vol 2 ch 37

Loki relaxed for the moment. He was back home, and all was right. Now, there were some things that he needed to acquire for the Island. He had the proper channels. A contact with someone known as the Blacksmith. An enigmatic dealer or perhaps an entire network of dealers who sold the more exotic hidden equipment.

From Kryptonite to a teleporter, Nothing was out of their reach. Provided you could afford their rates. Loki stretched. He and Bruce were present together, and Bruce wanted to set up a Lab. An attempt to study the different primal forces that make up their universe. Already, he had looked at Loki and wanted to try his hand at such things. A way to comprehend and understand and, if possible, make artifacts.

Bruce had been accepting Hulk, something he had separated from himself out of fear, as a part of himself. He had been learning to focus that anger. To channel that anger into a protective instinct. To protect the people that he cared about.

The more he did that, the more he and the Hulk were merging. Becoming one being. At one point in time, he would have been afraid. But now, he felt all right. It felt natural like he was becoming complete.

Loki was aware of those changes, especially when they both sparred with each other. Hulk was becoming a better fighter, thinking and forming plans. Not as brash as before. His anger focused. They were learning from Loki. And Loki was teaching them the Strong Fist style. It was a style that suited both Bruce Banner and the Hulk very well. In the future, he even planned to teach them the eight gates. Hulk had an abundance of life force. In fact, it felt as if he had an unlimited amount of it. And the most amazing thing to discover was that Hulk had a chakra network. However, due to an extreme abundance of Life energy, he was unable to use chakra techniques.

The same was not true for the eight gates of pain. And with the ability of the Hulk to heal and get stronger with every defeat. This style was uniquely suited to Hulk.

"So, let's go pick up little Ace." Bruce looked at the time for the clock set for the time in the Metropolis.

"All ready." Loki looked up, circles surrounding his eyes.

He had been trying to recreate a few of his weapons within the shinobi world. Especially his fan and a chakra-conducting sword. He had been looking for alloys to substitute for the one he had in his life as a shinobi. However, till now, he had been unable to find any material which could serve as a substitute. He had been experimenting with a few alloys but had yet to be successful. 

"We can get some coffee on the way back, and you need to take care of some legal issues." Bruce reminded him.

  Loki got up and stretched. His entire body cracking. "Yeah, I almost forgot about that. Let's go." 

A vortex opened up that swallowed them both.

Another vortex dropped them off in Metropolis.

Bruce looked down at Loki and saw that he was out of his shabby clothes and in very cringy clothes.

A giant cowboy hat on his head, a red shirt with red flowers, and the line 'My daughter is the bestest.' Very baggy pants and sandals. 

"You do know that you are gonna embarrass her, right." Bruce reminded him.

"Yes." Loki nodded to himself. "It's a dad's duty to embarrass his daughter."

Bruce sighed. Of course, he knew what Loki was doing. He had been attempting to bring Ace out of her shell by embarrassing her, and he was succeeding. Little by little, she was starting to come out of her body.

"Oh dear, I live with two tsunderes. A father and daughter pair. "This was accompanied by a dramatic sigh." Come on, let's go." Bruce began to move towards the school. "After you are done embarrassing her, we can finally get something to eat."

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Ace had been having the time of her life. Most times, she was afraid that she would wake up and realize that all of this was a dream. And yet, if this was a dream, she would never want to wake up.

When her father had heard those words. He looked petrified and urged her never to utter those words again. This time, he was not acting. He had a genuinely terrified look on his face. He had urged her to always face her reality and never give up. And also not listen to other people.

She had been happy to see him panic like this. It was also fun to feel how much his hands were shaking.

After he started embarrassing her in class, she began to retaliate against him.

Like now, they were waiting for their parents in the playground with their teachers overseeing them.

Ace looked up and saw her father enter. She had prepared her ambush. Now, she just needed him to pick her up.

"Who's my little munchkin?" Loki picked her up.

Seeing that now was her chance. She slapped both of her hands full of glitter onto his face. There was a puff of pink smoke. And as it cleared, Loki was revealed. The cheeks on both sides of his face were all pink and glittery. That will stop him from hitting on her teacher.

"Oh, I am so proud of you. Who is my little warrior? Finally managed to ambush your father." Her eyes widened as she heard Loki tell her that with a smile.

'No, this was not the plan.' She thought to herself. As Loki threw her up. Ace found herself in the air, and as she looked down. She saw Loki with a big smile on his face. His hand reaching out to catch her. The glitter shape on his cheeks somehow turned into star shapes.

This repeated three times until her teacher finally approached them.

"Mr Loki, I must insist that you stop. This is not good for the development of a child." A harsh voice spoke.

This time, Loki caught her and did not throw her again. "I am so sorry Miss Kent. But strength was valued in my customs, and my daughter managed to land a hit on me. Of course, I would be proud. And look, she also managed to make a star pattern." Loki smiled, showing off his cheek.

Ace was fighting in his arms, struggling to be put down. "I am not a child."

"Oh no. You will always be my little Valkyrie." Loki rubbed his cheeks against her. Leaving the exact imprint of a star on her face.

Loki showed off Ace to her teacher. "She deserves a star. Does she not?" He had a big goofy smile on his face.

Loki put Ace on her feet. "Come on, we gotta go. We are going for a meal."

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(Karen POV)

This new dimension was extraordinary. That was the only conclusion she could come to. She was sure that there were not any people frozen in ice for a few hundred years that managed to survive and live to tell the tale.

It was not only that, this world had people like Captain America. She had also found her younger counterpart. Kara Kent. In this dimension,  Superman was alive, and there were other superheroes as well. And the frozen man in front of her.

In the beginning, she was worried when she saw the little girl. She had difficulties opening up and was unsure that a boy who looked like he was just approaching 18 would be a good guardian. But she had been proven wrong as she saw the scene before her of Loki putting Ace down.

"Pardon me. So how are little Ace's studies going." She was interrupted by the other man, Bruce.

"They are going well for the moment. I would recommend moving her to the more advanced classes." Karen answered. "It seems she has been getting some help." She looked pointedly at Bruce.

"Well, I have been teaching her a little. I can't help it. She absorbs knowledge so quickly." Bruce had a hand behind his head as he laughed awkwardly. "But please. Keep her in the same class. The state we found her in was less than desirable, but we would like to keep her in the same class for now. It seems that she has started to become happy."

Karen used her X-ray vision on them to ensure they were indeed human. Again, it showed that they were human. She closed her eyes and began to think. 'Why can't I find any details --'

That was as far as her thought went as she heard cheering from the children.

She opened her eyes and saw Loki throwing candy around with many children cheering.

"LOKI!"

"LOKI!"

"LOKI!"

The other parents had a mixture of faces around them. Some were laughing with a hand in their mouth. Others had strained smiles.

"You can't give them sweets like this." Karen just now made a fatal mistake. She allowed Bruce to distract her. Allowing Loki to do mischief. It was like she was handling a child.

She punched Loki. At the last moment, she remembered that she was dealing with a normal human.

She reduced the strength of her punch at contact. Hitting him on his head and snatching the bag of candies from his hand.

She heard cheering sounds from around her. But she ignored them and focused on this malcontent man-child. "MR LOKI. YOU DON'T GIVE CHILDREN SWEETS LIKE THIS. THEY ARE BAD FOR THEIR HEALTH." 

Loki was rubbing his head. Kneeling on the ground, making small swirlies on the ground. "But I got the healthy variety. They don't have any sugar and are made."

Karen looked at the candies closely and realized that Loki was telling the truth. Most of the supposed cadies were small frozen pieces of fruit.

"Sorry about that, everyone. We are leaving now." Bruce was dragging Loki by the collar with one hand holding Ace's hand.

(END Karen POV)

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When they had moved a sufficient distance away from the school. Loki had gotten on his feet, his earlier facade disappearing completely.

"Well, let's go eat," Loki said as they approached a nearby restaurant.

"Ace, why don't you order some food for all of us," Bruce said.

As soon as Ace left, Bruce nodded at Loki.

Loki made a seal and activated a fuinjutsu.

"Now, if someone is listening in. They will hear all the benefits of shark fin soup." Loki said. A serious expression on his face.

"So, were your suspicions true," Bruce asked.

"She radiates a lot of life energy. It is like a nuclear reactor. You or Superman may be the only one who comes close to her in quantity and quality. In fact, she may be more like Superman. It's more like the sun."

"So, she is from Krypton," Bruce asked.

"Perhaps," Loki answered.

"Will Ace be safe with her?"

"More safer than any other place. She genuinely cares about other people." Loki nodded.

They saw Ace coming back, and Loki undid the sealing jutsu.

At this time, Bruce looked out and saw a green cat outside for a moment.

He blinked his eyes, and it disappeared.

Thinking that was a trick of the light, he smiled as their food arrived. Still, an uneasy feeling in his heart persisted.