Chapter 55

The scientist pouted at that, before dismissing the idea in favour of changing topics. Really, the man seemed to have a thirty-track mind and the concentration-span of a three-year-old.

"So, where's your magic books?" he asked.

In reply, Harry casually flicked his wrist catching his wand as it shot out of its holster into his hand before he tapped one particular bookshelf. Tony's eyes nearly popped out of his head as the bookshelf slid forward and out of the way.

"In here," Harry told him.

"A secret compartment! Now, that's cool!" Tony exclaimed as he rushed forward, intent on examining every book.

When one book rattled ominously at him, Tony quickly backtracked.

"Did your book just try to eat me?" he asked incredulously.

Harry shrugged. "Some of these books aren't exactly safe for non-magicals to be around."

"In that case, it's a good thing that you've got them all hidden away," Tony nodded. "I'm guessing that it's safe to assume that you've got a whole bunch of other magical hidey-holes hidden all over this joint?"

Harry shrugged, making sure to give the best mysterious smile that he could.

"You know, when the Tower's redesigned, I was planning on making rooms for each of us, well, not so much a room as more of a floor for me, but then it is my Tower. Anyway, if you're going to be magicking everything and your magic isn't going to play nicely with my tech, then you're going to have to let me run some tests. A bunch of tests actually. That's why I came over: to invite you over," Tony said.

"Invite me over?" Harry echoed.

"Yeah, well, figured it wouldn't be much fun being here all alone with this part of the city closed, so thought, why not? But now that I know that there's work to do to make sure that you don't blow me up or something, you've simply got to come," Tony said.

"I guess that makes sense," Harry replied. "Just so long as you understand that if you're going to be testing my magic with your tech, I'm likely to blow stuff up."

"You should see the amount of stuff I've blown up over the years trying to figure stuff out," Tony said, blowing off the objection. "Good. That's settled. Now, Gandalf, don't hold out on me. Show me what else you've got."

Harry smirked to himself. "Well, if you're sure … Then I guess the best place to start would be the closet. Would you like to see what I keep in there?"

"Closet, huh? Seems a bit ordinary, but whatever. Lead the way," Tony said.

ooo00ooo

Doreen took one last, long look around her room, checking that she hadn't forgotten anything important.

There was still a lot of stuff here that she hadn't touched, but it was nothing that she couldn't do without or easily replace. Finally, her eyes settled on a picture of her and her parents.

Mareen and Dor Green were good parents, they'd always had a lot of fun together but it'd never been easy. Having a daughter with mutated genes that made her part squirrel had always been very stressful for them and they'd done everything that they could to make sure that they hid that fact from the world. Not an unreasonable thing, really, especially with the way the world viewed mutants.

It'd always been a battle keeping that part of Doreen hidden and had caused her quite a lot of teasing at school, especially when she didn't participate in swimming or other sports. It wasn't that she couldn't, in fact, Doreen knew that she'd probably beat the pants off of most everyone else, especially with her enhanced genetics. But the fear that she'd be found out was simply too great, so her parents had forbidden her from doing anything like that.

And Doreen was sick and tired of it. She wanted to be free to be herself. And here in L.A., at home with her parents, she knew that that could never happen. She was fifteen now and she was ready to be her own person and she knew exactly where she needed to go to allow that to happen.

Picking up the photo, she stuffed it in her backpack along with the clothes and books and toiletries and her other most precious possessions, not to mention her wallet stuffed with her life savings. Her fingers caressed the envelope that she'd prepared for this occasion and she straightened it on her desk.

Her decision made, Doreen picked up her belt of many pouches, each one filled with nuts, and slung it around her waist. Next, she donned her fingerless gloves, before her favourite old, bomber jacket was slipped on.

ʆ"Come on, Monkey Joe; time to see the world,"ʆ she said in squirrelese.

With one great leap and a little scampering, her best friend had found his perch on her shoulder.

Then, after picking up her backpack, Doreen left her room for the last time, being careful to close the door behind her. They had a bus to catch.

ooo00ooo

"This is where the kid grew up?" Clint asked, the disgust clear in his voice.

"Harry's not a kid, Clint; if you'd read his file you'd know that he's thirty-one," Natasha retorted.

"I did read it," Clint replied. "Doesn't change the fact that he looks like a kid. Well, at least like someone in his early to mid-twenties."

"The file also indicated that magical people age at a slower rate. Guess he just got the good genes," Natasha said.

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