"Harry," Natasha sighed when Harry arrived back home, she was sat on the sofa with Padfoot resting his head on her lap while Sif was stroking the loveable dog's back since she was sat next to the pair. "did you by any chance do something that you really shouldn't have done?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I have done a lot of things that I really should not have done ever since I was born." Harry replied with a small shrug. "For example my death count is in triple digits, probably more. Or how about the fact that I always used my Uncle Vernon's toothbrush whenever he demanded I clean the toilets? He never noticed."
"Woof!" Padfoot barked. "Woof! Woof, woof. Woof!"
"Yeah, most likely more." Harry agreed with a short nod.
"I was referring to recently." Natasha said.
"I think I may have left the toilet seat up once." Harry guessed.
"You did do that but that is not what I am referring to." Natasha said, resisting the urge to glare at him for being such a smartass. "What else did you do? Something 'slightly' more serious.
"Alright, alright, I'll confess. Though I have absolutely no idea how you found out." Harry sighed before he walked over and kneeled down in front of them. "Padfoot," Harry spoke, causing the dog to look up towards him. "I am terribly sorry but… b… but on the way back here… I… I did something horrible."
"Woof?" Padfoot barked questioningly as he adorably tilted his head to the side.
"I… um… I donated to a charity that helps cats." Harry quickly blurted out.
"Woof?!" Padfoot dramatically barked in surprise.
"I know, I know!" Harry quickly replied. "But it wasn't my fault! They had all these pictures of cats and all these nice old women started swarming me and telling me horrible stories and I just broke." Harry admitted, Padfoot gave him a look that was full of pity.
"Woof."
"You forgive me, boy?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Woof." Padfoot nodded.
"Aw, that was adorable." Sif cooed.
"That it was," Natasha agreed as she rolled her eyes. "but it was also not what I was talking about." Natasha said to Harry, this time not even bothering to hold back her glare.
"What is it then?" Harry asked innocently.
"How about the fact that 'somebody' had leaked the accords to the news stations?" Natasha said, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?!" Harry gave her a gasp full of fake horror. "Someone did that?"
"Yes," Natasha continued. "that same 'someone' had also made sure to emphasise all of the human right violations while also giving out plenty of information about Secretary Ross that wasn't supposed to be revealed to the public."
"What? Like his porn history?" Harry asked in mock-confusion.
"I believe she's referring to how many resources the man has wasted chasing the Hulk all over the globe along with the fact that he had played a large part in creating the Hulk." Sif responded.
"Huh, imagine that." Harry blinked, acting as if he had just been told one of the great secrets of the universe.
"Did you at least make sure you didn't get caught?" Natasha asked with a sigh. "Or that you didn't do anything that could be traced back to you?" She added.
"Of course I did." Harry said with an amused snort as if the very idea of him not doing that was one of the most ridiculous things he had ever heard. "Don't worry," Harry said as he sat next to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I was careful."
"You had better have been, I don't think I'm ready to be a single mother." Natasha replied.
"Um… hello." Sif called in a slightly offended voice.
"You know what I mean." Natasha responded after giving Sif an apologetic look.
"It's fine," Sif waved her off before she paused as a thought came into her head. "hold on, what's my relationship to the baby?" She asked. "Am I 'Mother number two'? Or am I like an aunty?" She said questioningly.
"Well, this'll be horrible." Harry sighed as he, Jennifer and Gwen were stood together in the Vienna congress room, today the three of them were together in the Vienna congress room, the room where they would be discussing ratifying the accords.
"Just remember to keep your displeasure non-physical and we'll be fine." Jennifer replied.
"You clearly have no idea how bad his verbal assaults are." Gwen said with an amused smile.
"No, I don't, which is why I was about to add 'non-verbal' as well just in case." Jennifer responded.
"Hey, I will behave, if for no other reason than to get this over with as quick as possible." Harry said with a small shrug before he let out a sigh. "I hate politics." He frowned.
"A funny thing to say, considering where you are." An accented voice said. The trio turned around as a handsome, black skinned man in a dark blue suit walked towards them with a small smile on his face. "You could offend some people here." He said in an amused voice as he stopped in front of them.
"If people get offended over a personal opinion of mine then that's not my fault and I'm not going to be apologetic because of it." Harry shrugged.
"Prince T'Challa." Gwen nodded in greeting along with Jennifer, the trio easily recognised him as the Prince of Wakanda, a small isolationist landlocked country located in Africa, surrounded by mountain ranges and a thick forest. They very rarely tried to do anything that would gain them attention, so naturally they were given a lot of attention the very few times the countries representatives or royal family members were out and about.
"Miss Stacey." He nodded back, "I do not know your name." He added apologetically to Jennifer.
"I would be very surprised if you did," Jennifer said with a small smile. "my names is Jennifer Walters, I am a representative of the Avengers." She said in a polite voice.
"Ah," Prince T'Challa nodded in understanding before he turned to Harry. "and I of course know who you are." He said to Harry. "You don't look too happy about being here." He noted.
"I'm not." Harry said, glancing out of the corner of his eyes at a camera that was being set up.
"Ah, I suppose neither of us are used to the spotlight." Prince T'Challa replied.
"I've been in the spotlight my whole life," Harry shrugged as he began looking around, taking in as many details as he could. "I've always tried to escape it, it has admittedly taken me a while to realise that I was fighting a losing battle. Now… well now I'm just trying to get used to it." Harry said as he turned his attention back to Prince T'Challa.
"Hmm," The Wakandan prince hummed. "for whatever it is worth, I think you are doing fine. Even though I can tell that you don't exactly look comfortable being here." Prince T'Challa said as he stared at Harry, Harry did look uncomfortable in T'Challa's eye, but not for reasons that one might initially assume. In Prince T'Challa's eyes Harry's discomfort was not simply of one who was dressed in a suit he didn't want to wear, it felt more like having a dragon forced into a suit before being placed in a room full of prey that it wasn't allowed to eat.
"I'm not." Harry admitted honestly. "I'd much rather be at home with my girlfriend."
"It's not really my cup of tea either." Gwen added, she wasn't as uncomfortable as Harry but she also had other places she'd rather be and other things she would rather do, a great example was how she really wanted to be at home in her comfy chair and watching TV.
"That alone makes me glad that you are both here." Prince T'Challa admitted.
"You don't approve of all this?" Gwen asked as she gestured around.
"The accords: yes. The politics: no." Prince T'Challa replied.
"In that case you'll find that you and I are in agreement." Harry said, causing the Wakandan prince to give him a surprised look.
"Really?" Prince T'Challa asked, not totally able to keep the surprise and disbelief out of his voice.
"Let me guess, everyone thinks that I am opposed to it because I don't want rules and restrictions, does that sum it up accurately?" Harry asked while raising an eyebrow, taking great care to make sure he didn't seem like he was angry with Prince T'Challa, he wasn't but he also wanted to make sure that he didn't accidently give the man that impression.
"Pretty much." Another accented voice said as another black skinned man stepped next to the prince, the man had a bit of a belly on him and looked noticeably older than the prince, given the white hair and beard he was supporting, not that Harry had any room to comment on white hair. The man had on a pair of glasses and a friendly smile.
"Baba." Prince T'Challa said, smiling at his father who smiled back at him.
"King T'Chaka." Harry said, greeting the man with a nod along with Gwen and Jennifer. "If what you say is true then I am afraid that everyone is mistaken. Much like your son, I support the idea of the accords, not the politics of it."
"And how do you think the politics factor into this?" King T'Chaka asked in a curious voice as he gave Harry his full attention.
"If I may be honest for a moment, I've been alive for a long time even though I may not look it, I can honestly say that it is possible that my age is higher than your age combined with your son's age. I have seen a lot. I've seen governments ruin their countries, cost their people so much and all because of pure idiocy or for money and power. If a trustworthy man or woman came to the Avengers with a list of reasonable rules that seemed to genuinely be for the betterment of everyone then I would double and triple check it and then honestly consider it." Harry said, he paused to make sure he still had the attention of both King T'Chaka and Prince T'Challa, he did so he continued speaking. "However I've read through the accords, some of them are blatant human right violations, basic things such as the right to a trial, a right that we all should have. And that's not to mention the fact that the accords were presented to us by Ross."
"He's referring to Secretary Ross," Gwen helpfully added. "the man was formerly a general in the army. He was partly responsible for the experiment that has created the Hulk, and has since then spent a very excessive amount of time, money, equipment and army resources on trying to capture Mr Banner, we believe it was either so he could unfairly keep him locked away for the rest of his natural life or so he could build himself an army of Hulks."
"The second one." Harry said confidently before turning his attention back to the Wakandan royal family members. "He turned my friend into a criminal, chased him all over the globe, forcing him to live in poor conditions, and only stopped when Mr Banner had become an Avenger and an asset that was to be protected, he stopped when Banner had become off limits."
"I see." King T'Chaka frowned. "And are those your only reasons?" He asked, sensing that there was possibly more to it.
"No," Harry sighed as he shook his head slightly. "In the future there will eventually be a day where I will have a child. And one of my greatest fears is my future son or daughter is forced to suffer because of these accords, these accords that will take away his or her rights. I am a soldier, I fought for peace and freedom, helped out as many people as I could. I'm not going to sit back and do nothing and just let this go through when it could ruin the lives of my family. I've seen governments fall because of greed and corruption, I'm not letting history repeat itself." Harry finished in a firm voice.
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