His mind had been so preoccupied with his plan that Loki remembered virtually nothing past the moment he discovered the depths of Thor's betrayal. Their childhood vow, made as Loki was curled on his blanket, sleepily sucking on his fingers while Thor gently rubbed his back had, at one time, meant everything to him, an innocent memory he fiercely protected, the one good thing keeping the darkness from completely corrupting his mind.
But now, sitting alone at the bar, nursing a warm beer, Loki scoffs at the sweet taste of memory, infused with a bitter aftertaste he can't get spit out. He's bitter and a bit amazed by the level of his naivety and has had his fill of living off empty promises. The only purpose Thor's worthless words now served was to act as a shield against those foolish sentimental memories that crept up from time to time, irrevocably taking a little something more from him each time.
The scheme, he admitted with a ballooning pride one normally reserves for their children, was grand in scale, having taken years of meticulous planning, the details reading like the pages of an international spy novel. It was nearly perfect in his mind and, after years of persevering with cold calculation, tamping back the raging need for vengeance, getting into the right position, the perfect moment at long last finally within reach—he was so close to delivering that knockout punch that if he didn't watch himself, he'd start to taste victory before he won it.
He mentally chided himself, it was too soon to claim success when there was still so much to do and, despite his best planning, he knew he needed to check and re-check everything to find any flaw, however improbable, to look for the unaccountable something that could undo everything he poured his demented soul into. Everything, everything must be perfect. He was only going to get one chance at this. Odinson was too powerful and well connected with friends and associates in high places, real criminals who couldn't be touched except by other real criminals with nothing to lose—a rather apt description of Loki if he ever heard one.
To bring disaster, to discredit Odin One-Eye at the height of his power was worth anything Loki had to do to make it happen. What surprised him was how such a mood of calm lucidity and purpose had come from the raging fury of hate that had dominated his very existence. The exhaustion, he supposed, kept him from thinking about what he'd lost, what had been stolen from him and would never be able to regain in this lifetime. It was too painful, too heart-wrenching and far too often there were times when he felt like an open, bloody wound that would never heal. And to know his brother inflicted those wounds…
This plan was just as much about getting retribution against Thor as it was against Odin and that worthless sonofabitch Thor had the audacity to call "little brother."
And speaking of sonofabitches…He just walked in the bar. Time for Loki to put in motion Operation Kill Baldur Odinson.