"It can't be," Peter said, "Loki's dead."

"They've faked their death before." Shuri shrugged.

"No, Loki wouldn't do that to us. We're friends, they would've told us if they were faking their death."

"They've never told Thor before, it wouldn't be surprising if they kept it from us too." Wanda stopped her magical scan of Loki and sat back. "Besides, I know this is Loki. Their magic feels the exact same, just... less complex, more irrational."

"What if Thor just has another secret sibling he doesn't know about?" Peter put forward.

"Or if Loki has a kid they've kept secret from years?" Shuri continued.

"I know this is Loki." Wanda insisted.

"But they didn't recognise me!" Peter said, "As Peter or as Spider-man!"

"Oh." Shuri said. "That's why you're so insistent on this."

"Yeah, I just... don't want to believe that Loki would pretend not to know me after we got so close."

"That's understandable." Wanda said, giving Peter a sympathetic smile. "But it might not be what you think. They look like a kid, so... maybe they are one?"

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"We all know Thor probably tried to bring Loki back with the infinity gauntlet. How are we supposed to know what that thing could do accidentally?"

"So, Loki's alive," Shuri said, "but they don't remember us."

"At least they're alive at all." Peter said.

"Yeah." Shuri smiled. "At least there's that."

Loki began to stir. The three peered over at them as they slowly blinked open their eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Peter asked.

Loki pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked slowly at the three of them. "... fine."

"Do you know who we are?" Peter continued.

Loki looked at him like he was stupid.

"Everyone knows who you are. You're Spider-man." They studied his face for a moment before they grinned. "Did I steal Spider-man's wallet?"

"I let you have it."

"Does this make me a better thief than the Rhino?"

"That's not hard," Peter countered, "Rhino's not exactly a master of stealth."

"He still robbed a bank last week," Loki argued, "but he didn't get away. So I'm the better thief."

"I'm Shuri." Shuri cut in before pointing to the other two. "That's Peter and that's Wanda."

"Who are you?" Wanda asked.

Loki stayed silent, analysing each of them carefully. They said nothing.

"It's alright," Peter said, "We're the good guys. Those people that were attacking you? They're our enemies too."

"So... we're allies by means of a common enemy?"

"Sure," Shuri said, "but like, we don't need you to be our ally. You're a kid, we'll just make sure they won't find you."

Loki looked at them suspiciously. "Alright... well then, I'm Serrure."

Wanda, Shuri and Peter all shared a round of looks. "Serrure?" Peter asked.

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Nice to meet you." Shuri picked up the tv remote and handed it to Loki - Serrure? "We need to go talk some more about the men who attacked you. Think you can stay here and figure out the tv?" She gestured in its direction.

"What, do you think I can't?"

"No, of course not." She said quickly. "... but I wouldn't expect you to know how to do it though, so it's alright if you don't."

Peter took their silence as a cue to leave the room. He led the two girls into the kitchen and shut the door behind them.

"This is bad." Wanda said.

"Do we tell them who they really are? Peter asked.

"Oh yeah, that would end great." Shuri said. "Hey, Serrure! Your identity is actually a lie! You're actually a guy we know called Loki who destroyed a few hundred lives and died. Your parents are dead, your homeland is destroyed and your brother is Bast knows where!"

"It would be weird to hear that a stranger knows you." Wanda agreed. "What if they think we're lying and never trust us?"

Peter shrugged. "So what do you guys think we should do?

"Not tell them." Shuri said.

Peter gave her a look™. "Shuri, no offence, but that is the worst idea I've ever heard."

"I don't mean forever, dummy," she corrected, "but we could wait until Thor comes back."

Wanda nodded. "Thor might know more about this than us. Plus, if Thor could prove it he's their brother, it would give Loki someone to latch their trust onto."

"But it could break any trust Loki might have with us at that point." Peter argued.

"I don't think we have a choice," Shuri said, "we either risk breaking our trust with them now or do it later when they have a brother they can go to."

"There has to be a better way."

Wanda smiled sympathetically. "If you can think of one, we'll do it. But we have to pick the lesser of two evils with the choices we have right now."

With a sigh, Peter nodded. "Alright. We won't tell them for now. We should figure out what they do know about themselves though."

All of a sudden, audio blared from the sitting room. Peter winced and covered his ears.

Wanda chuckled. "I guess they figured out how to work the tv."

Walking into the living room, Peter went over to where Serrure was sitting cross-legged on the table and took the remote from their hands, turning down the volume significantly. "Way too loud, buddy."

Serrure shrugged. "I like noise."

"So, Serrure." Shuri began, plopping herself onto the couch beside the coffee table. "Do you have any parents we should be letting know you're safe?"

When Serrure said nothing, Wanda sat down on the arm of the couch and leaned towards them. "Or any parents we need to keep you hidden from?" She asked softly.

Serrure looked down. "I don't think I have any parents."

"Think?" Shuri picked up on.

"Know." Serrure said quickly. "I know I don't have any."

"What happened to them?" Shuri persisted.

Continuing to look at the floor, Serrure remained silent.

"How long have the UN been after you?" Peter asked before someone could make everything even more awkward.

"Ever since I hit that man into a wall."

"Why did you do that?" Peter asked, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible. He didn't want Serrure seeing him as threatening.

"I stole his wallet, but I wasn't able to get away. He, uh, he tried to hit me and then my hands just went whoosh, you know?" The pushed out their hands on the whoosh to complete their demonstration.

"Can you control your powers?" Wanda asked.

"...Not very well." They admitted. "It just sort of, happens?"

"I was like that too when I started."

Serrure perked up. "You can do magic like me?"

She smiled, glowed crimson for a moment, and then there were two Serrures.

The real Serrure jumped to their feet, waving their hand above Wanda's head like the rest of her was still there, but invisible. "It's not an illusion!" They exclaimed.

"Yeah, I can manipulate reality," Wanda shrugged, "it's fun. There's probably a bit of overlap between our powers if you want me to teach you."

"Yeah! That'd be- I mean, I don't... I don't know."

"It's alright." Peter reassured. "You don't have to stay here or take magic lessons or anything you don't want to. You can leave right now if that's what you want to do."

Serrure sat back down. "What are the... full benefits of staying here?"

Shuri began counting a list with her fingers. "You stay hidden from the UN; if the UN does find you, you'll have Peter, Wanda and myself to protect you; free food, water and shelter; the privilege of staying with me; magic lessons whenever Wanda decides to come over; meme lessons from me and Peter; literally anything you could ever want; etcetera."

"And like I said," Peter smiled, "you can leave any time. Just maybe, tell us first? We don't want to be worried that you were kidnapped."

"Yeah, okay... I think I'll stay," Serrure said, "Just for a little bit."

"Good. We can sort out-" Screams from outside interrupted Peter. They all rushed to the windows. None of them had noticed that the sunny day had suddenly turned overcast. The rain coming from the dark clouds overhead was staining Shuri's windows red.

Peter frowned and ran out to the balcony. He held his hand out to catch a drop of the red rain and held it up to his face, looking at the way it rolled across his hand when he tilted it, slower than water should, and staining his hand crimson as it crawled.

"Is this..." Realization suddenly hit him and he jumped back indoors, wiping the rain from his hands onto his suit.

Shuri frowned when she stepped into the hallways and saw Peter's frantic movements. "What is it?"

Peter could barely get the words out. "I think... I think it's blood."

Shuri stayed silent for a moment.

Then, "Taste it."

"Excuse me?"

"Taste it. Make sure it's blood."

Peter spluttered. "You taste it!"

"You're the superhero. Save the city."

"By tasting the mystery rain that looks like blood?!"

Shuri shrugged.

There was a burning sensation in Peter's side that came on quickly. He hissed and pulled the map of New York out of his pocket. As his hands touched the paper, it cooled considerable and a green dot appeared.

They both looked at the map then back at each other. Without talking, they walked back to the sitting room together. Lo and behold, Serrure was still there.

"So who's this?" Peter whispered.

"Someone with a similar enough magical energy to Serrure to get picked up by the map." Shuri said.

The green dot blinked rapidly several times before it disappeared completely.

Shuri responded first, "huh."

Before Peter could even process that, his phone rang. With his bloodstained hand, he pulled it from his pocket and quickly looked at who was calling before answering.

"Hey, Peter," Brunnhilde said, "Long time no talk, huh? We've got a bit of a problem and we think she's heading your way."

Peter looked to where Serrure was staring at the blood rain with utter fascination. "Yeah, I think she probably is."

// Serrure: maybe if I say big words they'll forget i'm baby