Chapter 9:
Verity sighed and placed her head in her hands, knowing that she would never be able to stop thinking, however hard she tried, about what Loki had turned into and what she had said to him.
She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice somebody sitting next to her, until they spoke. "I'm sorry."
Verity looked up to see Tony leaning forward, with his hands clasped in front of him. "What for?" She asked.
"I didn't realize that..." Tony stopped, rethinking what he had been about to say, "Loki's the father?" Verity nodded slightly, remembering that everyone had been watching her conversation with Loki.
Tony cleared his throat as he said, "You know, it must have taken a lot of guts to say the things you said." Verity gave him a small smile as she nodded again, not able to talk about it.
"Isn't there a way to..." Tony asked after a long moment of silence. Verity frowned as she asked in a croaky voice, "A way to, what?" Tony shrugged before adding, "To make him... sane?"
Verity thought for a few seconds before nodding very slowly, saying, "There might be. But I think we would all have to talk to him."
Tony clapped his hands, smiling at her hugely, exclaiming, "Great! So all we need to do is go to his cage and talk."
"No." Verity shook her head, telling him, "He needs to be outside of the cage. He needs to know that he can trust us. But not in the room with the cage... it would not look too good."
"Wait a mo'" Tony held up his hands as he asked, "So you want to talk to him in a different room, outside of his cage, where he could do his... tricks?" Verity nodded, staring at Tony's face which had disbelief written all over it.
"Okay." Tony placed his hands on his knees, before asking, "Which room do you want to talk to him in?"
***Loki's cage***
Loki sat crossed legged on the floor, since there were no seats in the cage with see through walls, thinking about the shock and surprise he had felt when Verity had spoken to him like he was a stranger.
A door opened on the other side of his cage, and Thor walked in with the Captain and Iron Man. Loki looked at them curiously as the Iron Man opened the door of his cage.
"What a surprise, Thor." Loki gave a little smirk as Thor walked in with cuffs. "I was wondering when you were going to take me back to the Alfather. Though I must ask, how are you going to take me back to Asgard with the Bifrost, or the Tesseract?"
Thor clapped the cuffs around his wrists, not too lightly, before saying, "We're not returning to Asgard."
Loki raised his eyebrows as he asked, "Where are you taking me then? Are you going to burn me, until I tell you where the Tesseract is?"
"No, we're going to take you to a room where we, along with Verity, are going to talk to you." Tony said, beneath his helmet. Loki's eye twitched as he said quickly, "I do not wish to see Lady Verity."
Steve came over and grabbed his right arm, since Thor was holding his left, while saying, "Too bad."
Loki tried to stay where he was, but with Tony leading the way, Thor and Steve dragging him along, he had no choice but to walk with them till they reached a room with a couple of couches.
Clint was standing with an arrow in his bow, while Natasha sat on one of the couches, holding a staff that Loki had bought with him to Midgard. The staff with the mind stone was else where.
Steve dropped Loki's arm, and Thor pushed Loki to sit next to Natasha, who was now pointing the staff at him. Loki eyed her, a hint of fear in his eyes. He didn't lose sight of the staff for a moment.
"What now, Thor?" He asked, still watching Natasha, "We wait till Lady Verity comes?"
"Uh, yeah." Tony said, popping up his helmet to have a drink of alcohol. Loki would have given him a look of disgust, if he wasn't watching the staff.
Bruce walked into the room, looking down at some notes he had made. He looked up and saw everyone else in the room. "Oh." Was the only thing he said, before placing his notes on a table.
"Do we get to ask him about that staff now, or..." Tony asked after finishing his drink. Thor looked at the staff, then at Loki, who hadn't dropped his gaze of the staff, from the moment he stepped into the room.
"What does it do, Loki?" Thor asked, trying to sound gentle. Loki took a breathe before saying, "It is rather unsettling."
Tony frowned and opened his mouth, making Natasha look at him. But before he could say anything, Loki pounced and grabbed the staff from Natasha's grip, making a white ball of light fly through the room.
Everyone watched as the ball hit Tony's chest plate. He looked down his chest in disbelief, before looking up at Loki. He lifted up his hand, and was about to fire, when his glove fell off, showing a small hand in its place.
Everyone watched in horror as Tony's armor began to fall off, one by one, then watched as his head became smaller. They all stared at Tony, who was fighting his way out of the maze of armor around him. The clothes he had been wearing beneath the armor still fitted him perfectly, but...
Tony was a child.
Thor turned his head to look at Loki, whose jaw was hanging open. Loki turned his own head to look at the staff, before saying, "I did not expect that to happen."
Natasha tried to snatch the staff back, but was turned into a child her self. Thor lugged himself at Loki and battled for hold of it, making white balls fly through the room, turning first Bruce, then Steve into children, all of their clothes still fitting them perfectly.
Clint was trying to dog all of the balls of white light, but he too was soon turned into a child. Now only Loki and Thor were still themselves, fighting for the staff.
Then, two white balls came out and hit, first Thor, then Loki.
When Loki next opened his eyes, he was standing on the floor, the seat of the couch level with his eyes. Thor stood next to him, trying to keep the staff from falling onto its side.
But he lost his grip. The staff titled towards him, and missed him by an inch as Loki threw himself at Thor, pushing both of them out of the way.
Loki quickly sat up after the staff had landed with a thump. Thor sat up as well, looking at the spot where he had been. He looked over to where his brother sat and hugged him.
"Um, okay Thor. You can let go." Loki said, while trying to get out of Thor's tight grip.
Thor let go and backed away, looking at his brother with gratitude on his face. Loki gave him a small nod, feeling that an understanding had come between them.
'Maybe I am not in my right mind.' Loki frowned a little as he thought about this. But before he could dwell on it for long, three small bodies threw themselves on to him, punching and kicking.
Tony, Clint and Natasha were in the group, while Steve was cut between calming Bruce down and stopping the others with Thor, who was trying to pick up his hammer.
Loki yelled, punched, kicked and threw his fire balls at the attacking avengers, but they were too much for him. Eventually, he stopped fighting and curled up into a ball, trying to protect himself from them.
***Out in the hall***
Verity took a deep breath and smiled at Fury, saying, "Don't worry. If everything goes to plan, Loki will be in his right mind before long." She turned the knob that her hand was resting on, and an explosion of sound came down on her.
"What the..." Fury said quietly as he saw the children that were fighting in the room, all of them looking like mini versions of the avengers and Loki. Verity's eyes were very wide as she shouted above the noise, "What is happening?!"
Everyone stopped fighting, turning to look at the new comers in the room. Verity saw that they were all wearing the clothes that they had been before, as if they had shrunk down to fit their owners, but seeing all of them as children was unsettling.
Thor had short blonde hair, no bread, and was pulling Tony away from the battle; he seemed to be about seven. Tony also had no beard, but other than that, his appearance was pretty much the same, and he looked like he was around four. Natasha might have been three, while Clint, who was still trying to fight, was about five.
Steve and Bruce could have been six, and they were standing a little away, Bruce a light shade of green. Verity's eyes widened even more when she saw Loki. He looked to be about four or five, he was covered in bruises, one of his eyes were shut and blood was dripping from his mouth.
"Excuse us a moment, won't you?" Tony asked, finally breaking out of Thor's grip. "I have to kick Reindeer-Games butt here."
He started towards Loki, but stopped as Loki spat at him, blood running down his left cheek. Tony touched it, before staring at Loki in hatred and curling his fist into a ball.
Verity stepped forward and picked up the staff, making everyone freeze.
"Lady Verity, would you be able to change us back?" Thor asked politely. Verity sighed and said, "Only if all of you back off!"
Loki saw his chance and backed away as far as he could from Tony. Everyone else stood in line in front of Verity.
"I need some coffee." Fury said, shaking his head and closing the door behind him as he left the room. Verity took a breath and closed her eyes.
"Try not to mess up." Tony told her. Verity opened one eye and glared at him. Tony closed his mouth and looked down at the ground. Verity closed her eyes again.
Everyone waited for something to happen. "Why did we have to turn into four year olds?" Tony complained as nothing happened. Everyone told him to keep quiet, but he continued, "I'm just saying, why couldn't we be teenagers or something, so that I can give Loki a good punch!"
Verity gasped as a huge ball of white overwhelmed them all.
A blink later, Verity saw that the people in front of her were teenagers, along with herself, that her belly was being kicked by her child, and that she was falling backwards with great pain, the staff falling from her hands and landing on the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces.
