I was a kid in a candy store. Well, toy store might be more accurate in this case.

After all this time working on this old, scratched up antique of a desk with an old, scratched up antique of a computer, Tony had finally, finally told me that I could upgrade my workspace. New desk, new chair (which I needed), new computer. Tony had sent me the entire Stark Industry catalog and told me to go nuts, which I was currently doing.

I had one of the holo-imaging devices sitting on my desk, and was using a tablet to check the things I wanted as the images formed in the air before me. The new desk was the first thing on my list. No more bulky, heavy wood thing with drawers that squeaked when I opened them and with that low hanging piece underneath that I banged my knee against when I moved without thinking. I might heal fast, but hitting my knees in that particular sensitive spot just above the patella still hurt, and that piece under the desk was at just the right height to hit that sweet spot dead on when I moved too fast or was startled. A comfortable chair was next. The one I chose had a head rest, and actual arms, and I could adjust the height on it. It even had back and neck massagers built into it, because Loki couldn't always be around to rub out all the kinks I acquired throughout the day sitting here at the keyboard.

Now I was browsing computer components. A touch-screen monitor that was big enough for me to see everything I needed to without scrolling for several minutes. A holographic keyboard instead of the old keyboard I had with the keys that clacked so loudly I could hear them even when I had my airpods in playing white noise to cover up outside sounds because my head was hurting. A link up to one of Stark's AIs to aid me. No more pointing at things with a mouse, all I'd have to do is talk to the AI, tell it what I wanted, and it would pull it up for me.

I knew a lot of this was to make my job here easier, and really get the mansion less dependent on me. My attention was pretty divided nowadays between here and New Asgard, since I was now a Princess and actually had to be present there more than I had been for things such as Council meetings, ceremonies, and especially when New Asgard had to have diplomatic goings-on with Norway as well as other nations. The diplomats from those places found me to be a lot easier to deal with than the intimidating Asgardians, which I found both terrifying and a bit insulting. What, I wasn't intimidating? I wasn't exactly human either. Whatever. The point was, I had basically been made the official person for the poor mortal politicians to talk to when they were too frightened of peeing their pants when they had to deal with Valkyrie, Thor, or, especially, Loki. Lucky me.

In the three months Loki and I had been married, I had gotten to become much more familiar with politics than I had ever wanted, and the scary thing? I was apparently good at it. Which was why I was now the go-to individual when the Asgardians had to interact with anything mortal. Hence, the upgrade to my workspace. Steve had expressed concern that I was stretching myself too thin. He may have a point. I was still doing lessons with Stephen and occasionally helping him on missions, there were my duties in New Asgard, I was occasionally called upon to help the Avengers when my particular powerset was needed, and in between all of that I had to squeeze in some training time to keep the fighting skills I had learned in Wakanda brushed up. Having to spend less time here dealing with computer and admin stuff would be a good way to carve out more quality time I could spend with my wife. We were newly married after all and were fond of spending time together. It would be quite a while, if ever, before we got to that wanting-to-take-separate-vacations-before-we-killed-one-another stage.

Yes, I said wife. Loki was in a femme mood today, and currently was sitting in the chair on the other side of my desk munching on an apple and reading something on the tablet she was holding. Life with a genderfluid spouse could be interesting. Some days I had a husband, and other days a wife. Sometimes I had both in the same day. It was all fine to me. No matter what body she was in, she was still Loki, still the person I loved. What made it interesting was all the reactions from the people who knew us when they saw the two of us together. Loki had only very recently begun to feel relaxed enough around the team to shapeshift to reflect where her mood was at on the gender spectrum on a particular day. The first time she appeared as a woman, in a dark green bustier with a fur lined cape like she was wearing now, I had picked up some rather mixed vibes from the others. They didn't know what to make of her. Nat and Yelena already knew about her gender fluidity and took it in stride, and of course Thor had long known that sometimes he had a sister, but it took a little time for the others to catch on.

Fortunately, they all did so before any of them could say or ask any personal and/or offensive stuff.

I had left Loki to her reading while I browsed the Stark inventory, but paused when I heard her husky, lyrical voice point out, "You are doing it again."

"Doing what again?" Thor asked. He was sitting at another desk playing some game on another PC. I didn't know what, but it looked like something involving a lot of fighting. Which was to be expected.

"She is almost drooling again," Loki answered, studying me. "I must say, Pet, you really are excited about these upgrades Tony promised you. The only time I usually see that look on your face is when I am doing something particularly pleasing to you with my hands or mouth."

I felt my face burn while I concentrated on schooling it into an expression more appropriate for the office. I really should not have been surprised at this point by anything Loki said or did, but I still felt scandalized that she said that in front of her brother.

Thor just shook his head, not taking his eyes off his screen. "Times such as this, sister, I miss when you were trying to kill me. At least then you were not putting such images into my head."

"I was not drooling," I growled, glaring at Loki. Loki as a woman was just as gorgeous as she was as a man. Same height, so she stood about a foot taller than me, with a slender, shapely figure. Curves in all the right places, firm breasts that the bustier pushed even harder to display some impressive cleavage, porcelain white skin with dark, intense eyes, high cheekbones, and silky raven black hair that fell to her waist. "And you'd be excited about the upgrades too, if you spent eight hours a day sitting in this rickety chair hunched in an unnatural position over the keyboard because you can't lower the damn thing. I've also lost track of how many times I've banged my knee on that damn piece of wood under this desk." I was pretty sure that number was in the quadruple digits.

Loki chuckled. "Whatever you say, darling, but you were drooling. It is just strange to see that expression on your face outside of our bedroom."

"That does it," Thor shut off his computer, and got up, shaking his head. "I officially need a drink. I don't need to hear this sort of talk, especially from my sisters."

"Hey, I didn't say a word! It was all her!" I pointed at Loki, who was smiling and obviously pleased with herself.

"You did not exactly try to stop her, now did you?" Thor retorted as he walked out.

Oh, as if anyone could control what Loki did, or that I would even want to. I was her wife, not her owner. Even so, I glared at her again. "I know you said all of that for the express purpose of making your brother squirm. Don't bother to deny it."

"You know I would never insult you like that, my love," Loki's grin was wide now that Thor was out of the room. "Besides, I have had to endure centuries of hearing about his romantic and sexual escapades. I have a more active imagination than my brother, so anything that he is imagining at this moment is nothing compared to the scenarios that are forever burned into my brain. Now that I have you, I am merely giving him some payback. No, I do not go into detail," Loki quickly added, probably because the expression on my face matched what I was feeling at that moment, which was pure horror, "not like he did. I have found that just dropping subtle tidbits is enough to get those neurons firing, resulting in Thor becoming as prudish as a schoolgirl."

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, I'm glad I can serve as such a useful tool in your ongoing feuding with your brother."

"Oh, you know you are much more than that to me, my Pet." Loki went back to her reading. "And yes, love, you were drooling." Her hand snapped up in time to catch the balled-up paper I had scooped up out of the trash and thrown at her. Her eyes hadn't moved off her tablet. "You will pay for that later."

"Worth it," I muttered, going back to the catalog. I was trying to decide if I wanted to bother with a printer. Hard copy backups were always useful, but the environmentalist in me was screaming Think of the trees! I had read about the whole debacle with Ultron the Avengers, and the world, had years back when the murderous AI had taken over all the electronic systems of the world. I was thinking about having a contingency in place in case something like that happened again. In this line of work, you just never knew.

But Trees!

But Tony had such nice, shiny printers that could produce several thousand pages a second.

But Trees!

Maybe we could just do backups on USB drives instead? But what if we needed the information on those drives? USB drives still needed computers.

Trees?

I blew out a breath. "Fuck, I don't want to kill any more trees..."

"I beg your pardon?" Loki's eyes were back on me, and her expression was slightly baffled.

"Just debating with myself." When Loki looked even more baffled, I explained what I had been thinking.

"Perhaps there is a way to both provide backups and assuage your conscience," Loki mused, tapping a perfectly manicured nail against her lower lip. I could feel those mental wheels turning. "You are missing the most obvious solution, Pet: Magic."

"What if none of us magic users are around, though? They wouldn't be able to access it without magic."

Loki shrugged. "Then we simply create something that even the most beef-witted, head-blind, mundane individual with the magical proclivities of a Las Vegas stage magician can use. An object would be far more practical than a filing cabinet full of mutilated tree carcasses."

I whimpered at the mental image that produced. I couldn't believe she could say that with a straight face, either. After all, she personally knew a sentient tree.

Loki snorted. "You have heard me call the Avengers worse things."

"It's not that. It's the poor trees."

I saw Loki's face crack into a grin while she set her tablet aside and rose from her chair. She came around the desk, slid her fingers into the belt loops of my jeans, and tugged me closer. Her arms wrapped around me and her face nuzzled my temple. "You are endlessly entertaining, my Pet."

I hugged her back. "Glad I can be of service."

Her arms drew me in closer so our bodies were pressed together. Her ice and peppermint scent surrounded me. Her lips brushed the shell of my ear, her breath tickling my hair as she purred, "I can think of even better ways you can be of service."

We were in the foyer of the mansion. Anyone could walk in on us at any moment, but I couldn't help it. I melted, sucking in a breath when her lips gently touched over the pulse in my neck.

My phone went off, and it was the ringtone for Stephen. I groaned, but Loki leaned back with another huge grin.

"Has Stephen discovered yet that you chose the song 'Puff the Magic Dragon' for his ringtone?" Loki's voice was amused.

I stared at her. "What do you mean, I chose it? We both know that's not true!" Loki had been fiddling with my phone one afternoon and the next thing I knew, that song had starting blaring out of my phone while I was driving. I almost wrecked the Rabbit trying to find the phone so I could shut the noise off. "We need to talk about you roping me into these feuds you have going on with Thor and Stephen."

Loki was snickering as I answered the demonic device. "What's up, Doc?" Judging by the large spike of amusement I sensed coming off her, Loki had finally gotten around to watching those Bugs Bunny cartoons I had sent her. She had been intrigued by Stephen's reaction the first time I said that line to him, and wanted to know the context and why Stephen was so annoyed by it.

The fact that I had to endure her "so my Pet is a bunny!" cracks had been just an unpleasant side effect.

Stephen ignored the greeting. "I need to ask a favor. You can take Loki with you."

As if Loki would allow me to have a choice. "What? More tentacled demons or Voodoo zombies?"

"No, nothing like that. I received word of a store suddenly appearing in the Village, a few blocks away from the Sanctum. One day there was nothing there, and the next there was a new shop."

"What kind of shop? I know sometimes new Starbucks stores will seem to go up overnight."

"My contact stated that this place didn't just 'seem' to appear overnight. It literally did. It's a specialty store, selling the type of trinkets you would except any New Age or occult shop to sell. Crystals, herbs, candles, tarot cards, tools favored by witches, and the proprietor apparently offers tattoos and piercings as well. Also, a lot of books."

"You're sending me to scope out a New Age bookstore?"

"This New Age bookstore sprang up on my block overnight."

"Huh. Why aren't you or Wong investigating this?"

"Wong is busy. And so am I."

"What can possibly make the two of you so busy that you can't investigate something that's horning in on your home turf?"

Stephen was silent for several seconds before he confessed. "I found Wanda."

Oh.

"And Wong has other duties he needs to attend to."

Of course he did. "Alright, send me the address...we'll go check it out. Maybe the owner will be there and I can get a read off them. Find out what they want."

I hung up and caught Loki watching me. "We're going on a trip?" she asked in anticipation.

I nodded. "We're going on a trip."

I hadn't met Wanda. Wanda had been gone for several months by the time I arrived to this Earth. I knew all about the story with her. I knew about Vision and how he died, and I also knew about Westview. I knew about it all because Stephen had made it a point to tell me all about her in order to warn me not to engage should I ever encounter her.

However, I had also gone with Stephen to visit Westview a few months back. I had talked to some of the residents. If Stephen didn't want me engaging with Wanda, he should never have let me meet her victims. If I ever did meet Wanda, I wouldn't exactly be in a pacifist mood.

The things I had felt from Westview's residents would haunt me for years. Those poor people were traumatized for life. They would never be the same. I tried to be understanding. I really did. I tried because I didn't know what I would do if I ever lost Loki, how I would react. But the woman had enslaved an entire town and forced them to feel her pain and trauma, and be actors in her little sitcom.

Maybe if I met the woman my feelings would be different, but after spending time in that small New Jersey town it was tough to feel sympathetic.

"If Strange brings that witch back with him, life will get very interesting," Loki was commenting as she rode in the passenger seat of my Rabbit. We had plenty of time to chat before we reached the Village. Traffic was slow. Loki offered to teleport us, but I had wanted time to think.

I made a noncommittal hum.

She spoke again. "I know how you feel after visiting that place with Strange, Pet, but perhaps it would be better if you were a little more open-minded."

"I'm trying, Loki. But you didn't smell those people's fear, didn't feel..." I took a deep breath. "Wanda really hurt them. Badly."

There followed several minutes of silence. "I hurt a lot of people as well," came Loki's quiet voice, along with a wave of guilt and shame.

"That was different. You were coerced and were being mind-controlled by an Infinity Stone."

"It was not all Thanos and the Mind Stone," Loki snapped. "It certainly was not them when I tried to destroy Jotunheim and killed my own father."

I exhaled hard. It felt like she had just delivered a gut punch. "You were angry and hurt. You've atoned for that many times over since then."

"Yes, I was angry...and the Mind Stone merely amplified what was already there. My rage, my hatred, my arrogance, my need to prove myself worthy..."

"You were still being controlled."

"If you can so easily forgive me for my past crimes, Pet, then why can you not say the same for Wanda?"

That shut me up.

"Besides, I cannot say in all honesty that I would not do similar should anything ever happen to you."

And that I could not let slide. I turned to her in alarm. "Don't you dare! You promise me right now that if something does happen to me, you won't revert, won't do anything like what Wanda did!" Or worse.

Loki's eyes pinned me where I sat. "I can't promise that, Pet. You know that. If I were to lose you, my rage would be too great. I would raze all Nine Realms in order to get you back," she stated in a soft, menacing voice.

It should have been romantic. Instead, I was frightened. "Loki...you can't..."

"Yes, I can, and I would. Don't want me to do it, Pet? Then don't allow anything to happen to you."

I didn't say anything to that. Couldn't say anything to it. I was way too shaken by her words and the intensity of the emotions. She had meant every single thing she said.

I wasn't so sure I liked having that type of power over someone, to the point where they would completely lose it if some sort of accident happened. Like if I managed to blow myself up when my magic backfired. Or if some shmuck got lucky and managed to kill me.

Then again, didn't I just get through thinking about what I might be capable of should something happen to my wife?

I sighed and felt Loki's hand grasp mine. She gently squeezed, and our hands remained clasped until I found a parking space a block away from the address Stephen had given me.

A few minutes later, the tiny bell above the door announced our arrival as I stepped into the shop. My eyes immediately watered from the smells. Incense, essential oils, and pungent herbs all competed for premium space in my sinus cavities.

"Impressive. I have noticed that the people outside walk right by this place as if they do not even notice it, and I am detecting some cloaking magic at work."

"Cloaking? This store is invisible to non-magic people?"

Loki bit her lip as she thought. "Not precisely. It is more like the misdirection spell you prefer to use, the one you call Look Not At Me."

I nodded as I looked around the dimly lit shop. "In other words, you don't really notice it unless you're looking for it specifically. I wonder how Stephen's contact noticed it then?" Stephen didn't give me the contact's name.

Books lined the shelves on one wall, and the other wall was plastered with tattoo samples. The owner's portfolio. That wall also held the incense, several bins full of crystals and stones sorted by type, and a couple of shelves full of divination aids. Crystal balls, tarot cards, and even a Ouija board. The back of the store was taken up by a large class counter with the back wall behind it lined with shelves and cubbyholes, all labeled with the names of different herbs. The glass display case held different types of wands, chalices, athames, and jewelry of all types. Necklaces, charms, bracelets, and jewelry for piercings. All the place needed was a cauldron.

"Sorry, I was looking over inventory," a man's voice called out from a door behind the counter that was settled between the shelves of herbs. I couldn't get a good whiff of him thanks to all the odors in the store, but I heard him walking closer. I could hear something rattling. "Let me finish sterilizing my equipment, and I'll be right-"

The loud clatter startled both Loki and myself. We looked over to see that the man had dropped the metal tray he'd been carrying, a tray which appeared to have been holding the tools of his trade. The man himself was a few inches shorter than Loki with spiked blonde hair. He wore a pair of faded jeans and a black leather vest with honest-to-Betsy black bracelets with spikes on them on each wrist. Every inch of his body from the neck down was covered in tattoos. I saw animals, winged gargoyles, skulls, roses, leaves off a vine, mythical beasts, and even part of a huge sword that started from just below his armpit and looked like it continued on well under his jeans. I wonder just where exactly it ended. Under the jeans or perhaps the tip was just under his steel-toed boots?

His eyes were the real attention getter. They were silver. Not light gray. Not light blue. Not one of those colors that could look metallic when the light hits them right. They were a liquid metallic silver. And they were fixed on me, the man's jaw hanging open as he stared.

I could feel Loki bristling with protective energy, but she was also waiting to see if this guy would be a threat. So was I. "Um...is there a problem, sir?"

The man came around the counter so fast that Loki slid up next to me, her hands hanging by her sides. I knew that tell...it meant she was ready to draw her daggers. This could get ugly. The Billy Idol clone (yes, he looked like the punk singer) stepped towards me, ignoring Loki, and grabbed my upper arms.

"Hey-!"

"Who are you? What are you? I know every single individual in the angelic hierarchy but I don't know you! Where'd you come from? If you're here to capture me...if Hektaniel put you up to this, I'll have you know I won't just..."

"Unhand her!" Loki grabbed the front of the man's vest and hauled him off me.

"Wha-is she recruiting Asgardians now, too?!"

"Who the fuck is she?!" I shouted, already fed up. "What she? We don't know what you're talking about...we're here because you moved into our friend's neighborhood overnight, and want to make sure you won't cause trouble!"

The man went quiet, studying the two of us. "Friend? The sorcerers who live in the Sanctum?"

"That would be the one."

"And what about Hektaniel?" he challenged.

"Who?"

He blinked. Looked at Loki, who was still holding onto his vest and practically snarling, to me. Studied us. "You really have no clue who she is?"

"No! And how did you know I'm an angel?"

He grinned suddenly. "Same way you know I am...or was."

"I don't-"

I sensed it then. A buzz along my nerves that grew in intensity the longer I was in this guy's presence. A knowing and a realization. It was hard to describe, but something inside me was letting me know this man was kin. Was, but also wasn't. It was strange.

He tilted his head. "Ah, first time I take it? Wait...I need to ask again, who are you, and where did you come from? I have never met you before, which means..." HIs eyes grew owl wide. "No...no way. Are-are you a baby?"

"I'll have you know, she is all woman and very much an adult," Loki growled.

"That's not what I—oh, will you let go, you're ruining my vest! Relax, alright? I mean neither of you any harm." The man stepped away when Loki reluctantly let him go, smoothing his vest back out with his hands. "I meant...are you a new angel?"

"Um...it's been almost two years..."

All of the color drained from the man's face. "That isn't possible. That has been forbidden for millennia."

"What has?" Loki demanded. "And just who are you?"

The man glanced at Loki and sighed, sounding resigned. "I used to be the angel Tzadkiel, but I now go by Derrick, and would prefer it if you called me that. As for what's been forbidden...turning mortals into one of our kind, that's what, and for good reason. Honey, how are you alive, and why has no one from the Silver City snatched you up by now?"

"My name isn't Honey, and what the hell is the-"

Derrick's head shot up suddenly. His shoulders rolled back and his spine grew ramrod straight. "The two of you need to go. Now."

He was looking towards the front of the store, at the front door.

"Huh? We just got there, and you need to ans-"

"Later. Come back later and we'll talk. But you need to leave. Right now." Derrick opened the door behind the counter and pointed. "That door will take you out the back. Do not, under any circumstance, go near the front of the store. Leave the neighborhood a different way than you came in. I'll find you when I get rid of this fella."

I shook my head. "If you're being threatened..."

"It's not that. And trust me, sweetheart, you don't need to be tangling with this particular individual. Out, the both of you."

Derrick wasn't giving either of us a choice, and I could feel his urgency, as well as his worry. There was a healthy dash of fear, too. I placed my hand on Loki's shoulder when she opened her mouth to begin arguing. A look passed between us, and we followed Derrick's directions and left out the back of the store, the door slamming shut behind us as we stepped outside.