Loki crossed his arms and sat on a chair. Now that all the kids are in one place and comfortable as they can be, time for a talk. Lunch would not be had. Not until Loki knew the story of what happened and responsibilities accounted for.
"So, why did it happen?"
The kids didn't say anything. They weren't even looking at each other. Their little eyes were cast down to the floor. Guilt radiating off them. Loki glanced at the pinned man and he did the same.
"I'd say something if I were you, kids," Tony mutters from his position on the ground.
"Too noisy."
Clint's little voice is just above a whisper. The god of Mischief sighs, why are the children being difficult? There was no need for this and yet Loki has a feeling he'll be getting nowhere with his gentle approach.
"Ok, then." A sigh. Loki slips out of the chair. "The hard way I guess."
Crouching down to the level of the kids, Loki looks at the five. Guilty expressions and sad eyes look back. Normally this would cause the deity to cave, but not this time little ones. Not this time.
"Thor.." Loki's voice is low and the Thunderer looked up at his big-little brother.
"Yes?" The squeak made Loki cringe on the inside.
"Why is Tony under Mjolnir?" Loki used a gentle tone when asking the question. Thor shifted his feet, eyes averted from Loki's.
"I dropped it?" It's a question. Most likely the child didn't want to say why. Thor never seemed to take punishments or scolding too well.
"Is that so?" Loki asked, tilting his head.
Thor shrugged his shoulders, avoiding Loki's question. Of course, Thor didn't answer, Loki knew his older brother well and as a child, Thor didn't like getting into trouble. Though as they had gotten older, Thor did become more hard-headed and quick to anger.
"I can replay the event from earlier if you wish, Mr. Laufeyson."
The A.I. spoke up and this cause Loki to jump a little. He heard a snicker and whipped his head around and glared at Tony. Said inventor keeps his eyes somewhere other than Loki's person.
"Please."
Loki crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance. "What have I said about calling me 'Mr. Laufeyson' voice?"
"I apologize, Mr. Loki."
A hologram appeared in front of the group and what the adults saw is very...interesting.
It showed Tony making the kids breakfast. Pancakes had been agreed upon. Steve, Clint, and Thor wanted syrup. Many say you can not have pancakes without syrup, but Loki would beg to disagree. Peter was the only one who didn't get pancakes, but instead rice cereal. But the toddler didn't seem to mind, rather he enjoyed the cereal that was in his bottle. After breakfast, Tony leads the children to the penthouse. He sat on the couch while the kids had made themselves comfortable on the floor. Jarvis had put a movie on. But halfway the kids had become restless. Steve seemed to be the most restless one.
Tony had set Peter down and crouched to Steve. He had asked the toddler what was wrong, but Steve replied that he didn't know. Tony had mumbled something to Steve and the child perked up. Tony called all the kids to play a game of Red Light, Green Light. Once the rules explained, Tony had the children line up on one end of the penthouse. Tony stood halfway in the room. The game had lasted a few rounds and Tony had made a joke about Loki playing with them. Though his exact words were 'Maybe I can get mommy to play with us after his nap.' the kids seemed to like the idea.
Pepper had come in and taken Peter to put him down for a nap. After a few more minutes with the game, the kids started to get fussy. Tony tried to get them to calm down but that wasn't working. He said something about lunch and that seemed to calm them a bit. But then a flash of light happened from somewhere and the kids had gone berserk. The only child that didn't partake in destroying the penthouse was Natasha. And in the frenzy, Thor had dropped his hammer on a fallen Tony.
"So, that's what happened." Loki mused, his hand under his chin and nodding in thought.
"Yeah." Tony huffed, a pout on his face. "Kids are crazy."
"They're cranky about something." Pepper hummed, brows creased in thought. "Could it have been that flash of light?"
Loki tapped a slender finger on his chin and nodded. "Could be, though I don't know why."
Loki turned his gaze to the kids and tilted his head. He looks back at the hologram again and sighed. Why did the flash set them off?
"So why?" Loki asks, turning his attention to the children.
The children shift about and after some Steve cleared his throat with a cough. "We...didn't like people with flashing lights." The soldier's voice is a whisper, still audible.
'They hurt Loki and got away." Bruce whined, a bit of green creeping up.
"I see." Loki hummed, picking Bruce up and calmed the child. "It's ok, they're there."
Tony snorted from his uncomfortable position. "Still doesn't explain why you kids did what you did."
Loki snapped his head and glared at the man, giving him a harsh shush. At this moment, the adults didn't need a mini hulk smashing things about. Bad enough the paparazzi caused Bruce to hulk out, they didn't need that happening again. Tony shut his mouth once seeing the green on the child's skin.
"Now listen, it's ok to not be happy with the people with flashing lights. But, it's not ok to attack someone because of it." Loki used a soft tone with the children as he explained. He couldn't be too angry with the kids, their balls of unregulated emotions. "I know your all frustrated about what happened that day, but being violent it's the answer."
"I'm taking care of the paparazzi from that day anyways." Tony retorted a hint of annoyance in his voice. Being pinned under a godly hammer isn't how he expected to spend the morning.
"And you didn't say anything?" Pepper raised a brow. Both men had forgotten she was still there. Peter napping on her shoulder.
"You didn't ask." A shrug is all Tony gave.
"Fine, whatever." Loki shook his head and sighed. He would put this topic on the bad burner for now. There's too much to deal with already.
Tony cleared his throat and at the hammer. Then his eyes moved to Thor, though the child wasn't looking at the engineer.
"Thor, can you please get your hammer?" Tony asks, with a rather sweet tone.
"Thor…" Loki motioned his head to the hammer when the child didn't move. The child nodded and picked the object up.
Now free, Tony groaned as his stiff joints screamed in protest. "Thank you." He said now standing and stretching. "So, lunch?"
"Sandwiches?" Loki offers.
"Okay." Natasha's voice pipes up.
The three adults look over to the group and the kids are nodding. At least it's a unanimous decision. That's one less stress to add to the ever-growing list of stress. Fury's team better be working on finding a cure for this mess. Loki doesn't know how long he, Tony and Pepper will last.
"I'll start lunch. You two can clean the kids up." Pepper says as she hands a sleeping Peter to Tony. as much as she liked holding the baby spider, her arms are tired.
"Sure." Loki chirps, herding the group to the bathroom. "Come on, kids."
Tony sighs. He's not expecting this to end on a good note. "Oh, this will be fun." He groans.
"Don't be like that." Loki chuckles, a smirk pulling on his lips.
"You know why." Tony grunts, expression tired and face smudged with dirt. A baby drooling on his shirt.
"Let's hope SHIELD finds what happened to them and turns them back," Tony whines as he walks past Loki, the man sluggish in his steps. "I don't know how long I can take of this."
Loki rolls his eyes. And he's called a drama queen. Or was it Diva? It doesn't matter, he's been called both before.
"And I'm called the Diva." Loki snorts, shaking his head. "You're just as bad, Stark."
"Am not!" Tony calls over his shoulder.
"Yes, he is." Pepper cackles. She can't help but put her input in.
"But, Pep!" The engineer whines.
"Get the kids cleaned or no lunch for you."
Loki's amazed how well Pepper can handle Stark. But, he knows he shouldn't be. She's been in his life for many years, she's had the practice. But, Loki did want the kids back to their adult and teen selves again. It may have been only a day or two, but Loki is feeling the exhaustion. How many days has it been? Was it one? Two? Loki didn't even remember.
If SHIELD didn't find anything soon, then the god may have to take things into his own hands. And may drag a certain sorcerer into the fray as well. Just for fun. If he feels like it though.