THIS CHAPTER

THIS

FUCKING CHAPTER

This is why it took me so long to fucking update.

Fucking. Action Scenes.

I hate them. Absolutely hate them; I don't know what it is, but action scenes and writing just don't work together for me. So this chapter has been hand written, hand written again, put aside for literally months, then typed, abandoned for a few more months until I finally pulled my head out of my arse and finished it. But. It. Is. Done. Sorry if it sucks, you'll have to just deal and be happy with the rest of the crap I produce. But here it is, in all of its glory. So enjoy.

Thank-you to everyone who left a review! You people are awesome!

Part Three: In Which

Chapter Seven: FIGHT ME BRO

It's not the first time Harry and Hermione have been here.

Even if Steve didn't know that already, there's plenty of evidence around the place to suggest that it's been used for something remarkably destructive in the last week or so, with half destroyed trees, disrupted earth and a multitude of burn marks all over the place. The level of damage is actually pretty impressive, and the pyromaniac inside Steve cackles softly at the destruction.

Natasha raises an eyebrow in curiosity at the devastation, kicking at a divot of earth just in front of her feet. She looks at home in the freezing temperature, "Nice to see you guys clean up after yourselves," she remarks dryly. Steve huffs a laugh.

Harry grins, "There's not much lasting damage. These trees are fast growing, and Hermione's been able to speed up the regrowth. Give this place six weeks and you wouldn't even know we were here."

Natasha hums, eyes sliding off the wizard to eye a patch of black on the tree behind him. She doesn't remark further.

"So how're we gonna do this?" Tony asks. His nose has turned red in the cold, though the rest of him is insulated by his suit. Out of all of them, Bruce is probably the worst off; he'd dressed warm but light, in preparation of him 'suiting up'. Even Clint's rugged up… in as much as a luridly purple scarf peeping out from beneath the collar of his sleeveless tac gear can be considered rugged up.

"I was thinking a capture the flag scenario to start off? No jail, ten minutes prep, the enemy's flag has to be brought back to base to win. Flags can be recaptured, but they can only be set up where they've been recaptured."

"Good way of getting to know the enemy," Natasha notes in approval, eyes tracing the scenery for places of advantage, "in a matter of speaking. Are you two on the offence, or defence?"

"I was thinking we both had flags, actually," Hermione replies. Her breathe blows out plumes of mist and Steve's mind is filled with images of a dragon, "We want to see how well you work as a team against us."

The brow rises again, "Ambitious."

Hermione draws out her wand and conjures a red flag with the image of a lion embroidered across it in gold from a broken tree branch. It stands out like a beacon in the mass of white, green and brown. She hands it to a grinning Harry who sets it over his shoulder, and conjures another one, this time in yellow and blue. Harry bursts out into laughter at the sight of the badger. She hands it over to Steve, her lips twitching with suppressed mirth. Steve knows an inside joke when he sees one.

"Guard this with your life," she tells him with a seriousness that does not translate as well as he's sure she hopes. The pole of wood is smooth in his hands, and the fabric when he touches it feels like silk, catching on the toughened skin of his fingers. Hermione turns back to the others, "For the first turn, we'll both have wands, but Harry's agreed to use it minimally. He's still not that sophisticated with his spellwork, but he's getting better."

Tony snorts in derision, "A handicap. Really? Do you think that little of us Queenie? Six on two kind of puts this in our favour, you know that right?"

She sends him a smile that promises pain and retribution, "Tony, need I remind you that our magic has the ability to short out your suit? Not to mention your comms. I think we can handle it just fine."

Tony wisely shuts up.

"Ground rules?" Steve asks as Natasha and Clint check over their weapons. They're all armed with low dosage sleeper bullets- or ICERs- designed to slow down or knockout targets, depending on the dosage. According to Hill, they're the new favourite in SHIELD training sessions.

"No kill shots. We're still regular humans, and even if we can block a great deal of things, we can still break," Harry states, "Hermione and I have agreed not to use apparition. Otherwise, do whatever you need to do to win. This is as much about testing our abilities as it is yours."

Bruce frowns at the mention of kill shots, "Is this safe?"

"Sure," Harry replies with the kind of blasé answer that says that it probably isn't. The gold tassels on his flag just miss the ground, "We're gonna go find ourselves a place to make base now. There's a creek about two hundred meters that way-" he points in a vague easterly direction, "we'll make that our boundary line…" He clicks his fingers, as though suddenly remembering something, "Did you guys want a time limit?"

Steve takes in the frozen scene around them. Half of them were largely unaffected by the cold, but he pondered the invulnerability of the rest- particularly Clint, Natasha and Bruce (when not Hulked out). The reality was though, that he couldn't see this round lasting terribly long with one two against six, "We'll see, I guess."

Harry grins, "Cool. See you suckers in a bit then!"

And with that, Hermione is grabbing the wizard's arm and apparating them away with a soft crack.

They're silent for a long moment, staring at the space the magic users had occupied. Clint shifts, eyes flicking up to the canopy, "Strategy?"

Steve shakes himself out and leans the flagpole against his shoulder, "Right," he motions up to the trees, "Tony, can you find us a hill or something? Something easily defensible, preferably with some open space, a decent distance from that creek."

"On it," Tony's faceplate comes down and he's off.

Steve turns to the rest of the team, "We're going to need a defense and offense; Clint, you and I will stay with the flag- I want you up high; shoot anything that moves, but keep out of sight and stay on the move. Nat and Thor; you're on offense. We need their flag. Get to the creek and then wait for the signal. Bruce, if they need help, you're up- let's see how well that hide of yours works against spellcasters. Tony, I want you on recon; once the alarm goes off, find their base and keep an eye one them- especially Harry. Chances are he's on capture duty. With that broom of his, he's fast and manoeuvrable. Stick to the canopy though; I'd rather not see what happens when your suit and magic interact. If you see an opening though- especially with Thor and Nat working on Hermione, I want you to take it. Are you able to do that?"

Through the comms, Tony snorts in derision, "Please Cap, she may be my girlfriend but I'm not afraid to whoop her ass if the time asks for it."

Bruce snickers, "It's your funeral, Tony."

"Let's move," Steve says quickly, before the two of them can start bickering, "see if we can't wipe the floor with them."

Natasha and Thor move out; Natasha slinking away into the wilds like she belongs there, and Thor moves with surprising deftness for a man his size (Steve belatedly remember his countless tales of hunting on Asgard and other realms- he surely has plenty of experience moving silently through forested areas).

Tony re-joins them, motioning to the north of them, "There's a good spot about three hundred yards in that direction. Raised vantage, large rocks, only a few trees around the place. Easily defendable and Katniss has any choice of trees to set up shop in."

Steve rolls his eyes, but nods in thanks anyway, "Sounds good. Mind leading the way?"

"Sure thing," Tony launches himself off the ground, and Steve, Bruce and Clint follow at a steady jog.

Steve is largely satisfied with the place Tony's picked out; it's not the best, but it'll do in a pinch, with an expanse of bare ground turned blinding white in the snow, interrupted by ice-slick rocks and ringed in forest. The terrain is likely to prove a hindrance to both parties, but he's confident his enhanced abilities will leave him on top. He climbs carefully to the top of the slight rise and Clint disappears into the forest. Bruce joins him not long after, his breath making large billows of mist in the freezing air. He looks dubiously around them.

"This the best we've got?" he sits down gingerly on a rock as Steve wedges the flagpole between two rocks. The blue and yellow stands out like a sore thumb, but he supposes that's the point. And it wasn't like he was dressed for camouflage, in the new navy stealth suit SHIELD had made for him (he preferred it over the traditional red and blue, but he wasn't going to admit that to SHIELD).

"It'll do," he grunts, "at least we have three times the manpower they do. Harry and Hermione are stuck with one for defence and one for retrieval. Against six non-powered people, I don't doubt they'd give us trouble… but against the Avengers?" he gives the scientist a wry smile, "We'll see, I suppose."

They're distracted by the appearance of a silver streak of light running towards them- an otter, he realises as it draws closer, though its form is blurred and indistinct, like a faulty projection.

"Game on," it says clearly in Hermione's voice. The otter dissipates soon after and Steve grins, shaking himself out. Bruce grimaces at his eagerness.

"I don't know why you're so excited; I've a feeling today is going to end painfully."

He raises his brow, "It'll be fun. It's been a while since we've done any sort of training exercise- it's good to be a team again, against a proper challenge."

"If you say so," Bruce rubs his hands to warm them up, though Steve knows Hermione had already cast a warming spell on the man.

"Look on the bright side- at least they're not using teleportation- this would be over before you knew it if that were the case."

"On the plus side, it'd be over before we knew it."

"Hilarious."

"I try."

Steve looks up to the sky, eyes scanning for any sign of Harry- there was no doubt in his mind that the wizard would be the one tasked with capture. Hermione may be a formidable woman (and honestly he is not envious of Thor, Natasha and Tony), but it was obvious she loathed flying, and with apparition off the table that left Harry to pick up the slack.

His comm clicks, "She knows how to make a good trap," Natasha states in a breathy voice, "pretty sure she's got some kind of alarm set up too- it's what I'd do. Stark, can you see their base? Kind of shooting blind here."

Steve almost doesn't want to know what kind of 'trap' Hermione had set up.

There's a period of extended silence as Tony complies. Steve stands at ease beside their flag; Bruce remains seated, but he looks cagey, eyes flickering around the clearing as though expecting Harry to appear at any moment.

"Don't forget they can camouflage themselves," he tells the scientist. Bruce huffs a sigh of frustration, his breath fogging up almost immediately.

"Of course they can."

Their earpieces click again, "Found it. Looks like they've got a similar setup to ours- no visible traps or defences, but I doubt Hermione would let anything slip past her without a good fight."

"I got that," Natasha replies tightly.

"Sending you the location now… Potter's not in sight, but I'm catching something moving your way Cap- and fast."

"Understood," he stands a little straighter. Here's to hoping his shield is impervious to most of their spells. Natasha gives Tony her thanks and the line falls silent once again, save for the occasional complaint or remark. Steve nods at Bruce, "You'll probably want to suit up pretty soon."

Bruce makes a face at him but gets up all the same, tugging off his scarf and slouching off his coat, "The things I do for this job," he grumbles good-naturedly.

Steve huffs a laugh, "The things we all do for this job."

Over the comms, Tony curses, "Shit. Harry's after you; ETA twenty seconds, east-south-east of your position."

Steve nods, for a moment forgetting Tony can't actually see him, "Copy that. Bruce, now would be the time for you to-"

"On it!" Bruce cuts him off with a strained grunt. When Steve turns back to the man, his skin is already a sickly green and his body is growing in a series of painful looking convulsions. He tears his eyes away and catches the rapidly approaching form of Harry on his broom. The transformation is over quickly, "Hulk, you know the drill; catch, but try not to break anything," he orders grimly, "I hear that broom's-" but the Hulk is already launching himself into the air with a roar, aimed at Harry with the kind of single-minded ferocity that only the Hulk can channel, "… one of a kind." He finishes with a sigh.

Harry dodges out of the Hulk's grasp, spinning upside-down and to the left with such grace Steve could almost imagine the move was part of a dance (then again, maybe it was). The Hulk roars in frustration, crashing into the tree-line in a mess of green and brown limbs. Harry hoots in exhilaration and Steve pulls up his shield, following the wizard as he circles the clearing. He makes no move to do anything but take stock of the area.

"Hiya, Steve," he calls outs, swooping out of the way of the returning Hulk. Hulk snarls, but doesn't appear enraged, so much as irritated. A good sign as far as Steve's concerned.

"Harry," he replies, eyes on the other man- in particular his hands and any presence of a wand.

"You have something I want, Steve."

Steve fights very hard to not roll his eyes. Harry was maybe taking this whole 'enemy' role a touch too seriously (that didn't mean he wasn't going to play along, of course), "I could say the same for you. Why don't you come here so we can talk about it? Man to man."

Harry cackles, and pulls off a loop-de-loop that looks far easier than it probably is, "But Steve, Hulk is having so much fun!"

To his left, Hulk tries to catch Harry again, and another innocent tree pays for his troubles, "That so?" he replies dryly, hand hidden by his body and shield as he moves to grasp his handgun. Like Nat and Clint, he'd come armed with an ICER (the best thing to have come out of SHIELD for a long time, if he were honest), but he wasn't planning on using it this early on. He kind of wanted to see what Harry would do first.

He waits, watching the pattern of Harry's movements- swoop high, out of the Hulk's reach, back down low as the green behemoth pulls himself out of the trees he ends up landing in. Steve would be worried, were it not for the odd strangled laughs from Hulk; when brought out with intent, he was like a gigantic green puppy filled with unfathomable rage and playfulness. It was clear Hulk was enjoying Harry's game of chasey and wasn't trying terribly hard to actually catch him.

"So much for the Hulk helping," Clint mutters over the line. Steve rolls his eyes, but he can't argue the point.

-There- as Harry swoops in low again, he pulls out the ICER and shoots, clipping the man's sleeve at the same moment an arrow flies out from behind him and explodes into a net that tangles around the cursing wizard. Thank God for Clint and his plethora of trick arrows, he notes with glee as the dual distractions send Harry careering into the earth close to the treeline.

"Jesus fuck that hurt, Rogers!" he screeches, cursing and scrabbling about as he fights off the net. He leaves the broom where it is and whips out his wand from God knows where, stumbling forwards and red-faced, "I am so making you pay for that."

"Bring it on, Gandalf."

In his ear, someone makes a choking noise- probably Tony. Steve considers it a win in and of itself.

Another arrow flies out, somewhere to Steve's right this time- it erupts into foam at Harry's feet, expanding and sticking to him as he tries to take a step forward, throwing him abruptly back onto the ground. He grins and sends a lazy salute in the direction of where he last saw the arrow came from.

Harry swears again, and throws up a shimmering shield of force that the Hulk slams ineffectually into. He snarls and hits at it with his fists, and the force field turns rubbery and elastic, causing his clenched fists to bounce back and hit himself in the face.

Hulk stumbles back, blinking in bewilderment and shaking his head. He scowls, "MAGIC MAN PLAY TRICK!" he cries, hitting the shimmering field again. This time Steve can hear the boing-swack as his fist rebounds and hits him again. The Hulk looks visibly disgruntled, and Steve fights very hard against the urge to laugh. He's not seen this level of slapstick since Bucky walked into a tree as they were stalking a Hydra base in '45.

"Please tell me you caught that on camera," his comm clicks.

"'Fraid not," Steve grits his teeth as the very conspicuous and very shiny of a stag emerged from the shield, catching the Hulk's attention and drawing him away. With Harry's obvious distraction working, the shield comes down and Steve readies himself for things to turn ugly, "Looks like we're on our own now, Clint."

Harry flicks away one of Clint's oncoming arrows like it was only travelling at an eighth of the speed. It explodes into a mass of sticky goo several feet away, "Incarcerous," he says calmly as he points his wand at Steve. He jumps and rolls away as the ground where he'd been standing transforms into a writhing chaos of ropes, reaching for his limbs with an apparent life of their own.

No more fun and games now, Steve thinks to himself, taking in the determined look on his face.

"Stupefy," Harry murmurs just loud enough for Steve to catch with his enhanced hearing. His shield has the red light glancing off into the forest and Steve dances away again, before the ground can turn to ropes. Harry flicks his wand and a beam of yellow light shoots at him- he ducks and weaves from spell after spell, mindful of how close he's drawing to the wizard.

Harry's grin has returned and suddenly Steve's vision is filled with vicious birds that screech and aim for his eyes with razor sharp talons- he curses and the ropes catch at his feet in the distraction. The birds burst into feathers when he hits them, disintegrating when they touch the ground. He slices at the ropes with his shield and launches himself at one of the nearby trees, flipping and turning as he does to push off as soon as he touches it. He hears Harry cry out in surprise, and then there's a solid thunk as his body collides with the shield and both of them are sent flying. They land in a tangle of limbs, his shield rolling away as Steve wrestles over control of the grapple.

Harry groans in a mix of surprise and pain, but he doesn't sound injured. He grins down at the entrapped wizard.

There's a brief pause, before both of them register the implications of their positions; Steve all but straddling the other man, stretched out and gripping at his wrists to stop him from casting any spells. Steve is really hoping Tony's not around to see this.

Harry lets out a winded laugh, "Christ Rogers! I know I'm great, but you didn't have to throw yourself at me!"

Steve rolls his eyes and plucks the strip of wood from the wizard's grasp, throwing it as far from them as possible, "Dream on Potter; I've seen pigs with better faces than yours."

"Oink Oink," he says, pulling a face, "My cousin made a better pig."

Steve quirks a brow, backing off slightly now that the man is disarmed. Harry takes the opening, surging forward with a strength Steve is very sure he doesn't actually possess and elbowing him in the face. He flips them over (and right now, Steve is infinitely grateful his uniform has a cup, because without it he would have ended up with a bony knee in the nads). They blink at each other in surprise.

"I… did not think that would work," Harry confesses. Steve grins in delight and throws the man off him. His skin tingles from the secondary magic.

"You been holding out on me, Potter?"

"You've been going easy on me."

Steve shrugs as they circle each other. He keeps his hand resting on his thigh, over the ICER, "After that speech you gave us? A'course I was holdin' out."

He throws his shield, aiming for Harry's legs. The field he just manages to throw up only slows it down, and it hits Harry in the thigh at the same moment a tazer arrow hits him in the back.

The wizard's eyes widen in shock and he falls to the ground as his muscles lock and spasm. Steve watches Harry's convulsing form carefully- he's making an odd, strangled sound in the back of his throat, and he feels pretty bad for the move. Not bad enough though, he thinks as he feels the swell of energy in the air- like ozone- before the arrow sparks and fizzes and dies.

"Holy shit!" Harry gasps, collapsing to his knees, "That fucking hurt!"

"You okay?" he asks in concern.

"I'm fine. Just peachy," the wizard snaps, and his arm twitches and suddenly Steve is flat on his back, not entirely sure how he got there. His back is a dull ache though, so he assumes Harry threw him there.

"Gloves off now," he hears Harry remark, moving towards the flag. Steve curls and flips onto his feet- he feels slightly off kilter still, but he shakes his head and the disorientation fades. He watches as Harry draws up another shield to deflect another three of Clint's arrows, and he turns halfway to watch Steve run at him.

His hand twitches again, and this time Steve is flying to the right, landing painfully on his shoulder. He groans and rights himself as a distant roar fills the air.

"Well shit," Harry says, "I was really hoping that enthrallment spell would last a little longer."

"MAGIC MAN!" the Hulk roars through his earpiece, cutting through the chaotic chatter of his teammates. Steve winces- even with his set to the lowest setting, there were times when his enhanced hearing was just too sensitive, "HULK WILL SQUASH HIM!"

"Hulk!" he orders before things can get out of hand, "Go find Tony- I think he, Natasha and Thor may need your help."

It's not exactly a lie, perse. Sure by the sounds of them through the comms, they were doing okay- about as well as he and Clint were doing with Harry. But if they wanted to win this exercise, they needed that flag. Hulk could only help in that aspect, if only to provide as an extra distraction for the witch.

Hulk gives him a churlish reply but complies, and Steve breathes an internal sigh of relief. He directs the sole of his attention back to Harry, who's eyeing the flag several yards away with a covetous expression. Steve grins, quirking a brow, "Go on then. I dare you."

His nose twitches. The wizard makes his move and Steve runs at him. They crash to the ground again, Harry snarling at him like a disgruntled animal all the while, "I just want the flag, Steve! Can't you grant an old refugee that?" he wails, grappling with Steve with his magic enhanced strength. The air between them seems to crackle with unseen energy and Steve grits his teeth at the exhilarating sensation of raw magic on his skin.

"That's not how this thing works!" he growls, and throws the smaller man off. He lands and rolls, hopping to his feet to make another mad dash for the flag. Steve and one of Clint's gooey arrows stop him just as he hears in his earpiece Hulk and the rest of their team meeting up. He grins at the plan Tony is spouting as he struggles inelegantly not to fall flat on his ass with Harry- the goop from Clint's arrow had unfortunately claimed his boots as a casualty of war.

Harry sighs and touches the slime surrounding their legs and it turns to water. Steve grimaces as it fills his boots and grabs the hem of the wizard's coat before he can get away. He wraps his arms up and around Harry's arms and neck, and the man squawks in outrage.

"A full nelson? Really Steve?"

"A stun arrow would be-"

Before he can even finish, an arrow whips out in reply, but Harry pulls up another one of those annoying shields- this time in a bubble all around them. The arrow makes a soft tink noise as it hits the barrier, like cutlery on fine china. Harry grows and moves, bending forwards and tucking his leg behind Steve's, and throws the both of them to the ground. The wizard's elbow whacks into his trachea and he chokes as Harry scrambles up off the icy earth.

And then, through the shimmering yellow of the shield, comes the muffled sound of a deafening boom that pulls Harry up short. Steve can hears his teammate's crows of victory (especially Tony) in his ear.

"Shit," he says eloquently.

"I agree," Steve gasps and shoots the wizard in the shoulder.

"Shit!" Harry says again and stumbles backwards. The shield negates itself as he falls on his ass and Steve smiles in grim satisfaction. He stands up, weapon still trained on his friend, and rubs at his throat.

"That was… well played," Harry slurs. Steve grins at him, only feeling a little bad about shooting him. He really liked these low-dose ICERs.

"I try. Do I need to shoot you again, or are you gonna stay where you are?"

"That's not gonna be a problem," Harry groans and tries- and fails- to roll over onto his side, "Ugh- it's gonna take me a while to work through that tranq of yours." He blinks owlishly up at the winter sky and Steve wonders only for a moment how he manages to keep his glasses on.

Right. Magic.

"Dendrotoxin," Steve corrects him as the whine of Tony's engines becomes audible.

"Cap, I'm on route with the cargo," Tony notifies him gleefully. Steve rolls his eyes, "ETA right… about… now!"

And then Natasha drops out of the sky and into a dramatic roll, flag in hand, right on top of their own flag.

"We win," she says smugly, and in celebration Tony's speakers blare some song Steve is unfamiliar with, but has Harry groaning and Natasha rolling her eyes.

"Congrats," Harry cheers without enthusiasm, "I'd make you a trophy if I could move."

Tony cackles gleefully, "I want mine to read 'I fought ridiculous magic users and came out on top, 2014'-"

"-Hilarious, Stark. Where's Hermione?"

Tony lifts his visor, "She's coming back with Thor."

As if summoned, the crackle of thunder fills the air, and he smells the familiar scent of ozone. Flying towards them at a quarter of his usual speed comes Thor and Steve can just make out the small form of Hermione clinging to him for dear life. The god lands with far more care than most would think possible (not even a crater in the ground to show for it)- given he uses a hammer to fly- some several yards away from them. Hermione seems frozen to him though, legs wrapped around his waist and arms clinging to his chest and neck. Her hair is a disaster, frizzed to distraction and escaping every which way.

His fingers itch to draw the sight.

"Lady Hermione, we have landed," Thor rumbles, dropping Mjolnir to pull a strand of her hair out of his mouth.

"We have?"

"Yes. The ground is solid beneath my feet- as it would be yours."

"That's- right. Okay." She giggles, suddenly. It sounds a little hysterical, "I- oh my… I think my limbs have forgotten how to work."

Harry laughs from his place on the ground, "Eheeh. It's okay Hermione; so have mine." His head lolls over to look at Steve, "She really doesn't like flying," he tells him seriously.

"Quite," Hermione agrees. She makes a funny little sound of gratitude as Thor gently disentangles her from him, "Thanks. I'm just going to-" she collapses in a heap on the ground, "-sit here for a while."

Tony raises a brow at his girlfriend, "You okay there, Queenie?"

Hermione makes a noise of complaint, "The ground is cold."

"I know," Harry hums in agreeance.

"Well done, by the way," she says after settling her composure, "That was well played. You guys are formidable."

Clint- just joining them- rubs his knuckles on his chest, "We are."

Steve rolls his eyes. Hermione sighs and gives up on trying to sit up like a normal human. Natasha's lips twitch.

"So…" Thor says hopefully, "… Another?"

Harry and Hermione only groan in response.

Blows out long, relieved breath. The relief of posting this is awesome. You have no idea.

I have a feeling people are going to argue about the whole Hulk thing and the 'enthrallment' spell on the patronus, but please, just deal. Action scenes are not my forte, so please, forgive me.

This part is wrapping up soon! So until the next chapter, ciao!