Harper Maxwell

“Now tell me little one, what reason could there be for someone as young as you to have surgery on something as risky as your hands?”Puck was watching him, looking for any signs of a lie. There were many people in this world who had no problem using children for their own gain - and the Trickster was very aware of that.

"My mom needed to check on stuff, that's all," He said. Mom had told him he needed to start being careful who he told. He didn't know much about 'intellectual property laws', and also figured, he probably didn't need to yet. "It wasn't supposed to be that risky."

They were too clean to have been some kind of accident, but what on earth would require someone to cut into a child's hand like that? “And what happened here? Seems too clean to have been some kind of accident.”

He let Puck take a look at his hand for a bit and took it back, shaking it a few more times. "I had to have surgery, that's all. It'll be fine when it heals up a bit more."

"Scan would probably be faster, more through and least invasive. And I can order us some take out to my lab if you tell me what you want, then I can tell you all about my bad luck during a school trip to Oscorp." Though if Norman had known he was Tony's son at that point he probably never would have been allowed on the trip.

"Then do that," Harper said, shoving his fingers under his arms as he wrapped them around tightly. "All this was bad luck? That seems silly."

"You're worried," Lilia realised aloud, pulling back a little as it came to her. "You don't know what she's going to do to you next."

His eyes dropped then, and he pulled his hand back. "That's not fair."

“Uh...kinda?” He shrugged lightly, his Dad and Bruce knew more about it than him. He could look at the files any time he wanted, but everything they had learned was when he was younger and he'd avoided knowing more than he had to about the specifics. Knowing had felt scarier than not knowing back then. “It was more complicated than just radiation, and it wasn't intentional.”

Harper frowned and looked at Peter. "It wasn't?"

"Not a trick, just options." He told him with a shrug. "Occasional X-Ray's aren't gonna hurt you, but that doesn't mean avoiding them isn't better. But Happy figured that going to a hospital to have it done in relative public, where there were nurses and doctors instead of a lab at Stark Industries or mine or Dad's personal labs might be more comfortable for you."

"Weren't you 'radiated' or something?" Harper asked. This time, he was more curious about it.

Tony had been sure to have his lawyers fight with the argument that this was Harpers personal medical information and as his guardian he was the one who decided on who had access. Not that he couldn't stop access if it had been denied, but the legal route was definitely the easier one. "The fully scan is more than an X-Ray, but a scan in my lab or Dad's would be safer than radiation exposure in a hospital x-ray machine." Not that 1 x-ray would be a cause for concern, but still.

"So it is a trick. You want even more info or I get radiation?" Harper crossed his arms.

John sighed and dropped his head for a moment. Bob should be the one dealing with this, but he was nowhere to be found so John was stuck in this situation. He looked up once again. "And how do you even know that, kid?"

Harper tilted his head. "I'm kind of smart, that's how. I get it from my parents."

"I guess I must have," she pretended, before her eyes were drawn to the trick they performed. Invisibility. She knew the mother was planning other things. "You're in competition. She's putting you in competition."

He didn't want to say it, but it did sort of feel like his mom might be right. Like, Mrs. Calderu was zero for two. He wanted to believe in spark and shine, with the gods like Thor roaming around and blasting lightning, but maybe mom really had it all down. He was supposed to be too old for this.

“Well, I guess he can get sick like a person then. But he's got a wonderful and talented robo doctor to make him better.” Lisa told him with a smile, though he couldn't exactly see if with how focused her was on what he was doing with Davis' circuit board.

"Yeah. It's a computer bug," Harper said, in case it needed clarifying. His mom had needed something, she wouldn't say what, and had plugged Davis in, and it went downhill from there. "I'll fix it. It's my job, as his friend."

“You shouldn’t be sticking your nose in this, kid.” he said, trying to keep his voice neutral. “We don’t need your opinion on this.” Maybe it came out a little too harsh, but John was already tired and starting to run out of patience. Having a kid correct him was only making things worse.

"And it's not an opinion. It's a mechanical fact," He pointed out. "And if you go sticking your nose in that particular pipe, you'll feel that combustion engine failing, which'll still be very, very hot."

“Living in someone's shadow and trying to live up to their legacy aren't the same thing.” Lisa told him, an eyebrow quirking as she said it. “One is other people comparing you and the things you do, one is you doing it. You should save people because you want to, because you think it's right. Not because it's expected of you or you feel like you have to live up to someone else.”

"Mom's doesn't want me in his shadow," Harper shrugged. It didn't seem like a big deal to him, especially since it was his whole life. It was practically every day nonsense, not worth thinking about. "She wants me to be bigger and better, that's why we had to start early."

There's no envy to him. Alex liked his new lease on life now, a fresh start from the strife he'd seen. "An unending cycle." An astute conclusion, one that didn't need any confirmation. "You ever try doing something else on your own?" Maybe he was lucky that he was free to do what he wanted, as long as he stayed out of trouble.

"Once I have some doctorate degrees, I think it'll end. No one's in school for forever," Harper rolled his eyes. Well, maybe a librarian thought they were in school for forever, but that's why he wasn't a librarian. He grimaced. "No? Maybe when I'm older."

"Dressing up as him for Halloween isn't the same as being him." She told him simply. "Being Iron Man would be a lot of responsibility." She warned.

"No, but lots of kids still want to be him," Harper frowned. It would be a lot of responsibility, but mom had made plans. By then, he'd be ready, he'd be trained. "I'm half him, so I'm half-ready already, right."