Next Generation

22: Discovery

"Kids?", Tony asked, still in shock. He was in such state of shock, his head couldn't muster up good enough jokes to crack. "Like plural? Kids?".

Thor sighed, irritated at his disbelief.

"Yeah", Bruce awkwardly laughed, "how does he have kids?".

"He probably brainwashed the girl", Tony snickered. There it goes! The joke of the day.

Thor instantly glared at him, very annoyed at how childish Tony was acting.

"He has twins. A boy and a girl, Asger and Asta", he began to explain as he set his hammer down on the low center table. "They were banished".

The first thing heard in the room was Torunn's loud gasp. "Banished?!".

Asger and Asta were practically her siblings. The trio grew up in Asgard, running around and playing out their antics in the vast gardens Asgard had to offer. The two were almost identical. They shared the jet black hair, pale skin, and green eyes. They immediately stuck out like a sore thumb in their group of friends; people being able to instantly recognized that they were Loki's children. Also, because of this, they were often judged at sight. Older women would grimace at their presence, turning their heads as soon as they walked through the door, whispering to their children not to play with them. Asger and Asta weren't exactly people persons either. They were often rude, or too quiet to try and even make conversation with. Most of the time they were each other's only company, with the exception of times when Torunn would barge into their conversations, her warrior friends tagging along. They merely enjoyed more company, but most of time they found it annoying. The twins were left without a mother, and Loki, well he was barely present at all.

But people weren't exactly wrong to perceive them as dangerous.

"They completely destroyed the gardens, manipulated some guards to help them out", Thor explained, reaching out for Torunn's wrist.

"What do you mean manipulate?", Clint asked as he polished an arrow. He shuddered as he remembered the dark color taking over his eyes again. How could two kids possibly do that?

"They are manipulators of emotions and the mind", Torunn said, her stare blank and steady. Asger and Asta were her cousins and she loved them dearly, but sometimes they were completely out of it.

"I'm sorry!", Torunn sobbed as she dropped to her knees, clutching her hair and clenching her teeth as hard as she could. "I'm sorry!".

"Too late now", Asta cackled as she snapped her fingers, Asger in front of her as he bolted the door of the room shut, leaving Torunn behind in the dark abyss alone with only her thoughts. Her eyes were closed but they envisioned something much more intense than pitch black. Thor was also on his knees, his hands tied behind his back as a man raised his sword only to cut his head clean off. Torunn screamed louder, her own yelp of surprise and fear ringing in her eardrums. "Stop!".

She heard faint laughing behind the door and Torunn had to remind herself over and over that it was just a hallucination.

"They will display your worst nightmare right in front of you. Things you do not want to remember, things you do not want to happen. Asger and Asta are very powerful, but their will is no good", she blabbered as she recalled the memory. That day, Torunn was locked in the closet until a guard heard her weeping. He couldn't bolt open the door like usual. Asger had rigged it so that only he and Asta could open it. Soon, Loki's children were punished but their minds still swirled with the thoughts of torture.

"They are also shapeshifters", Thor piped in. "You can never predict the two".

"And part frost giant as well", Torunn added as she cocked her head to side like it was some mindless fact.