"Dad needs to hit Loki's head really, really hard!" Harry tells the other superheroes, trying to hold the medicine ball and point to Mr. Barton at the same time. "It made his bad leave. Only it didn't work when Uncle Vernon tried to wallop the freaks outta me."
Logan growls at that. Mr. Stark looks angry, and the new guy, Mr. Barton, holds his bow tightly.
They were not trying to help you, Harry. Grandpa'fessor's voice is inside Harry's head now, not outside. He's somewhere else, not in the room, unless he's invisible like Moody can be. They hit you to hurt you.
"Did you get hurt when you got hit?" Harry asks Mr. Barton, out loud instead of in his head.
"A mighty blow freed you from the scepter?" Thor pounds his big hammer into his own hand. "Mjolnir did not free Banner from his berserker form."
"But if it does free Loki, he'll go back to normal?" Steve asks, folding his arms.
"Aye," Thor says, seeming hopeful.
"That's not super reassuring, considering your childhood stories involve him literally stabbing you in the back." Mr. Stark says.
Mr. Fury still seems angry, but he agrees with Steve and Mr. Stark. "And your adult stories involve him leveling towns,"
Thor is quiet before saying "He's adopted."
"What's adopted?" Harry repeats the word carefully.
Mr. Barton crouches to be Harry's height. Harry smiles. It's nice not having to look up at all the adults.
"Adopted means that your birth mom and dad couldn't take care of you-"
"They died." Harry shares.
Mr. Barton winces and says sorry, even though he didn't kill them, the bad wizard did. "So someone else chose to be your dad."
Harry grins and squeezes his arms around Dad's legs. He tells Mr. Barton and Thor about having a whole X-Family now. "Mr. Stark's my other, other dad, only Ms. Jean's not my other mum. But I have a grandpa'fessor, and Logan, and a big blue doctor." Harry sighs. "And Steve."
"Yeah, he and your dad were like brothers." Mr. Barton says.
"I wish Loki took the news as well as you." Thor tells Harry, sort of sadly. "No matter what Loki may believe, he will always be my brother. The scepter hold on Loki may be hard to break."
Harry holds up his medicine ball, almost dropping it on his head. Dad snatches it out of the air and says "No."
"It's not medicine." Mr. Stark laughs, and Harry scowls.
"You're not that doctor," Harry reminds him, because Mr. Stark said that himself. He's some other kind of doctor that doesn't help sick people, even though that's what doctors do.
Harry looks around for Doctor Banner or Doctor Beast, but neither are here right now.
"Doctor Beast said I'm the doctor and it's medicine." Harry reaches for the ball, but Dad holds it out of reach.
"He didn't say that." Dad tells him.
"Yes he did!"
Mr. Barton starts laughing too. "Oh boy, the bluffing stage. You're in for it now, Stark."
"Yeah, and some people never grow out of it." Mr. Stark shoots a look at Miss Romanoff for some reason.
"Give it, please!" Harry stands on his tippy toes reaching for the ball, but Dad keeps it out of reach. "I'm going to heal Loki. Take his bad out. And then he has to stay in bed so there's no war."
"I have no doubt you're a fine warrior," Thor tells Harry with a wide smile, in a way Dudley never smiled at Harry. "But leave this to me."
Thor strides off with his cape billowing. Harry asks Jarvis where his and Dad's Robin and Batman capes are.
"I thought you hung up your cape. That you didn't want to be a superhero anymore," Mr. Stark says.
"But I have to, 'cos there's so many bad guys." Harry sighs. "And Dad was going to get hurt."
"I told you," Dad squats to look Harry in the eye, even more serious than usual. "I'd be hurt more if you were hurt."
Harry squints, confused. How could Dad be hurt more if Harry stopped him from getting hurt?
Dad lets out a breath and runs his metal hand through his own hair. "Don't fly your broom into battles. When I tell you to hide, you hide. Like with Jarvis."
"If I were your dad, I'd take your broom away." Mr. Barton glances from Harry to Dad.
Harry glowers. "You're not my dad."
"No motorbroom for the rest of today." Dad tells him. "Or tomorrow."
"No! I need it!" Harry cries. He tugs Dad's hand, hoping he'll change his mind.
Harry feels something hot, like when his scar's on fire, only it's in his chest. Dudley would have screamed and shouted until he got his way. Harry wants to scream too.
He stomps his foot as a test. He got treated like Dudley when he was sick, all tucked in and cared for, so maybe he can get away with this.
Harry starts to stomp toward the elevator, ready to go back to the gym to get his motorbroom, but Dad pulls him back, still crouched down.
With a shout, Harry rams his head into Dad's metal shoulder, pressing his lightning scar against Dad's star. There's no shock like when Storm shoots lightning; instead, Harry's head hurts and he sees weird colors.
Dad scoops Harry up over his shoulder, still keeping the medicine ball out of reach, and carries him into a bedroom.
Jarvis speaks from the ceiling. "I trust I need not inform you that spanking is considered an unhealthy discipline technique?"
"I'm not going to hit him," Dad mutters, then looks into Harry's eyes. "I'm not going to hit you. Ever. Besides, you're hurting yourself enough."
"Time-out is an appropriate discipline technique for toddlers. Many parents designate a space- typically a chair- to act as the time out location."
Harry can feel Dad's skin hand trembling, though his metal hand stays still. He's not really looking at Harry anymore.
"My sincerest apologies,"
Dad's still shaking, and after a bit he shakes his head. He looks at Harry again. "I'm not going to shut you away somewhere. You've had too much of that already."
"You do not need to 'shut him away' anywhere. The cells here are not for children. You merely need a safe area where Master Harry can be alone and calm himself down."
Harry was by himself in the cupboard, except for the spiders. He liked being left alone there, but he didn't like being hungry, and he starts to wonders if Dad won't give him dinner.
"I'm won't take food away either." Dad says. "Just your motorbroom. As long as you're safe with it when you get it back, I won't take it away again.."
Harry wants his motorbroom back so bad. He stamps his foot again.
"You know better ways to get your mad out. You've shown me some. You can draw. You can punch a punching bag or a pillow." Dad reaches for the pillow on the bed and passes it to Harry. "Stay here."
Dad walks out of the room, leaving the door open a bit, so Harry can see the crowd of superheroes standing in the sitting room.
"You're a bad dad!" Harry yells after him. He doesn't get it. Uncle Vernon never said "no" to Dudley. Dudley fought a lot. He hit his parents and hit Harry with toys until they broke. Dudley always got a new, better toy, and Harry always got in trouble for breaking things.
"Master Harry, I want to stress that you are not in trouble for having these emotions." Jarvis says, as calm as always. "It has been a chaotic couple of days, and it is quite understandable that you have big feelings you don't know how to handle. Some quiet time will help you calm down."
"Would I be in trouble if I throwed a fit like Dudley?" Harry knew better than to try it at the Dursleys', or even ask, but here he's loved like Dudley was.
"I would not advise behaving in such a manner. Since you are four, I am going to set a timer for four minutes." Jarvis shows a hologram and Harry stares at the numbers in confused anger.
"That's three and five." Harry jabs the floating numbers. The four's supposed to be in the middle, and the number after the five keeps changing.
Jarvis doesn't answer with words, but two holographic bulbs appear next to the numbers. See-through sand falls from the top bulb to the bottom one. Harry sticks his hand through it, trying to get the clear sand to fall faster, but it doesn't work.
He climbs on the bed to jump. It's not quite flying, but it's something he never got to do at the Dursleys. He jumps until Jarvis tells him that the timer won't start until he's sitting calmly.
Harry flops onto the bed to watch a bird fly past the window, and imagines flying over the city when he gets his motorbroom back.
Tony tries to ignore the memories of Howard casting him away, dismissing anything he did and generally treating him as a nuisance.
That's not what James is doing here. Tony's not entirely sure what James is doing, and it seems James isn't either, but Jarvis has been researching parenting. With Jarvis's help, Tony figures they can't be screwing Harry up too badly. Not that any of them are shining examples of well-adjusted adults.
The fact that Harry felt safe enough to start a tantrum seems like something to celebrate, but Tony certainly doesn't want Harry to become like his descriptions of his cousin.
James slips out of the bedroom, moving as silent as a shadow to stand next to Agent Barton. He trusted the agent surprisingly quickly considering their first interaction was a fight. Then again, Logan isn't exactly easy to get along with and James is chummier with him than with his long-lost buddy Steve.
Tony snorts at his own mental description. James isn't chummy with anyone, not even Harry.
He notices Barton studying him, and gestures to Barton's bow. "Hey, Legolas. If you want an upgrade from the middle ages, all you need to do is ask."
Barton doesn't rise to the bait. "I'm surprised you hid a kid from the press. I mean, you announced you were Iron Man."
"You're surprisingly comfortable around kids. Have you and Coulson been watching Supernanny together?" Tony counters. Seriously, the guy seems more at ease with a preschooler than any of them. "Not to mention, you're surprisingly invested in his privacy."
Barton shrugs noncommittally, face impassive, but Tony's starting to suspect he's not the only one keeping secrets. Not that spies keeping secrets is a surprise by any means.
Tony's thoughts are interrupted by the ding of the elevator and the doors opening. Professor X rolls out, followed by Thor, who has his arm draped over Loki's shoulders.
Suddenly, Harry's punishment seems inconsequential compared to whatever Loki's will be.
Several people in the room immediately tense up, and Barton slips on a pair of shades that aren't as cool as Tony's.
Tony asks "You want a drink?"
Not waiting for an answer, he saunters over to the bar, pulling decanters off the shelf. He pours several glasses and throws Logan a beer, even though he has much better alcohol.
Thor seems reluctant to let go of Loki, but eager to try the scotch. He pronounces it weak compared to Asgardian mead, and Tony makes a show of acting personally offended.
"I'm going to be good now!" Harry announces as he bursts out of the bedroom. His time-out or whatever must be up, because Jarvis and James don't tell him to go back. Harry skids to a stop, suddenly noticing Loki's arrival, and asks "Are you good now? Is your bad out?"
It's childishly simple, yet Thor also insists that his brother has returned. Harry accepts the news easily.
"My turn!" Harry insists, staring at Loki. "He's magic and you got his bad out! So now we get my bad out and I'll never be in trouble again."
Loki's green eyes aren't as crazed, but they seem to see into Harry, and he reaches out a pale, slender hand.
James pulls Harry away with a murderous glare, clearly not ready to trust Loki near his son.
"He has a parasite," Loki says. "Nothing you mortals could remove without serious injury."
"If you lay a hand on him-" James leaves the threat hanging, the servos in his prosthesis whirring ominously.
"First show us you're on our side," Thor says, pulling Loki back.
"I'd advise you be on your best behavior," Tony tells Loki sternly. "If you aren't, we've got a whole team here who can pummel you into the ground."
Tony glances at Harry and hastily adds "Not you, kiddo."
"Ah, so I get treated to your especially tender hospitality." Loki smirks. Now that his eyes are green, his resemblance to Harry is more unsettling. "Or did you threaten Agent Barton as well?"
"How come you get locked up for fighting?" Harry asks out of nowhere, seeming more cautious of Loki than scared.
"Because he did a bad thing." Tony says. Most of them have, honestly, but Harry doesn't know their whole histories.
Harry seems more confused by Tony's answer. "But Dad's not locking me up,"
Thor is gazing meaningfully at Loki. "You may be able to lessen your sentence, if you help us stop the invasion."
"That you brought," Barton points out, though with less heat than Tony expected.
Neither Thor nor Loki acknowledge Barton. Thor is still focused intently on Loki. "Show that you were not in control, that you are in control now."
"He still killed people before, when he was in control." Fury's eyes bore just as deep as Loki's.
"And you haven't?" Loki asks, with an imperiously raised brow. He'd spouted off Romanoff's dark past and hinted at James' time as an assassin. It's unsettlingly possible that he knows all of their secrets.
Tony pinches the bridge of his nose. Loki's got a point. They all got second chances, and it's only fair if Loki gets one as well. Combined, they may have killed more people on Earth than Loki has.
The elevator dings again, and Coulson joins them. "SHIELD has a habit of looking past people's pasts,"
"And looking past HYDRA." James keeps his voice deadpan. Coulson is normally unflappable, but he looks rather ashamed about that. Fury looks as angry as ever.
"So if I help you fight, I walk free?" Loki asks. "I could break out, of course, but-"
"Why does he get to fight?" Harry demands.
"Because he's a grown-up." Coulson explains, simply. "You're not old enough to be a soldier."
"Or drive," Steve adds.
"I'm old enough to fly!" Harry boasts, and his face falls comically as he remembers he's not allowed on his motorbroom. He starts to whine again, "I want to help save people,"
"You don't want to be a soldier," James says with his usual thousand-yard stare. Thor looks like he'll refute Barnes on that, but chooses not to say anything.
Barton crouches to be on Harry's level again.
"I know you're surrounded by heroes, Harry. Seems like your family's full of them." Barton must be looking around the group, though he keeps his shades on. "Is there anyone in your family who isn't a superhero?"
James gestures to himself, and Harry frowns, clearly disagreeing. He thinks for a moment.
"My Aunt and Uncle weren't." Harry says, and Barton nods.
"They sure weren't. I meant in your adopted family."
"My X-Family's all heroes!" Harry spreads his arms and legs out like an X. It's a ridiculous pose, but Harry stands confidently.
"Exactly. Of course you want to be a superhero, being surrounded by heroes. But there are so many other things you can be, right now."
"Like an engineer," Tony offers. Quite frankly, the best part of being Iron Man is making the suits. And flying, but he won't mention that to the kid whose broom's been taken away.
"On a train?" Harry asks, not particularly enthused. It's been a while since he talked about Thomas or trains. Batman had taken over, and since they've been staying at Xavier's school, he's been all about superpowers and sports in an effort to fit in with the big kids.
"I meant building things," Tony lists off examples. "Like your safe house, or the armor for the toy me. You're a creative kid."
"Or drawing," says Steve. "Sports."
Harry climbs atop one of the bar stools, hoisting himself onto the countertop.
James offers his own praise, stating Harry makes good hot cocoa and he could aspire to be a baker instead of a hero.
Harry reaches for one of the glasses on the bar.
Thankfully, Jarvis had thought ahead to stock the bar with apple juice. "This is the kid drink," Tony clarifies, pouring Harry a glass. "None of the big kids can have what I'm having, either."
Barton snorts, clearly figuring Tony hadn't been one to follow alcohol age laws.
Once Harry's finished with his juice, Tony shoos him away to play Wii or build something. Really, Harry needs to focus on being a kid, and let the adults worry about saving the world.
I keep intending to speed up the Avengers plot line and then go off on random tangents like this chapter. But I guess I like slice-of-life stuff more anyway.
I hope everyone seemed in character here, and I hope you enjoyed.