A/N: The title comes from the end of the Avengers movie. Loki is looking at the Angel of the Waters in Central Park. You can see it in the shot where Natasha whispers to Clint.
"The Tesseract has awakened...Our ally knows its workings as they never will."
That was perfectly true, though Loki didn't like to brag. No, he really didn't. He preferred that people admire him without needing to be reminded of who he was. And he loathed people who were too stupid to understand. His skin was still marked with cuts and abrasions from his last attempt to communicate in complete sentences with one of those.
He could have healed his skin, as he had healed his internal injuries, but it served his purpose to look as defeated as possible. Besides, it caused Dr. Banner to look guilty and turn away, which was amusing.
Shackled and muzzled, Loki walked at Thor's side, surrounded by the other Avengers. They were in a park at the center of Manhattan. They were heading for the midpoint of the park. Nick Fury had chosen this location, where the power of the Tesseract would interfere the least with the city's technologies. Loki kept his head bowed. Let them see what they expected to see.
They were approaching the terrace that was their destination. Glancing up, Loki saw the dark statue of a winged Valkyrie just beyond. No, that wasn't right. Wrong culture. It was a... an... angel. If he remembered correctly, angels looked after people. Loki was sure that he didn't have anybody looking after him. Not that he needed anybody looking after him. He was a king.
They stopped. Loki stood on a circle of cement and glass, the silent Avengers around him. Pouring all the shame and anxiety he could muster into his expression and demeanor, he glanced up at Thor, one last reassurance that Loki was truly beaten.
Thor looked angry, of course, as he held the transporter out to Loki. But Loki knew Thor's expressions better than anyone, and he was surprised to see that some of that anger was directed inward. Thor was angry with himself for not handling the situation in a more enlightened, not to say effective, manner. Predictably, he had resorted to throwing his weight around. Now he hesitated, as though he could come up with a better solution given just one more minute to think. That would be the day.
Having strongly suspected that the Tesseract would be used against him by one of the many people who would scramble for the chance, Loki had preprogrammed it while it was in his possession. So there wasn't much for him to do when the moment finally came. As Thor engaged the power, Loki reached out with his mind for a tiny spark, just enough to release the locks on his muzzle and shackles. He felt the power invade him, transport him, and set him down again. It was quite exhilarating. Then, he waited as his surroundings came into focus.
He was still standing in the same spot, though it was obvious that the remaining Avengers could not see him. The cube was on the ground at Loki's feet, along with the muzzle and shackles. Tony Stark's cell phone rang, and he turned away to take the call. The others started to disperse, making empty promises to keep in touch. Loki mocked himself for holding his breath. Screaming at the top of his lungs would have made no difference. He was now one second ahead of them, seeing and hearing what was about to happen.
Idiots. Had they just bothered to look the word up, they would have understood the transdimensional principle on which the Tesseract functioned. The device simply generated power from temporal movement. But they hadn't worked out even that, and now Loki was beyond their reach. Thanos was another matter, of course. Thanos would know exactly what Loki had done. And, if Earth's power were a 9-volt battery and the cube were a portable generator, then Thanos had the Niagara Falls power plant.
So, Thanos was still Loki's big problem. All Thanos needed was to know how much energy Loki had used, and he would know how far Loki had gone. Loki's genius lay in masking his energy consumption with the massive amounts needed to transport two gods all the way to Asgard. He was nearly untraceable.
Of course, Thanos would assume that Loki had fled as far as possible into the future. He could outlive the Avengers, Odin, and maybe even Thanos himself. With the Tesseract, Loki could rule the nine realms without fear. It was a no-brainer. Loki had certainly considered the option. It was easily the most reasonable course. Loki still wasn't quite sure why he hadn't taken it. Yes, Thanos would look there first, but Loki suspected that he had other reasons too, which he probably didn't want to know about.
Left alone on the terrace, Loki walked over to the balustrade. Majestic stone staircases led down to a lower courtyard with a large round fountain in the center. The angel stood at the pinnacle, while from the tiers bright water fell, sparkling in the warm sunlight. Loki leaned on the balustrade, and smiled happily at the angel.
Music wafted up from somewhere below. Looking down, Loki saw that there was another space, perhaps a hall or tunnel, directly underneath. He could hear people singing there, maybe a dozen, children and adults, in complicated harmonies. Someone was playing a soft, stringed instrument. The plaintive words drifted up: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..."
Turning toward the nearest staircase, Loki saw a food vendor he hadn't noticed earlier. Food! He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten, and he was famished. The vendor's cart proclaimed gyros for sale. Loki hadn't heard of them, but he was open-minded. He used his magic to duplicate for himself the money in the vendor's pocket, and bought two warm packages.
The vendor gave him a somewhat concerned look, which reminded Loki to heal his skin. While he was at it, he gave himself Midgardian clothes, shorter hair, and slightly softened features. Then he went down the stairs, and sat on the edge of the fountain to eat.
His plan was proceeding nicely. First, Loki had been beaten and lost the cube. Very publicly. Thanos would think twice about attacking Midgard now, and S.H.I.E.L.D. would assume that the cube was on Asgard. The public defeat was embarrassing, but it couldn't be helped. And rebuffing Thor had hurt more than he'd expected, but that also couldn't be helped.
Secondly, he had thrown Thanos, Thor, and the Avengers off his trail, at least temporarily. And now, the cube was safely back in Loki's extremely capable hands. Thor couldn't even come back and alert S.H.I.E.L.D. to Loki's escape. So far, so good.
Oh, it wasn't over, of course. Even if he had wanted to stop, the fact that Thanos would eventually find him made that impossible. And Loki had never been one to play a defensive game. That wasn't the way of kings. And speaking of kings, just about now Thor would be trying to explain to Odin just how he managed to lose both Loki and the Tesseract during what was essentially an elevator ride. Loki grinned. It just showed what kind of king Thor would be. He and Asgard deserved each other.
No, Loki would allow himself a day off, and then he'd be back to forge for himself a worthy destiny. As for Thanos, Loki was working on a time trap. It wasn't finished, but Loki was certain that the principle was sound. And the Tesseract would supply the power, as well as some of the harder-to-get parts. So for the moment, it was enough to eat his simple but welcome meal, to watch the water splashing gently in the fountain, and to listen to the singers, who were singing: "...and I think to myself what a wonderful world."
It really was, thought Loki, looking around with an appreciative smile. And soon, it would all be his.