty three, I believe. With the difference in time measurements on that next jump, we weren't too clear on it. Didn't date any of the locals, but he did adopt three kids who all adored him."

Steve shook his head, and smiled, a bit of sadness that had hung over him before obliterated. "He didn't date? I find that hard to believe."

"Well, in that world, there was no distinction between genders..." Harry trailed off, and the other man laughed, before growing serious again.

"So when you jumped out of that train..." Steve said, trailing off. Probably as he lost himself to memories that were shockingly fresh. To the poor guy, it had only been a short while ago that Bucky fell to his apparent death, the man he knew as Glen diving after him with a determined expression on his face.

Running a hand through messy hair, Harry amended the actual story slightly. "I caught up with him on the way down, and grabbed him, activating a jump so that he would come with me." What he had actually done was shove the Ring into the other man's mouth and spell it shut so he wouldn't spit it out. Harry then made sure he hit he ground first. When he died, the Ring followed its Master, bringing its container with it.

"But you could have easily died." Steve said worriedly. "You risked your life... To save Bucky. You two weren't even that close."

The dark haired man bashfully ducked his head, "Yeah, but he was a fellow warrior. It wasn't as noble as you make it sound, I knew I would survive." Sort of. He died, but he lived in the next jump.

The Captain would have argued the point if the weren't interrupted by Thor making a loud racket over by one of the consoles. Harry dropped the spells to see what was going on. He felt bad omitting even a little bit of the actual story from the man, but even though he trusted Cap with his life, he was well aware of the fact the man was, above all, a soldier. A soldier that would not lie to superiors.

"World-traveler!" Thor cried, noticing them at that moment (he wondered why he didn't before. He usually had great awareness of his surroundings) "Loki has been found, the real one this time! In the land of many germs!"

Fury, who had just seen them too, frowned. For some reason he had forgotten there was a table there. Which was not like him at all. He had a feeling it had something to do with 'Harry Potter, transportation'.

Coulson brightened at the sight of Captain America. He didn't have time now, because they would probably be sent out after Loki, but when they got back he was definitely asking the man to sign his cards.

Harry snorted. "Sounds unhygienic. You guys can go without me."

Fury scowled. "Stuttgart, Germany. It's fine, your presence will not be required, but Captain, you're up." Before he could even ask Thor to go along, the god was gone. There was no way he was letting anyone go get his brother without him.

As the blond soldier moved off, probably to go change his clothes, Harry heard him mutter, "Why is it always Germany?"

The wizard grinned. This was the Cap he knew. Still a little thrown off by the complete change in the world around him (and Harry could really identify with that) but willing to give it a chance if it meant saving a few lives. Before he had seemed a little... listless. Well, as listless as a man intent on saving the world, even if he had to do it alone, could be. But there was a small amount of deadness behind his eyes, as if he would make sure the whole world was safe, even if he died in the process.

But that wasn't exactly how Harry remembered him. He had been driven, sure, but there had been personal reasons behind each of his actions, and though it seemed like he had a complete disregard for his own life, it was really more that he held other lives to such a high position that he would risk everything to save them.

Harry, known as Glen Harper during the fateful jump in which he met Steve Rogers, had been one of the honored men on Captain America's team. He would have followed the man to Hell and back again, maybe because he saw so much of himself in the soldier.

Harry leaned forward a bit, resting his elbows on the cold table and chin on his hands, he figured he had a moment to spare to think about it. The way he saw it, he figured no one had even thought about the fact that the man had, for all intents and purposes, just gotten out of a war. He was still locked in battle mode, but with no one left to fight for.

So maybe, with a familiar face around, and knowing that Bucky lived a full and happy life (and didn't actually die because of him) maybe Captain America would let a little bit of Steve Rogers shine through. Merlin knew that Loki would need the compassion and empathy that Steve was so good at.

An hour later found Harry petting a snoozing Fenrir while he talked to Sleipnir. The horse didn't seem to show the same level of intelligence as his half brother, probably due tot he fact that his sire was not, in fact, humanoid, but he was still far from a dumb animal. Because he couldn't speak, Harry was pretty much just bouncing ideas off of him.

"Right, so, you guys look like normal animals here. Which means Jormungand probably looks like a normal snake. If he's still alive at all. I'm not sure if you will age at a normal rate befitting your bodies here, or if it's just a guise and you are just as immortal as you were before." He carefully stood up, still cradling the sleeping pup. "But even if he is alive, he's gonna be a pain to hunt down. But... the legend says that he is big enough to encircle the Earth and all that..." Pacing, he spun, unheeding of the single eye following him.

"Maybe... maybe he grew as he aged. Maybe he originally looked like a normal snake, but kept growing past the constraints of one..." Fenrir wuffed in his sleep, and squirmed. Harry glanced down fondly. The wolf was cute when he was enormous, but being this small made him unmistakably adorable. Not that Harry would ever admit it out loud. What man would use a word like adorable?

He hummed in thought. "But still, the humans here have never found any trace of anything encircling the Earth, though that's what the legend says... Maybe it's an exaggeration." Sleipnir whinied softly and tossed his grey head. "You're right, I'm over thinking this." Harry said, as if the horse had actually told him that.

It was at this moment that a man walked in. He was unremarkable looking, with curly brown hair and submissive posture. Harry would have ignored his presence completely if it weren't for the way every agent who also noticed the man enter stiffened immediately, some even going so far as to move their hands towards places on their person that obviously held a weapon of some sort.

All because of a man. Harry grinned and bounded over, sticking his hand out while Fenrir, jostled awake by his packmate's sudden movement, grumbled in complaint.

"Hi! I'm Harry Potter, who are you?"

The man shook his hand, looking bemused. Probably because Harry did not react like everyone else. "Bruce. Bruce Banner..."

Surprise! I wasn't too sure about this twist, but a darling friend of mine assured me that she liked it, so here it is! That's two Avengers down, a few more to go! And Harry will be meeting Loki soon, I swear! See y'all Wednesday!

Lionna