The Avengers looked at each other and everyone's' face expressed a similar level of confusion. Loki had disappeared in a blink of an eye. Again!
But where did he go this time?
Was it a second abduction by the Chitauri?
"Did I say something wrong?" Rogers asked and sighed.
He felt unbelievably tired.
He had done all he could to make Loki feel like he belonged, he had shown him that he understood and that he cared about the things the god had to say.
He had treated him like a friend and unconditionally accepted him, with all his flaws.
And now...?
All the effort and hours of talking to him for nothing?
Why was Loki so convinced that he had no choice? That he couldn't change?
"Well what did you say to him? We couldn't hear it." Tony said.
Rogers told them what he'd said and what Lokis answer had been. But the others couldn't make heads or tails of the whole thing either.
Except Thor, he seemed to know something.
"Come on, big fella, tell us what's buzzing through your head." Tony was sure that the god kept quiet about something that could shed a little light on the matter.
And indeed Thor sighed and started to reveal his thoughts.
"As you know, we are gods. And every god in Asgard has a function, a destiny. We can't choose our way in life. Even before we are born, there are prophecies about us. So we can struggle as much as we want and try to avoid it all, but in the end they always have to come true, in one way or the other."
"Alright. And what does it say about Loki? What's his destiny then?" Rogers asked, although he didn't really want to know it. According to the look on Thors face, it couldn't be something good.
"One day, Loki will kill Balder our kind-hearted brother and bring Ragnarök upon Asgard. No one knows when and how exactly, but it is bound to happen. It will be the death of Odin, me and millions of other gods. Even Loki will die."
Thinking about this dark and inevitable future, Thor's heart felt heavy.
"Maybe that's what Loki meant, when he said, that he had no choice. After all, he is the god of mischief and he can't run from that."
"That sucks." Was Banner's comment and the others nodded in unison.
They all began to understand Lokis inner conflict rudimentary.
Some of them had a similar fate.
Banner never chose to be the Hulk, Tony never chose to have an arc reactor in his chest, but both of them have had the chance to turn it into something good and now they were a part of this, they were members of the Avengers.
But Loki could run as long and as far as he wanted, his fate would catch up with him one day. Until then, he had to be what he always was and will be; the trickster god.
All of a sudden a device began to beep and before Tony could react, a voice could be heard: "Sir? You might want to return to your mansion. There is someone in your laboratory. I wasn't able to keep him out."
Jarvis sounded a little worried and irritated.
"What? Who is it and what's he doing?"asked Tony but he already had a suspicion.
"I don't know who it is, but he sits on the floor and is disassembling one of your Iron Man armors."
"What! Well, stop him!"
"I can't, Sir! That's what I am trying to tell you. It is illogical and I never thought that I would say this one day, but he seems to have magic powers. He blocks all my attempts of stopping him and he has some kind of energy shield around him now, nothing can penetrate it. I even threw your coffee mug at him…. Ah, yes. You might want to get a new one."
Tony rolled his eyes and sighed. "Guys, you heard it. I have to go. Anyway, I think you should join me. I have no clue why…but Loki seems to be at my place."
When they arrived at Tony Starks place, the intruder was still sitting on the floor, surrounded by a green light which was apparently the magic shield Jarvis had been talking about.
And indeed, the nighttime housebreaker turned out to be Loki.
He sat there, so deeply absorbed in his work that he didn't even notice that the Avengers had entered the room.
In front of him was a piece of the Iron Man suit, it looked like it had once been an arm. Loki was carefully taking it apart.
"Hey you, madman, is anyone at home? Come on…stop playing around with my stuff. Knock it off!" Tony tried to put his hand through the shiny green light, but it gave him such an electrical shock that he stumbled back, gasping. "Ouch! Man, really?"
"I told you, it is impenetrable, Sir!" Jarvis voice echoed through the room.
"Yes, you did."
"So why did you have to touch it then?"
"You didn't say it would give me a jolt."
"Do you always touch things that look dangerous?"
Rogers finally cut in and said: "Tony, please. We need to focus on something else, here. Okay?"
Tony poked his tongue out at one of Jarvis's sensors and then turned to Rogers: "Yeah, yeah..of course. So what now? Did he lose his marbles again? Or is this yet another plan to kill us all. That would be kinda boring."
"How should I know? I could be either of it." Rogers sat down on the floor in front of Loki.
"I thought you were the Loki-whisperer."
"Haha…very funny, Tony. Now shut up."
The captain took a rose out of his pocket and placed it on the floor right were the energy shield began.
He had brought the flower with him just in case and as it turned out he was right to bring it.
"Loki? Look, there is a rose. Do you see it? What's it saying? Can you tell me?"
The gods' hands stopped moving and his eyes caught the red flower which looked a bit battered, after being carried in a pocket of Rogers jacket.
When he finally began to speak, Loki didn't answer any of the captains' questions and he seemed not in the least insane.
"I can't change what and who I am, Steve. Believe me, I've tried. I always trick myself into doing things, which I regret afterwards. I am the god of mischief. I might not know what I am exactly, whether I'm an Asgardian or a frost giant, an abomination or something new and better. I don't know. I may never know, but one thing I am sure of, I am the trickster god. There is no doubt about that. Because right now, Asgard is at war because of me and for that I'm truly sorry."
Loki turned around to face Thor and said: "Brother, I am really sorry."
Thors eyes widened and he took a step towards his brother, who was now standing up and suddenly the green shield around him dissolved in a matter of seconds.
"Loki! What did you do?" Thors words were almost as loud as thunder and he grabbed his brother by the shoulders and shook him.
Rogers jumped up and wanted to interfere, but then he reconsidered his intent and waited for Lokis answer.
And what he heard made him feel like someone had hit him in the stomach with an iron bar.
"As you know, I brought Thanos the Tesseract and when I did that, he told me, that he would only free me under one condition. I had to show him and his army a way into Asgard. Before I came here, when you saw me disappear a few minutes ago, I was summoned by Thanos. And I had to show him the way. They are invading Asgard as we speak. Heimdall will not detect them until it's too late. He can't see the portals I create."
"No, no, NO!" Thor screamed and punched Loki in the face as hard as he could.