Apparently, I totally overestimated my ability to focus during the holidays to get this chapter out on time. Thank you to everyone who has read/favorited/commented. I read every one of them and in the chaos that has become real life (at the moment), they definitely keep me going!

When I started this fic, I really wanted to incorporate a Harry Potter plot within an Avengers plot, rather than focusing on one or the other. This chapter sets up the Avengers side of the plot and it's intentially vauge at this point of the story. The two plots will eventually overlap and become one big plot point.

Tony let his eyes drift close as he reclined on the conference room chair just enough to get comfortable while giving the impression he wasn't sleeping. Half-listening to Steve recount the mission through the holographic images projected on the table in front of them from their mission — a series of photos taken in what appeared to be a dungeon-like torture chamber — Tony wanted nothing more than to go back downstairs and climb into his bed, confident he'd finally get some half-way decent sleep after the wildly insane day he'd had.

While Pepper's panic over the photo of Tony and Harry hadn't been entirely unwarranted, it turned out not to be an issue; having already been handled expertly by Pepper and his ironclad legal team who were certainly earning their retainer checks this week. Fortunately for him — but not so much the employee who snapped the photo, a young woman working the register on a different floor than Tony reserved —, the woman chose to blackmail them rather than sell it to the highest bidding tabloid. Tony was almost embarrassed for her. Sure, they had probably paid her more than any of the tabloids for the overly grainy photo, but it cost her job and she'd been hit with at least a dozen different legal suits and non-disclosure agreements, preventing her from so much as whispering a sentence with the words Tony Stark, Harry, or son together. Tony also knew that Stark Industries' public relations team would monitor her online activity until whenever he and Harry announced the story first. Most importantly, Tony put JARVIS on high alert for any relevant postings.

The worst part of it ended up being Tony promising not to take Harry out on any more unplanned outings before they went public with the news; a decision Harry hated as much as Tony based on his grumbling about always being locked in. Tony had almost argued that, by definition, their brief shopping and lunch excursion hadn't been unplanned. He'd arranged for a private showing at the department store and Little Italy wasn't usually open for lunch during the week, so they should have been safe. However, Tony also knew when not to argue with Pepper, especially when they had the same goal of keeping Harry out of the media, and this had been one of those moments. What he would do to keep Harry occupied in the Tower when he inevitably returned to work, or else risk going crazy, Tony hadn't figured out yet. Maria Hill pulled Tony straight from Pepper's lecture to the conference room on the Avengers' common floor for the team debrief… a debrief he was excited to attend, for once, until Cap mentioned he didn't have to use his damn shield. From then on, Tony zoned out a bit on the details.

A few months after Thor returned to Asgard with Loki, an energy signature eerily similar to Loki's scepter appeared on their radar and since Fury insisted the scepter remained safely locked away in a super-secret SHIELD facility, the team had been hunting it down for the past year. Thanks to some tweaking Tony did on the original tracker for Loki's scepter, they quickly isolated the signature out in the middle of Bosnia, of all places. Tony had gone with them to the bunker, fully expecting to see the scepter not in the secured SHIELD facility, only to find the place completely empty. Whoever they were chasing was a step ahead of them.

When they found the second bunker empty, Maria Hill refocused the operations to reconnaissance only with Steve, Nat, and Clint taking the lead and pulling in Tony and Bruce only if combat support was required, which had yet to happen. So today, it took all of Rogers' four opening words, "we missed them again", for Tony to effectively tune out the meeting, not really interested in hearing about their failed five-day-long wild goose chase through Morocco.

"Stark!"

The sensation of plummeting backward towards the ground as the back of his chair fell before straightening itself a split second later startled Tony awake.

"Dammit, Nat! I wasn't asleep!" Swiveling his chair around, he turned to face Natasha. Ever the perfect agent, she didn't flinch at his motion, only raised a single eyebrow as a challenge, which he would have gladly accepted on any other day. A day when he didn't have his kid show up on his doorstep with a bizarre, gaping hole in his history and who had lived with an abusive aunt and uncle for the past thirteen years.

With a smirk, she replied, "Just checking."

She didn't see his scowl as he redirected his attention to the images hovering above the table, skillfully using his hands to manipulate them virtually so he could examine every detail of the dungeon. Two rusted cages, for lack of a better word, sat in opposite corners of the room and a table similar to the one Harry sat on yesterday for the paternity test was directly in the center. Except where Tony's medical bay was state-of-the-art, this table resembled something from the medieval era, and none of Tony's tables had thick leather straps to hold patients down. A collection of tools lay strewn about the base of the table, suggesting that the last person to use them had left in a hurry, likely after detecting the team's arrival. It reminded Tony too much of Afghanistan, a place he actively avoided thinking about at all costs.

Spotting a computer monitor in the background, Tony tapped to zoom in on it, circling the obvious surveillance image from around the compound. "So they have high-tech surveillance around the area, sensitive enough to detect the spies-" he gestured to Clint and Natasha, "-but whatever they did to the person in that chair was done using middle-ages era practices. Why?"

Steve cleared his throat. "We noticed that discrepancy too."

Tony chose not to mention how noticing it didn't answer his question. "And this… cave—bunker… is, by far, the worst conditions we've seen from these guys yet. Dirt floors… rusted cages… None of these matches the MO of the other places we've raided. It's almost like a completely different group. Or maybe they have a different purpose now. You're sure you saw no one lurking around?"

Steve shook his head. "No. By the time we breached the perimeter, they were gone. Is it possible the tables have turned?"

"Go on," Tony prompted, not entirely following his train of thought, but willing to hear him out.

"We've been assuming the enhanced individuals were the ones locked up, that they've been on the receiving end of all the experimentation," Steve said, and Tony pulled up the photos from their first mission in the Bosnian bunker. The advanced security surrounding two particular cells tipped them off they might be dealing with some sort of enhanced individuals. Side-by-side, the significant difference between the two contraptions was glaringly obvious. "But what if they aren't the victims anymore?"

"The captives become the captors," Tony clarified. "Bad guy enhances person, newly enhanced person grows strong enough to escape, and rather than using this newfound power to leave their prison in the rearview mirror, he or she takes revenge on the bad guy. It's not a totally novel idea."

"But then why pick up and leave when we got there?" Hill questioned.

Tony scoffed, clicking away on his phone as he answered her rhetorical question, "Uh, not wanting to get caught tends to be a pretty compelling reason to flee."

"Sure, for the enhanced. I doubt they'd want to go from one prison to another," Hill argued. "But why not leave their captors for us to take them in?"

"I didn't say I disagreed with you, it just becomes a moot point if you had bothered to check the area nearby," Tony stated, and with a swipe of his hand over his phone, he projected a video feed from the village near the cave showing three men shoving two teenagers into an unmarked van, the same girl and boy — Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, two orphaned Sokovians if Tony's research was correct — whose rescue had been added as a mission objective when they were seen being removed from the cave on the footage from their second mission. Their exact purpose was still unknown, but the odds of them not being enhanced decreased with each mission. "As you can see, they-" he pointed to the kids, "-do not appear to be in control. And if I'm right, and I usually am, the guys manhandling them are not the same people we've been after for half a year. JARVIS?"

"Scanning for facial recognition," the AI announced. Less than ten seconds later, three red boxes appeared over the video feed filled with the equally grainy faces of the first group they chased. JARVIS confirmed Tony's suspicion a second later, "The three individuals seen in Morocco do not match any of the others you've seen to date."

"There you go." Tony clasped his hands together."It looks different because they are different. Now, what happened to our original baddies? I guess that's on the spies to figure out. And while I don't want to step on anyone's toes here, I would also suggest you find out who was watching you guys tear the place apart."

With a swipe, Tony returned to the first batch of still photographs and zoomed in on a window on the room's left side. It took a second for the image to render, but as soon as it did Tony could feel Steve's tension from across the table. Although it was too dark identify any distinguishing traits — at least without getting JARVIS involved — the fact that this individual watched the team undetected was an obvious oversight.

"Did you even bother checking for any heat signatures?" Tony asked, taking a bit too much pleasure in getting to harass Steve Rogers in his leadership role. "I would have expected better from you. I literally sent you off with the best of the best recon equipment and JARVIS is a simple word away."

"Of course we did," Steve snapped. "JARVIS confirmed the base was clear."

"Then someone returned while you were distracted. And if I were you, I'd spend some time looking into why." Tony spun his chair around. His job here was done. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm needed elsewhere."

The sounds of footsteps following Tony out of the room didn't come as a surprise, and he slowed his pace to let his best friend catch up. Tony scanned his fingerprint into the pad at the elevator and entered the code giving him access to his private floors. Coming from the Avengers' area, he didn't need to use the private elevator, except it would put him on the other side of the hallway, but since he planned to stop by his workshop first, he could enter through the backdoor.

"Why do you do that to them?" Rhodey asked, stepping up next to Tony to wait for the elevator.

"Do what? Challenge them? Force them to think a little sharper?" He retorted and finally faced Rhodey with his arms across his chest. "If you ask me… which by the way you did… missing details like someone watching them work the fucking crime scene leaves us all vulnerable."

When the elevator arrived, Tony hit the button for his lab, the seventy-ninth floor, and then the lobby for Rhodey; making it clear Tony wasn't up for company tonight.

"It leaves you vulnerable? What kind of bullshit excuse is that?" Rhodey exclaimed. He rolled his eyes before hitting the button for the eightieth floor, literally sending Tony home. "You have a huge ass 'A' illuminated on the front of the building acting as a beacon and announcing 'you are here'. Seriously, Tony."

Tony knew Rhodey was trying to rile him up, but it didn't stop him from slamming his palm onto the STOP button. The elevator immediately lurched to a stop and Tony tapped in his override code to end the alarm and blinking red light.

"JARVIS, start a file on our mystery man. Enhance the shadow and find me anything and everything you can on him," Tony instructed. "I want identities on matches as low as thirty percent."

"Sir, I'm sure you know that using a percentage that low on a top dark image will give you almost useless results," JARVIS dutifully responded.

Yes, Tony knew that. He also knew he had a lot of spare time coming up to sort through the people. Still, seeing the benefit of having some sort of organization, he added, "Prioritize the list based on known HYDRA associates and then work your way down to anyone with over two arrests."

"Beginning the search now, sir," JARVIS obediently replied. "Shall I place it on your private server too?"

"You shouldn't have to ask, Jay."

"How silly of me," JARVIS said. "You're usually such a team player, it must have slipped my mind."

"I have no one to blame, but myself for his sarcasm," Tony muttered. Ignoring everything Rhodey had said about him and his huge ass Tower, he asked, "Do you have something for me or not? Because it's been an incredibly long day."

"Is that why you want to go to your lab instead of going home to your family?"

"That does have a nice ring to it," Tony said. "A bit scary, I'll admit."

It was as close to the truth as he would say out loud. They both knew Tony sought distractions from the things he didn't want to think about, and this new subject was just the thing he needed.

With a heavy sigh, Rhodey acknowledged his defeat. "I hit the same roadblocks as you did." Tony glared at him as if to say 'I told you so'. "I uncovered documentation from November 1999, when his aunt took guardianship of him. The name Harry Evan is not mentioned anywhere on it, so it seems she thought his name was Harry Potter, and the birth certificate created for him the day before confirmed her assumption. No one had any reason to doubt it, plus at fifteen months old, Harry couldn't exactly correct her on it."

It was something, at least. So his kid came out of nowhere and then disappeared at age eleven.

"How about giving up guardianship?" He asked, hoping Rhodey had a better answer than JARVIS had found.

Unfortunately, Rhodey shook his head. "The paper trail is accurate, in that they legally revoked their guardianship. It means your taking custody is legitimate. It's a light trail… meaning there was absolutely nothing leading up to it. No additional abuse reports, no inspections, no aid requests, no court orders. Just one day they had him and the next they didn't. No sign of lawyers, law enforcement, nothing."

"That sounds a lot like a legal way to run away," he said, tapping the screen on the elevator to restart it. No need to stay in the cramped space when nothing else would come from their conversation.

"Maybe," Rhodey agreed. "But again, most fourteen-year-olds would just run away and hope no one reports him missing. They don't usually think about the legal guardianship side of the equation."

"I would have at that age," Tony said. "And he has half of my genes."

The elevator chimed as it reached the eightieth floor, revealing a simple white hallway on the guest side of his floor, opposite his home. Just as Tony was about to close the door to continue down to his workshop, Rhodey shoved him out, stepping out right behind him. Reluctantly deciding to go home, he made a sharp turn to navigate through the guest quarters — a space rarely used since Tony had an official party floor upstairs and a much calmer lifestyle.

Trailing half a step behind Tony, Rhody finally broke the silence less than a minute into their awkward walk, "I expected you to tell the team about him. Don't forget, they live here too. Unless you plan on keeping Harry in the penthouse, they may cross paths. It would also be a friendly gesture of trust toward them. Like it or not, they're part of your family now."

"Yeah, well, my business is my business," Tony said with a huff. "Plus, I learned the hard way that Harry doesn't like surprises. Ironic for a kid who showed up at my doorstep."

Rhodey caught up so they walked side-by-side. "Listen, I'm no expert, but I imagine years of abuse would make surprises not so enjoyable. Particularly surprises involving other people."

Rhodey certainly had a valid point, one which Tony had also considered and dismissed because they were only seeing Josephine. While he had mentioned the other residents in the Tower to Harry over dinner yesterday, they had yet to discuss when, and how, to introduce them. Harry had already met Bruce, leaving Steve, Clint — at least part-time, where he spent the rest of his days Tony didn't care — and Natasha. The three most intimidating people in the building for a small stature kid; not counting Hulk since an appearance from the Hulk meant there were more important things happening in the Tower.

They arrived at Tony's door, and Tony, making it crystal clear that he wasn't inviting Rhodey inside, leaned against the wall beside the keypad and waited. Fortunately, Rhodey wasn't prepared to wait as long as Tony.

"I don't have to help you out, y'know?" Rhodey said. "I could just let you lock yourself away for who knows what number night in a row–"

"Only the second. We had date night this week," Tony interjected, pretending he hadn't been down in his shop the three nights prior to his and Pepper's date. This distraction, though, felt different; more necessary. He wasn't tweaking his suit — going against Pepper's direct request for him to end Iron Man entirely — and he wasn't outfitting out his team with the latest and greatest tech gadgets. He wasn't even focusing on any of the dozen SI departments waiting for his approval on the backlog of blueprints stacked high on his office desk. If someone was following the team, it wouldn't be a far jump to think any of them could be in danger… and if the team was in danger, then so were Pepper and Harry.

"I'll handle it," Tony eventually conceded; a remark with more than one meaning. He'd handle Harry's sketchy past, he'd handle the team, and he'd handle whatever threat he felt deep in his soul was imminent. Unwilling to get into it anymore, Tony unlocked the door, slipped in through a crack just wide enough for himself, and yelled "G'night, Honey Bear," over his shoulder before he physically locked the door behind him.

The overwhelming stillness of the house immediately set Tony on edge, and he could almost feel Harry's extra presence in his home; as if there was a disturbance in the familiar aura of the place. As much as he hated to admit it, Rhodey had been spot on about Tony avoiding the reality of being a father, or, more specifically, his failing to be one. It didn't matter if his kid's expectations of a parent were lower than Tony's thanks to his likely horrendous childhood and potential indoctrination into some kind of cult. How could Tony teach his son to be a capable, functioning adult when Tony hardly qualified as one himself? Where was he supposed to get this parenting wisdom? Not his old man, obviously. And where physics, engineering, and mechanics came easily to Tony, being someone's father… someone this teenager might come to depend on… well that was completely out of his league.

Walking slowly into the living room, the lights automatically brightened from the modest setting Pepper used whenever Tony worked late, all but confirming he'd missed the rest of their night. Pepper and Harry most likely had dinner together — one of the many Tony expected to miss because of an upcoming deadline, a team meeting, or simply Tony's brain stuck on his latest muse — and then went their separate ways. He stopped briefly at the kitchen, debating whether to grab himself some food, but his stomach was in knots so he continued on, allowing his feet to take him almost autonomously to his workstation in the living room.

"JARVIS," he quietly requested, "fire up the home computer and load everything you've found so far on the mystery man."

The transparent screens in front of him came to life, displaying the Tower and Central Park footage from the night the Professor showed up; the last project he had worked on at that station. "Get rid of it," he muttered and swiped his hand across the screen to send it to the trash. When nothing else appeared, he looked up at the ceiling and asked, "JARVIS? My files?"

Instantly, a single folder with the date as a title popped up on the screen. Nothing else opened; no videos, no photographs, no government or SHIELD reports. "Jay?"

"Sir," the AI computer said, "while Miss Potts has already gone off to bed, her vitals suggest growing anxiety, likely related to you and the situation. Might I suggest holding off on your research tonight?"

He ran his hand down his face. How bad of a situation did he have to be in for JARVIS to warn him off work, particularly without the typical sarcastic tone Tony was used to hearing during his lectures. While JARVIS would ultimately obey him since Tony had written his code to do so, JARVIS had also evolved into almost a guardian to Tony; more so than almost anyone except Pepper.

Decision made, Tony waved his hand over the screen. "Shut it down," he demanded, and the screen reacted faster to that command than it did to load the information; expressing JARVIS' approval of Tony's choice.

Once again, Tony let his feet lead the way, this time past his bedroom door and down the hallway to Harry's room. Light spilled out under the closed door, so Tony delicately tapped his knuckles on it to respect his kid's privacy. The door did not open, and Tony heard no rustling on the other side or running water, implying Harry might be in the shower. Without thinking twice, he twisted the knob, supposed to find Harry had left it unlocked; Tony had always locked his door growing up.

The small table lamp on the nightstand was on, and with the large picture windows uncovered the room felt quite warm and inviting. Tony hadn't seen the room since they transformed it from a gray guest room into a teenage boy's room, so he took a moment to appreciate the work Pepper had done. She nailed it, as she always did, from the light blue paint to the less lavish, but definitely more welcoming, linens and furniture. It could have easily been a bedroom found in any suburban home, not a multi-million dollar superhero tower in the largest metropolis in the United States.

He discovered Harry passed out on his bed, dressed in one of the new pairs of short-sleeved red pajamas they purchased that afternoon, with an open notebook and blue pen beside him. He looked so completely at peace while asleep that Tony wondered how he had missed the teen's constant cautious and guarded signs throughout the last two days. Even last night, when they were supposedly relaxed at dinner, laughing as they ate their way through an enormous amount of pizza, he didn't look as calm as he did sleeping there. They'd have to work on that — Tony would have to work on that; on helping his son adjust to his new life.

Tony moved to leave, unsure why he had come in at all, until he realized Harry's glasses were sitting crooked on his face. In a move more paternal than he thought he was ready to think about, Tony bent down to gently remove them. Harry moved when the tips got stuck momentarily behind his ears, and Tony held his breath hoping he hadn't woken Harry up by the slight tugging action. Thankfully, Harry settled back down, but Tony's breath hitched when he saw several scars on Harry's now exposed right arm. The one closest to this wrist looked like a large, circular puncture wound; by what, Tony couldn't fathom based on its wide diameter. It looked to be a few years old, which was better than the long, thin scar near his elbow. Though mostly healed, the fresh skin led Tony to believe it was at most a few months old. Its depth and likely source, however, troubled him; he had seen plenty of knife wounds over the years to recognize one, and as far as he knew, knives weren't used in soccer or rugby. These injuries shot to the top of his list of concerns about his new son.

As if sensing Tony's close proximity, Harry rolled away from him, removing his arm from view but now putting his notebook fully on display. Tony was about to walk away, thoughts of privacy racing through his mind — all said in Pepper's lecturing voice — when the writing on the top page caught his attention. There were three columns connected by a horizontal line: the first contained a list of words — Accio, Lumos, Stupefy, Focillo, Scourgify — none of which meant anything to Tony other than sharing a possible Latin root; he guessed the second column was small description for each — summoning, light, blasting, warming, cleaning —; and the last one was mostly blank, with only computer written beside the Lumos and Stupefy rows. The bottom half of the page was packed with swirls and what looked like the beginning sketch of a handle, and Tony did not know what any of it signified.

It took every ounce of his willpower to resist the urge to snap a picture of the strange list, adding it to the growing mysteries surrounding Harry. Instead, he left it untouched, in fear Harry would notice. Despite not being against the idea of recreating it from memory later, he prided himself on not crossing that privacy line. Pepper would remind him how progress was still progress, no matter how insignificant it seemed.

For the third time, Tony's feet took over. This time he meandered — as much as Tony Stark could meander — into his bedroom; right where he should have gone in the first place, straight from the Avengers' meeting.

Sitting against the headboard with a book resting on her bent knees, Pepper flipped the page and continued to read as she acknowledged him, "Earlier than I expected."

"Yeah… well…" Tony stood at the edge of the bed, his hand rubbing along the back of his neck, reluctant to reveal that it had been his last choice. He needed to, however, as part of his commitment to her. "I had a little help from Rhodey and JARVIS."

Close enough.

To make up for the implication of his words, Tony skipped changing out of his jeans and long-sleeved shirt and into something resembling pajamas. He just plopped down next to her, which got him a familiar, yet teasing, grumble as her book swayed from his exaggerated move. He could change later. Right now, he needed Pepper more than ever. Understanding his hint, she set her book down on the nightstand behind her. Then, turning onto her side, she draped her arm across his chest. The last time they had been this close was the night of The Professor, and that night he had felt just as uncertain about himself.

"Want to tell me what's going on?" She asked. She ran her hand down his cheek, tickling him on its path down, before placing a light kiss on it. "I can see the wheels turning and I want to help, Tony… we all do… but you have to let us."

"I think Harry's into LARP-ing," he blurted out and as any normal person would under the circumstances he felt Pepper startle at the abruptness of his statement.

"And you think this because…"

Tony turned in the bed to face her, taking comfort in the familiarity of her kind, and very attractive features. "He had this notebook out with a bunch of… words for… I don't know what they were for. They were in Latin, maybe. It looks like magic shit. A-and I don't know what to do with that."

Pepper's eyes squinted, and Tony knew where this was heading before she said, "So you were snooping?"

"I wasn't!" He half-lied. Just because the notebook might not have been out in public, and Harry not awake to consent to Tony seeing, didn't mean he snooped. "I was going to check in on him… you know, the fatherly thing, right? And he was asleep. I caught a glimpse of the notebook next to him when I took his glasses off so he wouldn't wake up with a headache. I was doing a good thing… thinking of others… you should be proud, really."

Pepper gave one of her condescending nods, large and slow. "So, naturally, you had to read the notebook. I'm pretty sure that's still called snooping."

"It's not like I took a picture," he stated, in a failed attempt to make the situation look better for him. Suddenly, he remembered the other, more important, oddity of his brief visit with Harry. "He's got scars too, Pep. Two on his right arm and I can't imagine what could have naturally caused them. The kid is becoming a collection of bruises and scars. You saw the one on his forehead right?"

More alert on this topic, Pepper sadly said, "Yeah, I did."

"He told me he got it in the car crash his parents didn't die in… which is an entirely separate problem… but it's too clean-cut to be an accident and I'm having a hard time finding a probable cause that isn't someone carving it into his head." Frustrated at having more questions than answers, Tony ran his hand through his hair, frowning when he realized his last decent shower had been before date night. "Christ, Pep, what have I gotten myself into?"

"That's one way of looking at it–"

"And Rhodey's search came up empty-handed too," he continued, on too much of a roll to stop spewing out his anxieties to the one person who always fixed his life, even if it was no longer her role anymore. "He found how Harry's aunt legally abandoned him… because what else could that be called… but why? And without a single social worker visit? Who approved the damn Vampire to take him?"

Pepper's hand brushed along his upper arm, reeling him in and back to her. "Have you considered asking him about it?"

"Who's side are you on here?"

"Yours, of course." She gave his arm a little squeeze. "I just think you'll find he's willing to talk about more than you think."

Tony's head snapped towards Pepper. "Did he say something to you? It's drugs, isn't it? Because, you know, as his… father… I should know about it."

Pepper laughed at his reaction, and he couldn't blame her. He sounded as crazy and out of control as he felt inside. Tony liked...no he needed… to be in control of everything. It was one reason he — not even a full-fledged member, merely a consultant — insisted on turning Stark Tower into Avengers Tower. Having them here, he could monitor their actions better than if they were on whatever shitty base SHIELD planned.

Pepper shared with him all the details of the evening she spent with Harry and Tony listened attentively to every word his son had offered Pepper during their short time together. Unfortunately, Tony already knew much of the information. Still, he metaphorically tucked the names of Harry's best friends — Ron, the youngest of six brothers, and Hermione, the daughter of two dentists — into his memory for later. Similar to Severus, Hermione had to be unique enough to locate in a database, and in the coming days, he could try to get the last name of Ron. After Tony took a quick shower and got ready for bed, they finally discussed what it would mean to add a teenager into their already hectic lives. Pepper said all the right things, assuring him she would neither interfere with his relationship with Harry nor abandon him during what was bound to be an awkward transition period. She simply asked Tony not to isolate himself in his lab or garage; that he make an effort to get to know Harry. To anyone other than Tony Stark, it would have sounded like a reasonable request, and while Tony agreed, he also knew a mystery like the one he was entangled in was difficult to let go of.

"What am I going to do with him locked up here?" Tony murmured quietly, more to himself than to Pepper, as they were slipping off to sleep.

Still, she answered with a mutter, "I'm sure you think of something, so long as it's not destructive and doesn't draw attention to him."

Tony gazed down at her half-sleeping form and chuckled. "So no making a suit for Harry? What would that make him? Iron Boy?"

"No."

"Harry doesn't seem like the superhero type," he admitted. "Maybe we should get a dog?"

"Because more responsibility is exactly what you need." Her tone was filled with the sarcasm Tony loved about her.

"What about a cat? They pretty much take care of themselves, don't they?"

"No pets, Tony."

As they drifted off to sleep, Pepper's head resting gently on his chest, just shy of his arc reactor, he contemplated the days ahead. He needed to introduce Harry to the team, he had two deadlines fast approaching that threatened to fill up most of his day, and he needed to get with Steve and Clint to test their upgraded armor; all while attempting to bond with his new son with no idea of how to actually be a father. And as much as Tony wanted to believe he could push past his discomfort about the whole situation and step up for the teen the way he'd once hoped his father would have, it also didn't surprise him when he ended up retreating to his lab, effectively isolating himself for the entire week.

This is the last chapter of what I've called the first arc. The next chapter will start to see Harry settling into the tower and introducing the Avengers to the mix. Unfortunately, the next chapter won't be posted until after the New Year. This gives me plenty of time to write chapter 22 and edit 12.