"I'm not seeing any coding errors, sir," Lizzy called out. "Code is intact."

"All hardware seems intact other than minor surge damage, sir," Michael said.

"Arc reactor readouts show normal power production and..." Arriana frowned. "And rotation rate?"

"What's the rate, Carebear?" Tony panted.

"Sir, system... crit... ical... mal... func... tion." Jarvis's voice flickered.

Loki took the opportunity of the chaos to move away from Thor, hurrying to stand behind the triplets, glancing over the floods of data streaming past their eyes.

Tony's hand went to his chest again and he braced himself on the desk.

Steve moved closer. "Stark, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Spangles." His breathing grew more labored by the moment.

Loki looked between the data and Tony.

Steve and Tony jumped as he suddenly appeared in their midst.

"It's affecting both Stark and his systems. What is that thing that powers his suit?" he asked.

"Loki!" Thor barked.

"Shut up!" everyone yelled.

Arriana spun around, stared at Tony for a moment, and then back at the arc reactor readouts. "The arc reactor," she squealed. "It's electromagnetic and so are we!"

"So what?" Lizzy asked. "He charges us up, we've never hurt him before."

"And Thor's lightning charges him up," Michael said.

"No," Loki said, "the two combined."

Arriana gasped. "We flipped the rotation! Oh my god!"

"What?" the other two cried.

"We reversed the polarity of the electromagnets in the tower! The two arc reactors."

"Two?" Steve said. "I thought there was just one thing powering this tower."

"The other powers Tony," Michael said. He turned and grabbed Tony's shirt to open it.

"Don't rip this shirt," Tony panted. "It's vintage."

Michael rolled his eyes and yanked Tony's shirt over his head. The normally glowing orb in his chest flickered.

"What do we do, Tony?" Arriana asked. "We don't know how to fix your arc reactors."

"I... I don't know." Tony leaned hard against the desk.

"Do it again," Loki said.

"What?" The triplets spun to look at him.

"Do it again." He gave them a nod, holding their gaze. "Once changed it, twice should change it back."

"You're right." Arriana grabbed Michael and Lizzy and dragged them back over to Thor. "Thor, hit us with your hammer."

"No, I would never harm you."

"Hit us, damn it," Arriana shrieked, glancing at Tony.

Steve sprang forward and caught him before he slid to the floor.

Arriana turned to yell again, but Lizzy held up a hand.

"Leave it to the professional." She turned to Thor. "It's not my fault that your mother likes to fuck everything so hard that her son came out a thunderdolt."

The gasp from Loki was drowned out by the roar from Thor as he raised his hammer. They put their hands up. Loki shot forward, appearing behind them, his knives out.

The hammer slammed down on their invisible shield once more and a rainbow exploded through the room with a thundering crack and blazing heat.

Tony gasped, grabbing his chest again.

"All systems operational," Jarvis said in his usual calm voice.

Color came back into Tony's face.

"My triplets," he coughed out.

Steve pulled him to his feet and then moved out from behind the haze of screens.

The triplets lay in a tumbled heap on the floor, and Loki's knives were locked with Mjolnir.

"You want to pick a fight with someone, you do it with me," Loki growled. "Never... lay... a … hand... on... them... again!" With a roar, he forced Thor tumbling backward.

Thor stayed where he was, stunned into silence.

Loki spun around and knelt among the triplets. "My darlings, are you alright?" He pulled them to him, kissing them gently and clutching them to his chest. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

"We had to," Michael panted.

"I meant the first time," he said, kissing their heads. "It's not the first time I've taken a blow from Thor's hammer. I'll be fine."

"It's not right," Arriana chirped. "He shouldn't hit you."

He hugged her to him. "Never mind, darling. Are you hurt?"

"No," Lizzy said. "We're just shaken. That was, admittedly, a hell of a hit."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't lose you. You know that."

"We're sorry, sweetheart."

They cuddled up to him.

Tony glanced at Steve. "You're really not going to listen to me now, are you?"

"Drop it, Stark."

With the roll of his eyes, he spun back to his screens. "Shit. J, give me a full status report and get me the pilot."

"Yes, sir."

Tony's fingers flew on his keyboard and he pulled and tossed things from the screens faster than a card-wielding magician.

"Is Bruce okay?" Lizzy called.

Loki helped her to her feet and nudged her toward the screens.

"Are you okay, Arriana?" Steve asked, hurrying over.

"I'm fine. Just shaky."

"What's going on?" Thor asked, still sitting on the floor.

Loki rolled his eyes, putting Tony's skills to shame. "Thor, you idiot. She insulted your mother to get you to swing your hammer. She didn't mean it."

"Yeah, didn't mean it, sweetie," Lizzy called distractedly. "I love your mother. She's amazing."

Thor blinked for a moment, and then turned his gaze back to Loki and frowned. "How... how are you here?"

"Seriously?" Michael asked as Loki helped him up. "We pulled down that wall in your brain."

"Use your head, Thor," Loki sneered. "You brought them to Asgard to rescue me."

He frowned for another moment. Leaping to his feet, he cried, "Brother!" A wide grin spread across his face and he wrapped his arms around Loki, who made no movement.

The next moment he cried out and leaped back, a knife sticking out of his side.

"Oops," Loki said. "It slipped." Shaking his head, he pulled Michael to stand by Lizzy, putting an arm around them both and keeping eyes on Arriana as she stood with Steve.

"Do you need to sit down?" Steve asked.

"No, I'm okay." She smiled up at him. "Come on, let's make sure everyone's okay."

"Oh, right." He shook himself and then joined the others at the screens.

"Everything is now operational, sir," Jarvis said. "The arc reactors are both rotating correctly and steadily, power is back to normal at 8 gigajoules per second and 80 gigajoules per second respectively. And I have the pilot for you, sir."

"Thank you, Jarvis." Tony took a long drink from the glass Steve set down and instantly spit it back out. "Blech, what is this?" He frowned up at Steve.

"Water," he said, a brow quirked on his sardonic face. "It's water, Tony."

Tony shuddered. "Ugh. What, are you trying to poison me?" He chuckled.

"Tony, what's going on?" Pepper hurried off the elevator.

"You okay, Pep?" He tossed aside one of the screens so he could see her.

"Yeah, what was going on with the power? Is everything alright?" She screeched to a halt. "Are you alright, Tony? You look sick."

He chuckled. "Always so liberal with the compliments."

She planted a hand on her hip. "Tony, what is going on?"

He waved her concern aside. "Just a glitch. It's taken care of."

"Tony, I'm not buying it. Jarvis doesn't glitch."

"Thank you, ma'am," Jarvis said. "But I was experiencing technical difficulties."

"We just had a minor mishap, everything's under control." He held up a hand. "Stark 5 pilot, please go," he said.

"Mr. Stark, I've got instruments up, but we had a major system failure."

"I am aware of the failure and have rectified the problem. Should be smooth sailing from here on home. Report any damage or further issues immediately, and put me back to the cabin."

"Yes, sir."

"Good flying."

"Thank you, sir."

The connection beeped.

"You breathing, big man?" Tony asked.

"Stark." The growl came through gritted teeth.

"We gotcha, Bruce. Sorry for the scare, but everything's fine. You hear that, big guy. Everything's fine. There's no danger."

"You're okay, Brucey," Lizzy called over him. "Just keep breathing. I'm here and everything's safe."

"Lizzy?" His usual gentle voice was garbled with gravel.

"Lizzy, throw your mind," Arriana said.

"He's too far away."

"You reached me in another realm," Loki said. "She's right. You should be able to reach him."

"Here, tether yourself to us like I do," Michael said, holding out his hand. "And just reach for him."

She frowned for a moment, but took their hands with a nod. She slid down into the blackness of her mind and flung a figurative hand out, reaching out into the blackness. Bruce? Where are you, Bruce?

I'm here. His voice shook with pain and exertion. How... how are you...?

Never mind that. I'm here. She wrapped her mind around him. Everyone's okay. There's was a problem, but we've fixed it. Danger averted. She carefully slid through his mind for the rattling box and found it half open. Hey, big guy. Brucey's safe. I know we scared you, and I'm sorry, but he's safe now and would like you to go back to sleep.

A growl thundered through the back of his mind. Save.

You don't need to save him. There's no more danger.

Not danger?

Not danger. Everything's good now. Brucey needs rest. Can you please go back to sleep so he can rest?

No smash?

No smash. Not right now.

You stay?

Of course I'll stay with Brucey.

The growl quieted and the lid on the box slowly slid shut again. She watched it for a moment and then moved back into the normal areas of his mind.

Everything's okay. He's calmed down.

His voice trembled. Are... are you sure?

Yeah. He'll be okay. I'll stay with you through the rest of the flight.

That's... that's hours, Lizzy. And how are you doing this anyway?

Long story. I'll tell you when you get here.

It's still a long time. Maybe just... just stay until I fall asleep again. I'm... He sighed. I'm so exhausted.

I'm sure you are. You did great holding everything together, baby.

He gave a wry chuckle. I think it's more not breaking everything apart.

To-may-to, to-mah-to, she giggled. You're okay. I'll stay until you're asleep and check in on you until you're here.

Th-thanks.

Loki picked Lizzy up and settled her on his lap on a nearby couch while she talked with Bruce. He glanced up at Arriana and nodded toward Steve, but she pretended to be stupid and not know what he meant.

"Jarvis, check Tony's vitals, please," she said.

"Heart rate is steady, though elevated at 97 bpm. Blood pressure elevated at 130 over 90, at steady decline. Pulse ox steady at 99%."

"Is his heart okay?"

"Yes, ma'am. The shrapnel is stable and shows no signs of movement."

"Oh, thank gods. Thank you, Jarvis."

"My pleasure, ma'am."

"Please monitor at hourly intervals over the next 24 hours."

"Yes, ma'am."

"No, hey," Tony said, spinning around in his chair. "I didn't say monitor me."

"I apologize, sir, but my programming allows for an override to monitor your health by the triplets and Ms. Potts."

"I did not put that in your programming." He glared up at Arriana, who grinned at him.

"Whoops. Did we do a little reprogramming?"

He rolled his eyes. "Go cuddle with your boyfriend." He glanced at Michael, who grinned back at him too. "Both of you." Turning back to the screens, he surreptitiously took the hem of Pepper's shirt and tugged her over to sit on the arm of his chair.

She rolled her eyes, but leaned into him.

"I do not understand," Thor said, still sitting on the floor, looking between them.

"Join the club," Steve sighed.

Arriana's phone chirped. "Oh, shit!" she squeaked. "We forgot to call Cal."

Cal glanced up from the FBI threat-watch page he'd hacked into as the door opened. He tilted the screen toward the wall.

Gillian poked her head in. "Cal, did you get a chance to look over those consult requests I sent you this morning?"

"Oh, uh..." He looked around for a moment and then ran a hand over his face. "No, sorry, love. I... I haven't looked at them."

She came in with a frown, pushing the door shut behind her. "You haven't done any work, have you?"

Cal leaned his chin on his hand, looking up at her as she settled into a chair opposite him. "You look beautiful today. That dress must be new. I haven't seen if before."

"Nice try." She gave him a smile. "But you can't butter me up."

He chuckled, leaning harder on his hand. "I'm not, love." He grinned at her.

"So you haven't gotten anything done." She leveled a warm gaze at him.

"No, love, I haven't."

"What have you been doing, then?" She reached forward and turned his computer monitor toward her. "The FBI mainframe. Did you use Reynolds's ID again, Cal? He got in trouble last time."

"I know, but they changed it again. An' he's in the office so it won't be suspicious if he's checking the threat list." She frowned at him, but the small smile that played across her lips made him smile. "An' you know I'm right."

"Stop it, Cal. Now why are you checking the threat list?"

He sighed. "Lizzy, Michael, and Arriana had to leave suddenly this morning."

A frown pinched her brow. "Is everything alright?"

"I don't know." He ran a hand through his already-mussed hair. "They said their friend Nick called this morning and said there was something going on and they needed to go."

"Where did they go? Not New York, I hope."

"Course they went to New York." He gave a sharp snort. "Where else, but one of the biggest targets in the world and the one that was attacked by a billion aliens three and a half months ago."

"Why did they go to New York? Can't their friends come here?"

"I don't know." Cal thumped his head down on his desk. "I don't know. They said they were going to Tony's place cuz it's the safest place in the world."

She gave a soft laugh. "Maybe if it's Tony Stark, but I doubt even a nice building in New York City is safer than here."

"I don't know what's goin' on with them. I wish I did. I care about them. I don't want them to get hurt again."

"I know, Cal." She reached across the desk and squeezed his hand.

He clutched her hand. "I mean, god, it terrified me when I realized they were in New York. An' then they come home bleeding an' beaten to a pulp. I doubt the ruddy Avengers looked worse."

"I know, Cal, but they'll be okay. How often can aliens attack New York? After all they've never attacked before in known history, so it's unlikely anything like that will happen again."

"I know." He was quiet for a moment. "But I'm startin' to worry they're involved in something bigger."

"What do you mean?"

"The way they keep talkin' about their friends, but no one ever comes to visit them. An' they have to jump up an' go at a moment's notice. Like they're on-call for someone important."

She frowned, laughing softly. "What, you think they're involved with the mob or something?"

"Maybe. I know it sounds crazy." He clicked out of the FBI database. "I don't know. I know they were freaked out when they left, an' I know I'm worried."

"Well, after New York, I'm not surprised they were freaked out, Cal."

"Yeah, I suppose."

She gave his hand another squeeze. "They'll be alright, Cal. They've left a few times since New York and come back perfectly fine."

"I know." Cal slumped down on his desk again.

"And they weren't worried when they went to stay with their friends right after New York. Who did they stay with again?"

"Well, Bruce came to stay with Lizzy here. I met him. He's a bit of a headcase. I've never seen so much agony and anxiety flash across a human being's face."

"You said you talked to Lizzy about it, right?"

"Yeah, she told me to leave it alone. She an' her friends knew everything an' he was fine. He was talkin' to them an' to not push it." He groaned. "I'm gettin' really tired of bein' a good boy an' respectin' the line."

"I know, Cal, but it's important to them. They told you, if you push too much they have to leave."

"I know."

"Who did Michael and Arriana stay with again?"

Cal sighed and slumped back in his chair. "Michael stayed with Tony, an' Arriana went to stay with their new friend, Steve." He wrinkled his nose. "Bit of a nerdy name. Steve."

Gillian rolled her eyes. "From what Arriana said he's a bit of a babe."

"Nerds can be babes," Cal chuckled. "Look at me."

"I am." Gillian quirked a brow with a laugh.

Cal gave her a playful glare and crumpled up a piece of paper. He threw it at her and it landed in her lap. She laughed, and threw it back at him, whacking him square in the head.

"Oy," he laughed. He watched the radiant smile fill her face, crinkling the corners of her eyes. "You sure they'll be okay?"

Her laugh drifted into a sigh. "I don't know. Since a hoard of aliens showed up I don't think anyone is sure of anything."

He sighed. "They were so scared when they left."

"Life and death scared?"

He nodded. "An' that hunted look in their eyes. I don't know." He ran his hand through his hair again. "I'm just worried. They're like... I don't know. They're like m' kids. I just don't have all the memories of them as kids like I do with Emily."

Gillian smiled. "Except that when they jokingly call you daddy, your pupils expand."

"Yeah, that's that lack of memories of them being kids." He rolled his eyes. "I'm only a little more than a decade older than them. An' a blind man could tell they're gorgeous."

She laughed. "They are. I'm sure there is a lengthy trail of broken hearts behind them."

"They've never said anything about it though." Cal frowned. "An' they never date." He peered at her for a moment. "Don't you think that's odd. I mean, they're only twenty four. But they never talk about even goin' home with anyone."

"Well, they don't tend to share much personal information in the first place, Cal. Not all young people, or people in general, like to crow about sexual conquests."

"No, I know, but you never hear about old boyfriends or girlfriends. Nothin'. Just their few friends that all seem to live far away, an' are always busy."

"Most people are busy, Cal."

"Seems like it's more than usual though."

She got to her feet. "I think you're just being paranoid. You're just worried. They'll be fine."

"Probably." He slumped back in his chair again. "But they haven't called me."

"When did they leave?"

"Eight-thirty or so this morning."

She glanced at her watch. "Well, it's twelve-thirty. They should be in New York by now."

"I should call them." Cal grabbed his phone and started dialing.

Gillian reached over and took the phone from him. "Don't call them or they'll know how much you're worrying. Just text them, Cal." She smiled and headed for the door. "And look at those consultation requests, please."

"Yeah, I will, darlin'," he said distractedly. Cal stared at his phone for a minute. "What if somethin' happened to them an' that's why they haven't called?" He frowned and flipped on the news.

"... mass power outage in Manhattan only minutes ago, affecting over 4 million people. New York officials say power has been fully restored after the outage which lasted eighteen minutes – knocking out lights, shutting down subways, and stranding people in elevators across the entire city of Manhattan."

Cal shook his head. "What are the odds that's a coincidence?" He pulled out his phone. Hey, darling. Just checking in to make sure you're okay. Give me a call as soon as you can.

He rubbed his face and dropped into his chair. "God, please call soon."

"No official statement has been released as to what caused the outage. A spokesperson for the mayor of New York said they will ensure a complete investigation is conducted as to what caused the outage."

He stared at the screen for a moment, and then clicked back into the FBI threats list.