Mischief and Magic

Chapter 21

Happy eventually got them back to the tower. By then, all of the cheeseburgers were gone. Morgan was still a nervous wreck, but at least she was a fed nervous wreck. Witchlings without proper fuel in their systems ran into trouble with their magic. That was the kind of trouble that Loki didn't want to add to the trouble they already had.

As Happy was driving to the Tower's garage, they could see that the tower itself looked perfectly repaired, like it had never been attacked at all. Loki let out a low whistle when he saw it. He was impressed with the speed the tower had been completely repaired. He'd been expecting it to be livable, not nearly perfect.

When Happy parked the car, Loki got out and helped Morgan out of the vehicle. He gave her his arm to escort her inside, the perfect gentleman as always. He'd grown up a prince and knew how to escort a lady. Morgan clung to his arm as they headed inside. She was clearly nervous. They were both grateful that Happy had parked in the garage. The press couldn't see them, or Morgan's tails, when they were in the garage and therefore within the safe confines of the Tower.

Loki tried to keep Morgan calm as they took the elevator back up to the common room, where they expected to find the team. It was a safe expectation, especially when the team was waiting for them to return.

The whole team was gathered, as expected. They all loved Morgan like their own and wanted to see for themselves that she was safe. Instead, they were seeing in person that she wasn't as human as they'd thought. Morgan mewed softly at their stares and moved closer to Loki. Loki didn't judge her and she wasn't sure about the team. Loki wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her to her father. Tony had stood the second the elevator doors opened and was rushing over to meet them.

"All three of us have explaining to do," Loki greeted Stark as he let Morgan go so she could hug her dad tightly. Stark hugged her back automatically, pulling her close and checking her over for himself.

Tony glared over Morgan's head. He knew this wasn't Loki's fault, but still... "What's going on?" He demanded, needing the full explanation now. He understood the message in Loki's eyes and the three of them headed to a conference room to have the important conversation.

Loki sighed when they were alone. He had to be blunt and that wasn't going to win him friends. Not that it really mattered, Tony hated him regardless. "First of all, you had a one-night stand with a Vanir Kitsune. Which means your daughter is half Kitsune. And now that half is coming to light. Congratulations, she looks adorable," Loki gave Morgan a fond smile, despite his smirking sassy commenting toward Tony, he clearly adored Morgan. "Second..." He summoned her arc reactor and the bowl of shrapnel into his hands.

Tony looked dumbfounded and horrified at the potential implications of what that collection of metal meant. He didn't want to believe it. Morgan translated, filling in what hadn't been said. "We need to talk about Mom," she told her father softly. "And Loki saved my life when my arc reactor died," she explained, keeping her words simple, noting the horror on her father's face. Her arc reactor was supposed to keep her alive.

Loki inclined his head. "She is a perfectly healthy little fox now," he reassured Tony. "And no longer needs the arc reactor to keep her alive,"

"You got all the shrapnel?" Tony asked Loki, his tone more serious than anyone usually heard from the genius. That was most important to him: making sure Morgan was safe, wasn't dying, wouldn't be in danger again from the old wound.

Loki nodded again, all joking out of his expression and out of his words "Even the smallest pieces. Her heart is perfectly safe. I give you my word." Loki was the god of lies, but he took oaths seriously. He also knew what subjects were joke worthy and which ones weren't. This one definitely was not.

Tony sighed in relief. "Thank you for that." He may not like Loki, but he knew what a big favor Loki had given them. He owed Loki for Morgan's life.

"And my mom?" Morgan asked, broaching the subject once her dad was properly reassured that she wasn't dying.

Tony sighed and took a deep breath before he started to explain the story. It wasn't one he was particularly proud of. "She was a one-night stand," he started, reiterating what Loki had deduced. "Back when I did such things. You know that lifestyle stopped the morning I found you in a basket on my doorstep with a note," he added to Morgan and for Loki's benefit. He had stopped his drinking and partying that very day and never looked back. He considered something before he continued speaking. "But there was always something odd about her..." he gestured and an image of a young woman with silver-blonde hair appeared on the wall-screen thanks to Jarvis. "This is who I saw that night. Jarvis kept insisting that she looked like this," he gestured again and another image appeared next to it of the same young woman, but with pure white hair and nine white red-tipped tails.

Clearly, Jarvis could see through the Kitsune's illusions where Tony's human eyes couldn't Loki's eyes widened. "That is a divine-level Kitsune! Small wonder you couldn't see past her illusion!"

"A what-now?" Tony asked stupidly.

"A divine-level Kitsune," Loki replied, overly patiently. "They're quite popular in Japanese mythology and are as powerful as they come. As a Kitsune gets more powerful, they grow more tails, until they reach divine-level at nine tails," his voice took on a teacher tone as he explained things to the pair.

"And now Morgan is-?" Tony looked over his little fox daughter with her single tail, with her strange new features.

"A very, very young Kitsune with one tail," Loki replied easily. It was no surprise that she only had one tail. A half-Kitsune manifesting more than one, especially before she came of age was unheard of. "Power grows with practice and age. I'm sure she will acquire more in time,"

"She's perfect as she is. Just as she always has been and just as she always will be," Tony informed Loki firmly and sourly as he pulled his daughter into his arms. He would love her no matter what. Morgan sighed in relief and relaxed in his arms. He really would love her no matter what. She didn't need to worry..