Chapter 10

31st July, 2006,

Shield Headquarters, New York

After Ares finished with his speech, the young Agents were soon dismissed, though one of them broke out from the rest to approach him.

"You were amazing back there." Melinda said with a smile, before a contemplative look came over her face. "You know, you should join us in training. Not here, we don't use this gym. Most of the level 3 and above clearance has a separate training room. I could get you permission if you promise to spar with my students."

Needless to say, Harry agreed. While there was nothing wrong with abusing the punching bag for a hour or two, it wasn't doing much for Harry in any of his combat skills. Even his unarmed combat hasn't grown by a single Lvl for the last week. Something he'd like to change as soon as possible.

Soon after, Melinda gave a last wave and along with Coulson, followed after the others.

Only Harry and Ares remained in the gym and he took this chance to observe the man's sword.

[Sword of Ares]

No other information presented itself, baffling Harry a bit. Can he not see a weapon's stats? What a shame. Though he did see his previous wand's stats...so maybe it worked only on the items he owned? He was unsure.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Ares asked, lifting the massive 5 feet sword with one hand.

"It is." Harry admitted. And it was.

The blade glinted in a shade of red and silver, and with strange yet elegant designs carved upon it, the sword looked like a powerful ancient relic.

The sight of a weak old man lifting that monstrous sword was quite comical though, and Harry couldn't be blamed for letting it show on his face.

The Captain caught on quickly.

"Not particularly impressive in comparison, am I?" He had a tiny self-deprecating smile on his face though he didn't look really bothered.

Harry nodded, not bothering to deny something so obvious. "You must get that a lot."

"Oh no." He shook his head. "I used to, decades ago. But not anymore. Not for a long long time."

Harry believed him. He'd never seen Ares in action, but the absolute terror this legend has birthed in Hydra officials was undeniable. No way anyone would mock the looks of a man like this.

"You should've seen me before getting the serum." The man continued. "I was thin as a stick, and even more tiny. A small kid from Brooklyn, wanting to be a hero."

The man laughed, nostalgia clear in his voice.

Harry was becoming more and more uncertain as the talk went on. He'd expected a tense confrontation, perhaps a threat or two...

Instead, here was Ares, just freely giving personal information and potential vulnerabilities.

Was he trying to put Harry at ease? Or perhaps a more subtle type of manipulation? But the man's tone sounded so... geniune. And Ares was never known for this type of manipulations. Then again, it wasn't like he knew the man personally.

"How was the war for you?" Harry asked the quietened man at last, deciding to shelve his more...intrusive questions for later.

"For me? Nostalgic. Surprising, isn't it? I lost the love of my life in that war. And my best friend. Yet my most fondest memories were created in it. But that's not what you meant, was it? No, I know exactly what you want to know."

The Captain dusted away a part of the ruined state before sitting down with a sigh, his sword suddenly started lessening in size, becoming smaller and smaller until Ares pocketed it away.

"My role in the war was quite minor really. I tried to enlist in army, got rejected, tried again, got rejected. Eventually I signed up for project rebirth. The original super soldier project. For the first time in my life, I was selected for something more than being a punching bag. But things happened like they always do and I missed the opportunity. Peggy carter became the world's first super soldier, while I got a nice metal suit curtsey of Howard stark. We fought together in quite a few battles, and eventually in one of the missions, I fell out of a train along with my best pal Bucky barnes."

The name sent a jolt through Harry. Barnes.. Barnes... he knew that name from somewhere...

Oh, the winter Soldier. How could he forget the name of the man who delivered him to Hydra?

Of course not. James barnes, he remembered. The first person that Harry used his 'observe' skill on. Could this Bucky Barnes be his father? A long stretch but an interesting one if proven true.

Harry realised Ares has gone silent for a few seconds, staring outside a window with glazed over eyes.

"We were taken by Hydra." He finally continued, looking down at his hands. "Both of us. Kept in different rooms, away from each other. Tortured, experimented on...you get the point I'm sure. I was a failed experiment really; the serum didn't manage to enhance me as much as it did to Peggy...or even Bucky. Nowhere close actually. But they kept me alive. Rescue came in the form of howling commandos led by Captain Carter...but too late. Bucky's body was never found. The rest...the rest is history."

Again, the silence reigned as Ares closed his eyes in phantom pain.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Harry stated.

"Are you?" The man perked up, glancing at him with a slight smirk.

Harry stared at the man for s few seconds before deciding on truth. "Of course not. I'm being polite."

Instead of taking offence, Ares threw back his head and laughed. "It's so damn refreshing to talk to you. Very few people in this world could say two words to me without kissing my ass."

The man sighed deeply. "I wish I had your composure when I was taken hostage."

Well...he can't really tell him about the Gamer's mind now, can he.

"I think this is why I admire you so much." The man continued. "We both went through similar situations, but you handled it much better than me. Even being as young as you are. I had to wait in chains to be rescued, useless to even save my friend."

He sighed again, eyes finally focusing. "Which is why I have a geniune proposition for you, Harry. You could do a lot of good in this world, should you put your mind to it–"

Harry resisted the urge to scoff. He would think about the world once he was strong enough to break the Winter Soldier in half with his bare hands. Until then, only his life mattered the most.

"But I'm sure you don't care for any of that." Ares finished, and a splash of surprise burst in Harry. "What I propose is simple, a mutual arrangement where we both get what we want. You wish for freedom and security, and I have the means to provide it. In return, you will take a special position in Shield...as a contracted Agent."

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It was well in the afternoon when Harry finally arrived in his room again, his mind pondering upon the implications of the deal he'd made with Ares.

The terms of the contract were simple. Harry will stay contracted with Shield for the next year, following specific conditions. Once that one year was up, he was free to act as an independent contractor who could accept or reject any mission Shield assigns him. The only caveat being that he would need to update Shield with his current status each month.

But until that one year, Harry will need to strictly follow the regime assigned to normal Shield Agents. That meant; to eat with them, train with them, fight with them, complete missions with them, and try to mix with them as an actual team.

Harry didn't know why Ares was so insistent on him wasting time doing needless socialising, but he would gladly accept the task for the rewards they were providing.

Not only would he be getting an hourly wage that equalled to a Lvl 5 Shield Agent's, he would also have his own account created under Shield's authority that he could access through their unique credit cards. The money for his services will be directly credited into his account.

And how much money that was? 40 dollars per hour, which converted to 960 per day, and almost 30k per month.

30 grands...was a lot. In all the months that he'd galvanized in the streets of NY, he probably stole less than 20% of that amount. Yet, he still ate more than comfortably, experiencing delicious food in some really fancy restaurants.

Now? Now he didn't even need to spend that much money on food. Apart from an extremely lucrative salary, Shield also provided it's agents with the best free food, luxurious shelter, most advanced medical care, and some other things that were currently useless to him but Kara seemed to appreciate, like security for family and free scholarships for siblings.

And for the next year, Harry could freely enjoy these services himself.

So his plan for now was simple. For the next 1 year, act like a good little Agent that Ares wants him to be. Save all the money from his salary, and all the bonuses he'll receive on missions. By the end of the year he'd have, at the very least, more than 300k in his pocket. And adding all those bonus for a completed mission? Perhaps more than half a million.

Then, and only then, would he be truly able to live on his own, and wouldn't need Shield to babysit him anymore. With that kind of money in his pocket, he'd have no worries about renting some room when he could just buy a whole damned apartment.

But that time was still a year too far from now. He would have to work hard to ensure the security of his future till then.

A good thing then, that he was quite familiar with hard work.