I hate/love all of my followers/commenters. I had absolutly NO intention of posting this before July...then I got all your comments about the last chapter of Surviving and I just couldn't make you all wait. But this is ALL you're getting for now. (Shakes finger at readers). Also I hate this summary and hope that a better one comes to me.

There is alot, and I mean a lot, of dialog taken from the Avengers move in this chapter, so if you reconize it then it's not mine.

"Curve ball, high and outside for ball one. So, the Dodgers are tied, 4-4. And the crowd well knows that with one swing of his bad this fellow's capable of making it a brand-new game again.

Steve woke up confused. The last thing he remembered was crashing Schmidt's plane into the ice. He could hear a radio somewhere broadcasting a ball game.

Just an absolutely gorgeous day here at Ebbets Field. The Phillies have managed to tie up at 4-4. But the Dodgers have three men on.

Pushing himself off the bed Steve looked around the room. It looked like an SSR hospital room and he was wearing an SSR shirt with kaki pants, but something was off, his magic was lashing out warning him of danger.

Pearson beaned Reiser in Philadelphia last month. Wouldn't the youngster like a hit here to return the favour? Pete leans in. Here's the pitch.

Paying attention to the broadcast game from the radio, he turned to look at the offending box.

Swung on. A line to the right. And it gets past Rizzo. Three runs will score. Reiser heads to third. Durocher's going to wave him in. Here comes the relay, but they won't get him."

He knew that game. He knew that game very well. He and Harry went to see that game in May of '41. Hearing the door opening he turned quickly to see a good-looking nurse walk in.

"Good morning," she looked down to check her watch. "Or should I say afternoon?"

"Where am I?" he knew that whoever had him didn't necessarily have his best interests in mind.

"You're in a recovery room in New York city."

"The Dodgers take the lead, 8-4. Oh, Dodgers! Everyone is on their feet. What a game we have here today, folks. What a game indeed."

"Where am I really?" He was so calling bullshit on their ruse. Even if it was the SSR there was something not right here. His instincts were screaming at him and his magic was chomping at the bit to lash out at this fake nurse. Thankfully, he had plenty of practise keeping his magic in check, the last thing he needed right now was for someone to find out about magic.

"I'm afraid I don't understand." She looked confused. Everything was well organized and looked authentic, why was the Captain reacting this way?

"The game, its from May 1941. I know, 'cause I was there." Steve stood; he was so done with their crap. "Now, I'm gonna ask you again. Where am I?"

The nurse backed away a little. "Captain Rogers…" in her hand she pushes the alarm button needing back up quickly.

"Who are you?" He was startled when two soldiers in black uniforms enter the room. Steve immediately thinks of Hydra and attacks. It was surprisingly easy to know them through a wall. Running through the hole in the wall he realizes that they set this up to make him think he was home. I need to get out of here fast.

"Captain Rogers, wait!" the nurse yells after him. "All agents, code thirteen! I repeat. All agents, code thirteen."

Running as fast as he can Steve dodges people in suits looking for an escape. I need to find somewhere safe to apparate from. I need to get the hell out of here and back to Harry. Merlin, he's gonna kill me when I get back. Leaving the building Steve look a moment to look around the familiar, yet completely different scenery before taking off down the street. He didn't get far before he was surrounded by strange looking black vehicles. A tall black man in leather with an eye patch gets out of one and walked towards him.

"At ease, soldier! Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there but…we thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"Break what?"

"You've been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years." Steve looked around in shock. He was in Harry's original time, sorta. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I just…I had a date." Harry was so going to kill him.

It took him two weeks to finally ditch the Shield babysitters. Originally, they wanted to ship him off to some 'retreat' in the woods, but he had outright refused. Besides, what were they going to do, force him to move. Yeah right.

Steve had decided to go for 'groceries' early one morning. Sure, enough the Shield agent was right on his tail. Smiling to himself Steve headed into the old corner store that had been there when he was a child. It was even owned by the same family; he had spent some time talking with the owner about her grandfather and the store. The store had not changed at all in the last seventy years, including the back entrance that led to a hidden alleyway.

Thankfully, the owner was understanding of Steve's predicament and was willing to help distract the stalkers and let Steve get away safely. Making his way down the alley Steve made sure that there was no one around to see him then apparated to the alley behind the Woolworth Building. Walking up to the magical guard Steve nodded to him and reached out with his magic to open the secret door.

Taking a moment to look around Steve regretted that this was the first time he was coming here. Spotting a help desk he quickly made his way over. "Excuse me," he waited for the welcome witch to acknowledge him.

"How can I help you?" she sneered at him.

"I'm looking for Auror Major Hadrian Potter."

The witch narrowed her eyes and nodded. "Just a moment please." Getting up she quickly walked away from her desk and towards an office.

Steve watched her go with a sigh. Damn. Clearly, they are going to make this as difficult as they can. Maybe Harry told them the truth, or at least a couple of people the truth and they are protecting him. I really hope that's the case and she's not going to direct me to a grave.

A few minutes later the witch returned with a stack of paperwork. "You require a certain clearance level for that type of information. As you clearly do not work for MACUSA you will need permission from several department heads. Fill these out then come back and make appointments."

Taking the large pile of paper Steve gave her a smile. "Thank you for your time." Tucking the paper into his jacket Steve headed for the apparation point. He was going to wander the park for a little bit and let his babysitters find him again before heading back to his assigned apartment and filling these out.

Steve retuned to the shit-hole apartment Shield had given him feeling depressed. It was the end of April now; he had been awake in this century for two, almost three months now and he still wasn't any closer to his fiancé. He had gone to MACUSA again today and again he had gotten a run around. Go here, fill out this form, speak to this department. Merlin it was so very annoying. What was making it worse was all the damn surveillance Shield had on him. Steve's magic was just itching to be let out, but he had to keep a tight rein on it.

He needed something to distract him from the fact that he couldn't find Harry. Sitting down at the small desk he pulled out the files he had been given on his old teammates. Almost instantly he could feel the magic soaking through the papers. Reading through he noticed that every member of the Commandos had been declared dead. Touching the stamp marking Howard deceased he couldn't feel any magic, but then he knew that Howard and his wife Maria had been in an accident. Steve checked over Jacques file and once again found no magic. Flipping to Jim's file he did the same thing, only this time he could feel the magic seeping through the stamp and smiled.

Quickly he did the same for all the other files. "They're alive. They are all alive, thank Merlin." Steve rubbed a hand across his face. "They were probably assigned a handler when they came back from the war. One more thing for me to investigate when I get MACUSA to fucking work with me. But first I need to get rid of my watchers...again. Those agents are damn persistent. Oh, well. Something for tomorrow."

Picking up another file he was relived to feel no magic and see no red 'DECEASED' stamp across it. Peggy. Looking the file over he noticed her last known address was in England and it had a phone number. Quickly he glanced over at the phone, the only modern convenience Shield saw fit to give him, and the damn thing was overly complicated and probably had the ability to record everything said over it. No, not with shield watching over him so closely.

The last file was for Tony Stark, Howard's son. Apparently, the scientist finally got over his obsession with Captain America, moved on and had a family. His son was some kind of metal superhero. This Iron Man suit looks amazing, and in Gryffindor colours too, Harry would enjoy that. Sighing Steve leaned back in his chair. Somehow, no matter what he thought about everything came back to Harry.

Rubbing his hands over his face Steve wished for something to distract him. Shield hadn't given him anything to read beyond history textbooks, and those were dry as fuck. The few times he went out looking for entertainment his babysitters steeped in and forced him to go home. A pecking at the window made him sit up quickly.

Getting up Steve made his way to the window and quickly opened it. There, sitting on his windowsill was a beautiful snowy owl. As it was pure white, he knew it was a male. Harry had made sure he knew everything he could about his owl and had shared the facts (read forced down his throat) with Steve. "Hello there. Who are you?" holding out his arm Steve waited for the owl to decide if he wanted to come in. When the owl steeped up Steve slowly brought him in, leaving the window open just in case.

Letting the owl get comfortable on the back of his chair, Steve went in search of something to give him to eat. Coming back with a few pieces of leftover steak he offered them to the owl. "What is your name handsome?" The owl just blinked at him, making Steve laugh. "Very well then. Shall I give you a name?" the owl bobbed his head. Steve studied the owl for a moment thinking of the many stories Harry had told him about his Hedwig.

Sitting at the table Steve turned on his computer and began searching. His first search was for the German Saint Hedwig. Her husband's name was Henry and that was instantly out, too close to Harry. "Berthold, that's the name of Hedwig's father or Boleslaw her son?" The owl screeched in anger making Steve laugh. "No? don't blame you. What about Ekbert? Hedwig's brother." The owl seemed to think about that name for a minute before bobbing his head in acceptance.

Having succeeded in naming the owl Steve went and got the rest of the steak and potatoes warmed up for his dinner, then settled down on the couch. As he got comfortable, he was joined by Ekbert who perched on his shoulder. Turning on the TV Steve found Downton Abby. "You know Harry told me about his relatives being addicted to certain shows and I never understood it…then I found this one and I completely understand. I'm a little worried about what I'm going to do when I catch up to where the show is now. Then I'm stuck waiting for the next episode or worse, the next season."

Getting a hoot in response Steve proceeds to tell Ekbert what has happened in the show up until then. After watching three episodes, his personal limit for episodes in a row, Steve turned off the tv. "Well," he turned his head and looked at Ekbert who was nibbling on his ear. "What are you planning on doing? You are more than welcome to stay here, but I have a feeling you have a mate to get home to."

Ekbert nuzzled into Steve's head. Reaching up Steve gently rubbed Ekbert's chest. "I'll miss you too, but you can come visit when ever you want." After giving Steve another nuzzle Ekbert flew over to the table and picked up a pen. Getting up Steve walked over to his desk and took the pen from Ekbert. "What do you need?" Ekbert hopped across the desk and picked up a piece of paper in his beak. "I don't have anyone to write a letter to, sorry."

Dropping the paper Ekbert flapped his wings and let out a hoot before pecking at his own chest. "Ah." Steve smiled as he finally understood. "Your mate's wizard doesn't know your name. I can help with that." Taking the paper Steve smiled at the owl. After writing a short note he showed it to Hkbert who bobbed his head. Getting the approval Steve tied the note to the owl's leg. "I'll leave the window open for you Hkbert. Thank you for finding me." Steve watched the owl fly away feeling the tight knot in his chest loosen just a little.

Walking down the street he was amazed by how far things had come, yet somehow, they still stayed the same. There were still people on the corners yelling out about what they had to sell, only now it was phones and minutes instead of newspapers. The cars were different, but then Steve had only been in military vehicles. Making his way to an outdoor café Steve stopped for some coffee, at least that was still mostly the same.

Pulling a pen out of his pocket he began drawing on the paper placemat. Stark Tower was something he never would have imagined, and considering he knew dragons were real that was saying something. Thankfully, Grand Central Station still looked the same.

"Waiting on the big guy?" the pretty blonde waitress came up to him.

"Ma'am?" Okay now I'm was confused, who's the big guy?

"Iron Man." She stated like it was silly of him to ask. "Lot of people eat here just to see him fly by."

"Right." He forgot about Iron Man. "Maybe another time." Reaching into his pocket Steve pulled out some cash. Even this is old as shit, thanks a lot Shield.

"Table's yours as long as you like, no ones waiting on it plus we've got free wireless." Turning she walked away with a smile

"Radio?" That's right play the idiot. Let the babysitter hear the confusion so they can report back how much trouble I'm having adapting to this time. As if I don't know what wireless internet is. Let them keep underestimating you, then play your hand.

"Ask for her number you moron." The old guy behind him leaned over and told him. Steve couldn't help but think of all the times he had gone out with Bucky and someone had tried to set him up with a dame. All he wanted right now was to find his Harry.

Riding the subway was another interesting experience. The cars were still similar, and the tunnels were all the same, even the people did many similar things in his time, only now most of them had headphones in their ears or were playing with their cell phones. Merlin did he want to just escape to the magical world already, at least the changes there wouldn't be so shocking. Oh well, nothing to do about it. The damn Shield babysitters have gotten better at following me. I'm going to have to be cautious about using magic around them and stay away from the Way for now. Thankfully, there's nothing overly suspicious with me going to the Woolworth Building.

Steve made his way to the old boxing gym that Bucky had taken him too just before joining the army. It was still the same and membership wasn't that expensive. Getting a key for the building Steve went down to change his shirt and take his frustrations out on a punching bag. He didn't want to risk fighting against anyone with his mind set right now.

As he punched the bag, he couldn't stop his mind from pulling up images of the past. Running into battle with his brothers and Harry beside him, dodging the Hydra weapons and the occasional spell. As his mind continued, he thought of the plane, telling Harry there wasn't enough time, having to put it in the water, saying goodbye to his fiancé and being found alive in the ice. Apparently, it was one punch too many and he broke the bag. Sighing he picked up another one, attached it to the hook and continued punching.

"Trouble sleeping?" Nick Fury asked as he entered the area.

"I slept for seventy years Sir. I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world."

Steve stopped attacking the bag, he wasn't going to get any more of a workout done now that Fury was here. With a quiet sigh Steve began unraveling the tape from his hands. "I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won. The didn't say what we lost." What I lost.

"We've made some mistakes, some very recently."

He knew that face, he had seen it too many times on Philips face. "You here with a mission, sir?"

"I am."

"Trying to get me back in the world?"

"Trying to save it." Fury handed him a file. Opening it Steve immediately noticed it was on the tesseract and Hydra's projects.

"Hydra's secret weapon." Because of course I'm not supposed to know what the cube really is. Just continue playing the dumb lost in time soldier.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

Bullshit. "Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." I have more surprises than you think Fury. But what the hell, I'll play along.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment." Partially ignoring the Director Steve picked up a punching bag and put it on his shoulder. He was done with this shit, and hey they broke into the apartment to leave him information. Merlin, I need to get a new place. Somewhere that Shield doesn't know about. "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury's voice followed him out of the room.

"You should have left it in the ocean."

Tony cut into the pipe carefully he didn't want to cut through the wires, just the casing. Putting the energy reactor over top he waits to make sure it lights up, showing that it's working properly, before flying out of the ocean. "You're good on this end. The rest is up to you," he told Pepper.

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?"

Tony would have rolled his eyes if they hadn't been on video conference. "Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over, and it actually works?"

"I assume." Why did it still hurt that she doubted him so often? "Light her up."

"How does is look?"

"Like Christmas, but with more…me."

"We've gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow, I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings."

"Pepper, you're killing me. The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Then get in here and I will."

Tony landed on the specially designed balcony or rather landing pad. "Sir, Agent Coulson of Shield is on the line." Jarvis' voice came though his earpiece. The AI had begun telling him when it was Agent Coulson of Shield vs just Agent Coulson when the other man called. Tony was in the habit of talking with Coulson when it was personal but ignoring him when he was calling for Shield business. After all he had just seen the man two weeks ago at Peggy's for dinner.

"I'm not in. I'm actually out." And he was. The balcony was not considered 'in' the house after all. Walking across the balcony his bots came out and quickly removed and stored the Iron Man armour.

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Grow a spine Jarvis. I got a date." Heading, into the tower he checked over the levels with Pepper. He was trying to flirt with his girlfriend, but once again he put his foot in his mouth. Between mentioning sweaty workmen and percentages he was a little glad when Jarvis interrupted them.

"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten." Jarvis told him, sounding upset.

"Stark, we need to talk." Agent's voice came from the speakers.

Sighing Tony picked up his phone. "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message." That damn Phil agreed with Draco about Tony dating Pepper. Neither one seemed to think it was a good idea and both were trying to sabotage it as often as possible.

"This is urgent."

"Then leave it urgently." The elevator doors opened and there was Coulson in all his agent glory. "Security breach."

"Mr. Stark." Phil said anxiously. He needed Tony to help him without a problem. His brother was in trouble and he needed to get him back, but he couldn't go into details with Pepper here and that was putting him even more on edge.

"Phil! Come in." Pepper seemed excited to see the other man.

"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." Now what the hell was going on? Since when was Pepper on a first name basis with Coulson?

"Come on in, we're celebrating."

"Which is why he can't stay."

"We need you to look this over as soon as possible." Phil held out a laptop towards Tony.

"I don't like being handed things." He could swear the man knew it and just did it to bother him.

Pepper flashed a small condescending smile. "That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Taking the file from Phil she passes him her glass of champagne then takes Tony's glass while giving him the file. "Thank you."

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday."

"This isn't a consultation."

"Is this about the Avengers? Which I…I know nothing about." Pepper tried to cover up her mistake, after all he wasn't supposed to tell her about the Avengers. Not that that had ever stopped Tony Stark.

Tony pulled the computer screen off and attached it to the back. Looking Coulson over he noticed the other man was clearly shaken. Something had gone wrong, and he could only wonder who had gotten hurt. "The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify." Fuck that still hurt. And even after getting to know him better and understand that a person can make really bad decisions when dying Natasha still hadn't revoked that report.

"I didn't know that either."

"Yeah, apparently, I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."

"That I did know." That Pepper was able to say that at all, never mind with a smile was concerning. Maybe Draco and Phil had a point. Not that he would ever tell them that.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Phil sounded almost apologetic.

"Whatever. Miss. Potts, got a minute?" Tony entered in the passcode while Pepper mad her way over. "You know, I thought we were having a moment."

"I was having twelve percent of a moment. This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."

"How did you know if it's…? Why is he Phil?"

"What's all of this?"

"This is, uh…" Tony throws out his fingers and different profiles appear in holograms. "This."

"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight."

Tony thought about arguing with her, but then thought about how quick she was to agree with him when he called himself self-obsessed, even though he was joking. "Yeah, you're probably right." Tony barely noticed that Pepper walked out of the apartment and followed Phil into the elevator. Looking over the information his attention as immediately taken by the blue glowing cube. What the hell is going on?

"We're about forty minutes out from home base, sir." The Shield pilot said through their coms.

Phil Coulson pulled off his headphone set and stood up walking over to where his hero and idol, Captain America was sitting. He had been given the task of taking the Captain to the Helicarrier and getting him caught up on his new teammates and he wasn't going to waste the opportunity. In the back of his mind he wondered how mad Harry and the Commandos were going to be at him for keeping this a secret, but they also understood that he worked for the 'government' and sometimes couldn't tell them everything. At least he hoped they would understand this time.

Steve watched the videos on a glass screen with interest. This Hulk made him think of what would happen in a werewolf bit a troll. "So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Clearly that was a bad idea. He knew that a person needed magic for the serum to work properly.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

"Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guys like a Stephen Hawking." Steve looked up at him confused. "He's like a smart person." Way to go Phil, make him feel like an idiot. "I gotta say, its an honour to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve gives the man an uncomfortable smile and looks down at the tablet then gets up. "I mean I was…I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know its really, its just a…just a huge honour to have you on board." Oh god Coulson, just shut up already.

"I hope I'm the man for the job"

"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh…we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little…old fashioned?" Wait, uniform. I left Harry's ring in the uniform. It wasn't among the things they gave me so it must still be in there.

"With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned."

"Speaking of uniforms. My old uniform, do you know what happened to it?" Steve needed that uniform it had his things in it.

"I believe it's on the ship. I can look for it if you want me to?"

"Please."

Landing on the ship Phil led the way off the plane. He was glad to see Natasha was there waiting for them. he needed someone to keep him from making another mistake. "Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am."

Natasha smiled at the captain. "Hi." She turned to Phil knowing her brother as she did Nat could tell he needed to get away for a bit. If it was anything like when he met the commandos Phil had already put his foot in his mouth a couple times. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace"

"See you there." Nodding to Tasha Phil walked into the ship taking deep breaths as he went.

"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon." Despite giving him a break, she was still going to make life difficult for her brother, especially as Clint wasn't around to do it and they had only been told about finding Captain America a couple days ago. "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America Trading cards yet?

"Trading cards?" Oh Merlin. They did make those things.

"They're vintage, he's very proud." He had gotten all the commandos to sign them the second time they had gone out for dinner and neither she nor Clint have stopped teasing him about it.

After a quick talk with Dr. Banner Steve watched in awe as the ship began flying. He couldn't help but think of Harry's stories of the other schools' arrival to Hogwarts for the tournament. He followed Romanoff into the ship proper and then onto the bridge. Steve was quick to find himself an out of the way corner to watch things. It looked like the offices at MACUSA, only with technology instead of magic. Even the ships ability to vanish wasn't new to him, but he had to act like it was so Steve pulled ten dollars out of his pocket and handed it to Fury.

As Romanoff showed Banner to his lab Steve went wandering around the bridge. He wanted to know as much about this technology as he could, maybe he could figure out a way to use his magic here without killing everyone. Watching one station Steve was quick to realize they were looking for someone specific. Then Coulson found him and started talking to him.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no. it's fine." This Coulson reminds me of the kids during the tours. Don't' be mean Rogers, keep your mouth shut.

"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but…"

"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy-nine percent." One of the agents called out.

"Location?" Phil asked heading over to the station.

"Stuttgart, Germany. Twenty-eight Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, you're up." Fury told him from his spot.

Okay. I can do this. Steve followed the agent to where his uniform was kept. He looked at the new version with a critical eye. Sighing he quickly pulled the suit on, immediately noticing the lack of dragon hide and missing it. Oh well. Nothing to be done about it now. Just do the job then go back to searching for Harry. Maybe after this they won't be following me too closely.

Once he was dressed Steve followed Agent Romanoff, who was dressed in a skin-tight suit, onto another plane. If I weren't gay and in a committed relationship, I would try to hit on her. He was glad to note that these planes were much smoother in flight than any of Howard's planes were. Though, they still couldn't beat flying on a broom.

The plane landed a few blocks away from where the attack was happening to let Steve off. "We're going to be close by to help from the air." Romanoff assured him. "The jet has a state-of-the-art targeting system and guns that can take down a mark from a mile away." Not waiting for a response Natasha got back on the jet and it took off, leaving Steve to walk the rest of the way.

He was less than pleased to find a huge crowd of people keeling before one man. Oh hell no. wait…that's really Loki, from Asgard. And I can't use my magic. Fuck. Jumping in the way of an attack Steve sent a silent thank you to Merlin that his shield was magic proof. "You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

Loki stood and glared at him. "The soldier. A man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

Above him the Quinjet hovered and a gun is pointed towards the would-be god. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Natasha's voice came from over the loudspeakers.

Loki doesn't take lightly to it and sends a bolt of magic towards the jet and attacks Steve who flings his shield at him. Steve punches Loki in the face, but the other man doesn't even flinch. Punches are thrown and eventually Loki manages to knock Steve down.

Putting his scepter to the back of Steve's head Loki grows out, "Kneel."

"Not today!" pushing the scepter away Steve jumps up and knocks the other man back.

Up in the quinjet Natasha watches them fight with concern. "The guy's all over the place." There's no way she can shoot him, not with Steve in the way. Looking down at the console she notices the loudspeakers being taken over and smiles when AC/DC begins playing.

"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?" both Steve and Loki look up at the sky as Tony flies over and blasts Loki right back to the ground. Landing he quickly pulls out every single weapon he can and aims it at the god. "Make your move Reindeer Games." In the helmet Tony is smiling as Loki puts his hands up in surrender as his armour melts away. "Good move."

Steve is cursing to himself as he gets up off the ground and searches for his shield. He's out of shape and is not mentally ready to be fighting right now. He's too focused on finding Harry to really connect with anything or anyone, but he has got to try. "Mr. Stark." For the mission.

"Captain."

The plane ride back is full of tension. Beside him Tony Stark is looking out the window. "I don't like it." Something wasn't right. His magic was going haywire over this. It was taking everything Steve had to keep his magic in control. One false move and they were all in the water.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Hell, the only people to be able to knock him over like that was Red Skull, who had the serum, and Harry, who used magic to help his body.

"Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

Oh great. Tony was just like his father, always needing to one up everyone else and rub his knowledge in your face. "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

The sky was lit up with lightening, enough to shake the ship. Steve could tell that this was not normal lightening, no…this was magical in origin. He had no idea who it was, but most likely it was another Asgardian as the magic didn't feel familiar at all. Next to him Tony put his helmet back on and made his way to the bay doors.

Opening the doors Tony was surprised by another man landing there. When he goes to talk to him the man throws a hammer at Tony knocking him to the ground. Reaching into the jet the man grabbed Loki and took off with him.

"Think the guy's a friendly?" Steve was fairly sure that was Thor.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

"Stark! We need a plan of attack!"

"I have a plan. Attack."

Sighing Steve grabs a parachute to follow them. What he wouldn't give for a broom right about now.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha calls from her seat as she fights to keep the jet level.

"I don't see how I can."

"These guys come from legends, they're basically gods.

No shit! Thank you I already happen to know all about the Asgardians and their magic, only I'm stuck playing the naïve kid from the forties. Which means… "There's only one God ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Grabbing his shield Steve jumped out of the plane. As he fell Steve watched the fight between Thor and Tony with a smile. That looks like fun. I would love to go a round with Thor. My magic against his would be great. Landing he argued with the parachute until he got the thing off his back and ran over to the fight. Jumping up on a fallen tree he sent his shield flying, making sure it hit both men. "That's enough!" jumping down he looked over at Thor. "I don't know what you plan on doing here."

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes."

"Then prove it! Put the hammer down." Steve really didn't want to fight the god, especially without his magic, but he would.

"Um, yeah, no! bad call! He loves his hammer!" Tony shot off, not quite able to keep his mouth shut, even in the middle of battle.

Thor backhands Tony with the hammer then raises it high into the air. "You want me to put the hammer down!"

Jumping up Thor raises his hammer into the air with every intention of squashing this new annoyance. Steve just crouches down and raises his shield. He knew exactly what Thor was going to do and he knew that the shield would hold up to the attack. When the hammer connects it sends a shockwave through the forest, knocking down any trees that had been left standing by the previous battle.

Steve can't help the internal smirk as he sees the look of shock and awe on the other men's faces. "Are we done here?" shit that was fun!

Back on the Helicarrier Steve was quick to put the shield away, he couldn't wait to take off a portion of this uniform. While it was an alright design this new uniform had nothing on his old one. Rolling his shoulders Steve made his way to the bridge. On the table there are videos showing Fury interrogating Loki and Steve decides to get comfortable in a chair.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner said.

Steve ignored the doctor, turning his attention to Thor. "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

You've got to be kidding me. "An army? From outer space?" Okay that's new.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Banner looked concerned for the other scientist.

Steve didn't really bother to listen to Thor and Bruce talk about the scientist, though Natasha talking about Loki having someone under his spell did catch his attention. "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

Of course, don't listen to me just because I was frozen for seventy years. It's not like I know what I'm talking about when it comes to fighting a war or anything. Clenching his fists Steve fought for control over his temper. These were supposed to be his new teammates, he shouldn't be bad mouthing them off the bat. He was so lost in though he never noticed Tony entering with Coulson until Tony began yelling about a man playing Galaga. Once again Tony was showing off his knowledge.

"The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

No Tony, you're just the only one to be able to understand them. "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Behind him Banner added to his confusion.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Walking forward Tony had a smile on his face. He finally found someone who could keep up and understand him.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English?" Tony held out his hand for the doctor to shake.

"Is that what just happened?" Tony reminded him of Harry, Monty, and Peggy when they would purposely use British terms just to mess with the team.

"It's good to meet you Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks."

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury put his two cents into the conversation.

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it tor turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury added, purposefully using a reference Steve would understand.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor looked around at the others confused.

"I do! I understood that reference." Steve smiled as he watched Tony roll his eyes. Cleary his act was believable. Getting up he left the bridge and went exploring hoping to find the where the Tony and Bruce went. After a short search he found the lab they were working in and found Tony poking Bruce, trying to antagonize the other man into transforming. "Hey!" he called out. What was Tony thinking.

Tony looked closely at Bruce almost smiling. "Nothing?"

"Are you nuts?" Steve was right. Tony was just like Howard, needing to poke at everything to understand it without worrying about the consequences.

"Jury's out. You really have got a lid on it haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve demanded.

"Funny things are." Tony just pointed the screwdriver at Steve.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor." He had seen the video and knew that once he transformed into the Hulk the doctor lost control. It was not something they needed to worry about while on a flying ship.

"No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut." Tony shook the screwdriver at Banner as he wandered over to pick up a bag of blueberries.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Stick to being formal. Steve thought. Formalities always irritated Howard.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Of course, he's hiding something. I can't wait to stop this act. I think Tony and I could be good friends, but all I seem to be doing is annoying him.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?" Tony pointed at Bruce.

"Uh…I just wanna finish my work here and…" Bruce fidgeted not comfortable with being the center of attention.

"Doctor?" Steve insisted.

"A warm light for all mankind, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube." Bruce fiddled with his glasses, not quite comfortable being stuck between Steve and Tony.

"I heard it."

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Bruce pointed at Tony then accepted the other man's silent offer of blueberries. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it's been posted all over the news."

"The Stark tower? That big ugly…building in New York?" Steve couldn't help the jab that came out of his mouth if he wanted to. It was something he had done with Bucky and Jared, it felt natural to do the same with Tony.

"It's powered by an Arc Reactor., self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?" Bruce continued, ignoring Steve.

"That's just the prototype." Tony tossed more blueberries into his mouth. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"So, why didn't Shield bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of Shield's secure files." Tony pulled out a small piece of glass, that was clearly a miniature computer or phone, Steve wasn't sure, and looked over the data showing on the screen.

Steve was shocked. Tony had a computer that could do that. "I'm sorry, did you say…"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret Shield has ever tried to hide." Tony held out his bag towards Steve. "Blueberry?"

"Yet, you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't say focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them." I know Loki is planning something, probably an attack on this ship. It would be nice if someone on this Merlin damned boat would listen to me. I do know what I'm talking about, I'm not just following orders.

"Following is not really my style." Tony threw a handful of blueberries into his mouth.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is A. wearing a spangly outfit and B. not of use?"

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Bruce tried to keep the peace.

"Just find the cube." Everything about this Merlin be damned mission smells funky. Steve left the lab, but not before hearing Tony make a comment about Howard going on about him. Great. So, Howard never really got over that. Turning he went in search of answers. Using a tiny bit of his magic to lead him it wasn't long before he found a secure locker. Bit by bit he got closer until his magic directed him to a specific crate. Forcing it open Steve sighed. This was clearly a Hydra weapon that had been altered. Great, now Shield is trying to harness magic. Cause that won't blow up in their faces.

Grabbing the gun, he made his way back up to the lab. He was hoping that Tony was able to understand that he didn't mean any of the jabs, it was just his way of trying to get used to this new century. It, certainty didn't help that Tony was throwing pop-culture references in every sentence at him, knowing that he wouldn't understand them.

Opening the lab door Steve found Fury arguing with Tony and Bruce. "What is Phase two?" he heard Tony ask.

Steve dropped the rifle on the table making the others jump. "Phase two is Shield uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're…" Fury tried to stop the situation from escalating too far.

"I'm sorry Nick." Tony interrupts him and turns the computer screen around. "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit."

Natasha entered the lab followed by Thor. Clearly, she had been told something disturbing and based on how she kept her eyes on Banner it had something to do with him.

"Did you know about this?" Banner asked her. He trusted her and now she's helping Fury pull this shit.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment doctor?" Natasha asked banner hoping that he would calmly leave the lab and the presence of the scepter.

"I was in Calcutta; I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you." She told him, irritated at the men not listening.

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. Id like to know why shield is using the Tesseract to make weapons of mass destruction." Banner pointed at the computer with his glasses.

Nick pointed at Thor. "It's because of him."

"Me?"

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor was quick to assure the furious man.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Like you control the cube?" Steve thought it was a good thing that Fury and Shield had no idea about the magical world. If this was how they reacted to people from other planets with magical power, what would they do to the people on earth with that same power.

"You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve was even more worried now, that didn't sound good. This is going to get very bad, very soon. None of us have slept in nearly twenty-four hours and emotions are running high. Even I'm getting tired and that is not a good thing.

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Nick argued.

"Nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony threw in his two cents.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

Things would have escalated very quickly if an agent hadn't interrupted them. "I'm sorry Director. Agent Coulson wanted me to give this to Captain Rogers as soon as possible." The man held out a box to Steve. Once Steve had the box the agent was quick to make his escape.

Putting the box on the closest table Steve focused on its contents. Distantly he could make out the others still arguing. Pulling out his old boots and pants Steve threw them to the ground; he didn't need those. He just needed the jacket. Finding the jacket and feeling the magic hiding the pocket he could have cried out in happiness. Holding the inside of his jacket he began casting the counter. "Finite Incantatem," he whispered again and again until the pocket came into view.

Beside him Tony was watching with no small amount of curiosity. In the back of his mind he noticed a tingly sensation coming from the bracelet Harry had given him, but as this was hardly the first time it had happened, Tony decided to ignore it and focus on what Rogers was doing.

On the other side of the lab the blue glow around the scepter slowly began disappearing along with the magical pressure pressing on everyone in the lab. Each person in the lab could feel their anger slowly disappear, replaced by curiosity and concern for the Captain.

Pulling the three items out of the pocket Steve closed his eyes and held them to his chest. "Thank Merlin." Across the room Tony shared a look with Natasha. Both had heard Harry, Draco, Sev and Luc say that same expression a few times, usually when they thought they were alone.

Taking the necklace Steve put it around his neck and tucked it into his uniform. He had broken his promise to Harry once by leaving it off he wasn't going to do it again. The next item was a picture of Harry. He was certain that Harry didn't even know Steve had this picture and he was sure his fiancé would kill him if anyone ever found out about it. Steve had taken advantage of magic and made a picture from his memory of when Harry had worn the black lace lingerie for his birthday. Rubbing the photo with his thumb he quickly hid it away in his suit.

The last item made his knees buckle and tears spring to his eyes. Sliding down to the floor Steve hid his face in his knees as he let out a chocked sob. FUCK! Pulling his head up Steve rested his elbows on his knees and pressed his fist holding the item against his forehead.

Tony watched, shocked to the core as Captain America collapsed and started crying. Slowly walking over, he crouched down beside the other man. "Cap? Steve? You alright?" he wanted to reach out and touch the other man's shoulder but held back. He knew from personal experience that being touched while like this was not always the best idea.

Leaning his head back Steve looked at Tony, then at the others around the room. "I will be. I just…" he opened his hand showing them the ring that sat there. "We were supposed to get married the next morning. I had to say good-bye over the radio just before crashing the plane." Taking the ring Steve pulled off his left glove and slipped the ring on his finger.

"I'm sure Carter understood Rogers. She did end up marrying only a few years later." Fury flippantly threw out a token of pity. He didn't need the leader of his team sitting on the ground crying.

The rest of the team sent the director a heated glare. How dare he say something like that to Steve. While they hadn't been together long, they all could see how difficult being in this time was and how hard Steve was trying. Never mind what a sweet guy he could be.

Steve couldn't help but laugh, clearly their little ruse had gone so well people were still believing it seventy years in the future. "I should hope so. After all Peggy and I were never together. No, it was never legal for us to get married so instead we made plans to say vows to one another outside a church early in the morning before anyone was around. Neither of us wanted to be shot." Giving the ring one last glance Steve pulled his glove back on and stood.

"Wait. How was it illegal for you to get married?" Bruce asked looking horribly confused, but no longer angry.

Tony stared at Rogers then it hit him. "Holy shit! You're gay!"

Steve let out another laugh. Thankfully, he had a session with the 'necessary' Shield phycologist a few weeks ago to explain the revolution in sexual relations and the appropriate terms to be used. To be honest he came damn close to walking out or hitting the condescending prick multiple times. For someone who was supposed to be without bias he sure had plenty against Steve. "Yes I am. Always had been. Peggy was just a cover. I was never interested in her and she knew it."

Further discussion was prevented by the computer beeping at them. Clearly, they had found the Tesseract. Bruce walked over to check the screen and paled. "Oh my God." A second later the Helicarrier his hit with an explosion.

The explosion shocked Steve, knocking him to the ground, next to him Tony was in the same spot. Getting up he made sure Tony was alright. "Put on the suit."

"Yep." Tony pushed himself up and ran for the storage bay where his suit was kept. Steve right on his heels.

Over the communicators Shield had given them they can hear people talking. "Number three engine is down! Can we get a run in? Talk to me." A female voice comes in loud and clear; Steve thought it was Agent Hill.

Another voice comes over the coms. "Turbine's loose. Mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there and make repairs while we're in the air."

"We lose one more engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get inside and patch that engine."

"Stark! Do you copy that?" Fury calls out.

"I'm on it." Tony turns to Steve and points down another hall. "Find engine three. I'll meet you there." Pulling a remote from his pocket Tony pushes a button and activates his suit.

Nodding Steve takes off running in the direction of the engine. He had to force a door open, letting the men working outside into the relative safety of the ship. Looking out he sees the engine is completely dead. "Stark! Stark! I'm here."

"Good." Steve sees Iron Man fly over to the engine. "Let's see what we got." Tony begins talking to himself and while Steve can hear him, he mostly tunes it out until Iron Man points at a spot on the ship near him. "I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position."

Nodding Steve jumps and swings over to the control panel and pulls it out. What in Merlin's name is all this?

"What's it look like in there?" Tony asks needing an answer.

"It seems to run on some form of electricity."

"Well, you're not wrong." While checking the engine over for what needs to be removed or fixed Tony gives Steve a quick run down of what to look for. "It's bad, but still fixable."

Closing the panel Steve looks over to were Iron Man is hovering. "Okay! The relays are intact. What's our next move?"

"Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push."

Okay. Now Steve was worried. "Well if that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded!"

"That stator control unit can reverse polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that could…"

"Speak English!"

"See that red lever? It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it, wait for my word."

Great. Now I gotta get back over there. Jumping across Steve stares at the lever not quite believing that something so innocent is what's going to save Tony. Of course, it's never that easy and he's soon ambushed by men trying to keep the engine down. Taking one of their guns Steve shoots back going so far as to jump and slap a grenade away from Tony. Then he slips Steve's brain freezes as he is knocked off the ship only staying on by grabbing onto a dangling cord.

And with the way the world works that when Tony calls out. "Cap, hit the lever!"

"I need a minute here!" Merlin help me! I need to get back up there before that engine rips Tony to shreds.

"Lever! Now!" Tony fells the rotor he was pushing float away from his fingers and his slams into the one behind him. "Uh-oh."

Pulling himself back onto the ship Steve reaches up and pulls the lever with a groan. Because, of course he has people shooting at him while he's trying to do this. Thankfully, Iron Man crashes into the last man shooting at him. Pausing for a moment Steve tries to catch his breath. It feels like ages since he's fought.

"Agent Coulson is down." Fury's voice came over their earpieces.

A second voice was quick to respond. "A medical team is on it's way to your location."

"They're here. They called it."

There. Be Happy.

I love snarky/sarcastic Steve's thoughts and can't wait for him to finally be able to say those comments out loud. There probally won't be another chapter till July, mainly because I'm going out of town next weekend and I'm not bringing my computer with me. But contiune to leave your wonderful comments, they really help keep me writing. :)