I scrambled up, kicking Loki's shin in the process. He groaned, dramatically clutching at his leg and I kicked him again, my eyes fixed on the two superheroes in front of me. Strange and Stark. God, it had been almost a month since I last saw them. Although, time did move weirdly in Sakaar.

The two guys seemed conflicted between checking out the huge crater Hulk left and regarding Loki, who was still on the floor, with suspicion. I tried not to roll my eyes at Loki's theatrics, knowing fully well he was only doing that to make the other people in the room annoyed. "Get up," I hissed under my breath.

"But of course," Loki answered with an poised, fake elegance, and stood up with a dignity fitted for royalty. His stance had changed completely when he had noticed who else were in the room. It was much...fake. It was he had slipped back into the role of Loki, the supervillain, that wanted nothing more than rule the puny mortals and stare in the mirror all day. It was disconcerting to say the least, because I wished he wouldn't try to act like someone he wasn't. Well, except for that mirror part.

I bit the inside of my cheek, hating the humor that popped up but knowing there wasn't anything I could do. Heimdall's death was still fresh on my mind, but I pushed that back as I tried to focus on the present. I would think about him after the immediate threat was over, and we were all safe and sound, when I had gotten revenge. After I had killed Phil.

The thought didn't make me feel as nervous as it would have. I was ready to kill someone. What did that say about my morals?

I shook my thoughts off and stalked forward, peering over the edge of Hulk's hole, to see a half-naked Bruce Banner lying there instead. The three guys walked to stand beside me.

"You okay?" I called out, and Bruce twitched, his bare arms shaking as his eyes cracked open.

"Thanos. Thanos is coming." He croaked without any context whatsoever, and Tony whipped off his sunglasses.

"We know, buddy. Where were you for the last two years? What-"

Bruce's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out again to my dismay. Tony, like the mature adult he was, made a face.

"Sorry I wasn't interesting enough to stay awake for," He grumbled with a petulant, but pleased air because his friend was alive. Typical Tony Stark. I realized with a faint smile that I had kinda missed the dude.

"Well," I spun around to Strange and Tony, anxious to say something to break the ice. "Surprise! I'm still alive."

"We also knew that," Tony replied easily. "The scary lady with the sword told us."

"Valkyrie?"

"Her name is Valkyrie?" He shook his head with a disbelieving look. "Right. Makes perfect sense now."

"Anyway," Strange interrupted Tony's musing, giving me a brief smile. "I'm happy to see that I haven't managed to let my apprentice die, like someone kept saying I did."

Tony rolled his eyes, waving a hand. "She was in your care for like five minutes, and she gets kidnapped by an evil god? That is sort of your fault."

"No it's not," Strange and I chorused. "It's Loki's fault." I finished, with a look thrown at the said evil god. He answered with one of his patented fake smiles, but kept quiet. Probably for the best, because everyone was acting like he didn't exist right now. Especially Tony.

"So where's Vision? What happened to the mind stone?" I changed the subject, trying to get a grasp on what the situation was here on Earth. "Val did warn you that the Black Order was coming, right? Have you prepa-"

"Right." Strange held up a finger. "I'll explain everything when we get there."

"There? Where's there?"

"Which I'll also explain when we get there." He turned and levitated Bruce's limp body with a single flick of his left hand. With the other, he opened a portal. "Go on,"

Tony frowned, holding up a hand hesitantly. "Are they gonna be okay with," He pointed at Loki. "Him being there?"

"You don't actually think I want to go wherever you're going?" Loki said sardonically, a sneer on his face. "I am not-"

"Actually, you're going." I stopped him, tilting my head to try to peek through the portal. I had a pretty good idea where it lead to, and I was starting to get some jitters. "And you'll be fine, as long as you don't try to kill anyone."

He gave me a flat look that said I-can't-not-try-to-kill-anyone. I raised an eyebrow, like you-owe-me-a-fucking-lot. He set his lips in a straight line and rolled his eyes, sagging.

"Fine."

"Did he just say fine?" Tony perked up, eyebrows knitted together. "Am I hearing things?"

"You're not." Strange said, sounding slightly annoyed, and gestured at the portal. "We're running out of time. Go."

And Tony, after another moment of pause, walked through with his sunglasses in his grip. Loki and I shared a look, and followed.

We walked out in a room filled with superheroes.

I have never felt that small as I did that moment, because really, Hollywood was intimidating. It was scary. Creepy. And it was staring at me with the faces of almost a dozen people.

So, to start, Vision and Wanda were standing together at one corner of the room, and I noticed with a blink that his mind stone was gone. I breathed out a relieved sigh. At least that was one problem solved.

Next to them were Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers, and Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, and I had never thought that I would ever get to name-drop like this crazily. Wow. They were all there. Unbelievable. I had gotten used to seeing celebrities after meeting Loki, but this many of them at once? I was feeling slightly faint.

At the center of the room were Shuri and her brother T'Challa, turning their heads to look at us. Wakanda, as I had guessed. I felt a bubble of fangirlness rising in my chest. And to their right were James Rhodes, sitting in a comfortable-looking armchair, and Valkyrie, standing stiffly behind it. The wide doors behind us were guarded by two bald scary looking women warriors.

I gaped. They gaped. But I was pretty sure they were mostly gaping at Loki.

But then Strange entered, Bruce literally hovering by his side, and Shuri threw her hands up in the air, breaking the silence.

"Great. Another broken white boy for me to fix." She looked stonily at Strange. "I don't know who you are, or how you're doing that," She waved her hand at the levitation. "thing, but follow me."

Then she stalked out of the room. Strange furrowed his brows and looked confused, but went after her after a moment.

Then there was silence again.

I waved at Wanda, who waved back after a pregnant pause. She smiled, the only one who looked somewhat relieved to see me in that room, aside from Tony.

"Wow," Tony, speaking, well thinking of the devil, said. "This is awkward."

"Is everyone safe?" Valkyrie asked, ignoring Tony's mutterings and looking right at me. "Did you get everyone out?"

I bit my lower lip, my mind suddenly going back to that moment when I was so sure everything was going to be fine and I had won but then-Heimdall. I gave a little shake of my head. "No. Heimdall, Heimdall's-"

"He's dead." Loki, ever so eloquently, spat.

Val's expression was hard to read, but I knew what she was thinking.

"I'm sorry," I said, helplessly. I opened my mouth to mumble some other decencies, but Val stopped me with a look.

"It's not your fault. What about Thor?"

"Uh, hopefully meeting up with the Guardians."

"Guardians?" Steve Rogers said, hands clasped in front of him, and I panicked a little. Everyone looked better when you saw them in real life, but he specifically more so. He was super hot. Everyone was super hot.

"Um, yeah. The guardians of the galaxy. They're going to help stop Thanos."

"That's a stupid name," Tony muttered, and was shot a glare from at least five people in the room. "Just saying."

"Avengers is also stupid," I murmured, and Loki laughed. And everybody in the room glared at him.

"What is he doing here?" Natasha Romanoff asked quietly, a glint in her eyes that spooked me more than it should. T'Challa raised his head, rubbing his chin.

"I was about to ask the same question. Why has Dr. Strange allowed him to come to Wakanda, my country?"

"You are the king of this place?" Loki hummed.

"Yes."

"Well, good for you." He smirked with a certain familiar venom in his voice, and I narrowed my eyes. This was really not going well.

I cleared my throat. "Um, he's promised he won't hurt anyone, so you don't have to worry about hiim."

"He's the god of lies. How can we trust his promises?" James Rhodes asked skeptically, and Loki chuckled in a low voice.

"You don't." He answered simply, and I fought off the urge to smack him in the face.

"Dude," I whispered. "Shut up."

That got me the attention of most people in the room. Apparently, saying shuddup to a god was a qualification for the superheroes.

"This is Regis Lee," Tony gestured lazily. "She's the who got the most of you in this room, so say hi."

"Hi." I said. Then realized he probably meant that for them. "I'm a fan."I blurted out.

"Of who?" Tony tilted his head, and I pursed my lips.

"All of you, to be honest. But I'll try to be cool, because I am really cool, and I didn't just say that I was a fan of you all." I nodded. "Right. So. Thanos is coming. I mean, he's already here. Well, his goons are. The Black Order will be here any moment now, to collect the stones." I turned to Tony. "You did tell them about his plan?"

"Yup." He popped the p. "Wipe out half the universe. Some are skeptical."

Bucky Barnes raised a metal hand. Wait, he and Tony were in the same room? What had happened when I was gone?

"I'm the skeptical one," He said carefully. "How do you know all this? How do we even know if we can trust you?"

I tried for a smile, but it came out somewhat strangled. "I know things."

"I think I've heard that a dozen times by now," Loki muttered, and I shot him a look.

"Or more clearly, I am aware of what the future might have been. But we've been actively changing that, starting with the stones, so it might be a little confusing for you all. But believe me when I say we can't let Thanos get his hands on even a single Infinity stone."

"About these stones," Steve paused. "They are that powerful?"

Loki sneered. "The power stone can wipe out planets in a blink of your eyes. Yes, they are that powerful." He said distastefully. I nodded.

"What he said, but in nicer words."

"And where are these stones now?" T'Challa balanced his staff, looking carefully at me. "The mind stone was destroyed by Ms. Maximoff. The others?"

I smiled, more genuinely this time. "The reality stone is on Knowhere with the Collector. The soul stone is on Vormir, and the rest three is on Earth, right now."

"Where on Earth?" Steve narrowed his eyes and I snapped my fingers, materializing the Tesseract and the Orb in the air. The people in the room took a collective step back. I hid a grin. God, this was a great party trick.

"These two, and Doc has the time stone."

"You have the stones?" Tony chocked, staring at the glow of the stones. "I thought they were super duper powerful?"

"Yup. I'm super duper powerful, which means that the Black Order will come for us here in Wakanda."

"Oh good. More guests." T'Challa muttered dryly, and the less serious people in the room all wore a face of nervous amusement.

"But we'll be prepared," Steve-who was very very serious- said, a look of heavy determination on his face. "We'll protect the stones."

"And then what? What do we do about the Brown Order or whatever that is? And Thanos? What happens after?" Tony asked, arms crossed, and all of the Avengers turned to me, probably all aware that I was a teenager but nonetheless relying on me to give them an answer.

I thought about Thanos, and his egoistic and narcissistic ways that propelled him to kill his own daughter. I thought about Phil, and the glint in his eyes as he had thrown that dagger that had been determined for me. I remembered how Heimdall fell, with no strength left in his body, and I remembered the hopelessness I had felt when I knew there was nothing more I could do.

A glacial smile found itself on my face.

"And then we kill them," I said simply, casually adjusting the jacket's cuffs with a hand. "We kill them all."