An Interesting Arrangement

Chapter Nine

Loki took a deep breath. The three kids followed in suit and then they all suspended.

"Good." Loki said as he had them all exhale. "Now imagine a place. Any place in the world."

"Paris." Stephanie breathed. She'd always wanted to go, and her parents promised to take her when she was older.

"1944." JC said, only partially kidding. Even though he was only four, he definitely had inherited his father's 40s nature, taking life at his own speed.

"Asgard." Oki said dreamily. Oki seemed to have some psychic abilities, dreaming frequently of Asgard in all its splendor, even though he'd never been there.

Loki shrugged mentally. These kids were all so different. "Know I want you to picture that place, feel it, surround yourself in it."

He could hear all the kids take a deep breath as they followed his instructions.

"Know I want you to open your eyes slowly, and as you do, create a portal." The kids slowly opened their eyes and in front of JC and Oki, steady portal opened. In front of Stephanie, a shaky portal opened.

Loki almost groaned. She couldn't seem to concentrate. And every time this happened.... "Hit the ground!" Loki hollered at JC and Oki as he ran and grabbed Stephanie, pulling her away quickly as the portal imploded and sent out waves of burning hot sparks in all directions. Her brothers, who were relatively accustomed to this, had hit the ground and were unharmed.

Natasha, Bucky, and Phil came running out of the house at the sound.

"Again?" Natasha asked. She wasn't mad. She'd been that the first twelve times. She wasn't annoyed. That had been the next fourteen times. But after 1,504 times, she'd gotten desensitized.

Loki carefully got up and helped Stephanie up. "Oops?"

Bucky snickered and Natasha gave him a nasty look.

"Loki can we talk for a moment?" Natasha asked, sighing. Loki nodded slowly and Natasha led him away from the kids. "Listen, Lok, I know that it's important to have the kids learn certain skills, but I just don't think that Stephanie is cut out for this kind of stuff."

Loki nodded. "I agree. Her magic is a lot less stable then the others. I'll try some other things with her and see if we can't figure out what her real talent is."
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"Ok, Stephanie. We can break for now." Loki told his young charge. She nodded and went back inside. After she disappeared Loki literally collapsed on the ground and dramatically threw his arms over his face.

Natasha walked over and nonchalantly kicked him in the ribs.

"Don't." He grumbled at her. Natasha smirked and kicked him even harder. Loki lifted the arm covering his eyes a little and glared at her.

"So?" Natasha pressed. "Did you figure out what her 'power' is?"

Loki propped himself up on his elbows and nodded.

"And it is..." Natasha pushed.

"Lightning."

"What? You mean like Thor?" Natasha frowned. "How is that even possible?"

Loki shrugged. "Who knows? Did Thor have any kind of physical contact when you were pregnant with Stephanie? Did you feel any kind of spark?"

Natasha placed a hand over her heart and pretended to look offended. "Loki, please! I am a happily married woman!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Be serious, Romanoff."

Natasha thought for a moment and nodded. "Come to think of it, one time I almost fell and he caught me. I do seem to remember an electric shock."

Loki nodded again. "Then he could have very well accidentally passed his powers onto Stephanie."

"So why does that affect Stephanie's other magic?" Natasha asked.

Loki sighed. "It has to do with the instability of the powers at this age. Thor wasn't able to do any kind of magic either for a long time. She may or may not be able to learn to subdue that part of her. At the very least though, I can teach her how to control it."

Natasha nodded slowly. "You do that. Also, where did Jace and Oki go?"

Loki's eyes widened. "I thought they were with you." He stood up. "We'd better go find them." They headed towards the front of the house, but a sudden explosion threw them back.

"Well," Loki said philosophically. "At least we know where they are."
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Turns out, JC and Oki had gotten Bucky to show them what happened when someone lit gasoline on fire. Then, they'd thrown flour on it. Long story short, they got grounded. Yes, even the Winter Soldier was no match for a ticked off mother. They also got banned from flour until they could learn to be "more responsible" or until they were ninety eight. Whichever happened first.
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Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while since I updated (and the short chapter). I'll update again soon!