Sorry it's been so long... immediately after I said this story was taking priority, I spent a month completely rewriting one of my original stories and then rewriting most of another one. Plus I was super indecisive about what should happen in this chapter.

The voices in James's head are at war. They have not battled this much since the Asset first went AWOL with Harry, abandoning the mission to deliver him to HYDRA.

THE MISSION IS TO PROTECT HARRY, the oldest voice repeats for the forty-seventh time in the past hour. SEARCHING FOR STEVE IS AGAINST PARAMETERS.

The Bucky voice has been fixated on finding Steve with an intensity that rivals the Asset's. Once Stark brought up the possibility of Steve being alive, Bucky had taken it as a mission to find him. But Steve-

The first voice cuts off Bucky's protest, restating the mission. Bucky's voice had been the force that turned the mission to protecting Harry in the first place, but now Bucky is arguing for leaving him.

The voices clash louder until they are almost shouting in James's mind.

Harry tosses in his sleep next to James, and for a moment James wonders if the voices had woken him, before reminding himself that Harry cannot hear them.

Moody is dozing in an armchair, one eye shut while the prosthetic eye continues to roll around in its socket. James is unsure of how much Moody processes while asleep, if the wizard could be caught by a surprise attack.

MOODY IS AN ALLY.

He is more than an ally. He is better suited to protecting Harry than James is.

He'll watch Harry while we find Steve and then- Bucky starts to say.

ABANDONING HARRY IS MISSION NONCOMPLIANT.

James wonders what happened to 'til the end of the line. Bucky had said it to Steve, but James had said it to Harry as well.

How safe is he around you, really? Bucky asks.

James frowns. He's relived visceral memories involving children, not just smothering the Dursley boy.

He pictures a target clutching a child younger than Harry, too young to have learned to walk or talk. The Soldier had faltered, and been punished later, but in the end had carried out the mission. The target had been sniped. He cannot recall what happened to the infant, and is not sure he wants to.

Part of him wishes he could forget the image of his hands smothering the Dursley boy, or wrapping around Maria Stark's throat, but he deserves to remember.

At 0058, Harry awakes with a soft gasp that does not wake Moody. The boy is trembling, gripping James's cape and a small, choked voice whispers "Daddy?"

"I'm here." James answers quietly. Harry lets out a soft sigh, as if he'd feared James would be gone, and wordlessly crawls into James's lap, still clutching the cape like a blanket.

Harry's trembling and rapid heartbeat slowly settle in the 4.7 minutes James holds him.

"Was it the green light?" James asks. He likely cannot protect Harry from a Killing Curse. Even if Harry survived once, he may not a second time.

"Can we have hot cocoa?" Harry asks, less tentatively than he'd been when James first found him.

James should follow Jarvis's caution about sugar interfering with sleep, but instead leads his son to the kitchen. A smile spreads on Harry's face as James takes out two mugs.

Harry dumps twice the recommended portion of cocoa into James's mug, saying decisively "You need lots, 'cos you look sad."

'Sad' doesn't really cover it, Bucky says.

James should be focusing on his son as they sip hot chocolate, but he isn't. It takes him 4.3 seconds to process that Harry has said something to him.

"Are you goin' ta look for your friend?" Harry asks with a frown. "The Cap-tin?"

James hesitates, trying to ignore Bucky. "He would be a better father than I am."

"No! He's dumb!"

Can't argue there, drawls Bucky, before James hears a conversation from a memory of when Bucky's voice had come from his own mouth.

'Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone.'

'How can I?' Steve- small, skinny Steve- shoots back. 'You're taking the stupid with you.'

That from the man who agreed to be pumped full of experimental serum and charged recklessly into fights without any sort of plan.

"I don't want a cap-tin dad." Harry glowers in a way that looks like he's mimicking James's own expressions.

"He is a hero," James replies. "like Superman."

The punk ain't that much of a goody-two-shoes, Bucky says, despite his eagerness to find Steve.

Harry appears entirely unconvinced. "He didn't save me from da Dursleys."

James thinks of the near captures and successful capture. It is too risky. "I cannot always fight the bad guys."

Harry takes 2.3 seconds to think that over. "The Cap-tin's freezed now." Had he misunderstood the dinner conversation, is he imagining Steve frozen in the way the enemy asset had immobilized James?

"You fight bad guys better." Harry concludes with childish simplicity. "I like Batman more'n Superman. Lots, lots more."

"I am not like Batman." James's jaw is tight over his failure, at not being able to perform optimally to meet the designations his son has given him. Batman or Father.

The mug shatters in his clenched fist, and brown liquid seeps over the table. James stops Harry from attempting to clean it up, and cleans his own mess.

How can he be a father when he's murdered children?

"There is always a path for redemption."

At first, James thinks the voice is Jarvis. It is calm and nonjudgmental, with a trace of a British accent, but he realizes the voice is inside his head.

Bucky demands Who the hell are you?

'Professor X,' the voice replies. The professor's voice, James realizes, is a foreign entity, unlike the other voices filling his mind.

LEAVE

If the professor is inside his mind, he can find the triggers, he can-

'I would not need those to control you,' the Professor tells him, though James does not detect a threat in the statement.

YOU ARE NOT A HANDLER.

'I am not.' the man agrees.

He is an enemy, likely a wizard, sifting through memories like the enemy asset.

'Close,' Professor X replies. 'I am a mutant.'

James feels his body go slack. He cannot fight this. The man can do anything to him. Turn him into the Soldier, make him assassinate Harry, then forget everything. Make him kill Steve upon finding him.

YOU ARE NOT A HANDLER, comes a little less sure now. If the man can enter his mind, he could easily become one.

'I will do none of that,' Professor X radiates calm, and James feels his muscles relax not in defeat, but in a calm he cannot recall ever feeling before.

'You've been stripped away, made to do terrible things.' Professor X seems to radiate sympathy in James's mind. If he can see in, he must know what James has done.

'I know a man quite like you, James.'

Bucky snorts in disbelief. Good luck findin' another Second World War vet turned assassin. Better check the line of them goin' round the block.

'His name is Logan.' Professor X ignores Bucky's smart retort. 'I won't go into too many personal details, but he-"

Bucky interrupts again. Funny you should be concerned with violating people's privacy when you're invading minds.

'Logan is a teacher, James.' Professor X continues. 'He is as powerful as you are, with quite the temper, and we still trust him around our students. Some of them are quite fond of him, as young Harry is of you."

James feels his jaw clench. If the professor's been poking through Harry's mind...

'I don't have to be a telepath to see how fond Harry is of you.'

You mentioned students. James thinks suspiciously. One of the moving paintings in the castle had mentioned students and Moody had told Harry about a school earlier that evening.

'I run a school for gifted individuals.' Professor X says. 'Most are mutants, but there are many similarities to mutant powers and magic. If you do not want your son to attend the school that kidnapped you, we could open up a spot for him here.'

James hasn't even thought of of school, but knows it is required for children. Harry isn't quite old enough to begin his education, but it's surely something a father would have thought of.

'You're spiraling, James.' Professor X says. 'Under your circumstances, it is perfectly understandable that you have not thought of school when fighting to attain the more basic need of safety.'

Settling down for Harry to attend a school would only make them more likely to be found by HYDRA or Dumbledore and the enemy asset.

'I did not reach out merely to talk about Harry's schooling.' Professor X says. 'I may be able to help you recover what you've lost.'

James almost wants to smack his forehead when Bucky immediately asks Do you know where Steve is?

For all James knows, this guy could be HYDRA- they have the most experience with playing around in his mind. If this professor can truly read his thoughts, he can't hide anything anyway.

The professor is silent for 15.6 seconds. 'I believe he is in some form of suspended animation.'

Where? Bucky tries to silence the voice. Stark and Moody already had a plan for finding Steve, even if it involves owls.

'I was not referring to finding Steve Rogers.' Professor X says. 'I may be able to help you recover memories, and possibly help with-"

No. The memories are already returning too fast and too strong. Even if this man could smooth them over, make them less debilitating, if he could nullify the trigger words, James would be better able to protect Harry, and be less of a threat.

James does not want anyone messing around in his head. What he wanted never mattered, and James is surprised that he thought about not wanting it, when not long ago he'd asked Stark for a wipe.

'I will of course respect your wishes, but the offer stands.' Professor X says.

Turning down the possibility of help- not that he trusts it- still leaves James exactly where he's started- unworthy of being Harry's father and guardian.

'Many would consider my brain to be a weapon of mass destruction.' Professor X tells him. 'Some view mutants as dangerous creatures that should not be trusted. We can show those who believe such that they are wrong.'

That doesn't change the fact James can be turned into the Asset in a string of ten words, can be forced to obey any order given to him.

'I may be able to help with that.' says Professor X. 'Now, I apologize for keeping you from your son for so long.'

James can't say he feels the Professor exit his mind, but the man no longer responds to his thoughts. He notices Harry's face is pinched with a level of concern that should not be on a child's face.

"Was it a mem'ry flashback?" Harry asks, looking down at his own mug of hot cocoa before sliding it toward James.

"This is yours." James pushes the mug back toward his son.

Harry gives him a stern look. "You won't get any hot cocoa if you leave."

James thinks. He is not the man Steve knew. Bucky is a voice locked in his head. Steve would surely be disappointed at what James is now, would likely want nothing to do with him.

Ignoring Bucky's voice, James says "You're my mission. You're too important to go AWOL on."

A long black car pulls into Mr. Stark's driveway, and a man in a suit gets out to open the door to the backseat.

"You do have a Alfred." Harry gapes as Mr. Stark climbs into the back. The back is for kids, not adults.

"This is Happy, my driver and head of security." Mr. Stark gestures to the suited man. "He's not really a butler."

"I don't know. You have me get your cheeseburgers, boss." Mr. Happy says, before looking at Harry. "Well, this explains the child safety seat."

Harry squirms slightly as his dad buckles him in. He'd rather sit on his dad's lap, to make sure his dad won't leave him. He said he wouldn't go AWOL, which Jarvis said means leaving, but all the adults have been acting strange the past few days, talking about moving and searching for the Captain.

His Batdad sits next to him, and Harry reaches out to grip his sleeve.

Mr. Moody is scowling even more than usual when he climbs into the car, holding a broom and a owl in a cage. Harry isn't sure where he got either of those, and wonders when Mr. Moody is going to make him sweep.

Mr. Stark talks during the drive, but Harry's dad and Mr. Moody don't reply. Mr. Stark keeps talking, going on about building a car that would be cooler than the Batmobile because it could fly, and how Howard's flying car blew up but Mr. Stark's would because he's better.

Mr. Stark stops after mentioning Howard and glances over at Harry's dad.

"Or a flying moto-bike?" Harry asks. He'd seen one in a dream once, and he thinks there might have been a giant too, wearing a coat like the giant that attacked his dad. Harry frowns and doesn't say that part.

Instead of shouting, or hitting him for talking about 'unnatural' things, Mr. Stark grins and says that would be way more awesome. He starts using big words Harry doesn't understand.

They pull into what Harry thinks is a car park, except the building doesn't look like Tesco, and then he sees an aeroplane with the same logo as one of the mugs they'd used for hot cocoa.

Harry wriggles with excitement as he's unstrapped and carried toward the plane. He's never flown before, except for jumping off the train.

Inside, there are fireman poles that Mr. Stark makes disappear into the ceiling before Harry can try sliding on one. They didn't even go through the floor, so whoever built them did a bad job.

Harry peers out the window, watching as Mr. Moody sits on his broom like its a motorbike. It even has a seat, and at first Harry thinks he's pretending it really is a motorbike.

Then he sees the broom float off the ground.

"I wanna ride it!" he jabs his finger at the window and scowls when his dad says he can't. This would be even better than a flying motorbike.

"I do not believe broomsticks are equipped with proper safety measures." says Mr. Jarvis. Harry didn't know he was in the plane, too.

"I'll make you something even better." Mr. Stark smirks. "Don't worry, Batsy. I'll make sure it's got safety features. Then again, I wasn't the one giving him a knife."

Mr. Moody pulls on some sort of cape and disappears.

As the plane takes off, Harry imagines he's sitting on a broom. He can almost feel the wind whipping his hair as he imagines gripping the broom to go faster and steer around a table leg.

A jet of red light whizzes past the window, and Harry remembers he's in the plane.

Mr. Stark is talking fast as his armor wraps around him. The eyes on Iron Man's mask light up and he opens a door to jump out. There's a roaring of air coming from the door, until it slams shut.

Harry kneels in the chair to watch Iron Man fly past the window, shooting at someone on a broomstick and dodging a green blast.

His dad pulls him away from the window and down to the floor. "Do not make yourself an easy target."

"I would advise strapping Master Harry in." Mr. Jarvis says as the plane shudders.

"But we haf'ta fight bad guys!" Harry says.

"Stay here." His dad looks tense, ready to fight as something thunks at the door.

Harry hopes it's Mr. Stark or Moody, but he can't see out the window when he's strapped in.

The door blasts open, and a woman flies in on a broom, pointing a weaponized stick at them.

A witch!

James spins Harry's chair so he's looking the other way, at the same time hurling a glass at the witch's head.

Blasts and crashes fill the plane, and there's a sound like something bouncing off his dad's robot arm. What if they break it again?

The woman is talking in that funny way his dad and Ms. Romanoff and the bad guys with guns do, only it's not funny now. Harry knows they're bad words, but they're cut off by what sounds like his dad ripping one of the chairs from the floor and throwing it.

Harry screams as his dad is hurled into the door near the front of the plane, smashing through it and hitting the panel full of buttons.

Harry fumbles with the buckle holding him down, and his dad's eyes widen in a silent warning that means trouble.

A green flash flies toward his dad, who rolls out of the way. It hits the steering wheel, which was steering on its own. The whole plane tilts forward and starts to fall, leaving Harry hanging in his seat, his dad scrambling below him.

The woman tumbles toward Harry's dad, and the buckle explodes under Harry's hands. He falls to the front of the plane, where his dad and the woman are wrestling on top of the front window. Beyond the glass, people and planes are flying around, shooting at each other.

The witch seems a lot worse at fighting up close, and he watches his dad wrestle the weaponized stick from her grasp. Disarming.

The weaponized stick tumbles to the middle of the window while his dad and the witch keep fighting on the curved part.

Harry slides toward the weaponized stick, wishing he could freeze the witch like the bad wizard froze his dad. That way, he could make sure this witch wouldn't try to do that to his dad.

With a trembling hand, he picks up the weaponized stick. He points it at the witch and shouts for her to go away.

The window under them explodes, and suddenly, Harry is falling.

So I know some of you were pretty divided on whether to include X-Men. I thought it could be fun, but even with adding them and Steve sometime, I still intend for the focus to be on Harry and James.

I hope I'll be faster with the next chapter.