Elaine smiled back and fiddled with the iPod for a moment before figuring out how to plug it in. Turning the volume to a reasonable level, she hit 'play.'

Bruce let Kae keep clinging, although he did notice she relaxed just a tiny bit when Loki appeared with a little glowing light. Just that alone kept him from saying or doing anything to the god, even though the Hulk was growling in the back of his mind about the 'puny god'.

Steve relaxed a little at hearing the music again. "I have to admit, there are some very good things about this time," he said quietly. "Even if it is confusing."

Kae stayed where she was, slowly lowering her head to rest against his shoulder. He was definitely helping her to feel better.

Although when Clint came back with Tony, she relaxed even more. Tony looked at her before he sighed and moved to sit next to her, relaxing back against the couch.

"Alright, Brucey, you might have to help me rig a couple harnesses for the old Arcs I have around so I can use them to power this place."

"Because heaven forbid you keep anything so mundane as a candle, Tony," Bruce replied dryly as he shifted Kae just enough to be able to escape. "I thought the tower was powered by a full-sized ARC reactor, though. How did it go out?"

"It's been fritzing for a while," Tony admitted. "I keep meaning to look at it, but other things have been taking priority. Besides, I didn't think we'd actually need to use it, not yet." He shrugged. "So let's go work on that so we can at least get the lights back on." He stood again and stretched briefly.

Kae shot an almost-panicked look between the two men.

Bruce saw Kae tense again and squeezed her hand.

"Just remember what we were working on," he said. "Tony and I will have the lights back on pretty quick."

Tony looked at her for a few moments before he sighed and turned his back to her. "Come on."

"What?"

"You've managed to control yourself thus far, and I really don't want to know what'll happen to my tower if you have to sit here without Bruce for a while. So just come with and you can sit quietly somewhere."

Bruce gave Tony a Look, but held out a hand to Kae.

"Come on," he said.

Kae latched onto his hand, walking with them down to the lab and then sitting quietly off to the side to let them work. She didn't mind so much as long as she had light, after all, and she was very careful not to make anything start hovering.

Tony got something rigged in under an hour, making Bruce help him attach it to the other three Arcs he had sitting around (because he always kept a spare and two of them weren't viable for use in him anymore but did still generate power). He grinned when the lights came back on.

Bruce blinked a little as the lights came back on.

"That should work until the power's fixed," he said, glancing at Tony for confirmation.

"Oh, yeah. I could keep the lights on with these for a couple of weeks without a problem, and that's with the appliances and tools." Tony shrugged and stretched briefly, then blinked as a cold cup of coffee hovered over to him. He shot Kae a grin. "Alright, show-off, I admit you're okay in here so long as you're calm."

Kae just grinned, much more relaxed now that there was oodles of light.

Bruce relaxed once things started to get back to normal.

It didn't take Steve and Elaine much longer to get back.

"Well, the lights are on," Elaine commented.

"I bet Tony rigged something," Steve said, snorting and parking where he was supposed to before getting out and opening her door for her. "Let's go see how the others are doing."

"If the lights are back on, Kae should be alright," Elaine said as she got out of the car. Reaching back in, she disconnected the iPod and handed it to him.

Steve took it and slipped it in his pocket before taking the elevator up. Tony had that working too, at least.

The scene in the main room was normal. Ish. Loki was sitting in a corner playing with one of his brain teasers, while Kae was seated on a couch with Tony watching her float and levitate things around the room, clearly testing her and letting her show off.

"Everything seems to be alright," Elaine commented as she took off her coat. "Everything for six blocks is blacked out."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I noticed. If the big reactor was working properly it wouldn't be a problem, I could power the six blocks. But as it is now..." He shrugged and snatched a cookie out of the air as it bobbed past him. "It should only take them a few hours to get the electricity back up."

Elaine just grinned and didn't comment on the cookie. She knew man-training when she saw it.

Kae grinned at her and bobbled another cookie over in front of Bruce enticingly, just to see if he'd take it. Steve snickered.

Bruce distractedly pulled the cookie from the air and dropped it into Tony's lap before going back to his reading.

Kae pouted a bit but didn't actually call him out on it, instead glancing around. Everyone else was present an accounted for, and it wasn't even midnight yet.

Life was never boring in Stark Tower. Of course, the girls still had their own house, but they'd taken to spending two or three nights a week in the tower, until they had unwittingly formed something of a steady schedule (barring unforseen circumstances requiring Avenger-intervention). And it stayed this way for a while, until late June, when Elaine was poked awake. She groaned a bit and burrowed under the covers a bit, but the poking was insistent. Finally, she sat up and rubbed her eyes a bit.

"Vision chip active," she muttered, and the world around her faded into view. She blinked and jumped when she saw a little blue-eyed blond boy standing next to her bed. He looked kind of familiar, and she wasn't sure why until it clicked. "...Steve?"

Steve smiled at her shyly, the very picture of innocence standing there in little boxers and a sleep shirt. "I couldn't sleep anymore," he said with an apologetic little smile. "Plus Tony's loud."

Which was about the point Kae came in, carrying a struggling little Tony Stark with a tiny Arc reactor glowing in his chest. She saw Steve and paused for a moment before she sighed.

"I'm not sure if I'm thankful Tony's not the only one, or worried who else we'll find like this."

Elaine's heart melted just a little bit at the adorable little smile. When Kae came in, though, the heart-melting stopped.

"Kae, I'm getting the distinct feeling that we just got thrown into a mess," she said, getting out of bed. Thankfully, she was in the habit of wearing a tank and shorts to sleep in. Almost without realizing it, she took little Steve's hand. "Let's go see."

Kae nodded and carried Tony out to the main room upstairs. Natasha already had the rest of the little ones rounded up in the center of the room, Clint sitting next to her while Bruce, Thor, and Loki were on the floor.

Natasha turned to look at them, saw the last two were little, and swore in Russian. Thankfully Clint didn't seem to remember Russian.

"Do we know what happened?" was the first thing out of Elaine's mouth. All she could think at the moment was she was grateful to have a third adult in the tower.