The Magical and the Mechanical: Chapter Two

November 20, 2014

Sirius found life in the Avengers Tower weird. It was completely different than living at Grimmauld Place or at Hogwarts. It was completely different than anything he had ever imagined. He felt like he was living on an alien planet. He supposed that was the truth, really, but he was still surrounded by humans – except for Thor – and muggles, just like at Grimmauld Place. Only this time he was allowed to actually talk to people. That was nice. And Tony was capable of things that would give his mother a stroke and heart attack combo.

Muggles are primitive, she said. They were smelly, dirty, half sentient savages, doomed by their lack of magic to forever live in the dark. Sirius hadn't believed her then, it was hard to imagine anyone living like that. But now, Tony Stark could make things with his muggle tech that Magic could only dream off. He'd been to space, for crying out loud. He spoke of going to moon like one would talk about popping around the corner to pay a casual visit to your neighbor. Remus informed him that muggles had been to the moon when they were nine and it's been forty years since they left, so that wasn't anything new, but it was still insanely amazing.

Best of all, Steve and Tony let Sirius work on the motorcycle. It was a real 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA "Liberator", used in WWII and modified heavily by two generations of Starks, one of a kind, invaluable. When Sirius was grown, he wanted to be a motorcycle mechanic. He wished he could be the third generation to work on the Liberator. That was a family legacy he wouldn't be upset about or ashamed of.

He didn't enjoy school like Remus, Lily, and Meriam did, but he didn't loath it like James did. He could understand why the three resident swots of Avengers Tower could like school. He didn't love learning at Hogwarts – he didn't particularly love it at Midtown either – but he absolutely loved every second he spent with Tony in the lab.

"Pass me the ¼," Tony said, his hand shooting out from under the flying car. The flying car got hit by a large rock on Widow's last mission and Tony volunteered to fix it so she wouldn't have to fly it stuttering back up to the Tricarrier for repairs.

Sirius handed Tony the wrench.

"See this valve right here?" Tony said. "You won't see this on a normal car, this is a jet fuel pipe. It's what helps the car fly."

"And that's the transmission?" Sirius pointed to another part of the car nearby. "It looks bent."

"It is," Tony said. "But we'll fix that later."

"Can I straighten it?" Sirius asked.

"Sure thing, kiddo," Tony said. "Soon as I'm done reconnecting this pipe. You do not want to get this stuff on you. The smell takes weeks to go away and you'll be mildly flammable the whole time. SHIELD uses a specialized fuel, designed it myself."

"Cool."

"You think so?" Tony smiled at him.

Orion never smiled at all, certainly never at Sirius. And that was if he was looking at Sirius, which he very rarely did. Tony was really awesome. When Tony looked at Sirius, Sirius felt like he was real person. Like he was important.

"Can we make my bike fly?" Sirius asked.

"Hm," Tony frowned. "If you want it to look more like Steve's motorcycle than Hawkeye's sky-cycle, we'd have to miniaturize the engine and fuel system," Tony frowned. "Not to mention a different coolant system that can work at the right altitudes. How high do you want it to go?"

"At least as high as an airplane."

"Easy there, kiddo," Tony laughed. "That's not possible unless you're Thor."

"Why not?"

"Well, you'd suffocate," Tony said. "Atmosphere's too thin up there."

"I'd wear a helmet," Sirius said. "Like yours!"

Tony rolled out from under the car. He ruffled Sirius' hair on the way out. Sirius didn't mind. Usually he hated anyone touching his hair, Mother always fussed with it or cut it way shorter than he liked. He didn't mind Tony, though. It felt really nice, sort of like it did when he was Padfoot.

"If you're wearing my suit, you don't need the bike, kid," He laughed.

"Yeah I would," Sirius pouted. "I'd look cool."

"You got me there," Tony lightly tapped Sirius' forehead with the ¼ wrench. "Here, have a go at straightening the transmission."

He hadn't let Sirius work on anything big yet. They'd taken the Liberator's new engine apart but Tony hadn't let him put it back together. Sirius was so excited to actually hold the tools in his hands that as soon as his fingers wrapped around the wrench, every lightbulb in the lab exploded. The emergency lights came on, but they didn't light the room up enough for them to continue working.

"Whoa! JARVIS, status?"

"I detected a large surge of magical energy, Sir," JARVIS answered.

"I'm sorry," Sirius grimaced. "I… got excited."

"That's fine," Tony sighed, going to where he kept the hundreds of spare lightbulbs. "Why don't you… call it quits for today. We can do this again next week. Try and get that mumbo jumbo under control, alright?"

"Y… yes… yeah, I'll do that," Sirius handed the wrench back.

Sirius ended up stewing about his failure, wedged on the couch in their room next to Remus. Remus wasn't paying attention to him and that just made him even more irritated. He was so damn bored now. At least focusing on the boredom distracted him from how embarrassed he was. The least Remus could do was pay attention to him, he was distraught.

Remus hadn't even said hello when Sirius skulked through the door and dramatically collapsed on the couch next to him. "Moony, I know you're a swot, but what is up with your obsession with that Book?" Sirius complained.

"It's not an obsession, Sirius, I'm being practical. We don't know how it works and it's been recorded as very dangerous. I want to make sure we're using it properly and that means I've got to read it."

"Let me see it, then," Sirius reached out a hand and tried to grab the book. If he couldn't work on the Liberator or the flying car, at least he could help Remus. It snapped shut over his fingers. "Hey! I'm only trying to help," he sucked at his finger and pouted.

"I didn't do that!" Remus sputtered. "See, this is what I mean when I say it's dangerous. It turned us into… something that certainly wasn't the Animagus or werewolf transformations."

"It felt… mythical," Sirius said. "I could feel every shadow all around me."

"Yes, I think I could sense plant life or something, but… it was really draining. If we maintained that for any longer, it could have killed us."

"That's fair," Sirius sighed. "I was exhausted when it was over. Everything felt like lead. And that wasn't just the blood loss from before. What do you suggest we do?"

"Well, I don't know, that's why I'm reading the Book but it's indecipherable," Remus sighed.

The Book in question wouldn't open when he pried at the covers, "Fantastic, Sirius. You've locked it. Just brilliant."

"Oh, well excuse me," Sirius scoffed. "Does that mean we can do something more interesting now?" Maybe if Remus was there, Sirius would be able to keep calm enough that Tony would let him at least polish the Liberator a bit. "Whatever we're doing, it had better not be dull."

"You're so clingy."

"This is part where you say something like, 'No, Padfoot, I've got an awful lot of homework and revisions and I simply must get back to it!' you know, because you're such a swot."

"Actually, I finished my homework," Remus said. "And I don't sound like that."

"Well, in that case," Sirius said, springing to his feet. He could still feel himself vibrating, so the lab was a no go, but that didn't mean they had to something boring. "Train with me?"

"Sirius, I don't have a sword or a shield or anything like that," Remus sighed.

"No, Moony, you've got superstrength and magic," Sirius said. "And you'd better learn how to use it so that you, me, and Prongs can make our own superhero team."

"You and James are still on that superhero team thing?" Remus sighed. "That's a long ways off. Mr. Stark won't let Meriam use the special Kevlar fabric for her designs, so she's still in the mockup phase. And since when was it you, me, and Prongs and not all five of us?"

"I'm not saying the girls can't be superheroes! I'm just saying that I think the three of us should hang out more."

"There are ways to accomplish that without sneaking around behind Mr. Stark's back."

"Well, just because he's overbearing…"

"He's not overbearing! He's just trying to look out for us. He just… gets carried away in… everything he does," Remus admitted. "I quite like how eccentric he is. It's… better than the alternative."

"Yeah," Sirius would rather not think about the alternative, where they could or should be living if they weren't here in the Tower. He didn't like thinking about things that made him upset, let alone talking about them. At least Remus agreed with him.

"Maybe we can see if the Wii U is free?" Remus said.

"Ug, I don't want to play Mario Kart again."

"You're just upset that I'm better at it than you."

"No, but James and Lily certainly are. I've never seen two people fight so violently over second place."

"First place is taken," Remus tried to swish his hair like Sirius did, but only managed to give himself a crick in his neck.

"I still think we can get some training in before dinner," Sirius said.

He grabbed the Nox Blade from where he'd shoved it under his bed. His section of the room was tidy, he didn't see why Cap kept going all drill sergeant on them. At least James consistently made such a mess that Sirius' piles of dirty laundry went relatively un-scolded. Remus of course was commended every time Cap sprung a surprise inspection, not a single unfolded sock or a cushion out of place. He made his bed every morning too, like a total nerd.

"You'll lose that sword if you're not more tidy."

"Whatever," Sirius shrugged. "We can just summon it from inside the Book if it gets lost. You coming?"

"Yes, fine," Remus sighed.

On the way to the training room, they ran into James. He'd just returned from a chewing out from both Cpt. Rogers and Principal Coulson. He was despondent right before he saw them, dragging his feet and hanging his head low. As soon as he saw his two best friends in the whole multiverse, he perked up and ran to them, putting an arm over a shoulder each. It was lopsided, considering that Sirius and Remus were a good six inches apart and James was only an inch shorter than Sirius, but that hardly mattered to James.

"Where we off to, lads?" James said.

"Training room," Sirius said. "I've finally managed to convince Moony to go in there."

"I'm to cheer him on as he swings his sword at the holograms," Remus said.

"Cheers, I'll get my shield!" James said.

They only had to wait half a minute, James ran everywhere unless he was accompanying someone who had more patience than him. How he managed to fish the shield out from the filth on his side of the room was beyond even Sirius, who didn't have a tidy bone in his body.

The three boys made their way to the training room in companiable gibberish. Remus wasn't entirely sure what the two were talking about, but it sounded like they were debating the merits between soccer and lacrosse. Sirius was adamant that lacrosse was better because you could hit the opposing team with the sticks. James insisted it was soccer because he was better at it. James also found the need to add that Meriam would agree with him because in women's lacrosse you couldn't stick check the other team on the body and such rule differences were unjust.

Remus was content to hold the Book to his chest, hoping that if he willed it, it would stop sulking and let him peruse the indecipherable pages within. He wanted to know why it let him, a scrawny nobody who was barely a person, wield its great and terrible power… but only sometimes. Most of the time, it was like this, clamped shut tighter than a clam.

"Here we are," Sirius said.

"Hey, it's locked," James frowned.

"Someone must be in there, I guess," Sirius shrugged.

"There's no one in there," Remus said. "We'd be able to hear the explosions and stuff. Avengers training is never quiet."

"Then what gives? JARVIS, why are the doors locked?"

"I'm afraid James has been banned from the Training Room," JARVIS answered from a nearby speaker.

"What? Why?" James scowled.

"Sir wishes to inform you that you are banned from all extra-curricular activities until you achieve better grades. That includes sports, clubs, and training with Cpt. Rogers."

"But that's not fair!" James complained.

"Sorry, James," Sirius said. "Better luck next week, I suppose."

"Finally getting some consequences for your actions, Potter?" Lily walked past.

"Buzz off, Evans," James grumbled. "Where're you headed?"

"Hawkeye is going to teach me how to make the mixture in his expanding foam arrows. I'm going to compare it to your potion and see which is best."

"Have fun," James snarked at her back. "Why did we bring her along with us."

"Because she's Moony's friend," Sirius said.

"Why are you friends with her?"

"Because she's nice to me," Remus said. "And she doesn't bully me into doing her homework for her." That was a bit unfair. James didn't bully him, he just manipulated him with his stupid, big doe eyes and sad, pouty face. "Maybe she's right, James. You… usually get off light for things you really shouldn't. I guess you'll have to get used to not being the Perfect Potter on this side of the interdimensional rift, mate."

"Why are you being mean to me, too?"

"Moony's right, James. You do slack off school work a lot."

"It's not my fault I'm rubbish with school work. I do alright on tests, I don't see what the point of homework is. Besides, Moony has fun doing assignments!"

"Oh, so you were doing me a favor by coercing me into doing your work for you? I see now. Thank you ever so much, I'll never be able to repay you."

"There's no need to sass me," James pouted.

James felt so frustratingly small. He went to Tony to beg to be let into the training room with Sirius and Remus. Tony promised he'd be allowed in as soon as he finished his English assignment. James felt that was dumb. He already spoke English, why did he have to take a class in it? To be fair, it wasn't that he felt English class was dumb more than trying to do any homework assignment made him feel dumb. Hence why he felt so frustrated.

He stared at the worksheet numbly, watching with halfhearted interest as the letters moved around the page, blurring together. He could get them to sit still if he strained hard enough, but he was already feeling dreadful and he was certain the effort would only make the numbness in his head worse. What he needed was something to wake his brain up. Running around with Sirius never made him feel this groggy. It wasn't fair.

"Jimbo, are… are you crying?" Tony looked up from the robot head he was working on.

"No," James sniffled. "They just won't sit still."

"What won't sit still?" Tony put down his soldering iron and came over.

"The letters," James said. "Usually I can get them to behave, honest. I know everyone else is better at it than me but trying is just… really hard right now and…"

"James, what do you mean the letters are moving around?" Tony sounded really concerned now. That scared James a little.

"The letters," James frowned. "You know, how they move when you're not really looking at them?" He had to know what James was talking about. Everyone could see the letters move, couldn't they?

"Jimbo, buddy," Tony grimaced. "Letters aren't supposed to move around."

Oh no. James scrunched his face up and glared at the paper, "Then what? Someone hexed me or the paper… but they've always been like this… how can you not see it?"

"When you… ask Remus and Meriam for help, do they write your essay for you or do you dictate what you want them to write?"

"I dunno, I mean I tell them what I want it to be about…" James admitted. "I know it's wrong but focusing on this stuff on my own makes my head all fuzzy. And my handwriting is atrocious. I tried doing my own work with the tutors Meriam and I had before Hogwarts, but they kept getting mad at me for poor handwriting and made me practice my letters more, even though that never helped. Meriam was the one who offered to write my work for me. She… made up a different handwriting for me so no would notice. We didn't know it was wrong."

Tony looked really concerned now.

"I thought that the letters and numbers were supposed to move around," James whined. "They move around for Meriam, too."

"Numbers too?" Tony was properly panicking now. "Uh, wait… right here, I've got to… I'll be right back just… keep trying, I guess. Don't touch anything."

Tony left him there, alone in the lab to stew over the stupid moving letters. James was not convinced they weren't supposed to move, but he glared at them accusingly nonetheless. This was going to be a long four years.

Tony didn't really think about the potential disaster that was leaving James unattended in the lab. All he could think was he needed to talk to Steve right now immediately. He found Steve contentedly preparing dinner in the common area kitchen. Thor and Hulk were playing SHIELD of Honor in the game area.

"Steve, we made a mistake," Tony worried.

"What?"

"Okay, so we both thought we needed to be more strict with James, right? Because we thought he was bullying Remus and Meriam into doing his work for him?"

"He… was?" Steve said. "And we're very disappointed in him."

"Yes, I know but… I think the kid's got dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and possible also some ADHD to boot and…"

"I don't know what those are," Steve frowned.

"He can't get his handwriting to look good and letters and numbers move around. It's a clinical thing, not a… not a lack of attention, which is actually the ADHD but that's also a brain thing, not his fault. Meriam apparently has the dyslexia and dyscalculia too, which made them think it was normal and…"

"Tony, you're rambling."

"Kid's got problems that aren't his fault and he was doing his best to work around them and we got mad at him instead of helping him. We should have been helping him."

"We are helping him."

"School's dumb!" Hulk shouted from the couch.

"Don't you have seven PhDs?" Tony snapped back.

"Yeah," Hulk grunted. "Doesn't mean school's not dumb."

"I agree with Hulk," Thor said. "You put too much weight on a learning hall that does not even teach the proper handling of a sword. How will he protect himself with nonsense like numbers? Though I do see the merit in Dodge the Ball. A fine training exercise!"

"That's not… what Earth school is about, Thor," Steve said.

"Shit, I left him alone in the lab," Tony gasped. "I'll be right back."

James was seconds away from bashing his head into the table until he didn't feel anything anymore. If the letters weren't supposed to move around and evade him, then why the hell were they? This was so unfair James couldn't even figure out where the joke was.

It was a good thing Meriam slipped into the lab. He only noticed her because of his new and improved ungulate sense of smell. That, and the door sung open on its own, which it was programmed not to do. This was perfect, because James needed a distraction. He knew he couldn't ask her for help because JARVIS would surely rat them out if he did. But they had convinced JARVIS not to rat them out if they were doing any pranking or secret superhero stuff. JARVIS was cool like that.

"Meriam?"

"Oh, hey, James," Meriam pulled the hood off and smiled at him.

"You here for supplies for that project you're working on? The one for Christmas?"

"No, the other more secret one. Do you know when Tony's getting back?"

"He said he'd be back pretty quickly," James said. "Why?"

"We don't have much time. I need 30 yards of different colored Kevlar suit mesh."

"Yeah, sure, what colors?" James sprung up from his seat.

Meriam looked down into the cloak were she no doubt had a list of supplies, "Patriot red, patriot blue, sky blue, ice blue, midnight blue, black, goldenrod sunrise, Widow aubergine, Irish green, olive green, and dark forest green."

"That's a lot of colors."

"I'm making a lot of things. Here, I've got the color samples so you don't have to make the words behave too much," There was the sound of tearing paper. "You get this half and I'll get the other half."

"I'm pretty sure the only color he's got dyed right now is Patriots red and blue and maybe Widow aubergine."

"No, I know. I've got JARVIS dying the fabrics while Tony's out, so we just need to find the right drawers," Meriam said. "They're already cut to the right lengths."

"Alright, let's do this," James said. He wasn't entirely sure what Meriam wanted that much Kevlar mesh, but he was not one to question the law skirting pursuits of his sister.

They managed to get all the fabric bolts into the bag Meriam brought with her with what was hopefully time to spare. Meriam was about to slip back out of the room with Tony none the wiser when she saw the robot head he was working on.

"What's wrong?"

"I have a bad feeling about that robot," Meriam said. "I can't place my finger on it. It was like… déjà vu or something, but I know I've never seen it before."

"Good déjà or bad déjà?"

"Bad," Meriam said.

"Well, Tony's making it, so I guess the worst that can happen is it'll go a bit loopy. Like when the miniaturized cleaning bots got un-miniaturized and thought we were dust mites."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Meriam said. She pulled her gaze form the robot and pulled the cloak over her head just in time to slip out before Tony returned.

Meriam didn't usually get that look on her face, but James was sure it wasn't anything big. Tony would never build something that would actually hurt anyone.

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