"Absolutely not."
Fury looked desperately at her, the struggling baby Loki in his arms. "Pepper, we don't have a choice. We believe that he is involved in this... situation. He's refused to tell us anything and we need to know. In order for him to open up, he has to relax and learn to trust us."
"He's a supervillain!"
"I understand that, but he's been tested and is not dangerous to you in his current state."
"And the other children?"
"They can handle him." Fury smiled.
Pepper glared at him. "Where did you even find him?"
Fury shrugged. "Evidently he snuck here with Thor. It's our guess (a pretty good one, I'd say) that he's responsible for this." Fury nodded towards the young team of superheroes. "Or at least, directly involved."
The two were distracted as Loki finally struggled out of Fury's grip and plopped onto the floor, only to be squished by his enthusiastic brother.
"Loki!" Thor shrieked, hugging him.
Fury looked at Pepper amusedly. "Good luck getting him out now. You have to take care of him, like it or not."
Pepper sighed exaggeratedly. "You owe me big time, Fury."
Fury looked smug. "I suppose I do. Good luck." He exited the room, his long black coat swinging behind him.
Pepper bit her lip and looked down. Loki wriggled out of Thor's grip and stalked off, but not before throwing a condescending look at his brother. Thor wilted for a moment but immediately got his bounce back and started following Loki, jabbering unintelligibly.
The rest of the team was apparently still shocked, because none of them had moved.
Then Tony, still in his suit, flipped his helmet on and pointed one hand at Loki.
Loki froze.
Thor glared at Tony. "Stop. My brother!"
Tony looked at Thor, and then at Steve. Steve gave a noncommittal jerk of his head, but Natasha grabbed Tony's arm with her stubby fingers and shook her head firmly. "Violence not answer," she said, and Pepper grinned.
Tony sighed exasperatedly, sounding rather like Pepper had earlier, and lowered his arm, but not before sending Loki a warning stare. Loki turned to glare at the wall, and Pepper noted that he was rather grouchy for a two year old. Thor resumed his jabbering. Apparently unable to take it anymore, Loki snapped his fingers and a pit appeared where Thor was standing. With a surprised squeak, Thor dropped.
Pepper and the Avengers gasped. Bruce and Steve ran to check on Thor while Tony sent Pepper a 'you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-with-this-guy' look. Pepper shrugged at him and walked apprehensively over to the pit, afraid of what she would find. To her relief, Loki's magic seemed to be limited since he was so young and the pit was about as deep as Thor was tall. He looked up at them sulkily, unhurt, but unable to get out. Bruce and Steve each reached in, grabbed an arm and pulled the God of Thunder out of the pit.
Meanwhile, Loki had stormed off again.
Thor had apparently learned to keep his distance and sent a woeful look in Loki's direction before plopping himself onto the floor and staring sadly at the carpet.
The rest of the team crowded around him, making comforting toddler noises, which was uncharacteristically kind for most of them. Pepper glanced at them for a moment, smiling at the sweet scene.
Then she remembered that she still had to talk to a grouchy God of Mischief, and her smile evaporated.
She sighed and raised her face to the ceiling, covering her eyes with her hands. Bracing herself, she walked up to the tiny Loki.
"Hey there, Loki!" Her attempt to sound jaunty died in her throat as Loki looked up at her disdainfully.
He burbled at her with a scowl, following up with a, "Hmmpfa."
Pepper was starting to wonder if he could talk at all.
"You alright there, buddy? You hungry?" Please talk, she thought. Somehow, she had a hunch that it would be very hard to get him to reveal secrets if he couldn't communicate.
He looked at her. "No." His attempt to sound rebellious and surly was counteracted by the large rumble from his stomach.
Pepper stifled a grin. "You sure?"
Loki looked at her, and his facade began to crumble a tiny bit. "N-no."
Pepper smiled kindly at him, her heart starting to warm. "How about pizza?"
He scrunched up his tiny nose. "Midgard food."
Forcing herself to smile apologetically, she said tightly, "Yes, I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "Okay."
Progress, she thought, as she went to get the pizza.
"Okay, guys, bedtime!" Pepper clapped her hands, not bothering to hide how ecstatic she was.
"No!" protested six voices. Loki merely looked at her disdainfully... Again. Although admittedly, with less contempt than before.
"C'mon, guys, we've had a big day and we're all very, very tired." Or at least I am, she thought.
"I'm not!" piped up Tony.
"Neither!" shouted Clint.
Natasha poked himin the arm, none too softly. "Pepper tired," she said wisely. "Pepper need rest."
Steve nodded. "Natasha right," he agreed grudgingly. "We're annoying."
Pepper chuckled.
"Not tired!" Thor objected.
Bruce threw a puzzle piece at him. "Pepper tired!" he echoed. "We go to sleep now."
Thor sighed. "Loki?" he asked tentatively, and all six of them turned to his brother.
Loki looked at them. "'Kay," he said with a shrug.
Pepper sighed in relief. They might have been super-irritating, but their superhero goodness had won in the end.
Twenty minutes later, all seven of them were tucked up in bed. Pepper walked over to every one of them, tucking in their blankets and giving them a good night kiss. When she came to Natasha, the little girl sat up and gave her a big hug. "Sorry for being annoying," she whispered, and Pepper chuckled.
"You weren't, you were good," she said, being mostly truthful. She gave the little agent a kiss on the forehead and a smile.
Tony grinned up at her and poked her nose when she came to tuck him in. "Ow," she said matter-of-factly.
He reached up and patted her cheek. "Thank you for putting up with us!" he chirped, and she laughed.
"I work for- uh, with you, remember? I am so used to it."
He pouted good-naturedly before sitting up and kissing her cheek- purely platonic, of course, seeing as he was about three. She went pink at the sweetness of the gesture, and clumsily patted his head, wondering if being a child brought out the best part of him. The soft, kind part.
Loki appeared to have warmed up a bit since dinner and tolerated her good night kiss with little more than a wrinkled nose. To her surprise, he even mumbled, "G'night," before rolling over in bed.
Pepper stepped back and admired her handiwork before smiling and turning off the light.
Silence...
"WAHHH!"
Cursing silently, she turned the light back on. She hadn't heard them crying since she had come in that morning, and that had been because Clint had tripped Steve, who had skinned his knee.
She looked at her charges now, trying to identify the wailer. Startled, she realised it was none other than Clint himself.
"Clint? You okay, buddy?" She sat on the edge of his bed, trying not to sound too weary.
Clint looked at her, sniffling. "Dark," he whimpered. "So dark... It hurts... Stop it! Stop!" He thrashed around.
With a pang, Pepper figured that the dark must've brought back some awful memory of Clint's from one of his missions.
"It's okay, Clint, you're safe. We're all here. No one's hurting you," she soothed.
Client continued to sniff. "Scared... So dark... It hurts so much... Natasha!" he finished with a wail, banging his tiny fists up and down.
There was a scuffle and Natasha clambered into Clint's bed. She gave him a hug. "S'okay," she said softly.
"Not..." he said miserably.
Pepper looked around desperately for something to distract him. A nightlight, perhaps? But she didn't have one...
Tony sat up suddenly. "Arc!" he exclaimed.
Pepper's eyes widened. She made her way over to him and looked at his pyjama shirt. It probably wouldn't matter if she cut a hole in it, she thought, it wasn't a fancy top, just something from the cupboard. "Clint, would it help if there was a nice blue light?" she asked.
Clint sniffled a bit and managed a watery smile. "Blue good," he said. "Blue like searcher torch, blue like Natasha's laser."
She didn't quite know what he was talking about, but she took out a pair of scissors and cut a neat hole in Tony's pyjamas. She was careful not to hurt him, but he was extremely ticklish and squirmed as he felt the cool edge of the safety scissors brushing close against his skin. He grinned at her cheekily, and she flicked his ear gently, whispering, "Thanks, Tony." She switched off the room light again.
A cool cyan light shone dimly around the room, casting a comforting glow on everything. Pepper noted with some relief that it wasn't bright enough to keep anybody up, having been muffled by the thin summer blanket that Tony had covered himself up with.
Clint sighed contentedly.
"All okay now?" Pepper asked.
"Yes," said Natasha, and Pepper realised she was still tucked up with Clint. Pepper smiled and didn't comment.
"Good night, guys," she said.
Silence...
"Wait!" Thor called. "Story? Please?"
Pepper tried not to groan. "Oh, but guys..."
"Please?" Pepper realised with a jolt that it was Loki, who was currently looking at her beseechingly with big eyes.
Pepper's heart melted yet again.
She set her tiredness aside and said, "Alright, alright..." She sighed, turned on the light again and pulled up a stool. "Once upon a time, there was a young woman with red hair."
"Like me?" piped up Natasha. "And like you?"
Pepper stifled a grin. "Very much like me. This woman was trying to get a job in a well-paying company so she could afford to pay her rent. She'd had a lot of interviews, but she'd been turned down by everybody."
"Is this story about you?" asked Steve.
Pepper nodded. "It's all true, even the rejection part."
"That's sad," said Clint, trying to stop his eyes from drooping so that he could finish the story.
"Very," Pepper agreed. "I was starting to lose hope when I found a famous company whose boss needed a PA."
"What's a PA?" asked Thor sleepily.
"Personal assistant," Pepper answered. "So I applied, and I was interviewed by the boss. It turns out that he was extraordinarily-"
"Handsome?" offered Tony, smirking.
"Irresponsible," finished Pepper, smirking back. "I knew I could do the job, and I impressed the boss so much that he hired me straight away. And pretty soon, he was relying in me to do absolutely everything for him."
"Not everything I ask," mumbled Tony, and Pepper hit him lightly. "Ouch."
"And then we all lived happily ever after- that is, until my boss decided to go insane and build a super suit, turning himself into a superhero with responsibilities that he never took care of, instead leaving me to take care of them, and then it turned out he was dying at one point and didn't tell me, even though we've been working together for years. Then he became part of a superhero group who defeated aliens and spontaneously turned into tiny children, leaving me (once again!) to save his a- uh, to save the day."
A few of the kids giggled while Tony turned red, both with embarrassment and anger.
"Okay, there's your story, kids! Time for sleep, and this time I mean it. Next person who talks will be force-fed broccoli. Good. Night."
There was a click and the light went out. This time, the silence was lasting.