'So how's work?'

James glanced up at the screen, smiling at the girl shown there. Sophie's pink and purple hair had been pinned back at the sides and she was grinning mischievously at him. James smoothed down his short black curls, making sure his glasses were on straight. He glanced at the nearest mirror, wincing at the spots on his tanned skin and bags beneath his brown eyes. So much for looking good for the girlfriend.

'I thought you were meant to be cut off from all communication.'

'I was. Did you really think I would stay cut off?'

For a moment the two just stared at each other, eyebrows quirked. Finally, James smiled and Sophie laughed, the two descending into giggles as James tried to type on the other computer.

'Work's good.' He said eventually, continuing to write. 'I have to get this article finished for tomorrow. Oh, don't let me forget to interview you.'

'Interview me?' Sophie said with a coy grin. 'Why ever would you need to do that?'

He rolled his eyes, typing the last few words of his article. 'The boss wants me and Pete to do this six page spread on the Avengers for the New York anniversary. I need interviews and pictures of everyone.'

'You've got months.'

'Four.' James pointed out. 'It's just lucky I knew about this before the Asgardians left. I'd never be able to complete it otherwise.'

Sophie smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. They were silent for a moment until she spoke, voice low. 'We're avoiding the subject.'

He nodded, not meeting her eyes. 'Completely ignoring it.'

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. 'Do you know what happened?'

He shook his head, staring into space. 'I spoke to Howie yesterday morning, before everything happened. Hung up, got on with work, and then someone rushed into the office saying the Stark Mansion had been blown up.'

'So you don't know anything?' Sophie frowned.

'No more than you.' James sighed. 'How did you find out about it?'

'One of our dick trainers decided it would be funny to tell Lizzie when she was swinging from the high wire. She barely managed to hold on.'

'Asshole.' He scowled, eyes narrowing. 'Was she okay?'

'Yeah, yeah.' Sophie said quickly. 'She made the swing alright and got to sit back as our handler shouted at the trainer for twenty minutes.'

'Brilliant.' James grinned, though it was a sad excuse for a smile. 'What did the guy say to her?'

'The trainer? Told her godfather and boyfriend had been found at the bottom of the sea. I think he said more but she won't tell me.'

'Well, its a lie, tell her that. They haven't found the bodies yet, I know that at least.'

'Yet? You think they're dead?'

'I dunno.' James muttered, looking up at the knock on his door. 'I gotta go, that's probably JJ. I call you as soon as I know something.'

'Okay. Love you.'

'Love you too.' He smiled, closing the window. He looked up at the door. 'Come in.'

The door opened, the person stood there holding several flat boxes and smiling beneath a hood. The boxes were resting on his right hand and he used the left one to wave.

'Pizza for a J Banner.'

James' face pinched at the weirdly deep voice, as if the guy was purposefully disguising his voice. James moved his hand to the topmost drawer on the left, where the taser Natasha had given him for his birthday was hidden.

'I didn't order pizza.' He said, pulling the drawer open.

'No? One meat feast, one ham and pineapple and one margarita. You don't want these?'

He tilted his head and smirked under his hood. James glared slightly.

'My favourite, Howie's favourite and Pete's favourite. What are you trying to pull?'

'Why don't you take the pizza and find out?' The boy said, clearly enjoying himself. He held the boxes out, James scowling up at him. Holding the taser in one hand, he took the pizza with the other, staring down at the familiar metal hand beneath it.

'Surprise!' The boy laughed, knocking his hoody off. 'Miss me.'

'You bastard.' James said, setting the pizzas and taser down and standing up. 'You complete bastard.'

'Well, yeah, tell me something I don't know.'

Howie grinned, opening his arms wide. James laughed, vaulting over the table to grab his friend in a hug. Howie struggled to catch the 5'3" boy before they both fell to the floor, both their glasses falling off. Both of them were laughing fully by the time Howie shoved James away, grabbing his pizza and sitting on Peter's desk. James picked up his own pizza, sitting opposite the older boy and shaking his head. He grabbed the glasses off the floor, handing Howie his as he grinned.

'I can't believe you did that.'

'Don't act like you're not impressed.' Howie smiled through a mouthful of food.

'Oh, it was definitely impressive.' James shrugged. 'Just really cheesy.'

Howie pulled a face. 'It's your dad's trick.'

'Exactly. Papa's trick for picking up girls, that's how cheesy it is. He hasn't used it in over ten years.'

'That's what you think.' Howie said with a raised eyebrow. James rolled his eyes, kicking Howie in the shin. 'Ow! We talked about this, regular people strength remember.'

'Whatever.' James smirked. 'How'd you survive anyway? And how d'you get here so fast?'

'Both those questions can be answered with one answer.' Howie held his hand out, concentrating. A portal, about the size of James' chest appeared between them, a second one appearing behind Howie. With a blink from the older boy, the portals moved so they were either side of him, though they did lose some of their size. Howie dropped his hand and glanced up at James, smiling, as the portals disappeared.

The younger boy raised an eyebrow, looking lost. 'I don't understand.'

Howie's face dropped. 'I'm a mutant. So's my mum, apparently.'

James nodded a couple times, face still blank. 'And a mutant is...'

'Like the X-Men.' Howie said, exasperated. 'Seriously, you work at a newspaper, how do you still not know these things?'

'Hey, I didn't have a TV growing up...or a radio...or access to any form of communication.'

'And yet you still know how everything in our dads' labs works.'

'Well, yeah.' James defended, looking put out. 'I didn't get fairytales as a kid, Papa got me to sleep by...did you hear that?'

Howie glanced up, eyes wide. There was talking outside the door, despite the office being on the top floor and the only one in use on the floor. Howie grabbed his pizza, jumping under James' desk and pressing himself against the wood there. James pulled his chair under, his legs pressing against Howie's side. Howie's metal hand wrapped around James' ankle, the older boy clearly shaking.

The door opened, Peter walking in with a phone pressed to his ear. James visibly relaxed as the teenager sat down, still talking.

'Yes, Wade, I'll talk to you later. No, no, I'll call you. Text me then I'll call you back if its okay. Okay, bye Wade.'

Peter put the phone down, sighing. James raised an eyebrow, shaking off Howie's grip. 'Boyfriend giving you trouble?'

Peter glared at him. 'Shut up, Wade's not my boyfriend. He's just a...stalker.'

'Yeah, I'm sure. Is that what you tell Gwen?' James smirked, standing up to close the door. Peter raised an eyebrow as he locked it but didn't say anything. The teen looked around, eyes landing on the pizza boxes.

'You bought pizza?'

'Um, yeah?' James said, not sounding convinced himself. Beneath the table, Howie rolled his eyes. 'I got you margarita, your favourite, right?'

Peter accepted the pizza with squinted eyes. 'You didn't buy this.'

'What? Yes I did.'

'No because you don't like margarita, you think it's boring. And you only ever buy food you like, regardless of who you're buying for. You would not buy this, what are you trying to pull?'

James sighed, hitting his desk with his knee. Frowning, Howie climbed out, waving at Peter.

'I bought the pizza. And you're lucky he thinks its boring, its the only reason I know you like it.'

Peter turned his gaze to James, clearly annoyed. 'James.'

'Yes, Pete?'

'Why is there a dead guy in our office?'

Howie pulled a face, his eyes narrowing. 'Why does no one react to that?'

'Dude, you've only been alive like, eight months. That's about as long as James' relationship.'

The youngest of the three glared as the other two laughed. 'Why do you have to bring my relationship into everything?'

'Because it's hilarious.' Peter grinned, holding his hand out to Howie. 'Peter Parker.'

'Howard Stark. Howie.' Howie grinned, shaking Peter's hand with his metal one. His eyes narrowed at the back of his hand, some of the wiring sticking out. He started fiddling with it, half listening to the others.

'Nice to meet you. When are we going?'

James beamed, Peter apparently having said exactly the right thing. 'You don't mind then.'

'Course I don't mind. When are we going?'

Howie stopped, face furrowing slightly in confusion. He tapped his ear, trying to get FRIDAY to give him some information. Finally, something flashed up on screen, even as James and Peter smirked at him, very smug.

'Is this helpful, sir?' FRIDAY said as he read the screen. Her voice was as pompous as the others' faces.

'Oh yes.' He said under his breath before looking up at Peter. He raised his voice, holding his hand out again. 'Nice to meet you, Spiderman. Where were you in New York?'

The grin on Peter's face dropped while the one on James' only increased. Both younger boys laughed as Peter glared at the Banner boy.

'You told him?'

'Nope.' Howie grinned, taking off his glasses. 'I just have an excellent AI and a brilliant IQ. Now, can I use your computer.'

James nodded, gesturing for Howie to sit down. Peter glanced between them.

'I assume we're going on a road trip. James has been insisting I do some superhero stuff with you guys since he found out.'

'We are, you're not.' Howie sat down at the desk, pulling the end of his glasses frame and plugging them into the usb slot. 'We need to be convert, can't have extra people tagging along.'

'Covert? So you're taking Monstrosity.' Peter ignored James' noise of protest. 'Besides how are you going to get there, hm? Unless your mutant ability is that good.'

Howie looked up, eyes narrowed. James raised his hands at Peter, trying to ask a question without speaking and annoying Howie more.

The teenage rolled his eyes. 'You have patches of purple skin under your chin and in your hairline. Mutant's a pretty easy guess.'

James stared intently and Howie blushed, turning back to the screen. James tilted his head, throwing his pizza box in the bin. 'What are you doing?'

'Finding the Mandarin's base.' Howie shrugged, eating his last slice. 'FRIDAY already decrypted the file, she just needed an easier access to the internet to pinpoint it. And, hear we are.'

Howie scanned the screen, rolling his eyes. 'Miami, Florida. I was just in Florida, this is ridiculous.'

'And now we're going back with you.' Peter said, throwing the last of his pizza in the bin. 'Grab your stuff, I'll drive.'

James grinned, Howie rolling his eyes at both of them.

'Fun fact.' Maya said, her eyes distant. 'Before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Werner von Braun dreamed of space travel... he stargazed.'

Pepper frowned sympathetically. She wanted to say something, but she could tell the other woman wasn't finished, and needed to get things off her chest.

'You know what he said when the first V2 hit London? The rocket performed perfectly. It just landed on the wrong planet.' Maya looked Pepper dead in the eyes, a haunted look behind her irises. 'See we all begin wide-eyed... "pure science". Then the ego steps in, the obsession. And when you look up, you're a long way from shore.'

'You can't be too hard on yourself, Maya.' Pepper said, feeling now would be a good time to talk. Maya seemed so broken. 'I mean you gave your research to a think tank.'

'Yeah but Killian built that think tank on military contracts.'

'That's exactly what we used to do.' Pepper smiled slightly. 'So don't judge yourself.'

'Thank you, Pepper. I really appreciate that.'

There was a knock on the door and Pepper stood, glad for the distraction. She herself had a lot on her mind and needed to keep her mind off the boys. She had tried to ring James Banner, first at the Bugle, then at Stark Tower but both offices had said he wasn't there, he had just shot off in the middle of the night. She had worried about the boy for a while but realised he and his dad had been on the run his whole life and he was used to hiding. James had probably gotten scared when Stark Mansion was attacked and decided to lay low for a bit. Didn't explain why his partner at the Bugle had also disappeared.

Pepper opened the door, forcing a smile on her face as the room service man looked up slightly. Maya must have ordered something.

'Hi, good evening.' She said, keeping her voice calm.

'Good evening.' He said, the voice making Pepper frown.

'Come on in.' She said, opening the door fully. As the man walked in, he raised his head completely, grinning at Pepper. She flinched away, turning and screaming. 'Maya, run!'

Killian grabbed her throat, shutting the door behind him. He smiled at her again, incredibly smug. 'Hi Pepper.'

Maya looked up and for a second Pepper thought she was going to help her. But instead, Maya just tilted her at Killian, looking annoyed more than anything else.

He raised an eyebrow. 'So you want to tell me why you were at Stark's mansion last night?'

Maya glared at him. 'I'm trying to fix this thing. I didn't know you and the Master were gonna blow the place up.'

Pepper clawed at Killian's arm, to no avail. His grip around her neck merely tightened briefly and he didn't even look at her.

'Oh I see.' He said, almost sarcastically. His words were slow, like he wanted the two women to take in every syllable. 'So you were trying to save Stark...when he...threatened us?'

'I told you, Killian.' Maya said, her face pinching slightly. 'We can use him.'

While he was looking away, Pepper tried to hit Killian's face, stretching her arms out as far as she could. He finally glanced back at her, shaking his head slightly. He opened his mouth, clearly ready to start a monologue.

'Pepper, Pepper, Pepper-'

'Look, if we to launch product next year, I need Stark.' Maya said, glaring at Killian and catching his attention. 'He just lacked a decent incentive. Now he has one.'

Killian tilted his head to the side, looking at Pepper critically. 'I'd have preferred the boy. Romantic relationships can be... temperamental but any good father will do anything for his kids.'

'I tried to get Howie.' Maya shrugged. 'But this'll do, won't it?'

Killian smirked. 'Yes. I suppose it will.'