"How's Shuri's training going?" Loki asked as they jumped back to avoid a kick from Peter.

"Pretty good, I think. But she and Mr. Stark are doing lab stuff right now." Peter replied, a little out of breath. He moved forward as Loki moved back, aiming two quick jabs at their head.

Loki blocked both easily, catching the second and twisting Peter's arm. With a push to the shoulders, Peter was on his knees. "What kind of lab stuff?"

Peter struggled against Loki's strength. "She's teaching him about vibranium and he's showing her his arc reactors. They're both really excited." He threw himself to the ground and rolled onto his back. He quickly grabbed Loki's ankle and put one foot on their thigh before bringing around the other foot to hit Loki's jaw with a drop kick.

Loki stumbled back a bit, allowing Peter to get to his feet. "Brunnhilde was planning to go to Shuri when I spoke to her earlier. Wanted to see what vibranium was like as armour."

"They're already working on equipping everyone with vibranium armour anyway. Pretty much all the Wakandans have it and I'm pretty sure half the Avengers are done." Peter moved forward and aimed a sidekick at Loki's abdomen.

Loki caught his foot. "Am I to get the upgrade?" They twisted sideways and Peter was once again sent to the floor. Loki didn't hesitate this time to pin him there.

"Pretty sure, yeah!" Peter replied, struggling against Loki's hold.

Loki smiled. "I should see if they can recreate my helmet. The look on Stark's face would be hilarious."

"The one with the horns?" Came a voice from the doorway. Loki turned to see Wanda, only for Peter to use their distraction to roll sideways and get on top of Loki.

"Cheap shot," Loki said, "I like it."

The two of them got to their feet and walked to Wanda. "Yes, the one with the horns." Loki confirmed. "Do you like it?"

"Seems like you're trying to overcompensate for something." Wanda smiled.

Loki laughed. "I feel like you're better suited to the Enchantress' headpiece." He summoned a image of his old friend's headgear to the best of his ability. The green five-pointed flat accessory was pretty, but pretty much useless as a helmet seeing it didn't cover any part of the actual head. "Much more fitting for a powerful witch."

"Seems pretty impractical." Wanda said.

Loki shrugged. "Amora was like that."

"Was she on Asgard when it - uh-?"

Loki shook their head. "No, she was put in a timeless prison long ago."

Peter looked intrigued. "Timeless prison?"

Loki sighed realising that they had just cornered themselves into a storytime session with their two students. There was no way they'd get away without recalling the tale now.

They sighed and sat down on the training room floor, Wanda and Peter sat down across from them.

"Amora and her sister Lorelei were my dearest friends in my younger years, which should've been an omen to everyone else as to what paths I would choose later in life." Loki began.

"When we were on the cusp of adulthood – about the Asgardian equivalent of your age," Loki gestured to Peter, "– Amora became obsessed with youth, moreso than she was with Thor — which is saying something. When Asgardians are what you would call teenagers, we age quite rapidly. As we age quite slowly as children, this sudden change scared her immensely despite my insistence that ageing in adulthood would be like a snail's crawl. But she didn't care, she was determined to stay young forever."

They summoned an image of a golden apple and showed it to the two in front of them. "Idunn's apples can slow a person aging, but they're only given to people that Idunn favours and in small amounts. Never enough to make someone practically immortal, but that's exactly what Amora wanted."

His image changed to that of a freeze frame of a young Amora and Loki sneaking into the forbidden orchid of Idunn. Loki looked up at the life sized image of their old friend and smiled sadly. "She convinced me to help her in her ridiculous quest, and we attempted to steal from Idunn. Despite us both being rather powerful sorcerers, Idunn's orchid dampened our powers, and she caught us and reported us immediately."

The image changed again to Amora in chains and on her knees in front of Wanda and Peter. Lorelei and past Loki were somewhat farther away, being held back by guards so they didn't intervene. "The All-Father was furious." Loki said, pointing behind Wanda and Peter, who looked back to see an enraged Odin sitting on his throne. "To steal from Idunn was an incomprehensible crime. No one had even attempted it before. It was unheard of."

"Odin decreed that if Amora wanted to be young forever, he'd lock her in a prison where time could never touch her." The illusory Odin pointed Gungnir at the image of Amora and it dissolved into smoke. Illusory Lorelei let out a silent cry and yelled angry words at Odin that Loki didn't care to let Wanda and Peter hear. Young Loki pulled her back and she sobbed into his shoulder.

The entire setting disappeared. "Lorelei and I looked for years, but we could never find her. I'm half tempted to assume by a timeless prison, Odin meant Niflheim. If not, perhaps she's been able to free herself since Odin's death, but there isn't enough time to look for her."

"You could look for her after we defeat Thanos." Peter suggested, voice dreary.

"Perhaps." Loki shrugged. "But I don't wish to get my hopes up."

"What about Lorelei?" Wanda asked.

"She was in the Asgardian prison when Asgard was destroyed." Loki said. "I put her back back there under the guise of Odin after she escaped, you see. Thought it would make my act more convincing."

"I'm sorry." Peter said sincerely.

"Thank you." Loki replied simply. "But I'm done reminiscing on the past for today, let's train."

Peter and Wanda both looked at each like they wanted the other to say something else, but eventually Wanda sighed and said, "Sure."

They all got to their feet to their feet and Loki decided they would work with Wanda's magic first. "Alright, Wanda, you're going to close your eyes, and Peter and I are going to move around a bit. When I say so, I want you to find me with your eyes closed and... do something."

Wanda nodded and closed her eyes before Peter and Loki moved around the room so she couldn't remember where they were. Loki cast a copy of himself to stand behind Wanda and say "You can go."

Her magic looped around Peter and Loki rather quickly, but also circled the illusory Loki. The fake Loki soon had a red shirt instead of green, and Loki looked down to see the same had happened to themself while Peter was left unaffected.

Wanda opened her eyes. "Hey! I did it."

"Yes," Loki confirmed, "but you did the same to a fake Loki." They pointed.

Wanda looked behind her to see the illusory Loki and deflated. "Oh."

"It's not too important." Loki said. "It just means that your magic is relying on what's visible, or perhaps it's looking at the energy around it and can tell that the fake me and real me both have the same magical energies. Now we know you don't have a connection to the soul stone, that would've easily been able to tell a real person from a fake."

"Will we try again?" Wanda asked.

"Yes," Loki said, "but later. I've been training all morning with Peter and have to go talk to the Defenders with Strange soon. Although I am in the mood for a little fun first."

"What did you have in mind?" Wanda asked.

Loki smiled.

They were soon down at the labs where they found Tony, Shuri and Brunnhilde. Tony was the only one who didn't look up, the two girls saw the three of them and laughed.

Peter rounded Tony and looked at his project. "Hey, Mr Stark!" He chirped.

"Hey, kid." Tony greeted absentmindedly.

Loki, looking exactly like Peter in every way, rounded Tony's other side. "Hey, Mr Stark!"

"Hey, kid." Tony replied and continued working for a moment before he froze and looked rapidly between the two of them. "I- what?"

Loki and Peter, having rehearsed this, spoke at the same time. "Is something wrong, sir?"

Tony groaned and just lay his head on the table. "I'm too sober to deal with this."

Loki and Peter high fived over Tony while the girls laughed again.

Something tugged at Loki's chest when they realised that very soon, everyone in this room could be dead.