"And why, exactly, did you think I would be interested in an apprentice," Loki rolled his eyes as he walked the streets of New Asgard, a floating city in the skies of Norway.
Captain Marvel had requested an audience and, as the successor to the Grand Wizard Shazam, Loki felt obligated to grant it to him.
Loki actually liked to keep active in magical circles of this world. Hell the entire reason he tried to conquer this planet, so long ago, was because of the sheer magical potential of it's population. They were ignorant but they had the raw ability and just required the opportunity for a proper education.
The various "Superpowers" this race was evolving into, combined with their magical potential, made them extremely desirable to galactic tyrants like himself, formerly of course. The idea being, conquer them before they became a threat, and then use them to conquer others... Loki wasn't... entirely proud of that chapter of his life... people like that were the reason this system had it's own personal Green Lantern.
Still, he found he actually enjoyed speaking with the magic users of this world. They might be more on the primitive side of the evolutionary scale, but they made up for that in raw power and ingenuity. Human ambition was something he whole heartedly admired. It had led to them defeating gods like himself (alright so he was just a demigod but still an impressive feat for a mortal race).
They came up with ways of crafting magic not even the greatest Asgardian mages thought of. It was hard not to enjoy getting in an academic debate with them, and he loved all to hell when he was asked to consult on their magical endeavors. After all, for all their ingenuity, he still understood the laws of the universe far better then they did.
The man child beside Loki shrugged, "He'd be more of a ward then an apprentice," not answering the demigod's question. It might have been just a result of Captain Marvel being clumsy with his conversation skills. He was still young after all. He might be imbued with vast knowledge of magic, but he was still just a boy.
"That sounds even less appealing," Loki scuffed, walking a little faster and hoping the mortal would take the hint. If this was all the young wizard wanted his help with then he shouldn't waste his time, "I can have the boy put into one of our orphanages if Midgardians lack the means to handle a dragon spawn,"
"He's not any ordinary dragon," Captain Marvel gave his goofy grin, as if he had a secret, "He's kinda... Purple,"
Loki immediately stopped and turned to face the man child, "Spyro has been orphaned?... Again!?"
Captain Marvel laughed, "Nope. We got ourselves a new one,"
Loki just stared at him like he was an idiot, "A purple dragon can only be born once every ten generations, and we already got him,"
"Kid's from another dimension," The man child shrugged.
Loki stared, and slowly smiled. A purple dragon? They were the pinnacle of power. They weren't limited to only one transformation. They could turn into any type of dragon, of any shape or size! They could manipulate all magical elements, even channel magic itself in it's rawest, most brutal, form. If Loki had to have an apprentice, that would be worthy of him.
"Maybe you can see why we can't trust him to just anybody," Captain Marvel smiled, "If this kid fell into the wrong hands, it be pretty devastating for our world, maybe even the galaxy,"
Loki frowned, "Since when am I the right hands?"
The man child continued to smile, and with a shrug answered, "Since you started asking questions like that. It took some convincing, but the League agreed. You're the best guy to look after the kid. It won't be year round. Just on the weekends and holidays. Until then he will be attending a boarding school for meta humans. The League was pretty insistent on that,"
"They want to limit my access to him?" Loki guessed.
"More like want to make sure the kid grows up with a healthy attitude and outlook of the world. The whole point of the school is too make sure super powered kids don't turn into villains. Most of the League don't even want them to join us, even when they grow up. They want them to live normal lives and forget the hero gig,"
"Champions lose much in their quest," Loki reminded, "They see the worst of Sapient nature. Most of your League long for a normal life. They romanticize it. You'll understand, when you're older,"
"I'm NOT a child!" Captain Marvel snapped defensively.
Loki rolled his eyes and wacked the man child upside the head, "You're 12. Don't let your disguise delude even your senses,"
The boy blushed, "It's not a disguise, just... what I turn into when I use my powers," he shrugged.
"Really now? And it has nothing to do with the fact the Justice League would kick you out and ship you off to this school if they-"
Captain Marvel quickly interrupted, "They do know... well some of them..." he looked uncertain until blurting out, "Superman knows! If the others found out I'm sure he'd stand up for me!" the boy insisted.
"Then why keep it a secret at all?" Loki pressed.
The man child squirmed, "Well... it's embarrassing, is all. Both Superman and Cyborg have been treating me different ever since they found out. I'm nearly as powerful as Superman!" When Loki stared, laughing, Captain Marvel defended, "I totally kick his butt in training!"
Loki laughed harder at that, "Superman has a weakness to magic and is constantly holding himself back. Trust me kid, if it wasn't for that you wouldn't stand a chance against him,"
The boy just pouted.
"Let's move past your delusions of grandeur, shall we?" Loki teased, "Tell me more about my new ward,"
###
Spike sneezed, all over the pizza the group was about to munch on.
"Damnit!" Gar yelled, "Now it has lizard cooties!"
Spike nervously laughed, "Sorry,"
Luckily Starfire came to the rescue, "I can just make another from the matter converter," she informed as she got up, taking the sneeze pizza with her.
"Got to love Kryptonian tech," Peter grinned.