Knock, Knock, Knock.

I hear as I was awaken from my sleep. I roll over and glance over at the clock. It read one am. Who would wake me up at one am?

I through on a sweatshirt as I crutched towards the door.

Outside the door was Tony standing with a grin on his face. Behind I could see Peter leading on the right side of the wall with an equally large grin on his face. Harley was leaning on the left side of the wall with a smirk on his face.

I gave Tony a question look.

"You my friend have been invited to join an exclusive club call E.S.P.I.O.N.A.G.E, Eluding Scary Pepper In Our Nightime Additional Guytime Excursions."

"Did you just make that up?"

Harley shook his head, "When we frst started working at night he came up with the acronym. He has a thing for them. It's weird."

Tony glared at him, "It's not. Anyways, come on. It'll be fun and a good chance for you all to get to know each other."

I sighed. I was already up plus I missed working in the lab. "Fine. I'm in."

The four of us continued across the hall into the garage/lab that lit up as soon as Tony scanned his handprint. Harley and Peter both ran over to their work spaces eager to work on their unfinished projects. I crutched slower behind them to my own work station.

Peter grabbed a pencil and sat down to finish some work. He glances at Tony, "I've recheck everything so I think we're ready to try another experiment."

Tony nods and Peter runsaround getting stuff. I sketch him moving around lightly in pencil.

I stop when I realize Tony's looking straight at me with a smirk on his face, "Hey AJ, you want to help Peter with his experiment?"

I looked at him in shock as Peter calls over his shoulder, "It probably won't work but I need to remember what this failed batch feels like. It'll be fun, though."

"Fine. What do you need me to do?"

Peter and I ended up mixing a bunch of boiling chemicals until they began to harden like a stiff glue. Tony and Harley were both tinkering on a robot and keeping an eye on us from the corner of their eyes.

After mixing for about a minute, Peter took some of the glue from the jar.

"Now, we have to test it."

He held his finger to his lips to indicated for me to be quiet while gesturing to Tony and Harley who's backs were turned. He threw some of it on the ceiling and tugged on the long strand that fell down. It stuck. He then attached a very heavy Chem book on the other end that held too.

We silently cheer and have big cheesy grins on our faces when we hear Tony clears his throat.

We both turn around guiltily.

"Who said you could test your glue on the ceiling?"

"We needed the height?" Peter said nervously.

"Sure you did. Clean it up before Pep sees."

Peter nodded as the grin returned to his face, "It worked! I thought this was a bad batch, so thanks for tampering with it Tony."

Tony looks at me as if to ask permission to tell the truth of who actually did it. I nod slowly and he says, "I didn't do anything. It was AJ."

I could feel the blush creeping across my skin.

"AJ?" he asks turning to face me.

"The formula was off so i fixed it for you."

His eyebrows raise in surprise, "You know advanced chemistry?"

"No. I just noticed something off with a pattern. That's all."

Harley spun around, "You noticed a pattern? Come take a look at this and tell me if you find an error."

I crutched over with Peter behind me in shock. I looked at all the wires that the machine was built off. Something was off about the right side of it. I scanned a little more before pulling out two of the wires and switching their places.

"That should fix it," I say as Harley gives me a skeptical look.

"Fri, scan for any abnormalities in the motor."

"Everything appears to be correct now," the AI answered as Harley stares at me.

"Do you know anything about machines?"

I shake my head, "Not really. Besides jumping a car."

They both stare at me impressed before glancing at Tony for an explanation. He shrugs, "According to the school he's probably a genius but it's untested."

They turn back and look at each other. They apparently have a silent conversation because they both nod and look at me.

"You wanna help with our other projects? We could teach to apply the stuff you notice. Plus it'll be way better than having to listen to Tony's boring explanations," Harley said and Peter chimed in with a ya.

"Hey! My explanations are detailed so you idiots don't get hurt. Also, you two better not corrupt Pepper's favorite. She'll kill you two."

Peter pouted, "I thought was Pepper's favorite."

Tony shrugged, "AJ quickly won her heart."

I shrug, "Um...I guess it'll be fun. I've never done much with building stuff."

Tony scoffs, "What do you call building molds of my handprints?"

"That was different," I argue.

"You built molds of his handprints?!" Peter asks surprise and confusion written over his and Harley's faces.

I nod as a smirk grows slowly over my face, "Yep. I was up one night and I noticed the lock on the garage door. I picked it and saw the lab doors locked with the fingerprint scanners. I created a mold and dusted for fingerprints. When I found them, I put it on the mold and waited for it to dry. It didn't work but Tony let me see the lab anyway."

"You got balls kid," Harley says shaking his head obviously impressed.

Peter was grinning, "Dude that's awesome! How'd you make the mold?"


I smile slightly to myself as I watch Peter, Harley, and AJ discuss potential projects. Part of me knows that I'll regret introducing them but it surprisingly makes me feel good to see them interacting. Their presence makes AJ come out of his shell a lot more. He seems relaxed. A look I rarely see on him.

Peter and Harley are both enjoying having him around too. I think they enjoy having a "little brother". Don't get me wrong; I know they love Morgan but she's young. AJ's moore capable of doing stuff that they find fun. Plus Peter has someone to share Harley's teasing with.

Something about watching them interact felt right. I know AJ isn't permanently part of this family yet but I know he's not leaving it. I won't bring up my thoughts to Pepper just quite yet but I hope she feels the same way.

My thoughts are interrupted by Peter waving me over to settle some debate they're having. Yeah, this is right.


Last night went by much too fast for me and I think Peter and Harley to. We ended up discussing some epic pranks to play on Tony rest of night. The man was barely paying attention to us which Harley said was a good thing because we had to use some of the labs materials.

Apparently we're not allowed in the lab today because Tony and Pepper have a meeting with the board of Stark Industries that they couldn't move no matter how much they tried. They were leaving Harley and Peter to babysit me and Morgan. We decided that today would be the perfect day to prepare to prank Tony.

We decided to set up a series of machines that would silently trigger and dump slime on Tony when he walked through the doorway tonight. Admittedly this good backfire and get Pepper but I plan to send her a quick heads up before they get home. None of us are dumb enough to risk Pepper's wrath.

Morgan was really excited to be included in our plot. We spent the entire day setting up. When Tony walks through the door he'll step on an invisible and light string so he won't feel it. That'll trigger a pulley system that will dump a bucket of slime on him. We'll be watching from Morgan's room on a small camera. The probability that Tony will blow in front of Morgan is low. Plus, we'll get a kick out of it.

Tonights going to be fun.


"Pep," I whisper as we listen to the board of directors talk, "how much longer is this meeting? And why did I have to be here?"

She manages to whisper back with the smile still plastered on her face as she says, "You have to be here because Mr. Steele refused to make this groundbreaking deal to help homeless children without meeting Ironman. Now shush. We should be done soon."

I groan internally as turn back to paying attention to the business man who hadn't stopped talking for hours. I was hoping I would be home to hang out with the boys for a little longer before they left for the week but I don't think that's going to happen. At least everyone's bonding.


"Dude! There's no way you guys won Mario Kart for the tenth time!" I practically shout as Morgan and Peter both break out into grins and high five.

Peter shrugs, "I'm just really good a Mario Kart. Morgan knows how to pick a teammate."

I gesture towards Harley, my partner, "Why didn't you guys warn me that he was terrible?!"

Morgan smirks, "It's an experience everyone has to have."

Harley looks up in mock anger, "Hey! I'm not that bad!"

I look at him, "Dude you came in dead last every single time."

He glares, "Well yeah at least I'm better than all of you in real life."

"Doesn't count," Morgan said very matter of factly.

"Oh really?" he asks as Peter and I burst out laughing as Morgan nods.

Before Harley can retort Friday interrupts.

"Peter you asked to be alerted when was about to approach the porch. He is approximately five minutes from your trap."

"Thanks Fri," Peter says as we all scramble to turn the tv off and put everything away and get up to Morgan's room. The lights were already off so it looked like we were sleeping.

As we walked up the stairs Peter tensed briefly.

I turn around, "You okay dude?"

"Uh...yeah. Come on," he says nervously as we climb the rest of the staircase.

We get up to Morgan's room where we find Harley and Morgan already cuddling around her ipad. Peter closes the door behind him and we all collapse on the bed preparing to laugh. I keep glancing at Peter. He still seems tense.

After about a minute we see two figures approaching. Both were obviously male and did not look like Tony or Pepper.

"Who are they?" Morgan asks.

"Friday?" Harley asks.

"Boss and Miss Potts."

We all exchange looks and Harley and Peter spring into action.

They both quickly climb off the bed with Peter picking Morgan up and Harley helping me stand. They quickly walk us over to the closet with Peter whispering comforting things to Morgan. Harley looks me straight in the eye.

"Ok so something is going on and Peter and I are going to try to find out what but whatever happens protect Morgan. Do not leave that closet unless absolutely necessary. Got it?"

I nod and I slide into the closet and Peter places Morgan on my lap.

He gives me a reassuring smile and says, "Ok Morg. Remember this is like hide and seek? No talking."

She nods and holds on to me tighter. Peter closes the door and I hear them leave to go downstairs.

It's quiet for a moment but then I hear a scream from outside from where one of the guys got covered in slime. That's when all hell must've broke loose.

I could hear shouting and bullets flying from downstairs. I tried to cover Morgan's ears but I know she could still hear. She was clinging to me and crying. As it got more intense downstairs, I pretty sure I heard more guys entering the house. I could hear them coming up the stairs.

I turned towards Morgan, "Ok Morgan you're going to have to let go of me. We need to get somewhere safe. Do you trust me?"

She nods and we both stand. I grab one of my crutches and stand wobbly on my good leg. I push Morgan behind me and I wait.

Suddenly the door flies open and I guy has a smirk growing on his face as I whack him as hard as I can with my crutch. He screams in pain.

"Come On Morgan!" I say as we make our way out. He grabs for me and I hit again and then again in the nuts. I could clearly hear the gunfire from downstairs.

I throw her bedroom door open and run towards the back staircase that lead closer to my room. I left the guy screaming behind me but I knew he would catch up soon.

When we got down the stairs I could hear the guy above us limping and wandering around confused. He may take a little longer than I thought to find the staircase. That was fine with me.

I check the hallway that my room and the garage were in. It was clear for now. I put my finger to my lip and gesture for Morgan to stay still. Earlier I saw Pepper put bobby pins in her hair to lay it down and took those out now to pick the lock. My entire escape plan was banking on the fact that someone had hacked Friday and she might let me in the lab. Hopefully she thought anyone was Tony.

I got the door open and we both slide in. I shut it behind me and breathe a small sigh of relief. I glance at the handprint scanner. I stretch my fingers as wide as possible and lay my hand on the scanner and hold my breath praying that Friday was broken. Our lives depend on it. It...

*Cliffhanger! Won't be updating for about a week because of vacation, sorry! Hope you guys enjoyed this longer chapter until then. Who thinks it worked?