It occurred to Loki that Sylvie hadn't stopped staring at Astrid the entire time he'd been in the kitchen. Day turned to night, with plenty of confusion and questions left unanswered, and after being given a room in the house, which came with it's own inquiries, Loki woke the next morning to go downstairs and found everyone else there. Luka was cooking, actually physically cooking, without the use of magic cooking, but his back was to them and something told Loki not to ask him anything about that. Astrid was strapped into a high chair and closer examination showed him that she actually was being restrained slightly as if she was going to escape otherwise; still the child seemed cheerful and was happily munching on orange slices that had been placed on a plate alongside some cutesy looking apple slices and a piece of toast which already had a bite in it.
But it was the female Variant that had his attention; since the incidents the day before she hadn't actually talked to him, except to ask for her Tempad, but especially so after he made her aware that it had no power and thus wouldn't be able to take them anywhere. She had almost seemed like she was sulking but that morning she looked normal enough, outside of the silent staring she was doing to the youngest of them.
"Morning," Luka said and Loki nearly jumped, attention drawn suddenly from his fellow Variant to...his other fellow Variant. This situation really was weird but unlike Sylvie who was different, who was a girl, this one really did look a lot like him; hair a little longer, maybe a lot calmer, but it was much harder to deny that this was a Loki, like he was a Loki, if not a year older. And with a child.
"Morning," he responded and took a seat that the table, keeping his eye on the other man, "You're cooking breakfast?"
"Astrid won't eat it unless I put effort into it; she adores magic but she's also a senseless, reasonless little gremlin who will only do what she wants as she wants and only occasionally agree to listen to me," Luka said, both matter-of-fact and strangely proud, "Honestly I can practically hear Frigga laughing now."
Loki flinched and Sylvie watched him out of the corner of her eye. He remembered in that moment the tape, the things he was shown, the things that were supposed to come; he wondered if this Loki knew about it and whether they had already happened. A thought came to mind in the line of thought but reminder of the useless Tempad, and the knowledge the TVA would likely chase them both down immediately if he tried, stopped it from going any farther than a momentary intrigue in the back of his mind. Still was a beautiful, wonderful thought while it lasted.
"Where's her mother, shouldn't she be cooking for you both?" This was something else that had been on Loki's mind and he looked at Luka to see his reaction. The other man didn't even flinch and kept cooking without what seemed a care to what Loki was saying.
Astrid giggled. "Mama is cooking, silly. Right Mama?"
Loki felt very confused, and was coming to understand that maybe that was just how it was around here, but Luka chuckled and raised a hand. "Of course, little star. Now eat your food or no eggs for you."
"Mamaaaa," the child whined but picked up one of the orange slices anyway and plopped it right into her mouth.
Sylvie raised an eyebrow. "So you're both her mother and her father?"
"As far as Astrid is concerned yes," Luka answered and started dishing out what looked to be scrambled eggs and sausage, "Gender isn't especially important to me, which I think you two would understand well. And Astrid doesn't care much about it either; some days I am Daddy, some days I'm Mama, some days I'm male, some days I'm female. But all days I'm Loki, or Luka if you will, and as we all know, being Loki doesn't have a requirement of what we are on the outside but who we are inside."
At that he tapped the side of his head then gave the charming smile of the Loki as he handed out the food. "Now eat; we have a busy day today and we'll be leaving in, oh, let's say an hour and a half?"
"Leaving?" Loki asked as Sylvie and Astrid dug into their breakfasts, "Leaving for where exactly, may I ask?"
"An appointment; don't concern yourself too much over it, me, I'm not going to lead you into a trap or anything of the like." As Luka sat down to join them Loki found himself less than reassured. But in the situation they seemed to have found themselves he supposed he had very little choice one way or the other.
Of the things Loki was expecting to be doing, walking through the front doors of what looked to be a renovated Stark Tower was not one of them. After all last time he's been there he had been trying to take over the world, only a short while ago actually, and that had gone so well then. Now he was striding inside like nothing was wrong, or rather a version of him was doing so, purposefully ignoring the weird look that the guard gave as that version smiled and offered what looked to be an ID card. The guard took it then looked at Loki and Sylvie and he could guess what that was about; it had to be weird seeing two hooded figures following after the God of Mischief, their appearance semi-obscured by magic. Loki honestly was a bit concerned that if the man tried hard enough he might be able to see through it, and thus pulled the cloak closer, but then Astrid jumped up and put a flower crown on the guard's head with a happy giggle. This seemed to shake the guard's concentration enough and he looked at the happy-go-lucky three year old, dressed in a golden yellow sundress with her hair in a braid behind her; Luka chuckled and grabbed his wayward child, holding her in his arms. "She's a little hyper today."
"Bye Mister Guard!" she exclaimed happily and her father carried her inside, followed by the other two while the guard was still stunned. A quick side glance back allowed Loki to see the man touching the flower crown with a sort of dumb expression.
"Midgardians," he muttered under his breath.
The bottom floor was basically the same and he suspected that any changes to the place were higher up. There were agents all over the place, talking, loitering, existing; he took note of Hawkeye talking to someone and part of him was tempted to go bother him but as if guessing what he was thinking Sylvie grabbed hold on his arm and dragged him over to an elevator that already Luka and Astrid were getting into, the former pressing on a few buttons before placing his hand on what Loki soon saw was a biometric scanner.
"Do not get lost you idiot," she hissed at him.
He smirked. "Ahh concerned over me?"
"More concerned over the Tempad, which you still haven't handed over by the way." Loki shrugged but made no move to give into the barely veiled request, or was it a demand? Either way he wasn't going to obey.
"Sylvie, Sylvie!" Astrid cheered happily and reached out at the goddess, causing her to freeze up some.
"Astrid, do you like Sylvie?" Luka asked and the child nodded, "I see, and what about Loki?"
"I like Uncle too; he's silly. He was looking at the bird like he had mischief on his mind," Astrid said, "And mischief is the best fun you can have."
"She certainly talks like the daughter of the god of mischief," Loki said and Astrid gave a grin very reminiscent of her father.
She then continued to try to grab at Sylvie and the woman finally stepped forward, taking her and holding her rather awkwardly. Luka tsked and started to try to direct her how to best hold the child, the two having a back and forth that was both surreal, in watching two of the exact same person talk like that, and cliché in it's own way. Only Loki noticed the elevator stop and the door open to a spacious living sort of area, a voice calling out to them.
"Hey Reindeer Games, you're early; aren't skipping out on your shift at the bookstore are you?" Tony Stark appeared from one hallway, partially covered in grease and looking for all the world like he had just crawled out of a wreckage of his own suits. Still he seemed happy enough and Loki frowned, turning to look at Luka who stepped out and towards with a shrug.
"I figured it would be best to get seeing you out of the way so that I can go about the rest of my day with as little annoyance as possible," he said, "So tell me, did you purposefully make yourself look as unkempt as possible or is this a special treat just for me, Stark?"
Tony smirked back at the god and there was a spark jumping between the two. "Oh you know I just had to dress up for you, Rock of Ages."
"Hi Anthony!" Astrid exclaimed happily and waved at the man, Sylvie still trying her best to hold to the child and not let her fall.
He turned to address her, a look of delight on his face for all of a few minutes before he took note of her being held by someone not Luka. And then seemed to realized there were two of them and his expression immediately darkened before turning to Luka with a look that Loki knew only too well. After all it reminded him a lot of the events that led from him stealing the Tesseract from Fury and all the way to his capture during the Battle. That was a very serious, very unhappy face.
"Loki," Tony said and he took a step towards the bar, which it seemed was still there despite it supposedly being a year since the Battle happened, "Who are your spooky friends?"
Loki opened his mouth to say something but Sylvie reached up with her one free hand, how she had one was a mystery to him too, and pulled back her hood, showing off her face. And the gold circlet she had refused to take off with the one broken horn. He wasn't entirely sure what she was thinking but though Luka noticed it he didn't seem to be very concerned about it, simply shrugging and then looking to Loki. The younger god could guess what was being implied in his other twin's eyes; he was not sure why he would want that but so be it. He removed his own hood and could practically feel Tony stiffen seeing his face, the face of Loki, the same face as the one who only moments before he had been almost playfully bantering with.
"This is the real reason I came to see you early," Luka said and Sylvie held Astrid closer as Tony inspected both her and Loki.
"A girl...and another you?" Tony sounded confused; admittedly Loki could understand at least that feeling.
"Actually she is me too but from a different timeline."
"So three of you."
"Basically."
"Well...fuck." Luka frowned some and Astrid gasped before pointing at the greased up mortal.
"Anthony swore! Anthony, put a dollar in the swear jar or I'm telling!"
Sylvie readjusted the girl and smirked. "I think he should put ten in for swearing in front of a child."
Astrid seemed to like this idea and nodded vigorously. "One hundred dollars for swearing in front of me!"
"Astrid is a very impressionable child; how could you speak profanity in front of her?" Luka asked and Tony stared at him, shock settling into his face as he turned from Astrid to the female Loki to the male.
"Stark doesn't strike me as the type to understand how to behave around children so I don't think we should be too harsh on him," Loki said with a solemn nod, "We can't expect much maturity from him really."
"Am...am I being punked or something? What in the hel-heck is going on here? Why are there three of you? And how in god's name is one of you a girl?"
This just seemed to anger Sylvie and she glared at him, Astrid patting her head as if that would somehow soothe her. It did not, but she also did not let the little girl go.
"That's very rude, Anthony; you can't just ask someone how they can be a girl. Or assume Sylvie's gender; Sylvie, myself and the other Loki all have a right to be whatever we want." As if to prove his point, or just to make Tony's life all the more difficult, Luka snapped his fingers and his physical form changed to a female version of himself. Not quite like Sylvie, Luka wore a long flowing dark green dress with gold accents, her long wavy black hair hanging over one shoulder; she smirked in dark lipstick at Tony who stared a little too much then returned to his previous form. It was only then Loki realized that the tunic his other self had decided to wear, the same type of color combination and even the same material, was really bordering on a dress itself. But at least he was wearing pants underneath.
"We're sorry about Anthony, Sylvie," Astrid said and messily kissed Sylvie on the forehead, making the woman twitch just a little, "He doesn't mean to be a meanie butt."
"Astrid, I'm hurt you're being so mean to me," Tony said sighing and he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Okay let's start over. What is going on here? She's from another timeline? How is that possible?"
"It's all a little complicated but I'm sure, smart as you are for a Midgardian, you can at least guess from what we've said so far," Luka said and started walking around the room, "Is everything secure in here still?"
Tony gave him a weird look then nodded. "Fury can't hear us if that's what you're asking; I just completed adjustments on Jarvis this morning to make sure that the Tower is self sufficient and protected against anyone who might try to bug us."
"Sounds paranoid to me," Sylvie said with a scoff.
"Coming from a Loki I'll take that as a twisted sort of compliment."
Luka turned to her. "When dealing with SHIELD it's never paranoid enough to be safe."
"So why do you ask? Does it have to do with your new friends?"
"I contemplated informing Fury of the situation too but I decided that would just cause more headaches so congratulations, Stark; you're the first to learn that there is now three of my glorious self, including our lovely and absolutely not sometimes extremely violent Lady Sylvie." Tony seemed stuck between being shocked, being resigned and being annoyed. As such his facial expression was a mess and Astrid giggled looking at it; even Sylvie seemed a little more at ease knowing the man was stupefied by this whole thing and Loki definitely was comforted knowing he wasn't the most confused here.
"Oh thanks, I love being told my nightmares are coming true," Tony said and sighed deeply, "But no really, this is...quite the situation. Where did they come from?"
"I came from another timeline," Loki spoke up figuring if he was going to be talked about, he might as well make himself heard, "I escaped from your clutches during the aftermath of my attack on New York, taking the Tesseract with me. I was then captured by a group who call themselves the Time Variance Authority and set on the path of Sylvie who like me is what's called a Variant. As is your Loki truth be told."
"Variant," Tony said, trying to word out and made a face, "Sounds...a bit too sci-fi for my taste."
"Says the man with a flying suit of red armor," Luka scoffed.
"Hey, my armors are perfectly within the possibility of science!"
"Anyway," Sylvie said loudly and all the men turned to look at her; she was frowning, "I'm more curious to know why you brought us here, Loki. And why you would tell this man about us; what is your scheme?"
"Honestly I'm curious to know as well," Tony said, raising an eyebrow at Luka.
The Loki in question shrugged again. "If you're going to be sticking around for a time then you might as well get to know the people I know. As I said I don't look forward to telling Fury about any of this, knowing him he'll try something like locking us all up or even just the Loki among us who has most recently tried attacking the earth with creepy aliens borrowed from the Mad Titan," Loki shuffled some in his spot, "and call it self-preservation but I'd rather not just allow that."
"I'm not sticking around," Sylvie snapped, setting down Astrid finally, "I'm getting my Tempad back and then I am going to get it recharged and get out of this weird timeline. I have plans to fulfill and I have no intention to staying here and playing house."
The child looked up at her, as did the three men, and Tony turned to Luka. Loki moved to rematerialize said device; she had a point of course. He needed to get back to the TVA, or at least find a way to get their attention, but it occurred to him that with all the variance energy there should be there, all the disruptions of the timeline that was all about, then they already should be aware. And yet nothing had happened, no one had showed up, and he couldn't help but wonder why.
The Tempad had almost appeared when there was a loud boom like thunder and both male Lokis instinctively stiffened. Astrid though started to beam and as a figure tackled the TVA Loki, she exclaimed excitedly. "UNCLE THOR!"
Fuck, Loki thought and that one word rattled about in his head as he was suddenly and very violently thrown to the ground by a very familiar and still very blonde man. He wasn't sure if it was a hug or an attempt on his life, it honestly could have been both as far as he knew, but it definitely felt like something broke as he hit the floor and groaned. It was probably his bones if the past was any indication; that would require some careful self-healing, unless Luka was willing to help of course.
Thor looked at him and then behind them to see his other brother standing around with Sylvie and Tony. Loki could practically see the information processing through his brain, the tiny rodent that operated his mind spinning around and around in it's wheel until finally everything sunk in and the lightbulb went on. It was amazing to him how he could tell when Thor finally started to understand something was going on. He stood, letting the crushed god of mischief stand if able and Loki took a few extra moments to feel sorry for himself and to try and get his body to actually work.
"Brother," he said looking at Luka who smirked at him, then down at Loki on the ground, "And...brother? As well as," his gaze then went to Sylvie, "A sister? What sorcery is this now?"
"How did you know she's a Loki too?!" Tony asked astonished and Thor gave him a confused look.
In unison he and the three Lokis, plus an overly jovial Astrid, said, "She has the horns."
Tony froze and seemed to almost human-buffer, just staring into space with the blankest, most done expression before letting out the deepest sigh Loki had ever heard. It was enough to make him laugh, despite his possibly crushed ribs, and he wasn't alone; Luka and Sylvie had joined him and the two Avengers were left standing there as three Lokis laughed at the reaction of one very done Tony Stark.
Astrid skipped over to Loki as all this happened and shoving her hands onto his chest green light started to dance around him as he healed. He started to feel better, not by much, but at least not as bad, and sat up, patting her head gently while still chuckling. "Thank you little star."
At the nickname Astrid beamed and hugged his neck, seeming to understand that he was still in pain elsewhere. She kissed his cheek. "You're welcome, Uncle~"
"How is having horns a defining feature of Loki? Though I guess considering he's Reindeer Games it shouldn't be too surprising," Tony mumbled mostly to himself.
"This changes nothing," Thor said and approached Luka, grabbing his brother by the shoulders; the Loki started to stop laughing, looking up at the blond god who continued, "Why is there three of you, Loki?"
"Short answer: time shenanigans. Long answer: Time shenanigans but with more explanation behind it." Luka placed a hand over Thor's and gave his brother a smile that Loki was not entirely comfortable giving his older brother, "What matters is that they're here now and I would very much appreciate it if this did not make it's way back to SHIELD's greedy little ears."
Thor frowned. "The Nightingale has infected you with her paranoia, brother."
"Dear brother, I already didn't trust SHIELD long before I threw my lot in with the Nightingale." Loki glanced at Tony, wondering what the two was going on about; he didn't give any answers and the god sighed to himself, removing Astrid gently and trying to get to his feet.
"We won't be here for long," Sylvie said still smiling some though she had managed to stop laughing; she turned to Loki and he nodded before trying to finally return the device.
It...was bad. Really bad. The Tempad reappeared in his hand with sparks of green light but the sparks coming off it once fully returned was not good; it made weak beep noises and smoked and his eyes widened in panic for a moment. He looked at her and could feel the waves of shock coming off her; she stared and slowly walked towards him, reaching out to the destroyed Tempad.
"Heh, I guess when Thor tackled me it got damaged?" He tried to make as light of it as possible, though he could tell by the way she looked at him after the words left him that was a Bad Idea. He gulped and the entire room was deathly silent suddenly.
"You broke it," she said slowly and he could see her reach for her sword as her voice got louder and faster with each word, "You absolute idiot! You should have given it back to me immediately but you didn't and now we're stuck here! How am I supposed to complete my mission now?! You...you...ARGH!"
She screamed and a blast of magical energy exploded around her. Thor grabbed hold of his hammer and Tony grabbed hold of a counter; Loki was blown off his feet, nearly dropping the broken Tempad in the process, and he winced as he hit the ground yet again. Astrid squealed in what seemed to be fear and Luka moved to grab her and also Sylvie, holding the child under one arm and the angered goddess' should in the other hand.
"Sylvie. Sylvie! It's fine, it will be fine," he tried to tell him, getting another glare in response.
"How, how exactly is this going to be fine? Now I'm trapped here with you and this menagerie of stupidity!"
"Yes but at least one of the stupids happens to be what counts as a genius here in Midgard; maybe he can fix the device." She didn't lighten up and Tony stepped forward, holding his hand up.
"Um I assume you mean me then?"
Luka turned to him and nodded. "You're the closest we have to an actually intelligent mortal so yes, I'm talking about you."
"You know you're great at complimenting people; I feel all warm and fuzzy when you talk to me like that." That got Tony a pinched cheek and Loki could have sworn he saw the man actually redden a bit.
"He's a fool; how in the world does he intend to fix the Tempad?" Sylvie coldly spoke, causing said fool to look at her with a frown before walking past her.
Loki wasn't entirely excited about being approached by Tony but he didn't exactly fight him either when the Tempad was lifted from his hands and suddenly looked over by the genius millionaire. A serious expression took over his face as he turned it about in his hands, gently pulling the smouldering pieces apart and winced as it crackled and tried to fall apart in his hands.
"Seriously Lightning Bolt, you need to work on controlling the brute strength of yours," Tony commented and sighed, holding it in one hand as he ran the other through his hair, "This thing is almost entirely fried. And it's not like anything I've really seen before so it's gonna take some time to analyze it and figure out the best way to fix it. Though replacing it completely might be a better idea."
"Either way as long as it works that's all that matters to us," Loki spoke up quickly before Sylvie could; he could tell from the look on her face that she was preparing to say something snarky and mean to Tony which, while funny and something he would definitely enjoy any other time, did not seem appropriate when the idiot man was possibly the only one around who could potentially get them out of there.
"Until then though you will be stuck with us," Luka said then turned to Thor again, "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell Mother or Father of this either. The implications of this..."
Thor gave his brother a smile and placed a hand on his shoulder with a nod. "Of course brother, I understand."
Somehow Loki did not think he did, and he got the sense that his fellow Lokis were agreement with him on that. But none of them spoke and there was for a moment an actual second of peace in the room. Tony took the damaged Tempad with him to the back and Astrid started trying to climb on Thor who laughed loudly and picked the tiny Asgardian up, throwing her into the air and then hugging her tight. "Niece! How magnificent it is to see you this fine morning!"
"Uncle Thor, again, again!" she squealed and he threw her again, to what looked to be Luka's mixed discomfort and resignation. Before she could hit the ceiling, and based on speed and trajectory she certainly was about to hit the ceiling, green mist wrapped around and froze her in place, making her laugh more, and gently lowered her back to Thor's arms. The god of thunder managed to look apologetic and held the delighted three year old in his arms.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't give my daughter brain damage, brother of mine," Luka told him, his voice calm and even but then intention and emotion clear; he then reached into his pocket, pulling out a pocketwatch and sighed lightly, "Now if you excuse me, I have work. Thor, I'll leave Astrid and my twins with you and the others; it may be worth it to alert Bruce, Clint and Natasha but make sure they know that Fury and the rest of SHIELD are not to know about the situation until we figure out a way to best explain it without getting all three of us locked up."
"I am not a fan of SHIELD's cells no," Loki said; he had a different question in mind but the other him just grinned and made his way back to the elevator, leaving him and Sylvie with their older brother and the toddler.
Thor seemed rather calm about it now and turning to both of them he gave one of his goofy friendly smiles. "Alright then brother, sister, shall I show you around Avengers Tower then?"
Loki looked to Sylvie who was still looking a bit shaken from what happened but she sighed and adjusted her circlet before walking over to the other god. "Sure, though don't call me your sister."
"Oh I'm sorry, would you also prefer to be referred to as brother?" Loki almost felt sick with the level of acceptance coming from Thor; his brother cared far too much about him, truly he did.
Sylvie gave him a look but no answer and moved instead to take Astrid from him, holding the toddler against her. "Just show us around already."
"Yes brothers!" She sighed at him and Thor, again smiling, started off, expecting the Lokis to follow. The two Variants looked at one another then went after him. At least it was something to do for the time being.