"Hit me with your best, Tin Can." Pip taunted as she and Max circled the mat. Despite his armour and flying capabilities they were surprisingly well matched.
"Bring it on, Frog." Max knew better than to make the first move and waited for her to leap.
He didn't have to wait long. Pip ran at him at full speed and slid between his legs, jabbing at the metal on the way past. Turning, he caught her wrist, and pressured her into releasing the knife. She sent a well-aimed kick at his head and loosened the wiring so his interface failed. Max slammed his palm into her ribs and Pip swept his legs out from under him and she fell to the floor. Seeing his chance, Max pinned her beneath him but she covered his visor and slipped free. Before he had the chance to rise fully she hit him with a roundhouse kick. Max barely felt it through the armour but Pip hopped away, cursing in Russian. While she was distracted Max swung a left hook at her jaw, sensing the victory. Pip ducked at the last moment and stuck a knife into the gap between two plate on his shoulder. The armour all down his left arm fell away in individual plates. Next she threw another at his right hip and soon his right leg was exposed too. Twisting his arm and kicking his shin, Pip turned him and slid one last knife between his shoulder blades. The armour fell away completely and Max turned to face her with a sigh.
"How?" He asked as he pressed a button and the suit flew into a section in the wall. "I fixed all the faults from last time and you weren't even there when I was working on it."
"The shoulders are weak points." She explained patiently. "The ball and socket joint means there are more panels and more chance of a fault. There was a slight glitch in your hip when you put the suit on and I used that to my advantage." They left the gym and headed straight to the lab to make the repairs.
"But the last one?" Max asked. "That was devastating. There shouldn't be a flaw that big anymore."
"I've been saving that one." Pip admitted sheepishly. "There are bound to be a lot of flaws in this suit though-you've only had it three weeks. We put weeks worth of work into the last one and this is bigger so it's going to be more open to weakness. We just need to keep improving it."
The lab Tony had built for the three kids was huge and extremely well equipt. Pip couldn't work much of the machinery but the Stark children were in their element. Max mainly used the technology to improve his beloved suit but Emily was a real wiz-kid. At nine years old she had built her own robot dog, interrogated camouflage invisibility into her suit and hacked into almost every organisation possible.
"Hey, Ems." Pip greeted her as they entered the room. "Yes, hello to you too, Nuts." She added when the lively robotic dog barked at her.
"Hi." The girl replied distractedly and continued to type.
"Who are you hacking?" Max asked.
"NASA."
"Anything interesting?" They walked up behind her at watch the numbers flicking across the screen.
"I don't know yet- they upped security. Ha!" She gave a cry of victory and gestured at the logo on the screen. "I'm in. The Mars rover is falling apart again, that's nothing new. And a meteor is going to come pretty close next week, it might hit the moon." She closed the tap and turned to face them. "And what can I do for you?" Emily asked her seniors.
"Pip broke my suit. Again." Max explained. Opening a panel in the wall he revealed the mess of components that served as a suit of armor not five minutes prior.
"Nicely done." Emily whistled and gave the other girl a hi five. Moving the pieces to a bench she sorted through them. "It's not even broken." She announced after a few minutes. "Look." Emily pressed a button on the metal bracket round her brothers wrist and stood back as the pieces flew onto him, forming armour once more.
"That's great but Pip can still whip my ass." Max reminded her.
"Pip. Hit him." Emily instructed and a knife flew from Phillipa's hand before Max had a chance to protest. It hit his shoulder again and armour fell away.
"Ok." Emily frowned in concentration as she pulled up a hologram of the suit and zoomed in on the flaw. Max stared at Pip in betrayal. She gave him a wicked grin, twirling the next knife in her hand. Max opened the slot on his armoured shoulder to reveal rows of paintballs. He raised an eyebrow in challenge.
"Should we add an extra plate or change the wiring?" Emily mused, unaware of the silent battle above her head.
"What about extending that one. "Pip suggested. "I can only get a knife in when Max's arm is at a certain angle and that would cover the gap."
"That might work." Emily grinned and got out her welder.
They were still working when Steve came in to tell them to go to bed. "Stop." He commanded in the voice that made everyone listen. They froze. "Weapons down." He told them with mock anger. Pip didn't move. "A pencil counts if you're a Barton. Put it down." She stuck out her tongue but put the pencil down anyway. "Good. Now go upstairs and get ready for bed."
"But Uncle Steve-" Came the collective complaint.
"No buts." He said sternly. "You've got school tomorrow and even superheroes need their sleep." Steve herded the reluctant children into the elevator.
"Dad doesn't sleep." Emily muttered.
Steve sighed. "Yeah, we're still working on that."
Ok, that's me out of stories for now. Do you want more of school life, home life or earlier stuff?