- Chapter 73 -

"This next file is from August 30, 2022." McCorrmick tapped his foot along to the song from Thor's hammer. It was a soaring ballad, and quite beautiful. It was a calming counterpoint to the intense pressure he felt at being responsible for his clan's fate. That it helped to soothe the dull ache in his skull only made it more beautiful to him.

"The 30th of August, last year? I remember that day," Steve said. It wasn't a particularly happy memory.

"Really?" Bruce said. Sudden understanding flashed through his mind and he grit his teeth. He avoided the temptation to glare at Fandral. "End of August, yeah I remember. That was that the day we fought Dr. Doom."

An amused expression crossed Frey's face. Dr. Doom? What a ridiculous name. Surely they don't take this man seriously.

"Yes, it was," Natasha's voice was grim.

"That was the garish fellow in green that we fought?" Volstagg said. "That was a good battle." He was quite surprised that day. They'd only come to visit Thor but became involved in the battle when the city was attacked. He'd never have thought a true challenge lay on Midgard. However, the mortal fought with magic, and they had no defense against it. Volstagg frowned and thought, None of us knew anything about the magic he wielded so well against us. Had we taken the time to listen to Prince Loki, would we have been better prepared? If we'd listened, would Prince Loki still be among us?

"Aye, it was," Thor said softly. The Warriors Three and Sif were visiting that day. The attack hit swiftly and viciously. There was much damage to the city. He was still angry with Fandral over it. The strange mortal who led the attack fought with magic. The green of his hooded cloak only angered Thor further. It took a few hours, but he was driven back eventually. Thor remembered Stark's kind words that day. He praised Thor's decisions and restraint in battle. A little more anxiety crept into his thoughts. Was it all a lie?

.-.-.-.

Most of the lights in the mansion were out. Only the dimly lit living room had any light. Loki was curled up on the sofa covered in a fluffy quilt. Images of new babies danced through her mind as she dozed. A French cooking show was playing quietly on the TV. She shifted a little in her sleep and pulled the quilt tighter around her. A sudden slamming jarred her from her dreams. As she turned towards its source she saw Tony storming into the kitchen with a dark look on his face.

.-.-.-.

When Tony walked through the front door the Avengers and Pepper recognized him. This was the man they were used to seeing. Older, a little heavier, almost half a foot shorter with a grey tee shirt with a light in the chest, jeans, leather belt, and red Converse high tops.

This wasn't the man he knew. Frey's eyes widened slightly as he looked over the man on the screen. This was a Midgardian who closely resembled Anthony. There was a strange white-blue light in the center of his chest. It was suspiciously colored. There was only one other place he'd seen that color. It was in Anthony's son though, not Anthony. I was right, you did undergo two transformations. When was the first of them and why?

"So, it was a recent change," Clint said, looking over Tony on the screen.

"Or not," Bruce said almost immediately as Tony's fiery seidr swirled briefly around him removing what was clearly an illusion. By the time Tony reached the kitchen, his seidr had evaporated leaving him looking as tall, young, and fit as the other recordings showed him to be. "It was right in front of us the whole time, and we never saw it," Bruce said.

It's magic. Stark's been hiding behind magic. It didn't help Natasha feel any better about it. Stark's actions hadn't been indicative of anything other than his normal eccentric self. How did I not see him moving? Am I losing my edge?

The glamour Stark was wearing slightly confused Odin. While it made him look more like a mortal, it also had an odd light in the chest. He could see no reason for the light, or the disparity in what he looked like and the glamour. He didn't want to believe that Loki could change him so radically, but he'd already watched Loki pull life from an Infinity Gem. He wasn't sure what his son was capable of anymore.

Before the glamour was broken down Frigga looked over Stark curiously. His glamour looked like a mortal version of him yet was still a little too different. Yet there he was, just as the mortal ahead of her had described. With what she'd seen Loki do, seeing this was unsettling.

"Loki taught him that," Thor said. "I recognize that spell." He remembered all the times Loki used it to fool him, all the times Loki used it to save his life by fooling an enemy. "Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki's question seemed a bit more bitter to Thor now. All these years and I never learned the difference between this glamour and you. I am so sorry Little Brother.

.-.-.-.

Like a caged beast Tony paced up and down the kitchen. Anger ground his teeth together. It made his heart pound painfully in his chest as his blood roared in his ears. "So fucking stupid," he muttered. He tossed his keys onto the island counter hard enough that they slid across the surface and off the other side. They made a clattering noise as they skidded across the floor. He clenched and unclenched his hands as he paced furiously. Little sparks of seidr crackled at his fingertips.

Loki pushed herself up slowly. The quilt slid off as she sat up. A hand went to her swollen belly. As she levered herself up off the sofa she hoped that her unborn twins would stay asleep. They were very active for most of the day, kicking at her innards and moving about uncomfortably. The deep scar on her chest only stopped aching from their escapades just a little while ago. A faint wave of dizzy nausea rolled through her, and she swayed on her feet. Loki regained her balance then moved slowly towards the kitchen.

.-.-.-.

Silent shock pervaded the room yet again. Even after having seen their children, it was only Frey who was prepared to see Loki waddling out of the living room with a belly heavily swollen with unborn babies. Thor's mouth hung open for a second before he snapped it shut. Loki was wearing a pair of loose cotton pajama pants with little blue flowers on them. The usually loose fitting, sleeveless tunic she seemed to be fond of was stretched taut over her wide belly.

Several things came together uncomfortably for Frigga. Loki standing there, her belly heavy with child, her grandchildren's faces that were so like both Loki and Stark, her husband and brother saying that Loki was both man and woman. It was looking increasingly like Stark truly was the father of Loki's children. This wasn't something Frigga was willing to approve of yet. While she approved of her grandchildren very much, their father was an angry, crude, crass, disrespectful, overbearing, abusive, boor. She wasn't willing to welcome him into her family yet. She wasn't even willing to accept that this man had claimed Loki without Odin's permission. He didn't belong with Loki, and Frigga didn't like it.

Luckily, Odin caught himself before he started staring. He hadn't felt the urge to stare, agog, in more years than he could remember. What was in front of him was just to shocking not to stare. He didn't, making sure that his stoic mask was still in place instead. His son was standing there, with-child. Odin always thought that it would be the women his sons married who would bear his grandchildren. This made it look very much like Loki did it himself. This set with Loki's ability to wield multiple colors of seidr made the stories of the braettpar seem more truthful than fanciful. It also made it almost a certainty that Stark was the father of Loki's children, the father of his grandchildren. In an odd turn, Odin almost wanted to summon Gungir to relieve Stark of his hands, then head. Stark treated Loki abusively in an intimate fashion. He didn't want such a crass and abusive boor setting hands on his child. He didn't want Loki with Stark.

"She was close to giving birth then," Volstagg said before he thought about it. Just after he said it he rolled the sentence around in his mind to try to equate Loki, Prince of Asgard, to Loki, a woman about to give birth. It still wasn't easy for him to grasp. Many times he'd seen Prince Loki shift his shape with glamours and guises. It was easy to think of a womanly Loki as a guise the real Prince Loki wore. The All Father said that Prince Loki was a woman as well. Volstagg wasn't sure he understood that. He didn't want to devote too much deep thought to what that meant for what lay beneath the Prince's clothes. He did think that he would never raise any of his daughters as men. Men were men, and woman were woman. He'd punished his little girls for trying to take up the manly duties of his sons. Is that why you tried to harm yourself? Were you more woman than man? Is that why you took up magic, for it is a woman's art. Were you held to expectations that you couldn't meet? Did you simply give up every now and again? Would I have done any different were I constantly forced to deny half of myself, then judged for failing to measure up with whatever half I had left? Hundreds of years, would I have done differently?

"Very close. Maybe a week or two away," Bruce agreed with him.

"How can you tell?" asked Steve. Loki being pregnant along with the children they'd seen earlier made it very clear that Loki was indeed living as a woman, was a woman. Lilith wasn't just a disguise. It still wasn't something he wanted to think about, but he was curious how Bruce would know that.

"In the last month of pregnancy, the baby drops lower in the uterus. It's part of the body's preparations to facilitate delivery," Bruce said. A nice smile crossed his face as he remembered the few babies he helped to deliver while working in India. Delivering infants was equal parts terror and deep satisfaction for him. When he held that tiny life in his hands he could forget about all the destruction he caused. Even though it was just a brief moment Bruce still loved it. He looked over Loki and surmised, "This must be the pregnancy for the twin girls we saw earlier. That would explain the size."

Thoughts of Adara's and Edana's birth, of holding each of them for the first time filled Frey's mind for a moment, so that he smiled easily at that memory. His granddaughters were by far the easiest of all the birthings. Loki didn't even try to strangle Anthony during that one, and there was only a little bit of swearing. I wonder if this next one will be so easy. He tightened his seidr down again until his whole chest ached with it. He didn't want his beloved sister to know how much anticipation he felt at being able to hold another grandchild. They were all so very precious.

While Bruce found it odd to think of Loki as pregnant he had no problem thinking of Lilith as being pregnant with Tony's kids. He'd suspected for years that their relationship was more serious than they portrayed it as. A small frown crossed his lips as he suddenly remembered that Pepper was in the room. He felt a bit guilty for not remembering sooner but he'd become engrossed in what he was seeing. The possible applications for being able to control the flow of particles at will were staggering. More importantly to Bruce, it looked like something that could provide him a means to control his transformations. He understood that the other Avengers and SHIELD would want to talk to Loki for military reasons. He just wanted to know if Loki could teach him how to control the other guy. That knowledge would be invaluable.

As Pepper stared at Loki she felt the burn of anger again. That was supposed to be me! It was supposed to be me, and that devil stole him from me! She understood that Loki had done a few valiant things but couldn't bring herself to care. The betrayal was too personal to forgive. Every bit of retaliation she thought of was swiftly discarded. Tony would side with Loki. As angry as Pepper was she still didn't want to alienate him. Even now she couldn't bring herself to be angry at him. Tony was Tony, he couldn't help himself. Loki, however, would never be forgiven for this. I don't care what you've done. I don't care. Pepper sighed and looked down. Maybe I should let it go. Even if I find a way to make Loki pay for this, Tony still won't come back to me. He's magically chained to that devil and has children. What can I do? She paused to consider for a moment. Should I just let go?