This is how I originally envisioned chapter twenty-five to end but then decided against it for reasons I can no longer remember. I suppose I thought they would have had it too easy if the program had just allowed them a glimpse into the mind of Thanos. Also, Loki's breakdown might have been a bit too much.

"Ha!" Tony exclaimed.

"What?" Rocket asked with a wary look at the screen. Nebula drew closer and so did the others.

"What did you do?" asked Steve.

"He converted the algorithm," Bruce said and Thor saw that the diagram Shuri had defended so fiercely earlier was now looking like a giant digital purple onion.

"Layers," Shuri murmured. "Who would have thought that this is possible?"

"Hey, you laid all the groundwork," Tony assured her. "I just made a few modifications."

"Start it," Valkyrie demanded.

The screen sprang to life and showed Loki in his Asgardian form, who was standing next to a cabin in the middle of a green grassland surrounded by steep, forested hills. The picture zoomed in and Thor could see the tears shimmering in his brother's eyes, his face screwed up in profound sadness.

"I think you can go back a little," said Loki through clenched teeth.

"No, pause," commanded Steve and, naturally, Shuri heeded the captain's order above Loki's. The image froze, capturing the pain in his brother's eyes for everyone to see.

"What is going on there?" Steve demanded. "Did you meet Thanos in that dream? And why don't you look like you do now?"

Loki exhaled, every muscle in his body visibly tensing into flight mode. "This is nothing but an astral projection of myself," he said quietly. "I suppose my mind hasn't yet adjusted to my Jotun reflection."

Steve narrowed his eyes. "But why did you—"

Thor suppressed the impulse to level the scepter he was still holding at the computer to prevent it from further revelations. "Just go back," he ordered and this time, Shuri obliged. The imagery flickered once more and different images too blurry to make out jerked across the screen before they coalesced into a bricolage of crying humans, their mouths agape in horror as their silent screams filled the air. The image caused to the screen to freeze, and for much longer this time.

"Is that … the Snap?" Bruce whispered, aghast.

"Go back," Steve said softly, his voice breaking.

The next thing they saw was Wanda's pained expression when she tried to destroy the Mind Stone implanted in Vision's forehead, tonelessly whispering how much she loved him. Going back further, they suddenly had to lay eyes on Wanda's naked body wrapped up in blankets of pristine white, moaning softly.

"Further back," Tony yelled, eager to rewind.

Shuri, who seemed even more disturbed than any of the others by what they had just seen, suddenly pressed the buttons on her keyboard much more violently and images of Vision, Ultron, Sokovia and the visions Wanda had given to the Avengers sped across the screen in a blur.

"Further back," Tony ordered and when Shuri complied, Clint and Erik Selvig inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility came into view, the image of them coalescing with memories of Barton's family inside a house awash with light and of Selvig teaching Jane, both of them huddled together over an open book.

Clint suppressed a sob.

"We're almost there," Steve mumbled. "Just a little further back."

Shuri tapped her keys one last time and then they saw an image of Thanos sitting on a throne cobbled together with pieces of rock, floating above an Asteroid belt silhouetted against the endless darkness of the universe. The image partly dissolved into the image of a much younger Loki in a cave, his body pinned to a wall of rock with chains around his neck, wrists and ankles. He was wearing his Asgardian attire—olive green and brown armor with golden chest plates and a dark green cape—and his eyes were closed, his chapped lips standing slightly apart, his forehead bathed in sweat, his greasy hair sticking out in all directions. The image was zooming in and an alien voice from somewhere outside the picture sizzled, "Don't you have enough yet, Asgardian?"

Loki drew a sharp breath as the Loki on the screen answered, his voice barely more than a rasp. "I don't … know," he whispered, his breath hitching, "where the Tesseract … is buried."

"You are lying," replied the alien voice, the body belonging to it finally coming into view. "I can still smell the stench of your magic. You safeguarded the information."

"That's the Squidward guy," Tony mumbled.

"The information is locked inside your wretched mind," the alien continued. "And I will get it out of there, as true as I'm standing here."

Thor drew closer to Loki, looping his arm around his brother and squeezing his shoulder as the alien placed his palm on Loki's cheek on the screen, chanting a spell in a language unfamiliar to Thor. The Loki beside him stifled a sob as the Loki on the screen cried out in pain, eyes bulging, lips trembling. "Stop," he whimpered.

"Loki," Thor whispered. He tried to pull him into a hug but Loki violently jerked away.

"Are you satisfied now?" Loki sniveled as the alien continued to torment him with words and mind bolts on screen, causing his projection to cry out in agony, tears streaming down its face. "Is that what you wanted?" He focused the Avengers, who all looked beyond horrified. "Is that what you …" The words choked in his throat and he swayed slightly.

"Loki!" Thor was beside him in an instant, holding him up.

"Is that … what they … what they wanted," Loki whispered, his voice small and shaky.

"No, of course not," Thor assured him. He tried to pull him into a hug once more and this time, Loki did not recoil. Instead, he crumbled into the embrace and succumbed to convulsive sobbing. "I-I c-can't re-remem-mem-ber," he wailed. "I-I j-just—"

"Shhhshhshsh," Thor whispered, aghast, cradling his little brother's trembling body close to his chest. "You don't have to. It's alright." He felt the tears clawing at the back of his own throat as he held Loki like that, feeling the sobs tearing through his brother's body beneath his arms. He looked up and saw that most of his friends had averted their gazes, except for Tony, who was staring at them with his lips standing slightly open.

"H-he should h-have just k-killed me," Loki blubbered out.

"No," whispered Tony.

Thor pressed Loki closer. "Don't you say that, brother," he whispered, his own voice vibrating with the tears he was trying to hold back. "I am so glad you are here. Please … Don't ever say that again."