As he was running through the streets, his mind was running a plan. It was simple, get in, get the mind stone back in Loki's scepter, get out, hope for his past version not to remember their fight, avoid being seen. Honestly, the last part would be the hardest, not because he couldn't (after all he got to learn a few moves from the world's best spy), but because he didn't want to.

They were here. Tony and Nat. There were just so many thing he wanted to tell them, to tell her. But he knew he couldn't, it was essential that this part of the past remained unaltered to lead them to the victory against Thanos.

He arrived to the Stark Tower, and got in with the camouflage tech. There were S.H.I.E.L.D agents all over the lobby, along with Tony and Thor. He walked past them and up the stairs fastly, to find his past-self.

The past Steve was lying with his face to the floor, just as he'd left him. He rolled him over and dragged him to sit with his back to the wall, the left the case beside him. He certainly will be pretty confussed when he wakes up.

He put the next coordinates in the watch, ready to make the time-jump.

"Well this is unexpected."

Steve turned around to face the last person he'd expected to see.

"Loki"

"It's not usual for the god of Mischief to be tricked, but I give you that." He said. He narrowed his eyes and walked circling him, not getting any closer. "Who are you?" He seemed genuinly curious.

"I am him" Steve pointed to his unconscious self.

"That's impossible" he said, "not even my father Odin has that power."

"It is true, I'm from the future." Steve said, and realising that his mission in 2012 might not be over yet. He had to return the space stone to 1970, but because of their mistake, the past Loki had escaped with the Tesseract in 2012. It had to be corrected. "And I'm going to need you to turn the Tesseract over."

Loki let out a laugh.

"You can't really expect me to believe you, and even less to follow orders from you." He answered, "Now, I'm going to need you to give me back my scepter" from his hands emerged a couple of long knives, "or I'll take it from your dead body."

"So you can bring it back to Thanos?"

Loki's smirk vanished instantly and his whole body tensed.

"How do you know that name?" He asked.

"A few years from now he will wipe out half of life in the universe with the infinity stones, and then he destroyed them." He explained

"So his plan did work after all.." Loki said thoughtful, "The mad titan accomplished his mission."

"We found a way to go back in time to recover them, and we managed to used them to bring everyone back" Steve continued, "and take Thanos down, forever."

Loki was uneasy, seemed like seeing doble Captain America, and him knowing who Thanos was made him believe the story, but he was still trying to decide wether this were good news or bad news.

"You're saying that a pathetic bunch of mortals took down one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy?"

"Yes"

Loki eyebrows reised almost unnoticeably, showing that he was impressed.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I need you to give the Tesseract back." Steve said. Loki was about to say something but Steve continued, "Out of more than 14 million possible outcomes, this is the only timeline in which Thanos doesn't succeed and half of the universe gets to live. We can't alter the important details. The Tesseract must stay in this time."

Loki's knives vanished from his hands, but he didn't say or did anything for a few seconds. There was something running around in Steve's head and finally he gathered the courage to say it.

"You don't have to stay here." Steve said. With that, Loki seemed more confused that ever, narrowed his eyes and backed away a little. Steve continued, "Escape, leave. Just leave the cube behind."

"I just attacked your planet...and you're going to let me leave willingly?" Loki asked couriusly, "What makes you think that what Thanos wants is not what I want too? What makes you think that I'm interested in being a hero?"

"I don't trust you." He said, "Thor does, after everything he always spoke highly of you."

"If I can save you now it might ease his pain in the future."

"You mean that I die?" Loki asked

Steve doubted wether to tell him the truth or not, by knowing he dies at Thano's hand might scare him enough to screw the timeline up by doing something stupid, but he hoped Thor was right about his brother and that in the end, he would do the right thing.

"Yes" Steve confirmed, "Thanos kills you after you hand him the Tesseract in order to save your brother."

Steve waited to see Loki's reaction, the impact of his words. Loki stayed dead silent with a mixed expression of fear and sadness.

"You might have not interest in being a hero, but you are one to Thor."

Those words hit him deeply, Steve could tell. Still, Loki was hesitating.

"He mourned you." he said, "Like anyone would mourn a brother. After he came back, we could tell he was different, the pain broke him." Steve looked away, he truly felt sorry for his friend, for how things had turned out for him.

For a second Steve almost feared that it all had'nt been enough to convince him, until Loki raised his hand, and the Tesseract materialised in the air.

"All this was to make my brother feel the pain and loss I had to endure, to provoque him suffering." Loki said, "Never thought the greatest pain I could give him was my absence."

I didn't want you to be alone. He looked away again, he didn't want to show too much emotion in front of Loki, but his words had hurt him unintentionally. It was true. Having someone being taken away from your life can make your whole world crumble. He knew it damn too well, because he was feeling it now.

Loki gave one last look to the cube.

"If I leave this here how will I escape?"

Steve pointed to the briefcase,

"We have two space stones." Steve answered, "This is the plan..."

Steve was in his 2012 suit, with the Tesseract in its case and going downstarirs to meet with Thor and Tony. Loki was following him closely, using his camouflage tech.

It was simple, he would pretend to be the past Steve who recovered the Tesseract after fighting Loki, who had managed to 'escape'. After handing over the cube, he and Loki would leave the Tower as silently as possible and he would use the space stone to open a portal for Loki. Then, he could continue with his mission. Easy.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Loki asked

"Yes" He answered more confidently than he really felt, "The faster we get this over with, hopefully the less we interfere with the timeline."

He arrived to the Lobby, where he saw Thor and Tony immersed in a fierce discussion with agent Pierce over how they'd lost Loki and the cube. Suddenly they noticed Steve.

"Captain" Pierce adressed him, looking at the case "Is that...?"

"The cube" Steve said, "I ran into Loki upstairs, he was trying to get his scepter back. I tried to stop him but he escaped, I could just get a hold on the Tesseract. I'm sorry sir."

"No worries, Captain" He said, "Loki was just defeated here, I don't think he will pose a threat for a while. I guess he will be a problem for another day." Pierce held his hand out to Steve. "Now Captain, the cube please. We will take care of that."

Steve handed it to him, trying to hide his bitter expression. Pierce was Hydra, he would try to kill Fury and other millions of people. But like he had just said, he would be a problem for another day.

"Good job gentlemen." He said finally, adressing the three Avengers, the turned around and left the building followed by the rest of Hydra/S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

"Wow, this is what I call a hard day at work." Tony said, "How about going for that Shawarma we were talking about, boys?"

Steve smiled.

"That sounds wonderful." Thor said, "A traditional feast to celebrate a victorious battle."

"Come on beach boy." The both started walking out of the building, "Hey Cap, you not coming?"

"Yeah, right away. There's just a few things I want to check on with the agents." Steve said.

"Okay, see you right away then." Tony answered.

He was about to continue, when Steve called him before he could even think of what he was doing.

"Tony" He called, causing Iron man to turn around again. "I didn't mean what I said. About you not being a hero."

Tony's expression softened, he could say he had caught him off-guard.

"Iron man is more than an armor. There is no Iron man without Tony Stark."

Tony smiled, embarassed.

Jeez, thanks Rogers but there's no need to be so sensitive." Tony said, then turned around to walk away again. "I knew I would grow on you sooner or later!" He finally yelled, before Steve lost sight of him. He knew he couldn't change Tony's fate, but at least he was glad to make those his last words to him, his goodbye to a friend.

"Heartwarming, but lets leave before someone starts asking questions." Loki said from behind him.

Steve turned around and headed to one of the back doors.

"On it" He said, "You see? Everything went according to pl..."

"Hey Cap." Said someone from behind him. His whole body tensed, his chest tightened, his breath almost left his lungs. "Aren't you coming to eat that Shawarma thing Stark was talking about?"

Nat.

Steve turned around slowly and canalised every energy he had left to keep himself from blowing his cover by breaking down.

She was right there. Covered in blood and dust, in cuts and bruises. Alive.

He would lie if he said he didn't want to run into her, but he was afraid he would crumble.

"Yeah, I just have something to do first."

She looked at him suspiciously, like she always did when someone tried to hide something from her.

"Fine." She said, "By the way, you did very well today for someone who has been MIA for the last 70 years."

He smiled, they weren't even partners yet and she had already started with the teasing.

"Thanks" He said sarcastically, "You weren't that bad yourself." She raised her eyebrows, Nat had not expected for Steve to tease her back. He smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it cause I mihht have heard from Fury he's thinking about partnering us up for missions."

His calm façade was getting hard to keep. Partners, that's how they started. Who could have known it would become so much more than that. He wanted to step forward, hug her and cry on her shoulder, tell her how much he cared for her. How much he was sorry that he wasn't there in the end. So many things he wanted to say, and none of them he could.

"That would be nice, Romanoff." He said finally. She smirked, like only Nat could.

"Why don't you go ahead, I'll catch up in no time." He told her, fearing how much more he could stay strong.

"Okay, Rogers." She answered, turning around to walk away. "See you in a minute."

That. That was like a knive to the heart. Steve turned around and went through the back door quickly, he stepped out to a back alley, where Loki became visible again, carrying the briefcase with tbe infinith stones.

Steve opened the case and carefully took the space stone out.

"Okay, where do you want to go?" Only when Steve looked up he noticed Loki staring at him.

"What?" Steve asked.

"The soldier and the spy, how poetic." Loki said, not in a teaseful way, but really meaningful.

Steve narrowed his eyes.

"I saw how you froze for a second when you heard her voice. I am not the only life Thanos is going to take in your future, right?" Loki asked, "And Thor is not the only one who will experience the pain of loss."

"No" Steve answered, fighting the tears. "There had to be sacrifices. Some people ha to make the hard calls."

"I'm sorry for your loss." He said, "Losing a soulmate must be just as painful as losing a brother."

"She was just a friend." Steve said, Loki raised an eyebrow, incredulously. "But I couldn't save her."

"Well, you saved me." Loki answered, "I was dead in your time."

Steve considered his words mfor a second. No. He couldn't do anything. Clint's words kept sounding loud in his mind. It can't be undone.

"It's different with her." He said.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. You still have a journey ahead Captain."

Steve looked at the space stone in his hand and opened a portal. "Asgard" He told Loki.

"Farewell, and good luck, Captain."

Steve nodded. "Say hi to queen Frigga on my part."

With a strange look, Loki gave him a slight smile and stepped into the portal.

Steve found himself alone in the alley once more. He put the stone in the case once more and prepared to do the time jump. This journey was being far more interesting than he originally expected, and like Loki said, it wasn't even finished yet.

Two stones left. His next stop: Camp Lehigh 1970.