Loki found himself stumbling away from Katie and Bucky, trying to find his friends. He felt dizzy with fear, almost sick.

"Loki?" he heard Katie yell. "Loki, where are you going?!" He ignored her.

Loki started rushing through the rubble. He had to get to his friends before it was too late. Or maybe it already is, he thought dreadfully.

He came to the winding alleyways that led to Peg's house-well, her excuse of a house-now covered in the rubble of nearby buildings. As Loki tried to navigate through, he felt his anger build up inside them.

This was no random attack. Hydra led them into a trap to kill them, or at the very least kill some of them. While he hoped none of the Avengers had gotten killed or injured, he was pissed off that many innocent people were probably killed.

That's probably hypocritical of me, but at least I'm trying to get better.

Loki finally got to the spot where Peg's house was, but instead of the rundown shack he was usually met with, he only saw a mountain of debris.

He felt his blood run cold.

"Peg?" Loki called out. "Breeze? Guys, I'm here!"

For a moment, nothing answered him back. Loki felt himself trembling. The idea that the kids-his friends-could've been killed in the explosions made him feel sick.

"Loki?" he heard Peg yell. Loki looked up.

"Peg? Where are you?" he asked. Loki looked around desperately, then noticed Peg climbing out of the rubble. He rushed over to help her out.

The second Peg was out of the rubble of her former home, she hugged Loki tightly as tears started falling from her eyes. Loki hugged her just as tight, rubbing her back.

"It's ok," he said softly. "I'm here now.. where's everyone else? Is anyone hurt?"

"B-Breeze is stuck down there," Peg said.

"What?! Take me to him!" Loki said quickly. Peg led him back into the rubble, soon coming up to their friends. Breeze was stuck under a pile of debris, and Shadow and Misty desperately trying to lift it long enough to get him out.

"Loki!" Misty said when she noticed him.

"Hey," Loki said simply, rushing to their side to help lift the debris. Peg helped them as well. All four of them tried to lift the debris, but it still wouldn't budge.

"It's too heavy," Loki said softly.

"We have to keep trying!" Shadow said.

"Loki!" Loki heard a familiar voice yell. The kids froze, and Loki looked up. Katie was making her way into the rubble. "God dammit Loki, what's the point of giving you a chance if you're gonna run off without warning!-" She stopped when she saw the scene before her. "Wh-Whats going on?" she asked.

"You wanna know where I've been sneaking off to this whole time?" Loki asked softly. "Well, I met these kids and, th-they needed food, so that's why I've been taking food everyday."

Katie was silent for a moment. "You didn't have to hide this from us, Loki," she said quietly.

"I-I made him to do it," Peg said quietly. "It's a long story, but-" The group went quiet as the rubble seemed to creak.

"Save it for later!" Katie said. "Help me lift this thing up!"

The group quickly went back to lifting the debris as Katie used her telekinesis to help them. As soon as he was loose enough, Misty quickly grabbed Breeze and pulled him out.

Loki dropped the debris and rushed over to them. "Are you alright?" he asked Breeze.

Breeze nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah, I think so... thank you." Loki hugged him tightly.

"So... you adopted four kids off the street?" Katie asked with a smirk.

"I- What?! No!" Loki said.

"Suuuuure," Katie said. Loki rolled his eyes. Suddenly, dust started falling from the roof of the cave of rubble they were in, and it began to crash down.

But it never hit them.

Loki looked up and saw Katie using her powers to hold the rubble up. "GO! GET OUT!" she yelled. The kids quickly rushed out of the rubble. Loki helped Breeze out, then looked back at Katie.

"Get out of there!" he yelled quickly. Katie backed out a bit, still using her powers to keep the rubble up. Loki sighed rushed in, grabbing her by the back of her shirt and yanked her out just as the rubble came crashing down.

Katie looked up at him. "We're gonna have to cut down on the whole 'saving my life' thing," she said. Loki shook his head and chuckled.

He looked over at the kids. They were all a bit scratched up, but mostly ok.

"So these are you children?" Katie asked. Loki sighed.

"They are not my children," he muttered. Katie smiled and got up.

"Well, most people know me as Flare," she began, "but my friends call me Katie."

"Wait- Flare?" Misty asked. She looked at Loki. "You never said anything about a Flare."

"Uh.." Loki mumbled.

"Wh- You never told them about me?" Katie asked. "Oh my god! I-I feel so offended right now."

Loki shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He looked at the kids. "We have to get you guys out of here."

"Wh-Where are we gonna go?" Shadow asked softly.

"We can take you to the tower for now," Katie said. "Come on." They helped the kids up and started heading back to the tower, behind the rubble of the buildings so they wouldn't be seen.

"Loki?" Peg asked softly.

"Yeah?" Loki asked, looking down at her.

"A-Are we gonna have to leave today?" Peg asked quietly. She tried to whisper no one would overhear her, but Katie did anyway.

"Leave?" she asked. "What about leaving?"

"Uh," Loki said. Peg looked nervous. He rubbed her back softly. "I.. I wanted to run away with them," he admitted.

"What?! Loki, what is wrong with you?" Katie hissed.

"Well I was upset at the time!" Loki said. "I was fed up with the way I was being treated. But, th-that was before earlier."

"Earlier?" Shadow asked. "Wait, so... you're not coming with us?"

"I'm still thinking about it," Loki said.

"Loki, you can't run away!" Katie said. "Do you even know how much trouble that would get you in? You'd be putting them in danger as well!"

"That's why I had another idea," Loki said.

"What idea?" Breeze asked.

"Well, the Avengers are going to try and start treating me better," Loki said. "So... I was thinking, you could join us."

"Woah," Shadow said. "That's.. I don't know."

"Are you kidding me? You wanna ask 4 young children to join the Avengers?" Katie asked. "What do you think everyone else is gonna say?"

"Have you forgotten Peter is a young child?" Loki asked.

"Peter- oh my god," Katie sighed. "He- He has powers. They don't."

"Um, we do," Peg said.

"Oh my fucking god you can't be serious," Katie said.

"Yeah, we actually have powers," Shadow said.

"Ok, well you'd still need a ton of training," Katie said.

"Even if the Avengers don't let them join, I'd at least want them to stay in the tower with us," Loki said.

"A-Are you sure about this?" Peg asked quietly.

"I don't want you living alone and stealing for a living," Loki said. "You all are young. I-I don't want you to leave if I can't be there to protect you."

"Oh- Oh my god," Katie said. "Oh my goodness, what happened to you?"

"Shut up," Loki hissed. Katie chuckled.

"I guess we're not in much shape to run off again anyways," Breeze said softly. "Y-You think we'll be better off at the tower?"

"Of course," Loki said.

"You'd just have to get used to the others," Katie said with a shrug, "and let me tell you, some of them can be a pain in the ass."

"Agreed," Loki chuckled. The kids smiled softly.

"And just where do you think you guys are going?" a voice behind them asked. Loki quickly turned around and saw a small group of Hydra agents.

"Ah shit," Katie grumbled. "Look, no one wants you right now."

"Well, we don't really care," said one of the agents, pointing his gun at them. Loki quickly got in front of the kids.

"Just let us go," Loki said. "We're trying to get them out of here."

"Didn't you just hear them? They don't care," Katie hissed. Just them, the agent started shooting at Loki.

Peg quickly summoned a forcefield around the group to block the bullets.

"They have powers," said one of the agents. Her hair was a dark ginger, her eyes hazel. She smirked. "Get the kids," she commanded. The Hydra agents charged at them.

Katie quickly knocked some away with her telekinesis. Loki summoned a dagger and attacked as well, and soon the kids were fighting at their side.

Peg created a forcefield to knock some of the agents away. Breeze summoned a windstorm, keeping the agents away from him. Shadow had gone invisible, attacking any agent he came across. Misty just threw punches and kicks at everyone.

Katie attacked the red-haired girl. "You people are crazy!" she hissed. "Trying to experiment on children who want nothing to do with you!"

"No, but these kids are certainly special," the red-haired girl said. She threw Katie to the ground, then ran to attack Misty.

"No!" Katie yelped.

The girl grabbed Misty, who struggled wildly to get away. However, Loki yanked the girl away from Misty.

Misty quickly scrambled away while Loki wrestled against the red-haired girl. He summoned a dagger in his hand and tried to stab her, but she quickly grabbed his arm and managed to yank the dagger out of his hand.

And before he could react, he felt the cold metal of his own blade pierce his stomach.

Loki cried out in pain, alerting everyone that something was wrong. The red-hair girl kicked him to the ground, smirking as she still held the bloody dagger in her hand. But in the next second, she was tackled to the ground by Peg.

The girl tried to stab her as well, but Peg blocked it with a forcefield as s he punched her in the face. The girl groaned and managed to kick her away and run off.

Peg scrambled to her feet and rushed to Loki, who lay on the ground.

"A-Are you alright?!" she asked quickly. "Wait- that's a stupid question of course you're not alright. We have to get out of here!"

"C-Calm down," Loki said. "I'm fine... this isn't the first time this has happened."

"Wh- That's even more concerning!" Peg said. Loki smirked weakly.

"I'll be ok," he said. "W-We need to fight off the last of these agents."

"No, you stay put," Peg said, but Loki was already getting up. "Wh- What did I just say?! Sit down!"

"Peg, don't worry about me," Loki said. "I'm a God. I can handle some silly stab wound."

Peg frowned. "Fine," she said. "But you better not get anymore hurt."

Loki chuckled softly. "I'll be fine," he said. Peg nodded and rushed back into the battle.

Thankfully, there were only a few Hydra agents left. Everyone else was either knocked out or had run away. They eventually managed to chase off the last of the agents.

"Woo! That was fun!" Misty said.

"We- We really just beat up a bunch of bad guys!" Breeze said, smiling widely.

Loki smiled weakly at the kids. They'd be running from danger their whole lives, and this was their first time actually fighting back. They seemed so happy of their accomplishment, too.

If only I didn't have to screw this up...

Loki suddenly found it too hard to keep himself standing and fell to the ground once again.

Katie quickly turned around. "Loki?" she said, rushing to check on him. Peg frowned worriedly.

"Wh-What happened?" Breeze asked. Katie checked Loki for any wounds and yelped when she saw he was bleeding out from his stomach.

"Shit, Loki!" she hissed.

"Oh my god..." Shadow said quietly.

"Don't- Don't worry about me," Loki muttered. "Get the k-kids to the tower."

"Yeah right dumbass, I'm not leaving you here," Katie said.

"Th-The kids are more important," Loki said.

"Well the kids just beat Hydra's ass. I think they're fine," Katie said.

"Y-You should be the one going back to the tower," Breeze said. "We can handle ourselves."

"Yeah... hey, we could help in the battle!" Shadow said.

"Wh-What?! No!" Loki said, trying to sit up. "That's putting you all in way too much danger!"

"Well you're basically bleeding to death," Shadow said.

"Besides, we just beat up a bunch of those people already," Peg said. "We can do this!"

"I-I don't want any of you getting hurt," Loki said.

"Wait..." Katie said. "Wh-Where's the little black-haired girl?"

"Misty?" Peg asked, looking around. Misty had disappeared.

"Ah shit. Misty?!" Shadow called out.

"You know, this is really adorable," said a new voice. Peg quickly turned around to see a large, slimy monster leaning against the wall. She was black, with bright green splotches all over. She had large claws like that of a dinosaur, and her eyes were a piercing white.

Just great, she muttered inwardly.

"In all my thousand years of being on this Earth, I don't think I've ever seen such loyalty to one single person," the monster said, smirking at them.

"Wh-Who are you?" Loki growled weakly.

The monster laughed. "You speak quite threateningly for someone who's practically dying," she hissed. Loki just glared at her. "I guess you could say, I'm Misty's power," she said. "I'm the little monster in her head."

"Her name is Scream," Shadow said to Loki. "She's a symbiote."

"Symbiote?" Katie said. "I-I've heard of them, but I didn't think they were real..."

"Oh, we are certainly real," Scream said. "I've been here as long as you've been alive," she said to Loki.

"Your point? What do you want?" Loki hissed.

"Well, lets face it, you're a dumbass," Scream said. Katie snickered, and Loki turned to her with a look of betrayal. "I mean, you went and got yourself hurt, but carried on fighting anyways," Scream said. "And now you're here, dying on the ground, and not allowing us to fight back for you."

"He just wants us to stay safe," Peg said. "And I don't think you're being the better person here."

"I don't want to be the better person," Scream said. "I want to be the person to talk some fucking sense into you people. There's still a huge war going on out there, and with their sassy magician down, they're gonna need help."

Katie giggled at that comment. Loki glared at her. "Katie, n-now really isn't the time!" he hissed.

"I'm sorry, but sassy magician," she chuckled.

Shadow sighed. "Well, she has one point," he said. "There a ton of those Hydra people out there. We really should go help the Avengers in Loki's place."

"Think of it this way, Loki," Peg said softly. "You've been helping us out all this time, now it's our turn to help you."

Loki sighed. "You better not get hurt," he said. The kids all smiled. Scream smirked.

"Of course not. At least we have some common sense, unlike you," she said.

"You know no one asked for your commentary," Peg said as they started to walk out.

"You should be thanking me. I basically convinced him to let you fight," Scream said.

"Not really..." Breeze's voice trailed off. Loki sighed and winced in pain. Katie frowned and helped him lay back down, pressing his cape to the wound to try and stop the bleeding.

"They'll be ok," she said softly. Loki smiled weakly.

"I know," he said quietly. "I just hope the Avengers accept them..."

◇◇◇

Peg gave a small sigh as she stared out at the battle, next to her friends.

"The Avengers have everything under control out here," she said. "Our priority should be to save any of the civilians."

"Sounds good," Shadow said. "So... you guys ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Breeze said, bringing his hood over his head. Peg did the same. Shadow turned invisible, as Scream growled softly.

"Let's go!" Peg yelled. With that, the group dispersed.

Peg travelled through the rubble of the buildings, trying to find anyone who needed help.

"Hello?" she called out. "Is anyone there? I'm here to help you!"

"H-Hello?" she heard a small voice whimper. Peg quickly followed the voice and found a little girl, covered in dust and crying softly.

"H-Hey," Peg said quietly, helping her up.

"Are you one of the Avengers?" the girl asked quietly.

"Uh, not really," Peg said. "But I can help you, come on." She gently grabbed the little girl's hand and started leading her through the rubble.

She heard a noise from above them and looked up.

"Iron Man!" the little girl squeaked, pointing up at the red and gold suit that firing blasts of energy.

"Pretty cool, isn't he?" Peg asked. The girl smiled and nodded. Peg smiled back as she led the girl out of the rubble. "There are some police officers over there," she said, pointing to a group of officers helping people nearby. "You go to them, alright?"

"You're not coming?" the little girl asked.

"I have to help other people," Peg said. "You'll be fine. They'll help you."

The little girl nodded. "Th-Thank you," she said.

"No problem, kid," Peg said, before running off into the battle again.

Scream was rushing through the destruction, killing everything in sight. Well, mostly Hydra agents. She tried to avoid civilians the best she could.

She noticed something flying around in the distance and looked up. Spider-Man. The kid was swinging around on what little buildings were left in the area. However, one of his webs snapped, and he disappeared into the rubble.

Scream saw a Hydra agent standing on one of the remaining buildings, holding a gun in his hands. He must've shot the web.

Hesitantly, she ran in the direction where Spider-Man fell and climbed the rubble to try and find him. He was just getting up, but the agents were starting to surround him.

"Hey, uh, I don't mean to be rude or anything," he tried to say. Scream scoffed, not even bothering to listen to his attempts to make peace. She watched as the agents drew closer to him.

Snarling, she leapt from her hiding spot and attacked the Hydra agents. Spider-Man stumbled back in surprise. Scream tore the agents limb from limb. Unfortunately, most of them fled, but she did manage to take a few down.

"Woah..." Spider-Man said. "That.. that was awesome."

Scream just huffed in response and ran off.

"Hey, uh, Mr. Stark?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, kid?" answered Tony.

"You remember that movie, Venom?"

Breeze glared at the Hydra agents, who were back him up into a corner. He summoned a gust of wind and knocked some of them back. He was about to do it again when one of the agents was punched by seemingly nothing.

Suddenly, Shadow was at Breeze's side. "Hey," he said. Breeze jumped in surprise.

"Shadow, I thought we talked about this. You're gonna give someone a heart attack," he hissed. Shadow shrugged.

"This time feels like an exception," he said, glaring at the Hydra agents. He smirked. "Just like old times?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, you bet," Breeze said. The two threw themselves at the Hydra agents. Shadow went invisible, silently attacking anyone who came near him. Breeze created a large rainstorm, distracting the Hydra agents as they attacked.

Tony Stark was flying through the city, blasting any Hydra agents he could see when he spotted the storm cloud in the distance.

"Uh, Thor?" he asked through his earpiece.

"Yes?" Thor asked.

"That storm cloud over there," Tony said. "Is that you?"

There was a moment of silence before Thor responded, "No? I didn't create that."

"Well who did?" Tony hissed. "First the kid mentions something about a symbiote, and now this?"

"Uh, guys?" Pietro said quickly. "Remember that forcefield girl from The Incredibles? I think she came to life or something."

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Tony yelled.

"Hey," Katie said. "So there's a very reasonable explanation for all of this, but right now you guys have to pretend everything is normal."

"Wh- None of this is normal!" Bucky said.

"Says you, Captain Hook!" Katie hissed. Tony just sighed.

"Where'd you even go, anyways?" Bucky asked.

"Followed Loki," Katie said.

"Why? What's he doing?" Tony asked.

"You know I can hear all of you," Loki hissed. There was something off about his voice. He sounded a bit weak.

"Exactly! Stop asking so many damn questions and get Hydra out of here already!" Katie said.

"Alright, alright. Geez," Tony said. "But you have a lot of explaining to do!"

"Oh, the horror," Katie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

After what felt like hours, the last of the Hydra agents started to flee. The gang soon reunited again.

"Guys," Peg said. "I-I don't think I've ever had that much fun in my entire life."

"That was so awesome!" Shadow said.

"It was pretty enjoyable," Scream said.

"We- We have to do that again!" Breeze said.

"For sure!" Shadow said excitedly. The three shared a high-five. Scream, however, was looking up at the sky.

"Hey. Polka-dots. What are you staring at?" Shadow asked. Scream pointed up, and the others followed her gaze to see Iron Man, looking down at them.

"Oh shit," Peg mumbled.

One by one, the Avengers surrounded them. Scream snarled quietly, standing protectively over the others.

"Alright, Katie. Better start explaining," Tony said through the earpiece.

"Eh. It wouldn't mean much coming from me," Katie answered.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Natasha asked. Peg glanced to the side, but suddenly saw Loki.

"Loki!" she yelped, rushing to her friend. However, she ended up falling right through him.

"Oops," Loki said. "Sorry.."

"Loki?" Steve asked.

"What are you doing here?! You're hurt!" Shadow said.

"Hurt?" Thor asked. "Brother, what's going on?"

"It's fine," Loki said. "I'm just using my magic to talk to you."

"A warning would've been nice," Peg said, crossing her arms. Loki chuckled softly.

"Loki, what is going on? I want answers and I want them now," Tony said.

"Well, I-I've been sneaking out to help these kids," Loki said.  "I met them one night, and they needed food, so I wanted to help them."

"Why couldn't you tell us?" Steve asked. "We wouldn't have gotten mad."

"I-I made him keep it a secret," Peg said softly. "We've been hunted down by a group of scientists since were younger... I-I was scared that any of you could... could've been one of them.."

"It's alright, kid," Steve said softly.

"I want them to join the Avengers, or at the very least a be able to live with us," Loki said.

"Wait, what?" Tony said. "You can't just throw this on us now. We need time to set up rooms for them and-"

"They need a home," Loki said. "I don't want them running around alone any longer. They've been through enough."

"He has a point," Natasha said softly. "They have nowhere else to go."

"What are your names?" Tony asked.

"I-I'm Peg," Peg said. "This is Shadow, Breeze, and that's Scream."

"My host's name is Misty," Scream said.

"Hm," Tony said. "Well, you'll need a bit of training."

"What?" Shadow said. "But we just helped beat a whole army of evil people, or whatever!"

"It's for the best," Steve said. "I'm guessing you haven't fought in a battle this big before. You guys are lucky to have gotten through it without many injuries."

"I guess," Breeze mumbled.

"So, they'll stay with us?" Loki asked.

"Of course," Steve said. Loki smiled softly.

"Th-Thank you," he said. "Thank you all." His body seemed to flicker, and soon vanished.

Loki opened his eyes and looked up at Katie.

"So how'd it go?" she asked.

"They.. they accepted them," Loki said quietly. Katie smiled.

"Good," she said. "You gonna be ok? I mean, wouldn't want your friends joining us just for you to die."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Loki chuckled weakly. "I'll be there for them.. just as they were there for me today."