Harry, Natasha and Sif arrived at Avengers Headquarters in Harry's new car, it was an Audi, Tony liked them and suggested they buy one. And Harry did buy one since it made it so that Sif could also ride with them, Harry also didn't think it was a good idea to take a pregnant Natasha everywhere on his motorbike and he didn't want to risk teleporting, apparating or portkeying Natasha anywhere while she was pregnant. Harry knew that if he did then there's a ninety percent chance that nothing bad would happen to her or the baby when she's this early in her pregnancy, but that ten percent risk was more than enough to stop Harry from wanting to risk it.
Once they exited the car the trio walked inside.
"You guys go on ahead, I'm going to find Banner and meet up with you." Harry said to the others before he set off to find Banner, Steve had texted Harry a few minutes earlier to let Harry know that Banner was cooling off in his room. "Hey Bruce." Harry said when he caught Bruce just as he came out of his room. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." Bruce sighed. "I just had to take a lot - and I mean a lot - of deep breaths. I'm fine now."
"If you're sure," Harry nodded before he gestured Bruce to follow him, the two began walking together. "and if you feel like you need help then let me know and I'll hit you with a cheering charm."
"Thanks, Harry." Bruce said in a grateful voice.
"You're welcome." Harry said just before they arrived at the assembly room where everyone was meeting.
They were all sat around a table, apart from Tony who Harry noticed was brooding in a corner for some reason. Harry wondered what was wrong for him but decided that there were was probably a better time to ask. Cap, Pietro, Natasha, Sif and Rhodes sat on the right side. While Bucky, Sam, Gwen, Vision and Wanda sat on the left side.
Harry also noticed Ross standing in front of them, behind him was a screen, and there was another man standing on the side, clearly working for Ross.
"Ah, Grim and Banner." Ross said when the two entered. "how are you two?" Ross asked in a polite voice. "I…"
"Fuck off," Harry cut him off. "say what you want to say then get the fuck out."
"Harry!" Rhodey hissed. "Show some respect."
"Suck a cock." Harry said as Bruce sat down next to Steve.
"Fine, I'll get on with it." Ross said, resisting the urge to glare at Harry.
"You'd fucking better." Harry said quietly, just loud enough to be heard by everyone.
"Five years ago I had a heart attack, and dropped right in the middle of my backswing…" Ross said as he mimed playing golf for a second before standing up straight "… turned out it was the best round of my life because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something that 40 years in the army never taught me. Perspective."
"Shame you couldn't have learnt that earlier." Bruce said as he glared at Ross.
"The world owes the Avengers an un-payable debt," Ross continued, pretending not to have heard Banner. "you have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. While a great many people see you as heroes… there are some… who would prefer the word vigilante's."
"And what word would you use Mr Secretary?" Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow.
"How about dangerous?" Ross asked as he looked around the room. "What would you call a group of U.S based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they chose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behinds?"
"I'm sorry but are you saying that 'WE' seem unconcerned?!" Harry demanded. "Everything we've done is to try and help people!"
"Oh yeah?" Ross asked as he stepped to the side, a glass screen lit up and showed a map of the world, it zoomed in on New York. "New York." Ross said
The screen began showing footage of the battle of the New York, it started with showing Grim and Iron Man flying around and blasting Chitauri chariots and soldiers. It then changed to a footage of Thor throwing a Chitauri soldier into a building before changing into the footage of Hulk jumping on rooftop, then he jumped onto the side of a building. This had the effect of bits of the building falling down and nearly crushing some civilians that were trying to run away from the fighting. The Avengers looked uncomfortable and stayed quiet, all except one.
Harry discreetly sent a low powered calming charm to Bruce just in case the Hulk decided he was going to come up to say while Harry talked.
"Yeah, you know what, you're right Ross." Harry said as he glared at him. "An entire army of aliens from another planet invades this world, intent on enslaving and killing us, a whole army, but yeah go ahead and blame us when we were the ones who reduced the amount of damage there could have been by taking out the army - did I mention that there was an army? - that was trying to kill everyone. We held them off long enough to figure out a way to stop them and then we stopped them. It wasn't us who sent the army there, nor was it us who tried to nuke the place, something which did not guarantee stopping the army. So the way I see it, we saved the world from aliens AND saved the city from the idiots in charge. And if that wasn't enough then why don't you go through that footage and see if you can spot which Avengers were going around fixing and helping as many people as possible after the battle."
"Harry's right," Steve agreed. "the damage and lives lost are terrible but without us there would have been a lot more damage and a lot more lives lost."
"I suppose you could make that argument, but what about Greenwich London?" Ross said. The footage now changed to footage of Harry and Thor battling the dark elves in London and people running away in fear.
"Once again, an alien invasion. Thor and I, along with Sif over here, were there to minimise the damage and seeing as we managed to mostly contain it to just the one university while also making sure no lives were lost, I'd say we did good. Besides, I repaired the damage after, so you're argument is about as strong as your brain."
"You got a problem with me, son?" Ross asked, this time openly glaring at Harry.
"First of all, don't call me 'son' or 'boy'. I've served as a soldier since I was in my teens and I'm more than a hundred years old." Harry replied. "And yeah, I've got several problems with you. I'd be more than happy to give you a list if you've finished."
"Not quite. I'm sure you all remember Sokovia." Ross said before he gestured to the screen. The screen now showed people running in fear before cutting to an image of Sokovia flying in the air and building crumbling. "A whole city, goes up and up and up until it's gone. Can you explain that?" He said in a challenging voice.
"Yeah, actually." Harry easily replied. "Someone created a device that raised the city, eventually the device would have turned off when it was high enough to cause maximum impact, as in 'kill everyone on the planet' impact. If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't be here to complain. And I don't see why you out of all people are here to complain about the Avengers, that's the very definition of hypocritical."
"Is that supposed to mean something?" Ross asked as he narrowed his eyes.
"Don't try and intimidate me," Harry snorted with amusement. "I've fought demons and monsters the likes of which you wouldn't believe, I've seen things you can never un-see, you don't even rank in the top twenty people who have tried to intimidate me. Now, as for the question you asked, I'd like to respond with another question. Between you, me and all of the people in this room, who has tried and repeatedly failed to recreate super soldiers? After Bruce turned into the Hulk you decided you needed more Hulks and tried to catch him, you treated him like a criminal with no human rights."
"That does not…"
.....
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