Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There is also referenced canon and implied AU-centric sexism. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Happy birthday to my zucchini! This is much cooler than our trip to the zoo for mine.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: RAVEN (2023); MC4A (Su-Y6)
Individual Challenges: Red Instead; Condiment Shelf; Xs & Os; WIP It; Pet Food; Me Matey; Goblet Flames; Gryffindor MC; Slytherin MC; Magical MC [x2]; New Fandom Smell; Sandbox (Y); Crossing Over; Reader; Cinematic; Binger; Graphic; Gamer; Alpha & Omega; Tossed Chum [x3]; Shifter MC; Disabled; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion [x2]; Short Jog; The Real MC; The Story Goes On; Eating Cake (Y); Exchange (Y); Greatest Gift; Green Ribbon; Two Cakes (Y); Salt Wrench; Booger Breath; Zed Era; Rainbow Connection; Finders; Hold the Mayo
RAVEN Challenges: Set [131](Sunny); Items [91](Paper); Colors [05](Ash);
Other MC4A Challenges: SuB [4C](Field/Clearing); Ship (Winter Lightning)[ SpMed1 (Lost & Found; Secret); SpMed2 (Nesting); SuBig (Sunny); SuMed1 (Epiphany; Meet the Parents)]; Chim [Teasel]("Wait for It" – Hamilton; Turned Left Instead AU; Race Bend); Fire [x3](Titanium); Garden [x()]; TWT [NB Sirius Black; Next Gen Era; Task 2 (Purple)]
Representation(s):
Filipino Tony Stark; Civil War AU; ABO AU; Omega Tony Stark; Alpha Andromeda Black Tonks; Omega Sirius Black; HoH Sirius Black; Background Harry Potter/Bucky Barnes
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Muck & Slime; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Surprise!; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; White Dress; Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Brooms Only; Car in a Tutu; Lovely Coconuts); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Wind Beneath); Demo 1 (Under the Bridge); Demo 2 (Sitting Hummingbird)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Intercept); FR (Satisfaction; Gestation); O3 (Oath); HoSE (Schooner; Caprice); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Kulonbozo)
Word Count: 1221 words

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Between the Lines
Part 3: Legacy to Protect
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"I am authorized," Andromeda answered. Likely in deference to her companion, she signed as she spoke. "As I said, I represent Haridard and his mate."

"Haridard," Sirius said. He rolled his eyes. His hands were sharp and precise as he continued. "She's so pretentious with the full names. Can't call him Harry like everyone else."

"I'm talking, Sirius," Andromeda said. Sirius made a face but subsided back into silence. Tony felt himself bristle slightly at the hint of alpha voice she had used, but at the same time, he had the feeling that Sirius was just as immune to its full effect as he was. Andromeda produced a leather folder from inside her blazer. The high gloss on the violet leather reflected the sunshine streaming through the windows of the conference room. "Haridard is a member of our pack, both by blood and adoption. His paternal grandmother was a Black, and his sire renewed the familial bond by making Sirius a godparent. When Haridard met his true mate, we adopted them as well."

She produced another folder that she set on top of the first one. Tony really wished that they were somewhere that Friday had proper sensors. That trick had to be rooted in magic-space. He had never gotten the chance to study that particular event.

"We did try to make a good faith effort to discover his identity," Andromeda continued, her signing becoming intermittent as she opened the new file to place a few papers on the table. She then slid them across to Tony. "When that failed, we established a new legal identity for the alpha we later learn was known as Sgt. James Barnes. This was also necessary for medical treatment."

"He was injured?" Tony asked as he looked over the paperwork that detailed what she was explaining. This would all fit nicely with much of the deal that he had already worked out for Barnes' protection. "He has a mind healer already?"

"As one might expect, spending the bulk of a century as a prisoner of war is not without consequence. The primary side effect is that the solitary man known as Bucky Barnes has been split." Her gray eyes were as pale as pyre ash and just as heavy. "Neither surviving member of the system remembers more than snatches of their lives prior their escape from their captor. We have been documenting everything that they do recall, and they are both willing to cooperate fully with authorities to resolve any criminal charges from their time as an imprisoned asset."

"That's—" Tony swallowed as he came across the summary of the psychological assessment. "Diminished capacity is what I've already prepared for, so that's good. The UN will want to have their own doc assess him—them?"

"Both work," Sirius answered, rocking on his feet. "Yasha typically fronts these days. Zima is much more reserved." He flashed a grin that would have been at home on a dog chewing on a bone. "Heard that he definitely wasn't when he took care of that mangy beast who dared to touch my pup."

"Sirius—"

"No, Andy," Sirius countered. His eyes were molten silver with his barely controlled rage. "I know that Rogers is already recovered from what Harry and Zima did to him. Even if they weren't justified, because that self-righteous asshat violated their nest, their responses wouldn't be considered excessive due to what enhancements Rogers has. He laid hands on Harry, as if he had the right! I want him charged with everything."

"As I already told you," Andromeda said, her hands working just as much to convey her impatience as her voice, "regardless of enhancements, Rogers is a muggle. Trying to charge him in a magical court would be difficult at best, and line theft requires that. Muggles don't recognize it as a crime."

"Line theft?" Tony asked. The sign Andromeda had used for the term was actually family theft, so he could guess the general meaning. Not to mention that Jarvis had once mentioned how important family was to the British magical community. What he didn't understand was how they got from Steve grabbing an omega in order to lure his childhood friend away from a declared nest to anything that might resemble stealing a family.

"Haridard normally uses the family nest for heats," Andromeda answered. Tony remembered the suspiciously empty history that Friday had found. If Harry was returning to a family nest, that would explain everything but how the last three had been spent in the Romanian apartment that Steve had broken into. "He felt uncomfortable with the idea of having sex in one, however."

Tony sucked in a breath as he realized just what Steve had interrupted. It wasn't bad enough that Steve had interfered with official law enforcement which could have ended much differently if his efforts to get Barnes to flee had been successful. Remembering the international incident that the Wakandan crown prince had caused when he had realized that the law enforcement officers weren't going to arrest Barnes right then, Tony had visions of a violent chase through the streets that resulted in a swathe of destruction and civilian casualties. Invading the nest of an omega in heat and laying hands on that omega was going to see him crucified in the court of social media as it was.

But that the omega was actively attempting to get pregnant, after having tried and failed before?

Steve was doomed.

"Oh, shit," Tony said without realizing he was even speaking. Andromeda gave a solemn nod of acknowledgement. Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking like he would happily murder Steve. And who could blame him? It was his potential grandchild that hung in the balance, since Harry was his pup in all accounts.

In all of the scenarios that Tony had prepared for as soon as he realized that Steve would stop at nothing to bring Barnes in from the cold, this was getting farther out of left field with every new factor. He had never considered that the alpha might have taken a mate or had already sought out treatment. All the paperwork in front of him worked well with what he had actually prepared for.

However, it was looking increasingly like Steve was beyond what Tony was capable of doing to protect him. It might be different if Steve would cooperate with them. Gabrielle Santos Ortiz was very good at what she did, after all. She was definitely worth every penny that Tony overpaid her. But she needed her clients to actually work with her.

Not for the first time, Tony wondered if Steve had something omegas in professional roles. It wasn't anything he had said or done outright. He just seemed to resist the advice or orders of every omega who wasn't what was considered the social ideal in the Forties. He didn't seem to have the same issue with alphas and betas of any primary gender or omegas who had careers in fields considered to be proper for one. Maybe it was just that regardless of how much he had changed, Steve would always be scrappy alpha with something to prove.

Whatever it was that caused Steve to be this way, it was about to become even more inconvenient than it normally was.

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To be continued
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