A/N: Good evening! Three updates in a week, and I reckon I can get a couple out next week too! Have a good weekend!
Chapter Thirty Six – A Lot Can Happen in a Week
It was a careless remark about friends made by Clint that made Mateo suddenly very aware that the date arranged between him and his friends was fast approaching. Pretty soon into their discussion about a group holiday they realised they would be limited on where they could meet, unless they camped nearby Hermione's and Kevin's houses were too small for all four of them. After a bit of a stock check on facilities and entertainment the overriding vote had been that they went to Mateo's rather than Neville's for the week. The Pureblood had been quite understanding, and in agreement, that they would likely have more fun at the muggle residence than at an empty and imposing manor house.
The logistics of getting everyone together and over the ocean had taken even more planning and letters or texts. Eventually they had decided to send the jet over again as Hermione and Kevin would have had no experience with portkeys. Neville may have been at a disadvantage, but he lost out to not subjecting the other two to the magical transport option. According to Clint, who was the most vocal on the matter, it was not the nicest experience. Tony muttered about getting a proper fireplace installed somewhere in one of his houses to cut down on air miles. Mateo probably hadn't been supposed to hear that and had felt incredibly guilty until Bruce reassured him that the billionaire really didn't mind them borrowing his jet.
Thankfully Mateo's three friends had known that a trip to America may have been on the cards since the beginning of the holiday, so Kevin had immediately set about getting a passport. They had been unsure whether Neville could get a muggle passport but apparently that was something that the Goblins at Gringotts could arrange easily, for a fee of course. Hermione was the only one of them that had actually been through an airport before for family holidays to France, so Mateo was unsure how the other two would react to the experience.
It had been easiest to arrange for everyone to meet at the Leaky Cauldron as a start point, and Mateo was glad to see that they were the first to arrive. Happy had stayed in America seeing as it was only Bruce and Mateo taking the journey so the usual driver hired by Stark was waiting out front for their arrival. Apparently he was paid plenty to cater to every whim of the billionaire so he hadn't batted an eyelid when the two had disappeared; he merely put it down to not paying attention which of the shops they went to.
Seeing as they had arranged to meet at eleven the father and son had five minutes to kill so they ordered a glass of pumpkin juice each to feel less guilty about using the pub without benefitting the landlord. Tom didn't seem to mind but was happy to chat to them about gossip he had picked up as they sat on the barstools and sipped their drinks. There was a bit of news on a Ministry push to uncover dark artefacts or muggle baiting items, and that there were rumours a few Pureblood families were sweating about the raids that occasionally occurred. However the hottest topic seemed to be some guy who was releasing an autobiography to add to his collection of adventure books covering him defeating various dark creatures. Mateo was unimpressed by what was sounding very much like someone who got either was extremely lucky or was a great story teller. Either way he was unimpressed by the man's bragging and he severely hoped that he wouldn't meet the man in person.
A green flare of flames heralded the arrival of someone through the Floo network and two figures soon materialised and stepped from the flames. One was an imposingly tall woman dressed in a dated but elegant green dress, with a tall black hat that had a vulture mounted on it. Neville stood with one shoulder held in her grip and he looked rather cowed by the woman's presence. Mateo quickly stood and trotted towards the fire, his father following a few paces behind.
"Madam Longbottom thank you very much for allowing Neville to come and stay with me," Mateo said with a quick and small bow from the waist.
"I was disappointed with Neville for not fitting in well with his housemates, although in general the Gryffindors this year seem to not be overly impressive. However I was intrigued by Neville's correspondence about your decision to befriend him and your behaviour through the year. It is rare for a Ravenclaw to be so proactive," the woman said, her voice almost coloured with curiosity.
"The Hat was torn between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw when sorting me, I believe it was only because of my curiosity about the mechanics of a bewitched hat did I end up in Ravenclaw. May I introduce my father? Bruce Banner," Mateo lied easily before quickly changing the subject. He had no idea how many times he may have to explain how he ended up in Ravenclaw, he was just content to see people believe his responses.
"A pleasure to meet you," Bruce offered his hand and Mateo was glad to see that Neville's gran shook it without there being any social faux pas.
"What do you do?" Augusta asked.
"I am a scientific researcher, in the muggle world I try to figure out how things work by inspecting elements of the er, elements," Bruce tried to explain.
"So a bit like someone who would work for the Department of Mysteries?" Neville tried to help Bruce explain. "They work on figuring out how things work."
"Yes that would be what I do. I am also a healer when my associates need assistance," Bruce added.
"Your skills may be required then if you are planning on doing anything active, Neville is not the most coordinated of children," Mateo mentally winced in sympathy as his friend seemed to shrink further in on himself.
Luckily at that moment Hermione and Kevin arrived together with Hermione's parents in tow. Apparently they had arranged between them for her parents to pick Kevin up on the way through to the Leaky Cauldron. At their arrival Augusta removed Neville's bag from her pocket and enlarged it before passing it over to the boy. The two boys quickly excused themselves and Neville happily escaped his gran's grip to go and greet their friends, leaving the adults to talk.
"Don't worry Neville we aren't going to be doing anything dangerous if you don't want to," Mateo said first.
"What have you got planned?" Kevin asked.
"Not much, I wasn't sure what you guys would want to be doing. However Dad brought along a few tablets so that we can plan what you want to do whilst we fly back," Mateo explained.
"Tablets? Are those the medicine pills Kevin described? How are they useful in planning a holiday?" Neville asked with a very confused look on his face.
"Sorry Neville, I mean a different type of tablet. It's like an electronic book that lets you look at anything you want," Mateo outlined as vaguely as possible.
"I'm still not comfortable on this idea of flying," Neville said quietly once he had digested the explanation. It was obvious he was replaying his last experience of being off the ground.
"Planes are completely safe, thousands of them fly across the world every day and none of them crash. Mr Stark's jet is probably even safer than the public planes too as it flies a lot less often," Hermione said reassuringly.
Neville didn't reply but it was obvious he remained sceptical. The adult conversation broke up soon after and Augusta disappeared towards the entrance of Diagon Alley, whilst the other three moved towards the children. Mateo happily led the way out onto the street and to the car waiting across the road for them.
"Was it a good idea to wait on double yellows for us?" Hermione asked.
"Double yellows?" Mateo looked blankly at them.
"The lines by the curb means this a no stopping or parking zone," Kevin pointed to the ground at the described paint.
"Tony's driver wasn't worried about it and to be honest I doubt Tony even cares if he got a fine for it. The driver did say that if he wasn't here he would be driving around the block, that's probably why," Mateo shrugged and gestured for them to drop their bags in the boot.
"It is still surprising you are Muggleborn, you're as clueless as Neville about the simple things. No offence meant Nev," Kevin laughed.
"None taken," Neville said as he inspected the paint.
"I haven't lived in England for the last five years, and any of the time that I have has been spent in a castle. I suppose nomadic wanderings through many countries can be comparable to living solely in the Wizarding World in terms of relevance to British life," Mateo mused.
"What time is the flight due to leave?" Kevin quickly changed the subject before they could get onto a serious debate on the subject.
"We still have a couple of hours to kill, Tony arranged it so that we had plenty of time to get there and get settled before take-off. Seeing as it is Neville and Kevin's first time he didn't want them to not be able to enjoy the experience, and apparently rushing to catch a plane is not fun," Mateo said as they filed into the back of the car.
Mateo ended up sitting in the very back of the car whilst Neville sat between Hermione and Kevin, with Bruce up front next to the driver. The pureblood wizard seemed confused by the vehicle and the seatbelt that Hermione showed him how to use, but once they were moving he enjoyed watching out of the front windscreen and the windows. It was obvious that he had never had a trip to the muggle parts of London so his neighbours spent the trip pointing out important sights and various muggle contraptions.
The adopted Banner was once more grateful for Tony's generosity as they easily strolled through the empty entrance reserved for private flights. Their passports were immediately cleared for their leaving English soil while their bags were sent straight to the plane. Although they could have just immediately gone to the plane Bruce allowed them to mooch through the duty-free sections to fill time and to let them burn off energy. Neville seemed to become a bit overwhelmed by the amount of shops and items for sale, not to mention the sheer number of humans, so Bruce interceded and herded them to the gate after fifteen minutes of shop browsing. When the two English boys saw the plane they both seemed as nervous as each other at the prospect of flying so Mateo made sure that they were distracted by showing them the tablet's Tony had given Bruce.
The trick worked and apart from some nerves on take-off Neville was happily learning the intricacies of wireless technology from Hermione whilst Kevin got Mateo started on Clash of Clans. Once in the air the quartet rearranged themselves around the table and started to explore the possibilities of their trip and wrote down ideas. Bruce kept mostly out of it and only inputted advice or ideas when asked, or if they overlooked something. It was only as Neville tried to use a tablet himself and shorted it that they realised a major problem that they had overlooked.
"How is it you can use these things but I seem to break them?" Neville asked after apologising numerous times.
"I'm not entirely sure, I can only guess that as we grew up with them we subconsciously learnt not to project our magic to ensure we didn't break them. Seeing as you've never come into contact with them before you've not had to be careful with your magic," Mateo suggested, looking to Bruce for a second opinion.
"I am no expert in magic but that makes sense, you haven't broken anything ever since I met you and the only difference between you and Neville is that you've grown up in the muggle world," Bruce agreed after thinking it over. He caught the guilty look Neville had and spoke again, "Don't worry Neville, you all still have the other three tablets and I have mine if we really need another. Tony can get through three in a bad week through various accidents including, and not limited to; crushing, explosions, melting from machines, misplacement, weapon accidents, and until recently coffee spills."
Seeing as Neville still seemed a little unsure about the billionaire's reputation Bruce quickly brought up some footage of the destruction caused in New York last summer, as well as at Stark Industries and the Stark Expo. The final news footage of a house in Malibu being destroyed had Mateo having a private chat with his father. Apparently the Avengers had been split up at the time of Tony's run in with the terrorist, Thor specifically being occupied in London and Bruce being careful to avoid adding to the chaos by getting the Other Guy involved. Even Steve had been through the mill with the Winter Soldier going after him, and they had all felt the impacts of the demise of SHIELD and Fury.
They had unanimously decided to avoid mentioning the danger they had been in to Mateo whilst he had been concentrating on his exams which, although making Mateo feel touched, angered him slightly at being left out. He had felt like there had been something wrong when he had first got back to America but hadn't thought to question it. Seeing as he regarded them all as family Mateo had assumed if something of that magnitude had gone wrong then he would have been told about it.
"They are my extended honorary family too Dad, you can't shut me out when they are threatened," Mateo said quietly. "I may not have had more than one conversation with Fury but I still knew him."
"We didn't want to worry you, it may have been wrong but you couldn't have helped. I did say to the others that you could have coped with Fury's death but they outvoted me," Bruce sighed as he saw the determined anger in his son's face. "Alright in the future we will write and let you know, but you have to swear you will stay at school and continue to work on your studies. It may be difficult to do but it helps us immensely when we know you are safe from any harm we might cause."
"Alright," Mateo nodded and the pair returned to the trio still at the table.
The rest of the flight passed more peacefully as the friends caught up and happily ate the in-flight food for a late lunch. According to Hermione the fare was infinitely better than that provided on conventional airlines, and Mateo silently chuckled at the thought that everything Tony provided was infinitely better than the norm.
Neville and Kevin seemed a little unsure when the plane touched down on American soil but they both handled it very well, and if anyone had noticed how both of their faces had become pale they didn't mention it. They had left London whilst the sun was shining and the temperature was a rather unusual 32oC, and they were welcomed with sunshine and 28oC warmth in New York. A long black limousine waiting on the tarmac a safe distance away from the plane revealed how organised Tony was.
"We get to ride in a limousine?" Kevin asked excitedly.
"Tony only has limos or sports cars I think, so get used to it," Mateo grinned, then caught Neville's eye. "In the Muggle world it is usually rich people that own limos, you can pay to hire one for special occasions but very few people do. However Tony likes to show off and also to ensure people have a good time, hence the limo."
"Will we get to meet him to say thanks?" Hermione asked, conscious of the talk her parents had had about her before she left about being a good guest.
"Undoubtedly we'll bump into him at some point. Although he practically lives in the labs if there is a chance to join in some fun or show off he is there," Bruce sighed pre-emptively for all the exasperation he was likely to experience over the next week.
Happy had been sent to pick them up and had apparently been briefed on Mateo's friends being new to America. As a result they took a winding scenic route through the city to Stark Tower before parking in the underground car park. Mateo happily hugged and thanked the man before his friends grabbed their bags and piled into the lift with him and Bruce.
"JARVIS where is everyone?" Mateo asked.
"Currently Odinson is not in residence and Mr Rogers is out, from his attire I would deduce his intention was to go running. Agents Barton and Romanoff are in the range whilst Sir is in his laboratory," JARVIS replied.
"JARVIS is an AI computer system Tony built and installed throughout the entire tower, if you get lost or need to find someone then ask him to help. There are parts of the tower that we aren't allowed in but you don't have to worry about accidentally going in there as he can keep the doors locked. Anyway, JARVIS, this is Hermione, Kevin, and Neville," Mateo pointed at each knowing that the AI's camera's would pick up the gesture and link names to faces.
"Welcome to Stark Tower sirs and miss," the British voice spoke once more before falling silent.
"We have a floor to ourselves but only have one guest room, so we thought Hermione could have that one and if you two are alright with it you could share mine? The beds are huge but Tony also said he would put an airbed on the floor too," said Mateo.
"That's fine with us," Kevin spoke whilst Neville nodded, "Where will you sleep though?"
"The sofa or in Dad's room, I haven't chosen yet," Mateo spoke without shame of admitting he would happily share a bed with his father. He didn't consider himself 'too cool' for his parent, especially considering his father was part of one of the coolest groups on the planet.
"Will we get to meet everyone at some point?" Kevin asked as the lift came to a stop and the doors opened on their level.
"As you heard Thor is elsewhere at the moment but I am sure we will at least bump into the rest of them at some point. If they hear about our plan to go go-karting I think everyone could come along as they love a competition," Mateo said with certainty.
The plan that the father and son had devised had been for Mateo and his friends to mostly stick to the Banner floor out of the way of the grownups and any inappropriate activities that could occur, like drunken shenanigans or disputes that resulted in weapons being drawn. However Tony destroyed that plan as soon as he was done in his lab for the day by immediately gate crashing the gathering in the Banner living room. He insisted that the Avengers were allowed to join in with whatever plans the four had, despite not knowing what they had agreed to do.
Unsurprisingly Tony's boisterous nature seemed to scare the three Hogwarts students into their shells for a while, having never met the man they were slightly overwhelmed. But once Bruce managed to run damage control and calmed the billionaire down slightly the three relaxed a bit. Mateo managed to convince the Stark to organise a party night the next evening so that they could meet all the in-residence Avengers at once. He also subtly suggested hosting a number of games, and Tony left contentedly with the impression it had been his own idea.
"You should have been in Slytherin with that display of manipulation," Kevin chuckled as the lift shut once more.
"Apart from getting eaten alive by my housemates because of my history I think I could have maybe fit in quite well with them," Mateo joined him in laughing.
"I think if you could bring Malfoy here and show him everything he would soon rethink his opinions of muggles," Neville said honestly.
"So all we need to do is knock him out and get Thor to fly him back before he wakes up. Then we just have to keep him calm enough to not blow anything up with his magic to be able to show him everything. If he carries on the way he did this year then I might be tempted," Mateo sighed.
"Is this the boy who stole that ball from you?" Bruce asked from the kitchen. Bruce didn't mean to eavesdrop but he had offered to make drinks for them all and had just overheard their conversation.
"Yes, he generally has a very low opinion of the Muggleborn students, and any Gryffindor… Actually pretty much anyone who isn't in Slytherin has something wrong with them that Malfoy can pick on," Kevin explained.
"After the incident at Madam Malkin's he has a special dislike of me and tries to prove his superiority at every occasion. So far he has yet to succeed," Mateo said before quickly changing the subject.
Bruce didn't pry further into the rivalry that had built up between Mateo and the Malfoy heir, and instead he left the four of them chatting happily in the living room. The time difference hit them quite early in the evening but Mateo managed to get them to stay up until 9pm before allowing them to hit the hay.
He had made a pile of assorted clothes, pyjamas and his toothbrush when showing his friends to their rooms earlier so the Banner child grabbed them as he said goodnight to everyone. Although he could share with his dad Mateo had decided on using the sofa so that Bruce could get more sleep to deal better with their action packed week. He left his clothes in the bathroom just set off the corridor next to the kitchen that he was using to change in before rolling up in a blanket on the sofa and asking JARVIS to get the lights.
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Bruce bit back a groan as he split from the chattering children and headed to the relative peace and quiet of the communal floor two levels above. He couldn't begrudge Mateo the opportunity of showing his friends as much of New York and the surrounding area as possible during their stay, but he was rather worn out by the break neck pace they had maintained over the last two days. It was only because of the Other Guy that he maintained a permanent level of quite decent fitness as he certainly didn't work out at all anymore. However he was still worn out from chasing after four youths.
Speaking of the Other Guy, Bruce had almost been worried about his barriers being worn thin by the crowds they had faced. However Bruce was once again shocked by the unexpected feeling of indulgence the Other Guy had seemed to be experiencing. The man could understand, and had become used to, his darker side being happy indulging Mateo and caring for him. However he would never had expected the green being getting a kick out of making his son's friends happy too. Bruce would never mention it to Tony, but it seemed that the Other Guy had a bit of a mother hen mentality towards children, like Bruce himself. He wondered why it had taken so long to realise that, but after a long think the scientist arrived at the conclusion he had spent so much of their early coexistence ignoring the Other Guy's presence to learn much about his personality. And now that they were working in almost tandem Bruce was shocked to realise that the Other Guy was rather enjoying Bruce getting out and seeing the sights.
So far they had visited a science museum, the zoo, the observatory, various smaller tourist locations in quick succession, and had played crazy golf. The next few days were similarly filled with plans to go to Disney World, go-karting, paintballing, possibly horse riding, surfing, and a tour around the Warner Bros. studios. He loved his child dearly but Bruce had jumped at the opportunity for a chance to sit down in peace whilst the four set to a tournament on one of the gaming consoles. Being out in the open had also worn on his nerves at times as he had seen the flash of sunlight of camera lenses from less than subtle paparazzi members. Thankfully they hadn't been swamped or even approached by the hounds, but Bruce was under no illusion that if they cared to look their photos would be in a couple of magazines.
The scientist gratefully sat on the comfy sofa with a cup of tea and relaxed in the quiet of the empty floor. However it seemed that the entire world was conspiring against him as he had just set the mug down on the glass coffee table and was considering putting a documentary on when the red light started flashing, followed by the calm woman's voice calling for the Avengers to assemble. Bruce let the groan escape his lips this time and heaved himself from the sofa and barrelled down the stairs, knowing it was the quickest route as the other Avengers would be using the lift. He was slightly out of breath by the time he finished descending three flights of stairs but carried on moving until he reached the living room rather than pausing for breath.
"What's happened?" Mateo asked as he saw his dad appear.
"No idea, JARVIS?" Bruce was glad to see that the four hadn't moved to leave the room before he arrived.
"There are reports of some kind of mutant bears on the Canadian border. Local enforcement organisations have tried to combat the sleuth but have been unsuccessful. Exact numbers are uncertain but the police reports suggest an estimate of over fifty have been sighted together," JARVIS summarised.
"Will the Other Guy be needed?" Bruce asked.
"Unfortunately I believe so; whatever caused the mutations has resulted in individuals growing to four times their natural size, with an estimated increase of strength to match. The police have reported that firearms seem to have little impact on piercing their hide. Agent Barton's explosive arrows may be of use and Sirs repulsors could potentially burn through enough to make Agent Romanoff's weapons effective. However from the information available I feel that the strength and invulnerability exhibited by the Hulk and would be most useful in this case."
Bruce sighed and turned his gaze from the ceiling, where it always ended up being aimed when he talked to the AI, to the gathering of youths in front of him. "Right, we will be out for a while it seems. There's food in the fridge and Pepper and Happy will be somewhere in the building if you need an adult, but I'm expecting you to be alright on your own until we return."
"Don't worry about us Dad, we will be quite happy playing games or watching movies. We certainly won't be doing anything stupid just because our adult supervision has had to go off and save the Canadians," Mateo said reassuringly. "Stay safe."
"You know I will," Bruce smiled slightly and quickly headed for the lift.
No one questioned Bruce for an explanation for him being a few minutes late to the quinjet and Clint silently took off once the scientist had buckled himself to a seat. There was not much extra in the way of information to filter through to them during the flight until Tony reached the scene and filled them in. But then as soon as the quinjet reached the action zone Bruce's knowledge of events blurred as he let the Other Guy take over.
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It was the bright sunlight filtering through the open window that awoke the scientist once more after the incident, and he almost buried his head under his pillow to carry on sleeping. However from the amount of sunlight coming through the open window, and the very faint sounds of traffic far below, he knew that it was at least late morning. He didn't like sleeping through the day if he could manage getting up and moving after an incident, so Bruce forced himself to rise and wash before searching for food.
Thankfully he wasn't overly stiff or sore from the previous night's excursion, days of being weary from the change were always took the most out of Bruce's optimism. However his brain was slightly foggy and it took him a while to realise why he was finding it difficult to get out of bed. The cause turned out to be that he was wrapped in a blanket from the quinjet as well as being tangled in his duvet.
With the battle for his freedom over and won Bruce shuffled towards the bathroom and emerged twenty minutes later showered, dressed, and slightly more awake than before. It was only as he spotted the map from the zoo on one of his sideboards near his bedroom door that Bruce remembered that he was supposed to be taking the four youths go-karting today.
However when he searched for them Bruce found that there was no one in the kitchen or living room on their floor, and a quick trip up to the communal level revealed that the four almost-teenagers weren't there either.
"JARVIS, where is Mateo and his friends?" Bruce asked in confusion.
"Sir and Agent Barton decided to take them to a water park today to allow you time to rest from the fight last night. Mateo asked me to assure you that they were happy to do so and that he and his friends were quite content with the idea."
Bruce sighed at that as he contemplated just how badly the day could go without a responsible adult around. There was no doubt that if faced with danger both Tony and Clint could quite effectively protect the four from harm. However without a life or death threat the pair could end up being just as irresponsible as any teen. Going to a waterpark was something that Bruce would not have been able to do, there were too many chances for a surprise unleashing the Other Guy. As much as Bruce prided himself on his control recently he did not want to tempt fate by going into chaotic situations, and Mateo hadn't even suggested he tried to. So Bruce was grateful for the pair for taking the kids somewhere he couldn't have gone, but it couldn't override his guilt at having let Mateo down by ruining his plans.
To fill the remaining time until the group returned from the waterpark Bruce reviewed the SHIELD footage of the incident the night before, most notably any that involved the Other Guy's actions. From the amount of time he had been asleep Bruce was unsurprised to see that his alter ego had conducted the majority of the fighting and had taken down over three quarters of the bears, whilst still being reasonably cooperative with the local police and the team.
Eight hours after he had woken up Bruce was alerted to the return of the group by his lab suddenly becoming a lot noisier. He had given up watching video footage and reading reviews and decided to fiddle with some of his personal research whilst he had the privacy and guarantee that Tony wouldn't interrupt. However his window of time had now shut as Tony led the way into the room followed by the archer and four smaller figures.
Everyone's hair was dry, Bruce noticed, so they had had to have stopped on the way back somewhere. He could faintly smell fries and correctly assumed that Tony had fed them on the return journey. All four of the children had bright eyes and excited looks on their faces, a sure testament that they had enjoyed themselves without him. Bruce smiled as his gaze landed on his son, his hair might not have been as long as Hermione's but the girl had obviously run a brush through her hair to tame it. Mateo's was a wild mess from where he had towelled it dry, and the only thing stopping it from sticking upright was that it was too long to defy gravity.
"Hello there sleeping beauty, nice to see you up and about," Tony grinned and slapped the scientist on the back affectionately before claiming his customary spot on the lab bench next to Bruce.
"I've been up for eight hours, I have no idea what time we got back last night but I feel my nap was justified if the footage was accurate," Bruce refused to rise to the bait and turned to the quartet. "Did you enjoy your day?"
"It was pretty amazing, the place was packed but Tony managed to get us a few queue jump tickets which sped up the day," Kevin beamed at the billionaire.
"They don't do that the last time I looked," Bruce muttered under his breath to the man next to him while he had his back turned to save his work.
"But they don't know that," Tony said back quietly before raising his voice again. "Clint obviously won the award for the most amazing dismount from the zip line, but Mateo came pretty close to a double backflip. Even Neville had a couple of goes and he is apparently terrified of heights."
"It's only heights and broomsticks," Neville clarified quietly.
"I can't stand being underground, we all have our own fears," Bruce reassured him.
"So the plan for tomorrow is go-karting and the arcade followed by a tower gathering with Chinese take-out and gaming," Tony checked.
"What was planned for tonight?" Bruce looked at the group questioningly.
"Well we were going to watch more films to continue Neville's education, but Clint offered to take us down the shooting range," Mateo said slowly.
"They mentioned seeing which of them was the best shot and I thought it couldn't hurt for them to have lessons off an Avenger. That way Mateo won't outstrip them in every sport," Clint defended himself.
"If they get injured then you will be the one explaining to the relevant guardian how it happened," Bruce warned.
"Relax big man, Hawkeye has it sorted," Tony interjected.
"I'm amazed you managed an entire day out without a responsible adult," Bruce voiced what he had been thinking all day.
"What are you on about? We had Mateo to keep us in line," Tony called back before he disappeared out of the door with the others.
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The rest of the holiday passed quite peacefully, at least in terms of catastrophes that required the Avengers to fix. For Mateo and his friends it was less peaceful as they crammed the holiday with trips and games to the point they reliably passed out each evening. Bruce quite enjoyed the couple of hours he had each morning and evening to himself, it gave him a chance to relax before the frenzy of activity each day.
Kevin had managed to take a load of photos with him and various Avengers, mostly the four resident men, and was content that he had sufficient evidence to prove to his neighbourhood friends that he hadn't been making up his claim. Thor had been absent most of the week, having wanted to go and visit Jane Foster, and Natasha seemed to be a little wary of children.
Hermione was overjoyed that her first holiday with friends had been so much fun and that she had learned quite a bit of muggle science from Bruce's lab and from the museums and zoos. Neville had come out of his shell even more and had even been caught cracking jokes a couple of times. The fact that his attention to detail and care meant that he was quite good at archery and go-karting only helped to give him confidence in himself.
But as much as they all enjoyed the holiday Mateo didn't think he was the only one content to see it end when it did. They had done as much as possible with the time they had, and he was happy to relax and wave his friends off home again. It wouldn't be long until they would see each other again anyway, as they had only two weeks until they would meet again in Diagon Alley.