Hello, if has been so long. I am sorry that I have not been able to update regularly but between my health and academics I have not had much free time. Do not ever worry about me leaving this fanfiction unfinished though. The next time I edit will probably be late June.

I saw Avengers Endgame on Saturday. I won't give any spoilers I promise! But I have decided to take this story to the end of Endgame, there is a loophole that those who have seen the movie might know what I am talking about.

Sorry this is kind of a short chapter I wanted to have a 7k one with part of the action in it but I just did not have the time. Next chapter will be awesome I promise XD

I hope you enjoy and please leave a review! I would love to know that the time I invest in writing and rewriting and then editing these chapters is worth it to some :)

Do you remember - Jarryd James (awesome song, one of my favs)

Illenium - Beautiful creatures

I see you - Missio

The Darker the Weather, The better the man - Missio (a good song for the characterization of Loki :)

Better - Kerli

Also, I had found a beta but they have not gotten back to me in more than 2 weeks so I am once again looking for a beta!

UPDATE - I fixed the italics for the telepathy

"Whatever you say, darling." Loki quickly dismissed her threat.

Opening her eyes, Sofiya found that the stomach-dropping sensation of being a couple dozen stories in the air was better now that she was sitting down. Looking at her skin, she was surprised there was no gold glow even though the stress of the situation was undoubtedly high. Loki had to be actively leeching away her built up energy, but she was unaware of it, taking a deep breathe to help center her mind she reached out to look.

On what Sofiya was beginning to identify as the outskirts of her mind, she felt a tickle that put her on alert. The unique feeling that came along with the sensation told her it was Loki. Shaking her head once in lite humor at how - what was just days ago impossible, was now her new normal.

"Stop siphoning my magic." Sofiya narrowed her eyes as she glanced at Loki, more annoyed than anything else. Loki had proven he was so much stronger than her and Sofiya doubted the effects of her siphoned magic would amount to any significant magic casting from him.

"Learn how to control your magic and I will not have to." Loki retorted as his eyes lazily meet hers before they drifted t a spot above them. He had to have been looking at the portal that she had been avoiding at all cost. Sofiya's mind was just barely able to stay sane with all the life-changing information she had taken up recently. Somehow seeing a void into space and an army crawling through it to fly over the citizens of New York was too much for her to handle.

"Great idea, once we land I will go in search of Merlin." The abrupt frustration she felt causing her to default to speaking the words out loud as her hand that was not secured around his back started to wave in expression as she talked.

Loki ticked his head to the side in a movement so slight she almost missed it. The essence of peppermint infiltrated her mind and body for a split second, and she knew he was searching her mind for meaning of the reference she had made.

"That appears to be your problem and not mine." It was the way in which he crisply enunciated the words that got to her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The anxiety from flying was starting to go down as her frustration toward Loki built. Yanking her arm from around Loki's waist in order to properly chastise him to her full capability, Sofiya crossed her arms against her chest and gave him her best death stare.

"Just because I seem to have taken a," Loki paused and seemed to consider his words carefully. During the pause whatever conclusion he had come to changed his attitude, where he had started off nonchalant he was now attentive and withdrawn. "A certain interest in your measly human life does not mean I will lower myself to teach the ancient art of sorcery to a human."

Sofiya found herself watching her own reaction just as he had. Loki for the first time in a casual conversation had mentioned he thought of her as different than other humans. The first time he had made her undoubtedly aware of his opinion had been a little tense and private, his admission now was made in public. Some of her frustration dissolved until he opened his mouth again.

"Do I need to teach you another lesson in your place? I can not have you thinking that you, a human," he scoffed the last word," are above the inferiority of other humans." The words coming from his lips were obviously composed in a defensive demeanor, every time she got one step behind his guard, he pushed her back in front of his shields again. Sofiya tried, she really did try to take in his situation and acknowledge everything that had shaped his view on humans to try and calm herself, it was not his fault. Her efforts were unsuccessful.

"You," she scoffed,"You are the one calling me entitled? What about all the speeches you have given about humans needing you to be their leader. I think you are the one who is delusionally entitled." All she wanted to do was get away from him for just a moment, enough to clear her thoughts, it was too much to be this close to him and have a proper argument. Something about his presence and physical touch drained her of her stubbornness, but oddly enough not her frustration.

Before Loki could respond, the alien driving the flying chariot turned and made garbled sounds directed at Loki. Watching the exchange, Sofiya was surprised to see Loki nod once when the alien finished talking.

"You can understand him?" She asked him while she observed that they were starting to descend.

"Yes." Loki answered like he was offended she thought he could not, "Did you think I would lead an army without being able to communicate with them?"

"But you're not leading them." Sofiya said with confidence seeing if he would contradict her assumption. His reaction was not what she was expecting.

Loki rolled his lips together, and she saw his jaw clench before he relaxed, the movement so fast she almost missed it. His gaze poured into hers and all the commotion of the battle left her senses as it was just her and Loki. It was over almost as soon as it started as he broke eye contact and looked away.

The side of Loki she had come to know in the last couple of days would not act like that, his confidence had completely slipped for a moment, his actions not coinciding with his superiority complex. There was something more that she was missing. Opening her mouth to ask the question, she suddenly closed it as his eyes darted to her and then to the alien driving the chariot.

"Loki, what's going on?" She asked him mentally too which he just shook his head. Then it occurred to her that Loki was worried, which made Sofiya worried. Loki was scared of nothing, probably not even death. Then her thoughts drifted to his shrunken bloody form. Yes, there was at least one thing Loki truly feared.

"Tis' not safe to even place into thought." His voice that usually coated her entire mind, flew through it without even giving her a chance to grab on to it.

It still didn't make sense? Loki would not even think the thought? What could lead to that type of paranoia? Unless . . . she had dared to think that the torture inflicted upon Loki was more than physical but if it was some type of mental attack as well - what was the extent of it? His every action had been strategic, but apparently, his every thought had been strategic as well. How much of Loki did she actually know? How much of himself was he actually able to live by?

Just then she saw something that jerked her out of her thoughts. It was such a fleeting look, but she was able to spy a mother and child being cornered by one of the aliens. Without a second thought, Sofiya was jumping off Loki's lap and failing several feet to the ground, landing on her shoulder and hip.

Ignoring the pain from her awkward landing Sofiya got to her feet and took off running toward where she had spotted the cornered mother.

"Stop." She ignored Loki's command as it bounced off buildings to echo down the street.

Muttering a 'please work' to herself, Sofiya tried to call deep within herself. Sensing the magic inside of her she tried to calm her thoughts and direct the flow of magic into her hands. The mental battle of trying to harness energy was enough to tire her almost instantly. Checking to make sure her hand was materializing energy before she thrust it forward and saw the golden ball of fire fly through the air at the alien just as it was swinging its weapon. The mother - shielding her child with her body.

The impact of the blast almost knocked over the alien but he still held his weapon and before she could react - was aiming his own shot at Sofiya from what had to be some type of gun. All she could do was watch as he fired but the projectile never made it to her, halfway if hit an invisible wall and dematerialized.

Feeling the presence of Loki's magic around her, Sofiya turned her head to see Loki walking up behind her, then past her. Scepter raised, steps confident and shoulders high as his gaze narrowed on the alien. Then he stopped a foot in front of her and held his ground. The alien appeared to not feel threatened at all, made some type of sound and then stood paralyzed for a moment before falling to the ground.

Sofiya had no idea what to make of the situation, Loki had killed one of his own, one from his side. Without even turning his head to look at her, Loki reached out and grabbed Sofiya's wrist hastily leading her to an alleyway several feet away.

Once they were hidden away in an alley that smelled of burned peanut oil, Loki stopped walking and she almost ran into him. Pulling out of his grip, Sofiya watched as Loki turned from her and blasted the wall in front of him causing her to jump. Maybe this was it, the one time she actually went too far. It seemed like she was always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to finally blast her.

Loki turned to face her and for the first time Sofiya shrunk under the intensity of his eyes, heart speeding up as her body recognized the threat to her life. Sofiya pressed herself against the damp wall behind her as Loki approached her.

"You could have ruined everything." His words were fast, harsh, and whispered. Instinct told her to keep her mouth shut, but she was not going to let him intimidate her.

"I wasn't going to sit by and watch them die." As the words past her lips, her adrenaline started to pump through her veins.

"Do you know how many other people are dying as we speak, it makes no difference."

"Every life makes a difference, damn it, why can't you just understand that." Her hands thrown up in exclamation. Loki was cornering her and she took her back off the wall to meet him, craning her head to keep eye contact as he towered above her.

"Why can you not just sit on the sidelines and shut up. I should kill you now," the look in his eyes was deadly, "You ruin everything."

"Don't go starting that again, we have already addressed you won't be doing that," Sofiya would have rolled her eyes but she did not want to break eye contact with him to in any way, even for a half second, and look submissive, "And I ruin everything?" A dark laugh left Sofiya as she placed her hands on his chest and pushed, Loki held his ground.

"I am so close." His voice dropped several decibels and her fingers clenched the material under her hands. The warmth from his body barely noticeable, most of it trapped under his armor.

"Close to what?" A mix of frustration and adrenaline still building under her skin, Sofiya tried to take a deep breath to calm herself, keeping up with his mood swings was challenging.

One thing was persistent though, the air between them was always filled with an ever-increasing tension. Even when Loki had been letting his guard down earlier, and she dared imagine - allowing her to see what was left of this tortured man under his hard shell. Even when they weren't arguing or challenging each other, there was always some type of tension begging to be released.

"No one can know." There was a look in his eyes, she could see the internal struggle behind his irises.

"If no one can know then how do you expect for your plan to work? In case you haven't noticed, this shit show is pretty big, you need someone to watch your back." She was starting to question what was considered a brilliant mind on Asgard. He watched her closely and she saw the moment the resolve hit his thoughts, was Loki finally going to let her in on his master plan?

"If someone else knows, then there will be no plan that could ever work." The past few minutes starting to process in her mind, thoughts coming together.

"You want to gain your freedom from him completely." As she finished her sentence she saw the slightest tint of green under his skin. She knew he was powerful but she had never once before seen a slip of his magic under his skin like she had under hers, he was always so in control. If his control was slipping, it only meant that he did need help executing his plan before the pressure on his shoulders crumbled him.

Loki did not verbally reply, but the sudden pressing presence of his magic around her body was enough communication. It was almost too tight, her breath hitched for a moment as she became sensitized to the feeling. Sofiya's senses were filled with the essence of him, just Loki. The invisible blanket around her was more impeding than a protective casing, almost possessive.

"What? Are you afraid he's in your head right now? I think he's a little distracted right now." One of her hands left his chest to motion to the commotion in the street before she unconsciously brought it back to Loki. Not to his chest this time, but passed his hip to the cape hanging down behind him.

"Never underestimate him." The seriousness in his tone cut through the sass of hers.

"Tell me what the plan is and I will help you, I swear."

"You are only a human, there is nothing you can do." Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was her imminent death, whatever the reason her hand stuck his face. Loki's reflexes were fast enough that he could have caught her wrist before she touched him. Letting out a gasp under her breathe as she realized he had let her. His eyes shut for a moment and his chest expanded as she watched him take a calming breath.

Later the gravity of what she had done would hit her and Sofiya would regret laying an aggressive hand on the man that had been through brutal torture.

He made a move to grasp her shoulders but retracted his hands before they made contact, a groan filled with frustration left his lips and washed over her. Her senses assaulted by the presence of him even more, it was too much of him around her but not enough at the same time.

"Just stop, I do not want to hurt you." His eyelids scrunched closed for a moment before he opened them again.

"Right, don't want to damage the fragile human."

"No being has ever tested my control as much as you." Loki's mood shifted once again and his posture relaxed slightly, a small smirk on his lips.

"I take that as a compliment." His deterring nature was not going to stop her from getting what she wanted, she saw right through his act. "Now tell me your damn plan."

"He could be listening." The casual posture he was holding tightened again.

"Loki," His name softly falling from her lips. There was a heavy filled silence, their eyes locked on each other. Sofiya was unable to break the contact but Loki pulled his eyes from hers finally to look at some spot over her head.

"The first time I really invaded your mind, I was looking for information but also a connection to your father to reach him telepathically and plant an idea in his thoughts." Once he finished talking his eyes were on hers again.

Loki took a step back from her. He really should not be telling her this but some small part of him wanted to share his burden - to lighten his own load. There was also the fact that Sofiya had been able to get through the shield that Thanos had implanted in Loki's own mind. Loki had no way of knowing what she, or even he for that matter, were now telepathically capable of.

There seemed to be some connection between Sofiya and the mind stone that trumped Thanos's manipulation of the stone. Now was not the time to think about that though. Later, if he was still alive, he could spend as much time as he wanted thinking about it.

"What idea?" The clearness in her eyes was something that Loki found himself using to ground his own thoughts.

"He is going to suggest bombing New York."

"My dad? What? I need to let the Avengers know." Sofiya looked out into the street from their private alleyway and he saw desperation wash over her from head to toe.

"You can not." Loki was unwilling to think about how far he would go to keep her from crumbling his plans. He also did not want it to come down to testing himself with how far he would actually go versus how far he knew he needed to go to keep his plan from being derailed.

"But so many lives are at stake. The Avengers can't let the bomb reach New York."

"It has too." There was simply no time to come up with another plan.

"Stop being so cryptic." Better attuned to the connection that drew them together, Loki felt Sofiya's panic bleeding out around her, it would not be long till he would need to siphon off some of her building energy.

"I am holding out on Stark's intentions." There had been ulterior motives in starting the battle out at Stark's Tower, Loki needed to know just how far the Avengers would go in order to save the humans they had put under their charge.

"You're planning on them putting the bomb through the portal." Sofiya's voice was the softest it had been yet as he watched her put all the pieces together. If Earth's Mightiest Heroes only had half of Sofiya's analytical power they might have a chance of taking Loki down, but it did not matter - he was going to let them.

Once again Loki did not give her a verbal response. Dropping her hands from clingy onto his body Sofiya made herself take a step back from him. Not in submission, but in a move to help her think, having her senses being all consumed by his presence was not making it easy to think.

"What can I do to help?"

"It is too dangerous, you are too easily injured." Shaking his head he did a once over of Sofiya.

"I am stronger than I look." Well, that was for sure, but she was still not strong enough, or at least that is the excuse he gave himself for not wanting to make her an active participant of his plan. Loki found himself telling her more and more about the plan that was so vital to his survival, she was a danger to him.

"My scepter is the only thing that can shut down the portal. In order to save the people the portal needs to be shut down after the bomb is maneuvered through the portal, after and only after."

"What do we do until the bomb goes off? I'm not going to go around attacking humans." Sofiya might be helping him but she was not helping his efforts to decimate humanity. She was helping him, and him alone. The fine line of her actions was sounding the alarms of her morals but she was too far invested in Loki, invested in trying to appeal to his own hidden humanity.

"It might be best to address the fact that you just attacked an Avenger."

"I …" She was going to deny it but he was right, Sofiya had attacked Thor.

"We can no longer anticipate them to trust in you. We have to think they all are aware by now you possess some type of power, which my brother will have noticed resembles mine, leaving them another reason to not trust you." The woman had not thought of the consequences to her actions, such an immature thing for her to do. He himself always overthought about the consequences to his own actions.

"Soo . . . I might do more to jeopardize your plan than help it - is what you are saying."

"I am saying - it is something we need to be aware of." There was still an underlying tension in the air but, it was not as strong as it had been. She went through his plan in her head, the pieces that had fallen together were drifting apart again.

"What do you plan on doing after, if your plan does work or better yet doesn't? You heard Stark about avenging the Earth."

"It matters not to you." He broke eye contact to look out over the sliver of the street he could see from his position in the alley.

"It matters to you though."

"As long as I am out of the clutches of Thanos …" Loki stopped abruptly, for all intents and purposes Loki should have his guard up at the highest level when this woman was around, but something about her presence made him drop his guard. Drop it enough to have made a mistake that could cost both their lives.

Sofiya was one of the biggest dangers he had ever encountered, not because she could physically harm him, but because he lost his better judgment around her. The short and frail human in front of him posed more of a threat than even Thanos did to Loki. All through the brutal temptation of Thanos's torture, Loki had never given into telling secrets he wanted hidden, even if Thanos had other means of getting the information. But with Sofiya, there was no threat in her advances and he still found himself letting secrets slip out.

"Thanos." Her voice strong against the irony of a being that could and would crush her without another thought. "So that's the name of your captor, the one basically responsible for all this." Looking down Loki watched as she tapped her foot and crossed her arms looking away.

Loki decided not to respond verbally least he give her more information. When he was silent for a while Sofiya looked up to meet his eyes.

"This is all so insane." She leaned her head against the wall behind her and looked up at the sky, filled with aliens. "I almost wish I could be anywhere but here - that I should just leave."

"Then why do you not just leave?" Humans were a curious species, but Sofiya was the most curious being he had ever come across. Loki was so conflicted, he wanted her to leave to be safe, but even if she left trouble might find her. And he wanted to keep her close to keep her safe, but even close to him she might get hurt.

"My problems will just follow me." The way she glared at him, was she insinuating he was a problem of hers? There was a soft exasperated edge to her voice.

Sofiya watched, waiting for Loki to make a comeback when he took on a suddenly distracted look.

"If you have not broken Thor's trust in you already, this may work."

There was no warning at all, no time to process what was happening before Sofiya found herself right back where this had all started in Stark's Tower. She looked around, knowing her search was useless, she would have felt his presence if he had come with her.

"You fucking asshole. If your stubbornness over letting me in on the plan and what the fuck I'm supposed to be doing gets me killed or worse - both of us killed, I am gonna drag you back from the dead just to kill you myself again."

"I could buy a realm if I was compensated every time you threatened me."

Again, just a reminder please review!