An Interesting Arrangement

Chapter 18

"Is that NYC?" Stephanie asked in shock. She'd seen cities before, but New York seemed to stretch on forever.

"Yep. Only good place there is Brooklyn." Bucky said sourly.

Natasha laughed and ruffled the disgruntled assassin's hair. "Relax Barnes. You're going to like the Avengers."

He snorted. "I doubt it." He glanced back at Oki, who was staring into the distance like he'd lost something that he couldn't quite remember.

Natasha followed his gaze. "Have Loki and Oki ever been this far away from each other?" She asked Bucky in an undertone.

"Never." Bucky said with a frown. "You think they're connected or something?"

"I don't know. When I gave birth to Oki, he got stuck remember?" Bucky shuddered and nodded. Natasha continued. "Loki got it fixed with magic, but I always wondered if maybe he transferred some of his personality to Oki accidentally through that transfer."

Bucky sighed. "I dunno, Tash. But I think we're going to have to come back to this, because we're here!" He raised his voice on the last part and sent Oki and Stephanie scrambling for the front of the plane.

"Big ugly building in New York." Oki said derisively.

Natasha chuckled. "That's what Steve said too."

"It's true." Bucky said, siding with Oki. "It is ugly." A slight smile crossed Oki's face and Natasha smiled. This was going to be ok.

Bucky carefully positioned the plane for the landing platform and took them down. "I hate this already."

Natasha snorted. "You're just sore 'cause your pranking buddy is at home watching 'The Good Doctor' without you."

Bucky grimaced. "He'd better not tell me what happens." He got up and strapped his pistol to his side before lowering the back hatch of the plane. "Remember, when this goes south..." he didn't get any farther because a dirty blond boy with green eyes launched himself at the unexpecting assassin.

"Uncle Bucky!!!" Jace exclaimed happily. "I missed you!" He climbed off of his uncle and gave him a Captain America Worthy Heart Melting Smile TM

Bucky grinned and ruffled Jace's hair before examining the teenager's face carefully. "Who gave you these bruises?" He asked, his voice dangerously low.

"Uuuhhhh... look here's the Avengers!" Jace said, ducking the question.

Bucky rolled his eyes and turned to Natasha. "Ladies first."

"Coward." She muttered, walking out and right into Steve's waiting arms.

"Hey, Romanoff." He said with his dorky grin. "I missed you."

Natasha smirked. "Careful Captain or your girlfriend might get jealous."

He just laughed and gave her a quick kiss.

"All right, all right." Bucky said with a snort. "Best friend coming through."

Steve laughed and gave his friend a hug. "I missed you too, Buck."

Before Bucky could snark at him, Stephanie and Oki launched themselves at their dad.

"OH MY CHUCK THERE'S MORE OF THEM!" Tony Stark said with a gasp. "How many of them are there?" He asked, appalled.

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Just the three: Stephanie, Jace, and Oki."

"Oki? Named after whom may I ask?" Tony asked suspiciously.

"That is classified." Oki snapped at the billionaire.

"Oh, he speaks! At least this one isn't defective. Your other one doesn't talk at all."

"Maybe he didn't have anything to say to the likes of you!" Stephanie spat out, standing beside her fuming brother.

"I recognize you!" Wanda exclaimed, standing by Tony. "You almost killed me."

"She was only protecting me!" Jace snapped.

"Oh boy." Natasha muttered, glancing at Steve and Bucky. "The one time we leave Loki at home..."

"Oh, that's what happened to him. I wondered." Steve said. "Well, I'd suggest getting him here ASAP, because I think that Stephanie's getting ready to barbecue Stark." He motioned to where Stephanie's hands were sparking and clouds were building overhead.

"Wait! Let her!" Bucky said grinning. "Then we slather him in ketchup and feed him to Jace's dragon!" His only reaction was two disgusted looks.

The air was pierced by the sound of an arrow being shot at Tony. Jace was keeping up a pretty steady stream that Wanda and Vision were desperately trying to block. Stephanie called down the lightning around her and in her hands appeared her lightning sword and she was wearing Asgardian armor instead of the T-shirt and jeans she had been wearing. Oki was the only one not involved yet.

"What kind of kids are these?" Today asked in horror as he shot a small missile at them and Oki shifted into a large red wolf and ate it.

Natasha sighed. "Someone call Loki will you."

Bucky shrugged. "The only person he ever listens to is Oki."

"Oki!" Steve hollered over the wind that Wanda had just created. His son turned to him and shifted back into a vulnerable young boy. "Call your uncle!"

Realization dawned on the red haired boy as he spread his arms to the sky and screamed a single word: "ILLUMINAE!"

Immediately, there was a rainbow blast and a pair of daggers were thrown out of the light followed quickly by a black haired god in green. The daggers slammed into Bruce Banner and sent out a high electric voltage that knocked him out. With hardly any effort, Loki dodged Tony's blasts from the his suit and ripped the arc reactor out. Wanda and Vision were jointly trying to launch a blast a Loki, but Loki shot a beam of green light at them and they were knocked backwards, unconscious. Rhodey tried shooting bullets at him, but they just ricocheted off of the energy shield he'd put up and Loki easily encased him in swirling tendrils of green that made his suit useless.

Loki finally turned to the Rogers family. "You're gone what . . . five minutes? And I have to come and clean up your mess. Tsk tsk tsk. Bad form, Tasha."

Tony day up from where he'd fallen from Loki's impact. "What the..."

Loki turned and smirked at the fallen billionaire. "Loki Viktor Rogers at your service. Or rather, at the Rogers's service. You'll be lucky if you survive 'til dinner."

Any further threats were cut off by three kids, Captain America, Black Widow, and The Winter Soldier tackled the God of Mischief in a hug,