The voice did not like Loki stabbing someone in the eye. This, however, made him all the more eager to do it. Besides, it was entirely necessary. He needed that eye for his hawk to unlock the iridium container, and he needed the iridium to make his portal function. Besides, he needed to cause some chaos in order to attract the Avengers' attention. It was about time he met his antagonists.

And if he took a moment to make everyone around him kneel, well, he had been working hard for the past couple weeks. It was about time he got to do something enjoyable.

It was easy to justify it, too. He was going to be their king soon, so they needed to learn to respect him. Besides, it would help to get the Avengers' attention…and their ire.

"You crave subjugation," he told the crowd. And wasn't that the truth? Not just of humanity (he would make it about Midgardians for now, feed their egos, but that was just a bit of a taunt) but for all the sentient races. No one wanted choices. No one wanted freedom. Freedom was scary. It meant making mistakes, making people hate you, always scrambling to try to make yourself better and always failing because you could never measure up to their expectations of you. It meant being cast adrift. It meant pain.

Far easier to bow your head, bend your neck, let someone take the control out of your hands and submit. Loki had learned that the hard way. For hundreds of years he had fought to be his own man, to be different from the Aesir (learning sorcery, learning manipulation, learning diplomacy) but still accepted by them. For centuries, he had tried to keep control, to fix all of Thor's mistakes (making peace with lies, smoothing over diplomatic errors), to protect his kingdom and to make people see him as strong. And when had that worked?

Loki had learned the hard way that it was better to throw yourself into the Void, accept what fate might offer. Loki learned that it was better to let Thanos into his mind than to struggle and resist the cool blue influence that guided his every action now. It wasn't just the absence of pain that made him happy, either. It was the surety. He could leave the decisions to Thanos now. He could stop fighting to figure out what was right and just let Thanos make the difficult choices.

"Laziness, really. Pathetic. Maybe you weren't happy when you tried to resist Thanos, but you were right." Shut up, shut up, shut up.

Loki had learned the hard way that freedom was nothing but pain, but the crowd he could teach the easy way. They moved to bow to him now out of fear, but when he conquered the world they would understand that his intentions were only good (just like Thanos' intentions) and that peace was better than constant strife. They would learn to relish in bowing, to take joy in submitting to his majesty.

And then one man refused to kneel. Saying some idiocy about not kneeling to men like Loki.

Loki only planned to teach him a lesson. The blue bolt wouldn't have killed him, even if it might have left him half paralyzed for life. In the end he couldn't even teach that lesson because some idiot in a red, white and blue suit (Captain America, his brain supplied) jumped in the way and knocked him to the ground.

And the lesson had been going so well. "Effective, maybe, but not what you should have been teaching in the first place."

It was all according to plan, though. So he condescended to spar with this Captain America (Steve Rogers was his real name, the hawk had said) until the man of iron arrived with an arrogant song playing in the background. The sort of song Thor would have used for his entrances if Asgard possessed the technology. Loki thanked the Norns that they didn't. Thor was arrogant enough. (Even the voice agreed on that one.)

He let the illusion he had cast around himself, the image of a horned helmet, shimmer and fade, though he kept his Asgardian robes. And he held his hands up unthreateningly. Let the human think Loki was defeated. He would see how wrong he was in the end.

"Oh, you are defeated, though. Just not by any mortal named Tony Stark."

Loki ignored the voice. It never said anything relevant.

He thought to get to the helicarrier at once, to meet the rest of these Avengers and perhaps the spider his hawk was always talking about. That had been the plan.

And then the thunder and lightning.

Rogers found it amusing that he was afraid of thunder.

"I'm not particularly fond of what follows," he told the mortal. Which was the truth. He wasn't afraid of Thor, he just had a feeling that his brother would not be in a friendly mood after their altercation on Asgard. And besides, he hated Thor now. Despised him. Certainly didn't want to see him.

The voice whispered, "Does it make you feel sick trying to ignore the anticipation in your blood?"

It wasn't anticipation. It was aversion. Loki didn't want to see Thor. That would be ridiculous.

Thor came crashing into the helicopter (he really enjoyed his dramatic entrances), grabbed Loki liked he was a sack of potatoes and jumped right back out of the helicopter with him.

He still liked the dramatic entrance, then. Always the same, Thor, even when he claimed he had changed, had grown more humble. And grabbing Loki so forcefully…That felt familiar too. Perhaps Thor had not been so hostile to Loki before, but he had never asked his opinion before dragging him off to join in some adventure or other.

Now, they swooped straight down to the ground, where Thor dumped Loki onto a rock. It took Loki a moment to right his balance and sit up in a more dignified position.

"Where is the Tesseract?"

Loki waited for the voice to express the opinion that Loki should tell Thor where the Tesseract is. Instead, it sounded slightly annoyed as it said, "Well, he's as rude as ever. Not even a hello for the brother who tried to kill himself?" And Loki found that he thought the exact same thing. Love Thor or hate him (and yes, Loki hated him to the point of combusting due to the heat of his hatred) he had some noticeable flaws, the most noticeable one being his manners, and the way he took Loki for granted.

"He does try," the voice muttered. Even it didn't sound too convinced.

Loki laughed. If that was the best the voice could do he would soon be rid of it. "I missed you too, brother," he said to Thor. Wait. Not his brother. That last part he should have left off.

"You did miss him, though. Remember how you screamed for him in the Void, and when Thanos tunneled his way through your mental guards? You did miss him. You love him, Loki. There is no reason to deny that."

Even if Loki loved Thor (which he didn't, anymore), that didn't change the fact that it was clear Thor held not an iota of affection for Loki in return.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" Thor said.

Of course. Because missing Loki could only ever be a joke to Thor. Loki laughed again. He didn't care if it came out hysterical. "It's only Thor anyways. He's already seen you at your worst." After all this time, perhaps some part of him had still hoped that seeing his family again would make everything better, that everything could go back to normal. The voice always seemed to hope that could happen, at least. And the voice was a part of him, though not precisely that part, he didn't think. (Exactly what part it was he wasn't sure, and he didn't want to think about that anyways.)

But things with Thor…Loki had been a fool to think that they could ever be loving brothers again. A fool to think they had ever been loving brothers in the first place. Now, with Thor in front of him, it was clear what a misconception that was.

And now Thor seemed perplexed. Probably he had been expecting some sort of witty response, the kind Loki always gave. But Loki didn't owe Thor that kind of effort. All he wanted was for Thor to be gone from his sight and not to be caught up in his older brother's games again. (And Thor claimed he didn't play games, but wasn't it always bait and switch, ask Loki's advice and then ignore him, ask for Loki's help and then laugh at his abilities, seek Loki out on a different realm only to demand the Tesseract rather than speak to him personally.)

"I have nothing to say to you, Thor."

"I thought you dead!" Thor shouted. As if the volume of his reply would somehow make it more significant.

Loki wished he were dead. No, of course he didn't, what was he thinking? He had a glorious purpose to fulfill, serving Thanos. He wanted to live and keep on fighting for his master, even if all his own desires were already lost. "Face it, Loki. You're dead already."

"Did you mourn?" he asked Thor. It made him genuinely curious. He knew the answer, though. No matter what Thor claimed, he never cared about Loki.

"How can you say that? He cried for you before, don't you remember? When you got injured on your quests together and there was no one to heal you because you were the healer? And he protected you in battle. Of course he cares."

Thor seemed to agree with the voice. He could apparently delude himself into believing what he felt for Loki was actual love. He made some idiotic claims about Loki still being family. Well, Loki would set those straight.

"We were never family," he said. "It was always just me cowering in your shadow, struggling to be your equal. And you always with your back turned no matter how hard I tried. When I fell into the abyss, you were happy to watch."

"I was dangling above it myself!"

"He does have a point."

"Odin always loved you more," Loki continued, ignoring Thor and the voice. "If he loved me at all. And he would never have wanted a Jotun on the throne. But I am suited to be a king, even if he could never see it. And now, I will be."

"If you think to become a king through the slaughter of innocents, then you will make a poor one," Thor said. Typical for him to focus on the part that involved Midgard.

"I'll hardly be slaughtering innocents. When the Chitauri arrive, the bloodshed will be kept to a minimum. I don't expect the battle to last very long," Loki said.

"That's what Thanos told you, but you know he worships Death. He lies."

"Besides," Loki added. "What can be accomplished without a few sacrifices? These mortals need guidance, and it's clear they won't accept it willingly. Clinging to their illusion of freedom while they scramble to survive. Isn't it a pitiful sight?"

Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened. Of course it angered him, now, to hear someone speak ill of Midgard. After his oh so life changing experience here. Before he would have agreed with Loki, and he would have been right.

"You come home, Loki!" Thor said. Not even bothering to argue with how pitiful mankind was, apparently. "You give up these empty dreams! Listen to me…"

Loki did wonder, and would wonder for years to come, what Thor would have said next. It probably wouldn't have been very interesting. In any case, Loki never found out, because that was the moment that Stark chose to swoop out of the sky and knock Thor into an entirely separate part of the woods.

"I'm listening," Loki said with a laugh. Even if he knew no one could hear him, it had been a good moment. He would tell the hawk about it later perhaps, when the battling was over and there was time to exchange tales.

"You think these battles will ever bring you peace?"

They had to. Because Loki couldn't live with this much frustration and confusion for much longer. Thanos had promised clarity and Loki had gained some, but not enough, not yet. Surely when he had completed his orders, things would be better.

"Things won't get better until you are free."

/.../.../

/.../.../

AN: Nanowrimo has come around and is beginning to draw my attention to other projects (varied, I'm not focusing on any single one this year). Luckily, I have a few chapters prewritten, so you won't be waiting forever for your updates. Don't worry.

From this point on, the plot will begin to change a bit more...This story is, after all, AU, if you hadn't been able to tell that yet. Oh, and reviews are always appreciated. See you on the flip of the flop!