I do not own the rights to the Avengers. I also have nothing personal against unpaid internships or Marvel Comics.

Loki's Revenge

Contrary to popular belief, empires were not built by emperors, conquerors, and tyrants. One look at Egypt's ancient pyramids and China's Great Wall made it clear who the true builders of great empires were: slaves.

Without slaves, the pharaohs of Egypt would have gone broke paying people to build monuments in their name. Rome's Colosseum would not be known for its entertainment if there had been no slaves made to fight to their deaths. More recently in the timeline, the southern portion of America might not have prospered as well as it did without slaves working in the cotton fields.

In short, great emperors were nothing without the minions waiting on them hand and foot; doing the little things to keep the oh-so-mighty empire machine running. No slaves meant chaos and ruin.

Which is what Loki was counting on.

While slavery had been outlawed for over a century in America, it still existed in other forms. The acceptable term today (acceptable meaning not child slavery, human trafficking etc... but recognized as legal by the law) was unpaid intern.

Huge companies depended on unpaid interns- poor college students desperate for work experience that would look impressive on a resume, perhaps even lead to a job for the company they were working for. Getting coffee to keep the CEO's running, filing paperwork, and doing other menial tasks was all part of a day's work.

One such company depending on the present day's acceptable form of slavery was Marvel Comics.

Also known as Loki's Personal Tormentor and Bigger Pain in the Ass Than Thor. Loki was still working on an acronym that sounded as impressive as 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'

Some might think that being the main villain in an Avengers movie might be flattering.

Red Skull had certainly been jealous. His fate from Captain America hadn't even been mentioned or cleared up in the Avengers. Was he truly destroyed, or did he arrive at Asgard or another such a world? Even a mini-scene after the credits would have been appreciated, but no, the one in Captain America had been a clip taken directly from the Avengers, and the Avengers one had gone to Thanos and a shawarma bit. Red Skull had yet to receive word if his character was even going to be featured in Captain America 2, which was rumored to take place in modern day.

Red Skull's jealousy aside, Loki was far from flattered. The film had started off well enough. Him stealing the Tesseract, causing the S.H.I.E.L.D base to implode on itself, people running amok everywhere. The part in Stuttgart where he put the humans in their place and let him get 'captured' was particularly admirable. The writers had perfectly channeled his personality, and the speech sounded like something he would say. Watching his brother tear up his supposed teammates had been icing on the cake. When they were done, not even the so-called 'genius billionaire playboy philanthropist' member of the group questioned why Loki had stayed instead of fleeing. The actor, a Tom Hiddleton wasn't bad looking either.

After that, the film went downhill in Loki's opinion. Aside from Thor being portrayed as a buffoon and getting punched by the Hulk (the current background of his phone), the rest was garbage. The idea of some Midgardian female managing to trick The Trickster was laughable. The fact that his brilliant plan of using the Hulk against the Avengers backfired on him was outrageous.

As if he, The Trickster, The God of Lies and Mischief, would not have a contingency plan if the Hulk decided to direct his anger at him instead of the Avengers was preposterous. To add insult to injury, the Hulk had interrupted his great villain monologue and tossed him about like a rag doll. The audience Loki was watching with roared with laughter for several minutes at the scene.

The muzzle at the end had just been overkill.

Something had to be done. The overenthusiastic fangirls (Loki was secretly pleased that as annoying as they were, they outnumbered his brother's), Lokitty memes that filled the internet (started by Stark of course, who was long overdue for some of Loki's revenge), Loki had painfully tolerated. The sudden interest and fame he had achieved due to the success of Thor and Avengers more than made up for the minor annoyances (the royalties from the film really helped as well).

Loki had even been willing to look past the part where he 'loses'. A real plan of his wouldn't fail; the movie writers and director were delusional to think otherwise. However, his royalties would greatly decrease if audiences saw a film where a villain won, and their heroes lost. The good guys always won; that was the Golden Rule, especially when it came to superheroes. Anything otherwise would have been unacceptable to them.

The writers and director could have least portrayed him as dignified, righteous; Loki would have been fine with that. Instead they had portrayed him as a psychopathic, egomaniac toddler with superpowers throwing a tantrum on a global scale simply because he found out he was adopted.

Truthfully, his distaste for his brother and family stemmed from the Asgardians valuing his lumbering idiot of a brother over Loki's cunning and magic, not Loki's hidden heritage. While it did irk him that Odin lied to him, Loki was smart enough to realize that life as his son was far better than the one his true father would have given him: death. Laufey and the other Frost Giants vauled brawn over brains just like Asgardians, going as far as leaving Loki to the elements due to his small size at birth.

Despite Marvel's portrayal of his character, Loki really did love his brother and father. The Asgardian treatment of him was what got under his skin. His tricks and schemes were really his way of reminding them that the pen could be mightier than the sword. As for his plots against Midgard and the Avengers, they were more for show and exercises to deter boredom (something which happened frequently when you lived for centuries) than true world domination.

Any genius could tell you trying to rule humans by force was stupid. Even if you succeeded, they would then come to you with all of their whiny problems and complaints. So-and-so stole my land, we don't have insurance, we're starving, the ice caps are melting, blah blah blah. There was a reason why the hair of American presidents was famous for going grey while they were in office, and that was just one country.

No, if one was truly bent on world domination they would have done it smartly, like Loki had done. Buying up the stock in companies that controlled sugar, caffeine, chocolate, water, power, and electronics; things the mud monkeys couldn't live without. Taking away their freedom was one thing, they would simply grumble and try to fight. Take away their main food groups, air conditioning, and entertainment devices and they would be begging on their knees, not knowing how to survive without them.

When he had agreed to Marvel Comic's use of him all those decades ago, he knew creative license was a given. Real life was often duller than fiction, and consumers had certain expectations such as the good guys always defeating the villains.

The movie though, had been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, and the catalyst for Loki getting his revenge on the company.

Which revolved around the idea of slaves.

Specifically those belonging to the mighty empire known as Marvel Comics.

Being the beginning of June and with no internships in sight, a poor, anonymous college student scours the web for anything. Even an unpaid internship would be better at this point than working as a waitress or clerk, if only for job experience that was relevant to her major.

One opportunity seems almost too good to be true. A chance to work for Marvel Comics, the Marvel Comics. The company behind her recent obsession with Captain America and all things Avengers related.

The Captain America bobble-head next to her laptop is happily bobbing up and down, as if to say, 'It's real! It's real!'

Her heart starts beating fast as her imagination gets the better of her. Getting the position, being able to walk through those halls, seeing all things Marvel related, perhaps even bumping into Chris Evans in the halls who would then go out with her for a drink and realize they're soul mates! Or Stan Lee realizing how much he needs her at his company and insist upon hiring her once she graduates!

With her future now planned out, she clicks on the link leading the official Marvel's corporate interns page for more information.

Except instead of seeing a big 'apply here' button, she sees a horrible message: Oh No! The page you have been looking for has gone missing!

Missing? How could the gateway to her future be missing? What will she do for a job now? What about her plans of meeting Chris Evans, Stan Lee, and her greatness being recognized by both, leading to marrying her crush and being given her dream job?

Who would do such a terrible thing, for surely a villain must be the culprit of such a heinous act.

Who indeed?

**Author's Note**

As stated, I have nothing against Marvel Comics or unpaid internships.

This story was a result of a friend finding an internship opportunity at Marvel for this summer, and sending me the link. Upon clicking the link, I got the 'Oh No!' message and made a joke about Loki getting his revenge. She then joked it would make for a great one-shot since it would mean Marvel would lose its 'slaves'. Except once she said it, the idea for this fic popped into my head and made the jump to unpaid internship.

For those interested, the link is the following, and your experience might differ from mine: marvel dot com / corporate / interns

Without the spaces and 'dot' of course. Also, I don't know if it's paid or unpaid, just that the unpaid intern sounded better for the fic.

I would also like to say, I'm taking a bit of liberty, or as Loki would say creative license regarding his real motivations and history. I figured if he was getting revenge on Marvel for his portrayal in the movies, than his 'real' life and history might differ from that of Marvel's.

Thanks for reading, and if possible leave review!