In Little Ways

Chapter 16

'Acting. That's all it is, Loki. Just acting.' He tried to tell himself as he watched from a distance his "death" at the hands of that purple monster. He exaggerated the neck snap to make it more realistic and tried desperately to ignore the screams from his brother as his lifeless body fell to the ground.

'Know, Thor. Know I would never die this way. That I am here with you.' Loki watched as Thanos disappeared, finally letting Thor out of his metal casing. His heart ached at how broken his brother looked. To him, he probably thought this was the end. But Loki knew.

'This is just the beginning brother. We will have our revenge.'

***

Lia panted slightly as she finally flopped onto the couch, her hair a tangled mess.

"This baby is taking all of my energy." She mumbled, making Tony laugh as he flopped down beside her, placing a gentle hand on her stomach. It had been eight months. Eight months since Loki had left, eight months since the girls had begun to show incredible powers.

"I have a surprise for you, by the way." Tony suddenly said, pulling her out of her train of thought as she tilted her head to glance at him.

"It had better not be another dog. Sir Sniffles is more than enough." At the sound of his name, the English bulldog looked up from his nap, his rasping pants getting louder, almost in excitement.

"No, it's okay, go back to sleep buddy." Tony said, making the dog huff in annoyance as he laid his round head back down. "And no, it's not another dog. Take a look at this." He handed his phone to her, unlocking it as she looked down.

On the screen was a picture of Tony, a selfie he had taken in front of the mirror. She raised her eyebrow in question as he chuckled and slid his finger across the screen.

"Whoops. That was for the hubby. This one." He motioned for her to take a look and Lia prepared herself for another selfie, but what she saw made almost no sense.

"Is this the old newspaper factory next door? Why are you showing me this?" She asked, taking in the look of the place. It was a very old building, around six or seven stories, not including the attic or basement. The walls were entirely brick and covered in vines, graffiti, and broken windows. A crooked sign hung over the door, faded, but still bright enough to read the name of the place.

"Well, I'm glad you asked." He took the phone back then, tapping something on it quickly before he swiped his finger up, a hologram appearing in front of them. The structure was the same, the three large brick walls protruding out towards them, but everything was different. There were new windows, the brick was brighter, no graffiti, there were even trees planted in front. But what her attention the most was that there were children running all over. Waving out of windows, running in the front, sitting and reading.

"I...don't understand." Lia said, looking over at Tony, who smiled wide and motioned back to the hologram. A mother walked on then, her arms wrapped around a baby and two children running ahead of her. Lia watched in awe as the woman stopped, turning towards them and waving, as if she could see them looking at her.

"That's...me?" She whispered and caught Tony nod out of the corner of her eye.

"I bought the building. I thought, you know, since the girls keep getting kicked out of their normal public schools that maybe I should make a place for kids like them." Lia looked at him, seeing that bright twinkle in his eye. The one he always got when he was about to do something extraordinary. "Kids with powers or who are super smart, like Peter and Harley. Someplace safe for them to learn and live. Someplace where they won't ever feel unwanted or feared or even made fun of for their differences."