"It tested well with focus groups, alright?" Rhodey explained the next day at Neptune's Net over lunch. The place had okay seafood, overpriced beer, and a big patio full of Malibu beachgoers. Importantly, it was only ten miles from the mansion and saw enough celebrities that Tony could eat there in relative peace.

"I am Iron Patriot," the billionaire mocked, doing a gravelly voice. "It sucks!"

"Listen! 'War Machine' was a little too aggressive, alright? This sends a better message."

"Is this like the New Coke, thing?" Harry checked. Like many kids, he was fascinated by why Coke was called Coca-Cola Classic, and had looked it up. "You know, the sweeter formula tested well in small doses with focus groups, but nobody wanted to drink a whole can?"

"See! The kid gets it," Tony waved as if that was his victory point. "I'm not saying that War Machine was perfect, but at least it had some style. And you let another bunch of idiots touch the suit again!"

"You're not a government arms contractor anymore!" Rhodey argued, and then backpedaled, "Which is fine. But I legally can't give you the suit to work on."

"It's my suit. I'm just loaning it to you. I could work on my suit."

"I think Aunt Pepper technically lost that case," Harry corrected. She'd worked on the lawsuit for a while after the incident with Hammer, but even a company as big as Stark Industries couldn't win against the federal government when they really wanted to own an Iron Man suit.

Rhodey continued, "And we had a third party do diagnostics to make sure there aren't any backdoors, like with Hammer. I can seal the damned thing like I'm a ninja turtle."

"Hey! That would be a better name than Iron Patriot," Tony figured. "Give it a coat of green paint. I bet whoever owns the ninja turtles would pay you for that product placement."

"It would probably test better with millennials," Harry agreed.

"Yeah," the Air Force captain sighed, realizing he probably would rather be Ninja Turtle than Iron Patriot. "I'm not a ninja, though."

"Speaking of which, you know who is? The real Mandarin," Tony got to the point he'd invited Rhodey out to make. "The guy on TV is some kind of fake."

"So fake he's done nine bombings?" Rhodey revealed, then covered, "That's classified, by the way. Public only knows about three. Covered under SHIELD NDAs, or whatever, for both of you."

"He's taken credit for nine bombings," Harry argued. "Did he ever send any warnings in advance? Riddler clues that make sense afterwards?"

"What kind of idiot would paint a target the size of the US military on their back if they weren't really doing it?" the pilot asked, not saying no. "I mean, sure, sometimes you get multiple terrorist groups trying to claim bombings, and you have to figure out which one really did it. But nobody else is claiming this."

"Did you actually ask the Ten Rings?" Tony suggested. "Bet they're pretty pissed this white guy is pretending to be them."

"Do you have a phone number for them?" The question was asked of both Avengers.

"I might be able to find out," Harry admitted. "But I don't want to get on their radar at all. Their boss is bad news on the magic side of things. But he's not the guy on the TV."

"I can run that up the flagpole and see if it changes anything," Rhodey relented. "But even if he's blaming someone else, he's still got a sophisticated operation. We can't even find bomb casings for these devices."

"Could it be someone else with Chitauri tech?" Harry wondered. "Like Doctor Bighead was using?"

"Wrong energy signature," Tony admitted, having done a little research since the previous night. "Even if they blew the tech into atoms, there'd be all kinds of exotic particles. These are basically pure thermal."

"Not even any known accelerants or other bomb chemicals," the pilot agreed.

"Do you mind signing my drawing?" a small girl with long brown hair interrupted. She was with a smaller blond boy in rectangular glasses that was probably her brother. A whole bar full of adults that knew not to bother the celebrities, but it was always the kids.

The picture was a pretty basic crayon drawing of Iron Man taking the missile into the wormhole at New York. Maybe Harry was a little too dismissive, since Dean had been turning in much better work when he was the girl's age. Harry probably couldn't do any better. "I don't mind," Tony agreed charmingly, drawing on years of being famous in public. "What's your name?"

"Erin."

Tony started signing the drawing, finally noticing the boy. Before he say what he was thinking about the kid's appearance, Harry checked him with, "You're going to make a Christmas Story joke, right?"

"Fine, I'll get newer references," Tony chuckled, though it felt a little forced with the sudden disruption to his planned conversation.

Rhodey clearly wasn't done with his point, and said, "Especially if this guy is just a fraud, it's something the government can handle. Wants to handle. After last May… aliens… come on, guys, we need to look strong. We can't just call the Avengers for every domestic problem."

"I get it," Tony said, and Harry felt his scar crawl. His eyes snapped up to Tony's face, where he suddenly looked ill. There were too many people. He shouldn't have risked such a packed location. The drawing wasn't great, but it was good enough to make him think about New York. About the missile and outer space. He was taking too long to sign, his signature scrawling. "I… I broke the crayon," he apologized, hand on his face.

"Are you okay, Mr. Stark?" Erin asked.

At the same time her little brother was leaning forward, asking, "How did you get out of the wormhole?"

Tony gasped and staggered up from the table, rushing out of the front of the restaurant as Rhodey yelled after him and gave chase. "The bomb took out the alien mothership, and then Arcane and the Hulk caught him," Harry summed up for the little kid who'd just catalyzed what was clearly a panic attack. "Sorry, we have to go."

By the time he got out front, Tony was in his armor, pushing his best friend back to clear space, and launching into the air. "Well shit," Rhodey said as Harry walked up. "What was that?"

They picked up the conversation in Rhodey's car as he drove Harry back toward the mansion, after they'd paid the tab. "Panic attack, I think," Harry said.

"PTSD," the military man sighed. "We gotta get him to see a psychiatrist. Your aunt says he's sleeping even less than usual."

"Or talk to somebody," Harry agreed. "Guess he hasn't sat you down for war stories?"

"No. That's how they handle it in D&D land?"

"It's better if you talk to people that were there with you, but just telling the story over and over seems to help. I think that's half the reason they make everyone do it. I've told my part of New York a bunch of times. Some of them were at a big party with Thor up in Asgard."

"I bet that dude throws a rager," Rhodey joked, though was a little sad that he hadn't gotten to talk to Thor or Captain America yet.

"I, uh, might have had some mead and been a little snarky with the queen."

"I won't tell. What happens on Asgard, stays on Asgard. Was the girl there?"

"Yeah," he didn't realize he had a wistful grin, but Rhodey glanced over and clocked it, Harry's face framed by the horizon as they drove east along the Pacific Coast Highway. "We only got to talk a little, but Thor was trying to wingman for me. I wrote to see if she can get away to do anything while I'm back."

"Long distance is tough. Part of why I've never managed a long term relationship. But it's good that you're trying."

"Yeah, I guess I don't remember you ever being with anyone. You don't really spend much time at a house or anything, either? How do you manage it?"

"The lack of roots?" the older man asked. "I guess you find a mission that can be your roots, wherever you are. Mine's the Air Force."

Harry nodded, thinking about that as they completed the drive back to the Malibu mansion. "Thanks for the ride. I guess I'll go talk to Aunt Pepper and see if she can get Tony into therapy."

"Good luck. I'll start asking around about whether the CIA actually validated that the Ten Rings is involved. Maybe it will at least give the spooks some better ideas of where to send me."

"Be careful, Rhodey," he said, stepping out of the car. "This may not be Avengers stuff… but since New York, I bet a lot of people with weird tech and powers don't think they have to be extra careful to stay hidden anymore. I definitely don't."

"Heard. You stay safe, too. Maybe you can be your honest self with us, now, but you're still the only Avenger with a secret identity."

"And that's why I waited until we got home to open a portal," Harry grinned and waved, as he walked into the house to do just that.

While Stark Industries was focusing so much on the Tower in Manhattan, the LA office had also been going through a lot of changes. And not all of them were the greatest ideas ever. While Pepper and Tony were so focused on the other side of the country, a well-meaning C-suite executive had the bright idea that Stark's green energy could be promoted by greening up the Stark LA campus while the building itself was given a facelift.

Thus, in an ongoing West Coast drought, the facility that once featured only a few bits of lawn and roadside trees had been transformed into a lushly-forested expanse, like office parks in parts of the country that had regular rainfall. The trees were mature and not even native. The water consumption was atrocious. Fortunately, Tony had come up with a pretty clever water-reclamation system to hydrate the greenery so the company wasn't completely obliterated by the press, but the person behind the initiative had been turbo-fired.

It was a pretty cool little park in a set of otherwise-mostly-barren industrial blocks in Long Beach.

Harry got a good look at it from Pepper's old office, which was Tony's current office again, and was, therefore, a pretty safe place to portal into while Tony was flying off his panic attack somewhere over the city. From the upper-floor windows, he could easily see that the treeline was just thick enough to hide the rest of the city if you were on ground level. That was probably why Aunt Pepper had moved her office down to the bottom floor, where she could look out on the grassy courtyard.

No longer the focal point of the building, Harry wandered through the former executive suite that had been converted into design space for the company's engineers. On the Saturday before Christmas, the level was basically empty. Only workaholics like Harry's aunt were trying hard to finish up on a weekend so close to the holidays.

He absently checked every computer that still seemed to be on to see if it was unlocked, rifled through a few desk drawers for unshredded documents, and flailed obviously at a senior developer's door while one of the few employees in the office walked by. Not confronted, he wandered to the elevators and took them down to the first floor, and wandered into Happy's new office as head of security.

"Probably a fail on the penetration test," he informed the former bodyguard as he sat in the chair across from his desk. The security office wasn't far from the CEO's, but didn't have as nice of a view, just one window showing the parking lot.

"Anybody ask to see your badge?" Happy checked.

"Nope. Not even when I was trying to get into a locked office. And I found two unlocked computers, and three desks with papers in them that probably ought to be locked up. And you still don't have shapeshifter protocols."

"Do you really think we need shapeshifter protocols?"

Harry shrugged, "Fleur can change her appearance. So could Loki. And Nat mentioned that SHIELD is working on some kind of holographic disguise mask or something."

"I think the fact you're dating kills me more than any of the other weird stuff. And that it's not the Granger girl."

"We're not really dating. And Hermione's like a sister to me. Anyway, yeah. Stark isn't stopping regular people wandering in looking for stuff. Anyone with powers or stealth tech would be in here no problem. I guess I did cheat and come in through Tony's office. And the guy that let me wander around maybe just recognized me."

"I was thinking about getting Tony to copy DUM-E or U's programs to make janitor bots. You think people could sneak in as janitors?" Happy was enjoying having someone back him up on his quest for tighter security.

"For sure. But I doubt either of them would do a very good job. Have you seen how gross the garage is right now? DUM-E just pushes the trash around."

"JARVIS?"

"He runs security on the Tower, so I don't know why he's not already hooked up here. If people wear their badges maybe he could have an easier time tracking anyone that doesn't have one. And periodic password or code phrase checks on even people with badges?" Harry had spent a lot of time learning from Mad-Eye Moody, and thinking about how Constant Vigilance could be applied to Earth security.

"I'm having a hard enough time pitching badges to your aunt."

"I'll push her. You want to go bother her now?"

"Yeah. Hopefully she's not in a meeting. I'm not a tech genius like the rest of you." Happy helplessly gestured at the calendar system on his desktop. "I have to get one of my guys to help me check out conference rooms."

"Don't forget to lock your computer."

"Right. Thanks. Badge."

Harry took the visitor's pass that Happy handed him, and the two of them walked out into the main drag of the new executive suite. As was the Stark way, assistants still sat outside of massive offices in thoroughly-imposing desks of their own. "We should train the secretaries in self defense," Harry mused, thinking of them as the last line of protection between badgeless invaders and helpless upper managers. He spent a lot of time thinking about teaching people martial arts.

"Badge?" Happy was yelling at various people he saw on the floor who didn't have their badges prominently displayed. "Badge? Hey, badge? Good."

"Does Aunt Pepper have a few minutes?" Harry checked with Bambi, still hanging onto the top of the ladder for Stark LA executive assistants.

"If you can remind her to eat lunch," she agreed, pushing over the CEO's delivery bag for the boys to take in. Having solidified her position of relative power, Bambi was less inclined to make a fuss about Harry skating in without an appointment. The risk of trying to bar the CEO's kid wasn't worth it for the joy of exercising her limited authority.

She gave Happy a stern look, though, considering whether his newness to the position of head of security might give her a window to establish dominance. In the game of office politics at a Fortune 500 company, you won or you got fired.

"Harry, are we having lunch?" Pepper asked as they walked in with the bag. "I thought you were having lunch with Tony and Rhodey?"

"I did. And now you have to eat," he agreed, putting the bag on her desk and taking a seat.

She finally looked at a clock and admitted, "Sorry. This was supposed to be a light day. But I got caught up and I think I still have two more meetings." Opening her meal, she promised, "I'll be present for the rest of the week, though. I'll try to be."

"One of the meetings was with me, if you want to hear it while you eat?" Happy checked.

"Shapeshifter protocols," Harry made jazz hands, trying to prepare his aunt for the conversation.

Happy's pitch was a little all over the place, but Harry helped reign him in. Pepper was about to come in hot about a 300% rise in staff complaints until Harry pointed out the results of his ad hoc penetration test. She finally decided, "I'll talk to Tony about integrating JARVIS. And I think we have a training department; Happy, can you get them to write a mandatory security course? We shouldn't be doing that badly." She sighed and asked, "And you really think we need to worry about corporate espionage from shapeshifters?"

"Or other magic or high-tech disguises, yes ma'am," Happy agreed, thrilled his pitch had gone so well. "It's getting weird out there."

"It's always been weird," she disagreed, "it's just now the weird is less worried about people finding out."

"Tony's fault. And mine," Harry shrugged. "Well, and Thor and Loki's, probably."

They chatted for a while longer about other things, before Bambi poked her head in and said, "It's almost time for your four-o'-clock."

"Did you clear this with me?" Happy asked.

"Believe me, I kind of wish you had the power to save me from this very annoying thing," she told him, standing to usher Happy and Harry out of her office.

"How so?"

"I used to work with him, and he used to ask me out all the time, so it's a little awkward."

"Wait, is this the AIM guy?" Harry checked, having heard the stories about Pepper's job between college and Stark Industries.

"Yes, it's… Killian?" she asked, spotting the guy outside her office that looked like a pro surfer who'd gone into tech—slender, handsome, and well-tanned.

"Pepper. You look great. You look really great," the man said, as Pepper led him back inside, the glass doors closing behind Harry and Happy.

"I don't like that," the head of security complained.

"Why? I mean, I guess he's better looking than she said in her stories, but…"

Happy led him over to one side of the executive waiting lounge, and admitted, "You haven't been around, but things have been a little tense. Tony barely leaves the garage. Now some handsome other rich guy shows up when they're having problems. Your aunt's the best thing that ever happened to Tony."

"Oh, right. I need to talk to her about getting him into therapy," Harry shrugged, not that worried about it. Killian might be handsome, but he'd gotten a skeezy vibe from the guy, of a different but similar type as from other schmoozing, second-rate tech entrepreneurs like Justin Hammer. "I'm sure Aunt Pepper won't be that into it."

They both glanced inside, where the man in question was very in Pepper's personal space and she wasn't using her desk to block him. Displacing his annoyance, Happy turned to the guy in the skinny suit with a buzzcut that had probably come with Killian as his driver and raised his voice. "Hey, guy." He tapped his badge authoritatively once he had the man's attention.

The guy, in the douchiest way possible, reached behind him to pick up the guest pass without sitting up or looking at it and waved it at them. "Merry Christmas," he said, insouciantly.

Happy had pulled out a tablet and was busily swiping around, having managed to make it into the guest database. "I think we met this guy, at some point," he narrated, quietly, while Harry shoulder surfed. Aldrich Killian had checked in with his guest, Eric Savin, for a meeting about a possible partnership between Stark Industries and Advanced Idea Mechanics. "Some science conference back in 99. New Year's eve, maybe. But he used a cane. Bad hair. Hippy."

"Makes sense from when she complained about him," Harry agreed. "Look, Happy, you're overthinking it, you don't need to–"

He was interrupted by Tony calling, Happy absently accepting the call and the screen being replaced by video of Tony, back in the garage. "Is this fore-head of security?" he joked. Harry could see from the inset picture that Happy was holding the tablet in a way that just showed off the upper part of his face.

"Feeling better?" the youngest of the three asked before Happy could rant about Killian.

"Maverick? Yeah. Sorry about busting out of there. Rhodey drove you home?"

"He did. Been helping Happy talk to Aunt Pepper about security stuff. We need JARVIS set up here, like at the Tower."

"I thought I already did that. JARVIS, make a note."

"Yes, sir," the AI agreed.

"So the head of security thing is working out? Not just harassing interns?" Tony checked.

"Back when I would tell people I was Iron Man's bodyguard, they would laugh in my face," Happy said, not thinking it was funny. "I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I have a real job. Watching Pepper. Keeping supervillains and Harry's girlfriend from stealing company secrets."

"Shapeshifter protocols," Harry agreed, still off camera.

"That's why I try not to keep anything too important at the office," Tony shrugged. "You're both watching Pepper?" he asked, recognizing the background of her waiting room and realizing it was weird they were out there but not in the office. "What's going on? Fill me in."

Harry tuned out the conversation as he was unable to stop Happy from recounting Killian's presence to Tony. He did help the man flip his camera to show off Pepper's office, where the AIM founder was using a very cool compact hologram projector to flirt and show off a projection of what was probably his brain. Maybe he was pitching hologram and real-time MRI technology? Regardless, it was embarrassing how much Eric Savin was probably overhearing the conversation, as loud and demonstrative as Happy was being not very far across the room.

After indicating his intention to follow Killian (at least a little more quietly) and Tony making a joke to get off the phone call that he'd made, Happy asked Harry, "Want to help me follow this guy?"

"Isn't that stalking?"

"It's proactive security. I'm taking initiative to reduce risks to Stark Industries."

"Fine. But it's just to keep you from getting in trouble," Harry agreed. It was also because he didn't want to be at the mansion while his aunt argued with Tony about therapy. "I just need to talk to her before we leave."

"I'll get her car ready. And get that guy's plates. Wait, can you do anything… weird, to follow them?"

"Only if I stood behind his car waving my arms around. He might notice."

"Honest police work it is," Happy decided, then got up since it looked like Pepper was about done with her meeting.

Killian was still flirting with Pepper on the way out of the building, and Harry saw him kiss her on the cheek. She then talked to Happy for a moment and walked back toward Harry, flustered. "Almost forgot to take you home," she told him, walking back into her office to get her stuff.

"I think Happy wants to take me to see a movie or something," Harry told her. "You should talk to Tony when you get home, though. About therapy. He's got PTSD."

"PTSD? Tony?" she said, derailed from whatever she'd been thinking about as she put her things into her bag. Her brain caught up and she admitted, "That… might make sense. He'll never go to therapy, though."

"He needs to talk to somebody," Harry shrugged. "Also, Killian is sketchy as hell."

"Yeah," she huffed. "He wanted us to invest in something that sounds like more super soldier research. Weaponizable."

"See if he'll license us the hologram and MRI stuff."

"Huh. That was pretty good. I'm so used to Tony's tech, I forget what's crazy. I'll email him about it after the holidays," she decided, walking back out of her office. "And I guess I'll try to talk to Tony, tonight. Did something happen at lunch?"

"Yeah, but get him to tell you," Harry said, having done as much as any teenager wanted to do playing go-between with his parental figures.

"Okay. Have fun at the movies, you two. Nothing too gory," she said as she walked back out and passed Happy.

"Yes, ma'am," the head of security agreed. As she walked out of earshot he asked, "Movies?"

A few hours later and a call for a BOLO to a cop that owed Happy a favor, they were following Savin, who'd dropped Killian off at LAX but kept his car and started driving around the city.

"Did you know we'd wind up at the movies?" Happy wondered. The AIM bodyguard had finally parked and left the car at the Chinese Theater, carrying a somewhat-suspicious briefcase in a way that looked like he was on a mission.

"Maybe just saying it convinced the Norns to make it happen. My life is strange," Harry shrugged as he and Happy tried to shadow Savin along the Walk of Fame up Hollywood Boulevard. They'd barely avoided getting spotted by him in the parking lot down the street from the theater they'd followed him into. Fortunately, there were a ton of people out, and lots of pop-up stalls to try to sell last-minute Christmas presents to people out for the film festival.

They'd have had no chance of following in the daylight with a less-packed street. The guy moved like he was military-trained, and that was nagging at something in Harry's memory.

In the dark of the late LA evening, Harry clocked a couple dozen people milling in the three-walled courtyard that served as the main entrance into the theater. There were Christmas trees in each corner, vendors for Hollywood kitsch, a food shop doing brisk business, and even a guy doing the living statue bit in silver paint. They watched Savin make a hard turn right into the courtyard, spot someone, and head toward the back corner.

"I'm gonna teach you some tradecraft," Happy insisted, moving over to one of the stalls that had a sunglasses rack. He started trying them on while watching their mark in the mirror.

Harry, who'd had a mountain of tradecraft advice from the likes of Mordo, Bruce, and Natasha, much-less-obviously moved to the other side of the stall where he could watch them through the middle while being mostly obscured.

What they saw was Killian's driver meet with another white man, who was sitting on a bench in the back right. Savin and the new man had a short conversation, with the briefcase handed over. Harry thought they definitely knew each other. The new guy looked a little strung out. "Maybe he's paying off someone for his boss?" Harry suggested.

"I'll just find out," Happy declared, turning and walking boldly into the courtyard. Harry's better vantage left him unable to stop the former boxer, who was soon shoulder-checking the new man and sending the briefcase sprawling. It wasn't money that fell out, but several high-tech silver vials.

Harry had been in enough fights that he was growing accustomed to the moment that things were about to go wrong. Somewhere in the back of his head he noticed the flare of glowing red in the man's face as Happy helped him pick up the fallen items. And to his right, he saw Savin turning and noticing Happy, ready to come back in. "Roll for initiative," Harry whispered to himself.

Unfortunately, he wasn't in costume and there was a big enough crowd that any use of magic would get witnessed. If this was going to turn into some kind of brawl, he needed to clear the place out, both for the safety of the bystanders and for his own secret identity. Especially since Savin had noticed him as he moved around the stall. Harry heard the man posturing to Happy, "What are you doin', buddy? You out with the kid? A little Stark family outing? Getting the snacks for your boss?"

"Yeah, but the snack I picked up means the party's over for you and your junkie girlfriend," Happy tried to quip back, showing off the silver vial that he'd palmed from the briefcase.

Harry just shook his head. Why was Happy showing the probable bad guy that he had evidence easy to hand. As Savin made the obvious attempt to grab it back, Harry started moving to tell the people in the area, "Hey! Iron Man-related fight! Everyone needs to get out of here! For your own safety!"

Out of the corner of his eye, moving through the courtyard, Harry could see that Happy actually landed a punch on Savin's face… which glowed red and immediately healed. Nobody was really listening to Harry's warnings until the seemingly-powered man managed to grab Happy and bodily flung him a few body lengths through the air and into the stall where he'd been browsing sunglasses.

"Mandarin attack!" Harry yelled, as people started to scream realizing there really was a big fight. He'd unconsciously put it together, with what the Room of Requirement had shown him about ex-military people that turned glowing red. "Everyone get out!" He even put a little magical boost on his voice. That managed to get the crowd moving. Maybe he'd be able to take on two of the augmented soldiers if everyone cleared out?

"Savin!" the second man was yelling, before Harry could plan a strategy. He'd seemingly been unable to resist getting his fix, and had decided to huff one of the bigger vials during the short fight.

"What?" the bodyguard turned and asked, having been stalking to further assault Happy.

"Help! Help me!" was all the stranger said, glowing redder and redder, just like the simulated enemies that Harry and Dean had lit on fire. The ones that had exploded. Savin's eyes widened and he started to run.

Harry had at least convinced the bystanders to flee. Maybe they were all clear of the blast? His sling ring was in his pouch, so, even if he'd wanted to risk his identity, he didn't have time to make the man blow up elsewhere, like he had with the Bean. He started to sprint for the theater entrance as Happy rolled behind the stall. With Harry's speed, he probably could have made it safely inside.

But there was a family of four exiting unawares.

He couldn't get through the doors and pull them with him in what felt like the split second remaining. "Get down!" he yelled at them instead, then turned and spun up the biggest dragonfire-absorbing shield he'd made yet. Hopefully nobody would notice it in the chaos as he interposed a circular wall of layered magic in between five people and an oncoming inferno.

It definitely caught the heat of the blast, ablating it like it was made for, keeping them all from being instantly turned into black soot on the wall. But a moment behind the worst of the heat was the pressure wave it created by flash-frying the air. And there was an open doorway for the pressure differential to launch them all into.

Harry crashed through the mullion in the middle of the double doors head first and knew nothing more, instantly unconscious.