Loki's mood was nothing like the smug thrill from the last time he'd stolen a kiss. This time, he was too stunned to speak at all.

The sensation on his cheek seemed to magnify a thousand times over, that faint coolness amplifying with it until it froze his mind completely solid.

His head went blank. His whole body locked in place, not daring to move an inch, only the slight widening of his eyes betrayed the shock and excitement churning inside him.

Yang Luoluo was no better off. Her cheek felt so hot it seemed like it might explode any second. She hurriedly shuffled away from Loki, eyes darting left and right, not daring to look at him even once.

The room fell quiet.

After a long moment, Yang Luoluo finally couldn't help stealing a glance at Loki, and was startled to find he hadn't moved at all, expression perfectly composed, as though nothing had happened.

She didn't see that the tips of Loki's ears, hidden behind his black hair, had turned red enough to bleed.

It was over.

Even that hadn't worked. Getting Loki to take them to the battlefield was clearly hopeless.

Yang Luoluo let out a heavy sigh, worry written all over her face, and stood to go find Wanda Maximoff and work out another plan.

A hand — knuckles sharp and defined, shot out and caught her by the wrist. One firm tug, and Yang Luoluo lost her footing and tumbled into Loki's arms, instantly enveloped in a cool, crisp aura.

"Huh?" She turned to look at him in surprise.

Loki's gaze flickered unsteadily for a moment. A flush rose suddenly on his face and spread rapidly down to his neck.

He pressed a fist to his lips and gave two small, forced coughs. Then he put on an air of calm and spoke, though his voice sounded distinctly odd no matter how you heard it.

"Ahem... that said, taking you all along is not entirely out of the question..."

Sensing that success was within reach, Yang Luoluo couldn't contain herself. Her eyes lit up with a bright, eager gleam. She threw both arms around Loki's neck, and a stream of happy, chirping words poured into his ear.

"Yes! I knew you'd agree. Don't worry — even if Tony and the others find out, we absolutely won't give you up!"

"Oh, right, I need to go tell Wanda and the others the good news, then pack right away..."

She was already moving to jump down and bolt for the door. Loki moved fast and stopped her, finally getting out the rest of what he hadn't been able to finish.

"Let me finish first. What's the rush..."

"Helping you is fine. But you have to promise me one condition."

Loki curved his lips into a smile and raised one index finger.

Yang Luoluo instinctively felt that agreeing to this condition would put her at a disadvantage. She asked carefully.

"What condition?"

"Haven't thought of one yet. I'll tell you once I have."

Loki leaned back against the chair with easy composure, brows slightly lifted, as though completely unaware of the conflict and hesitation written all over Yang Luoluo's face.

She chewed her lip and deliberated for a long time. In the end, Yang Luoluo steeled herself and agreed outright. "Fine — deal!"

Only then did Loki release the hand he had kept hold of around her.

"All right, go find those people. Wait any longer and they'll come barging in here to steal you away from me."

Yang Luoluo broke into a beaming smile and dashed out the door to find her friends. Before long, Loki heard from inside the room a wave of cheering loud enough to bring the ceiling down.

He shook his head helplessly.

......

"Come to think of it, those kids really didn't kick up a fuss about coming along? That's not like them at all."

Tony swirled the glass in hand and sat back on the sofa, face full of disbelief.

Steve was at a loss. "Tony, do I need to remind you that since the aircraft took off, you've already had J.A.R.V.I.S. sweep the whole thing top to bottom no fewer than thirteen times?"

"You know how it is, Captain. Those kids always find the most bizarre ways to sneak in. I can't afford not to stay on guard."

"I have to be responsible for their safety."

Tony sighed. It wasn't as though Tony wanted to be this vigilant, but before, even after F.R.I.D.A.Y. had already sent Peter Parker back, that one had managed to crawl back onto the ship on their own.

And that final image of Peter Parker disintegrating right in front of Tony had left Tony shaken for a long time. Out of lingering fear, Tony had upgraded the Spider-Man suit several more times and packed in quite a few new functions.

This time, Tony would rather be an unreasonable, overbearing guardian than let the kids get caught up in the fight again.

"No, I'm still not at ease." Tony turned it over and over and still felt they couldn't possibly be this obedient.

Tony had always trusted those instincts.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., pull up the compound's surveillance. F.R.I.D.A.Y., anything unusual?"

The holographic display unfolded and quickly split into several smaller screens, each showing a small figure going about their business,

Yang Luoluo sunbathing on the porch swing. Peter Parker doing homework. Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff playing a two-player co-op game. Harry and Ron Weasley playing Wizard Chess. Hermione Granger reading in a pile of books. The Weasley twins studying a piece of parchment. Draco Malfoy practicing magic...

Everything looked completely normal.

"I told you, you're overthinking it." Natasha thoughtfully slid a glass of water over. "Stop worrying. F.R.I.D.A.Y. is watching the compound, and J.A.R.V.I.S. is on this end. There's no way they can sneak up here."

"I hope so."

Tony didn't refuse Natasha's kindness. Taking a sip of water, Tony tried to push down the unease sitting at the bottom of the stomach.

"Sir, estimated arrival at the island's new base in approximately five minutes."

"Boss, there's an anomaly at the compound!"

J.A.R.V.I.S.'s gentle voice and F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s urgent voice rang out at the exact same moment. Tony, who hadn't yet managed to swallow that sip of water, immediately choked and broke into a violent coughing fit.

"Cough, cough! Show me — cough! The surveillance feed!"

The display reappeared. Steve eased off on the force and lightly patted Tony on the back, frowning at the screen the whole time.

"..." Steve's mouth twitched. Even Steve, an old-timer who didn't know much about modern technology, could tell something was wrong.

The figures on the screen kept flickering like static on an old television set. Strangely, all of them went right on doing their own things at an unhurried pace, as though the flickering wasn't happening to them at all.

The aircraft continued its smooth flight. As it drew closer and closer to the new base, the flickering grew more and more violent, until the figures flashed a few times and vanished from the surveillance feed entirely.

"..."

Tony had barely recovered from the coughing fit when Tony saw this, and almost laughed out of pure exasperation. "Oh, very bold. Decided to defy me to my face now, have they!"

The onlookers couldn't help but silently light a candle for the several kids who had absolutely no idea what was coming for them.

......

"Achoo! Achoo!"

The very same people the Avengers had been fretting over were at that moment huddled under the Invisibility Cloak, sneezing.

"I don't know why, but I've got a really bad feeling." Peter Parker frowned and looked down at both arms, every single hair was already standing on end. Peter Tingle had Peter Parker's heart pounding with unease.

"Don't sweat it, buddy." Ron Weasley was entirely unbothered, gnawing on a chip bigger than Ron Weasley's own face, words coming out muffled. "Either way, they were always going to find out we snuck over."

Loki had also told them this in advance: his illusion could temporarily fool F.R.I.D.A.Y., but as the distance grew, his control over it would gradually weaken until it disappeared entirely.

"Would you lot stop dropping crumbs on my bed? Because I will throw every one of you out the window right now."

Loki snapped the book shut with a sharp clap, listening to the endless crunching in his ears, and aimed the words at the seemingly empty bed.

Yang Luoluo lifted one corner of the Invisibility Cloak. Underneath, several small lumps were sitting in a circle around a bag of chips. Sensing the cloak being lifted, all of them turned their heads at once and gave Loki a perfectly innocent smile.

"..." Loki glared at them. In the end, he surrendered to those wide, guileless eyes. "Fine... try not to get my bed dirty."

According to information provided by the Weasley twins, hiding under the Invisibility Cloak kept the compound's two AI caretakers from detecting them, something the twins had discovered while making their map on parchment.

But the Invisibility Cloak wasn't large enough to conceal the group's actual sizes, so Loki had no choice but to shrink all of them down to palm-sized little lumps. When boarding the aircraft, Loki bundled the lumps inside the Invisibility Cloak and walked them on in broad daylight.

Ron Weasley absolutely loved being in this state. Not everyone got to experience what it felt like to hug a chip bigger than their own face.

Listening to J.A.R.V.I.S.'s announcement over the intercom that they were about to arrive, Loki chewed his lip with irritation, completely unable to settle down and read.

Those Avengers wouldn't actually just blast him off the aircraft, would they?

They... probably... wouldn't?

➤ Next: A Few Little Ones

Chapter 108 - A Few Little Ones

"Knock, knock, knock."

The steady rapping cut through the quiet without warning. Loki's heart lurched, a wave of sheer guilt crashing over him all at once.

It was over. The Avengers had absolutely discovered that the illusion was gone.

Loki hurried to move his fingers. The little ones were instantly swaddled together inside the Invisibility Cloak. Loki reminded them not to make a single sound, then arranged an expression of supreme annoyance on his face, furrowed his brow, and opened the door.

Sure enough, a whole crowd of Avengers stood outside in full intimidating force. Even Loki's completely clueless but ever-present oaf of a brother had shown up just to join in the excitement.

Loki pinched the bridge of his nose, forcefully suppressed the urge to kick the oaf away, and opened his mouth. Sheer irritation rolled off every word.

"Tch. Quite the turnout. What wind blew all of you to my doorstep?"

"What, you want to gang up and brawl with me again, like last time? Let me state for the record: I have been reformed for many years now."

The moment the door swung open, that was the barrage of barbed venom that greeted them. Loki crossed both arms and leaned against the doorframe, expression imperious, with absolutely no apparent intention of inviting anyone inside.

"Allow me to correct you on that, Bambi." Tony, no slouch in the sharp-tongued department, fired back without missing a beat. "That wasn't a brawl back then, that was us pinning you to the ground. One-sidedly."

"Oh, is that so? Funny, I seem to recall a certain soldier getting knocked five meters across the room by a single swing of my scepter."

Loki kept the counterattack going. Steve, an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, gave his teammates an awkward blink.

Loki seemed to have developed a genuine taste for trading blows with Tony. One remark followed the next, the words growing more and more brazen.

"Hah. Cunning Midgardians, the only reason you ever win is by ganging up with superior numbers. In a true one-on-one, I can guarantee not one of you would be a match for me."

", The idiot with the axe excepted." Glancing at Thor, who stood there looking thoroughly bewildered, Loki tacked that last part on with obvious reluctance.

Watching Loki and Tony ignite with full combative enthusiasm, as though they could trade jibes a hundred and eighty more rounds without stopping, Steve hurried to steer things back on track.

"Loki, we, um, could we come in for a moment?" Aware the request was a bit much to ask, Steve faltered slightly, discomfort written all over that face.

As expected, Loki refused without a second thought.

"Don't even think about it."

Steve's expression turned pained. There was simply no way to out-talk Loki in a verbal sparring match, and so Steve could only turn a pleading look toward Tony.

Tony let out a cold laugh, puffed up, and moved to walk right in. "Don't forget whose name is written on the outside of this aircraft."

J.A.R.V.I.S. read the room instantly and projected the exterior of the aircraft in front of everyone, large "STARK" lettering, bold and blazing across the fuselage.

Momentarily dazzled by the glaring "STARK" insignia, Loki's hand shot out to block Tony, then hesitated just a beat. That single pause was all Tony needed. Tony found the gap and walked straight through; the rest of the Avengers followed behind with complete self-assurance.

In the blink of an eye, the room that had felt somewhat empty before became crowded.

Watching the thundercloud expression on his little brother's face, Thor gave him a consoling pat, then opened his mouth and made Loki grind his teeth.

"Don't be angry. After all, we're all being kept by Tony, you'll get used to it."

Loki shot him a withering look, then turned and caught Clint moving to sit on the bed. His heart clenched at once, terrified that Clint would drop down and flatten those little ones.

"Don't sit on my bed!"

Afraid of giving too much away, Loki quickly cleared his throat and forced a scornful expression. "I simply don't want my bed contaminated with the stench of you Midgardians."

Picking up on the faint tension bleeding through Loki's voice, Tony and Natasha exchanged a glance, and while Clint grumbled back at Loki in irritation, the two moved quickly and gave the bed a firm pat-down.

Sure enough.

Pinching the fabric beneath their fingers, soft and smooth, like the finest silk, Tony smiled with the look of someone who had already worked it all out, silently ground his teeth, and without another word, yanked the Invisibility Cloak clean off.

"Uh — hey, wh-what a coincidence, you're all here too..."

Several little ones, none of them bigger than a bag of chips, appeared in everyone's line of sight all at once. They squeezed out awkward, innocent smiles. Their bodies, however, told the honest truth, they huddled together with careful, cautious instinct.

Loki, standing by the door, covered his face and couldn't look.

Tony had never expected to find a scene like this under the Invisibility Cloak. The anger burning inside quietly dissipated by more than half, but Tony still made every effort to put on a furious expression and opened his mouth to scold them for this outrageous behavior.

"You —"

"Mr. Stark, we were wrong."

The scolding had barely gotten started when Peter cut in with an apology, fixing those big brown puppy-dog eyes on Tony without so much as a blink, brimming with tears as though one more second would send them spilling over.

Tony:...

Oh no. There was simply no way to continue with this.

Sensing Tony was on the verge of caving, Natasha quickly picked up where Tony had left off. In Natasha's view, these children had absolutely no regard for their own safety.

This time, they had to be taught a lesson.

"You lot —"

"Natasha, we were just so worried about all of you..."

This time it was Wanda who spoke. The red-haired girl looked up at Natasha with a forlorn expression. The words themselves already carried their own force, and paired with a current palm-sized form, not to mention that Wanda's features were already delicate to begin with, Wanda now looked exactly like a little porcelain doll.

Natasha felt as though an arrow had gone straight through the heart.

Iron Man and Black Widow both went down in turn. Steve let out a sigh. It seemed the moment had come for Captain America to step up and discipline the children.

Steve cleared his throat and began with a straight face.

"Children, you're still young —"

"Captain,"

The little ones simply drew out Steve's title together in one long, collective call, then gazed up with clear, wide eyes, and Steve inexplicably felt a warm sensation wash over him, the feeling of being surrounded by grandchildren, basking in the joy of family.

Clutching his heart, Steve stepped back into the crowd. A gentle, contented smile lingered on that face.

The rest of the Avengers cast the three of them a disdainful glance, but truth be told, even they couldn't have said a single harsh word to these children in their current form.

Loki watched the whole scene unfold with great amusement.

When the idea of shrinking them down had first come to him, the purpose had simply been to make smuggling them aboard easier. Who could have imagined there would be such a remarkable side effect.

Interesting.

Finally recovered from Peter's gaze offensive, Tony took a deep breath, put on a stern and menacing expression, but kept both hands very, very gentle.

Tony pinched the fabric at the back of Peter's collar, set Peter down in the center of one palm, and gave a light poke with one finger. Peter wobbled, body swaying all over the place, and promptly sat straight down, and right after that, Tony received a deeply aggrieved look.

"Ahem..." A faint twinge of guilt in that cough, Tony then looked seriously at the tiny Peter sitting in the palm and spoke.

"As punishment, all of you must stay in this state until before the battle! And you are not allowed to go find Bambi to change you back!"

Peter nodded obediently. Tony couldn't help the soft warmth that bloomed inside, and gently ruffled the fluffy hair on top of Peter's head with the pad of a finger.

Loki spread both hands to indicate no part in any of this, then reached over and took Yang Luoluo into the other hand, placed her on his shoulder like something precious, and let her clutch at his hair and braid it into a plait.

Natasha looked on at Tony's behavior, nominally a punishment, in reality nothing more than indulging a private fondness, with undisguised contempt. The very next second, though, Natasha laughed and extended a hand toward Wanda.

Wanda returned a gentle smile, gathered red energy around both hands and floated down into the waiting palm, gave the hem of the skirt a small tug, and settled in with steady ease.

Beside them, Pietro watched his sister sitting so obediently in someone else's hand with a wistful look, until Clint, unable to bear watching any longer, reached over and scooped Pietro up.

"Hey, don't grab me by the collar! Why can't you hold me in your palm like Natasha?"

"Give it a rest, if you could be half as endearing as your sister, maybe I would."

Clint gave Pietro a flat look and set Pietro on top of Clint's own head, effectively giving him a nest.

Pietro, though small in form, refused to be outdone. Immediately taking off at a sprint across the top of Clint's head at full speed, a silver streak of wind whipped up in an instant.

A cool draft swept over Clint's head. To everyone else watching, it looked exactly as though there were a silver angelic halo hovering above.

Steve watched the little ones perched on everyone else with undisguised envy, and finally couldn't hold back, stepping forward to gather up the young wizards: some placed on top of Steve's head, some settled on the shoulders, a few more cradled in the palms, while Steve made sure to also bring along that bag of chips.

Before long, Steve was covered head to toe in little ones. Bucky, afraid the metal arm might hurt them, stood quietly to one side and watched, occasionally feeding one of them a chip.

The whole farce, which had started out as an effort to discipline some unruly children, ended with every single face wearing a satisfied smile.

➤ Next: 2012 Battle of New York