I was going to wait till Sunday to post this, but I have a feeling I would've forgotten to if I did.
(Also it only took me just over a month to update this, be proud of me guys-)
Loki didn't expect Carol Danvers to bring Tony Stark back alive. He wished that the hero had been one of the victims of Thanos' snap, solely for the reason that he didn't want to see the Man of Iron again.
But because the Norns hated Loki and wanted to give him the worst fate possible, that is exactly what didn't happen.
It was almost midnight a few days later when Carol brought Rocket's ship to Earth. Loki was sitting in a window seat overlooking the landing pad when the ship landed and the Avengers rushed out to greet Stark. He saw many of them hug Stark, and he couldn't help but feel disgusted at their sentimentality. Is this really what Midgardians had come to? Admittedly, Loki did feel a little guilty at that thought because he knew that if he ever saw Thor again (unlikely) he'd rush to hug his older brother if he wasn't crushed by Thor's strong arms first.
As the Avengers, Rocket and a bald blue woman Loki couldn't quite make out the features of walked inside the building, he prepared himself for what would come next. Whatever Stark would say to him wouldn't be good.
"Oh look, our beloved Reindeer Games has found his way home."
Loki rolled his eyes. Of all the first words to say after the same god who attacked a major city years ago appeared in your kitchen, it wasn't too harsh. The essence of sarcasm was strong in Tony Stark, almost on par with Loki himself. He knew it wouldn't be too long until Stark started yelling at him, though.
"So, how did you catch him? Taser, or another piece of my tech?" Stark glanced around at the other Avengers, awaiting an answer.
"Tony, he's not our prisoner," Steve piped up. "He helped us fight against Thanos. We can trust him."
"That's rich coming from you, Rogers. Remember the last time we saw Loki on Earth? Oh right, when he was using the glowstick of destiny to control people to do his bidding and invade New York."
"Is it that hard to believe people can have a second chance? We've all needed second chances before."
"I hope you know that you don't have that second chance, Rogers. I meant it when I called you a laboratory experiment."
The room went quiet. Loki raised his eyebrows, giving his signature 'bitch face' look. This was not the way he expected this to go. He didn't expect to see the two lead Avengers arguing, but it was so funny to see two grown men arguing like children. Loki relished it.
"Can we get back on topic? Loki is not that bad," Natasha decided this was the best time to spin the conversation back on track before anything worse happened.
"Oh, and how is Loki 'Not that bad'? For all you know, he could've let Thanos win on purpose." Tony was not buying it. Silence spread throughout the room, a couple of people glanced back at the mischief god leaning against the wall.
"He saved my life, Tony," Steve piped up after some time.
"'He saved my life'. Like that's a good excuse," Tony huffed. "If Loki did try to defeat Thanos and has redeemed himself, then where's Thor? I'd like to hear his thoughts on all this."
"I don't know how many times I'll have to say this, but my brother is dead," Loki's voice croaked.
"Before you have to ask, he's speaking the truth, Tones," Rhodey added.
Tony glanced back to where Loki was standing. The god hadn't made a move to attack him yet, which was surprising enough. He had expected Loki to be their prisoner or be working for Thanos, not be on their side.
"How do you know he's not controlling you?" Tony said sceptically. There were no bright blues in any of the other Avengers' eyes, but he couldn't be sure.
"We'd know if we were under Loki's control," Steve answered. Tony just nodded, not buying it.
"Stark, I know I attacked your planet in the past and it was a mistake, a large fucking one at that. You're not the only one mad at me. Is that all you wanted to hear?"
"And how was it a mistake, on your part? I'm sure you enjoyed all the chaos and destruction."
Loki sighed. "Yes, I may be the God of Chaos and I enjoy it more than other people, but not when innocent people are killed." It took a bit of time for Loki to prepare himself to say the next part. "Before New York… I attempted suicide at the Bifrost. I fell to Thanos' domain and was tortured until I agreed to get the Tesseract for him. I never agreed and I supposed he grew impatient because he then used the Mind Stone in the sceptre to manipulate my memories. It was then when I broke. I never attacked New York of my own accord. If I had the choice, I wouldn't have done it. I'd rather die than invade Midgard."
His words shocked everyone in the room, though they all knew deep down they were true. None of the Avengers expected to hear what was just said. Loki didn't wait for a response and walked right out of the room, wanting some time alone. He didn't think he would tell that to anyone, especially the Avengers.
"What's his deal?" Tony said, after a few long minutes of silence.
"He's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did. But there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?" Rocket started. "I guess he was so desperate to get revenge for himself and his brother that he forgot exactly who he was fighting against."
"Until this second, I literally thought you were a Build-a-Bear."
Rocket rolled his eyes. Steve tried to make the conversation less awkward by deciding to ask Tony if he knew where Thanos was, which was a huge mistake.
"I needed you, as in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy," Tony snapped. "I believe I remember telling all of you, alive and otherwise" (There was a moment of silence for the death of Thor to sink in) "that we needed a suit of armour around the world. Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not."
"But that didn't work out, did it?"
"I said we'd lose, you said we'd 'do that together, too'. But guess what, Cap, we lost. And you weren't there."
Loki heard Tony collapse in the room next door. He couldn't care any less if he was being completely honest for once. He just needed a break. A break from everything. He supposed this was the failure of losing half the universe catching up with him. Loki wondered if any of the remaining Asgardians survived. He prayed that Valkyrie was still there, leading the escape pods to Earth. She'd be a better king than he'd ever be.
He heard a door close, and someone sit on the bench next to him. Loki didn't pay them much attention and instead sat with his arms on his knees, head in his hands. It was hard for him to not cry, but since what happened on the quinjet the Avengers had practically seen it all.
"We're trying to track where Thanos went," Natasha Romanoff eventually spoke.
"Mhm," Loki didn't take his eyes off the ground.
"We were wondering if you wanted to help."
"I'm sure that's your way of asking 'Can you help us? We're pathetic mortals who don't know how to use both sides of our brain at once'?" Loki smirked.
Natasha chuckled. "Sure." She didn't make a move to go back to the communal area. "About what you said from before New York…"
"Don't worry about it. It's fine."
"Why wait until now to talk about it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm the best assassin and spy on Earth, you sure as hell should know that I figured out that was the first time you said that to anyone."
"It's difficult to explain." Loki sighed and leaned back against the wall, his hand covering his eyes. Natasha only raised an eyebrow, letting Loki continue.
"I guess I don't entirely know why. I suppose it's because I didn't want anyone to think I'm weak, or to be painted as the victim.
"I'd rather people see me as the villain than the victim."
As the words settled in, Loki grew more and more restless. He felt uncomfortable, wishing he never opened up to Natasha or the other Avengers. Just as Natasha was about to speak, Loki started moving back to the common room. "You're not as bad as you think you are, Loki."
A glimmer of blue metal caught Loki's eye when he walked back into the room. Steve, Carol Rhodey and once she joined the room, Natasha were gathered around a table with Stark's hologram tech showing the galaxy. He could hear them converse in where Thanos could be. Loki ignored them, of course, and turned his full attention on Nebula, who was standing by the wall not too far from the rest of the group.
Just like he did with Gamora, Loki knew Nebula from when he was tortured by Thanos. He didn't trust her one bit - even less than Gamora - because unlike her sister, Nebula was a pure sadist. Gamora had enough humanity to make it seem like she cared about others (until she truly did), but for Nebula, every touch of empathy was ripped from her like the organs from her body.
The two of them glared at each other until the Avengers took notice.
"Oh yeah, witch-god, you might've not known. Nebula here is Gamora's sister. Though you must know that because of all your Thanos-Business," Rocket grumbled, not even sparing a glance.
"I know who she is," Loki growled.
"I didn't know you had it in you to survive after what my father did to you," Nebula smirked.
"Your father? Don't paint yourself innocent. You know exactly what you did to me."
"Loki, what are you talking about?" Steve added. He thought he knew what Loki was talking about, but this was Loki, he could be talking about anything.
"She's the one who tortured me before New York."
"If Gamora can change, why not me?"
"Because unlike you, she had a heart."
That seemed to be the last straw for Nebula. She pulled out a knife she was hiding in her sleeve and made to attack Loki. He had expected the swing though and blocked it with his weapon. There was a clash of metal-on-metal and a blur of movement from the two aliens until they both ended with knives to their throats.
Before someone got killed, they were both dragged apart by Rhodey and Steve. "To keep it clear, we are all on the same side. We all want to get our revenge on Thanos so for now we'll have to save the childish squabbles for later," Rhodey sighed.
"And because of this we're nowhere closer to finding where Thanos could be," Steve added. "Unless either of you has some input?" He indicated to Loki and Nebula.
"Actually, I do," Nebula spoke. "The Garden."
It was quiet. Life was simple now for the Mad Titan. He had no worries. No more destiny or desire to bring balance to the universe. He had won. And it seemed that those annoying Avengers had accepted it…
Until a bright flash through the sky broke through the roof of his hut and blinded him momentarily. It was revealed that the bright light was a woman holding him in a chokehold.
Perhaps he spoke too soon.
The Captain walked through the door, the blonde agent by his side (at least they had the decency to not destroy his house). They were followed by Loki, anger painted across his face. Before he even reached the door, a blast from his sceptre hit his gauntleted arm, destroying nerves and rendering his hand useless.
The Avengers looked to the empty sockets in despair.
"Where are they?" said the Captain.
Thanos suddenly found it harder to breathe. In his peripheral vision, he could see Loki smirk. He knew karma had got to him. "Answer the question," the woman growled.
"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."
The group wouldn't have admitted it, but they started to panic.
"Where are the stones?" he was asked again.
"Gone. Reduced to atoms."
The silence was deafening. "You used them two days ago," the man in the red armour stated.
"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be."
A few moments of silence.
"He's lying."
"My father is many things, but he is not a liar," Nebula murmured, her head hung low.
"Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
Before Nebula had the chance to reply, a flash of seidr filled the room. Loki didn't need Ísbrjótur to cut Thanos' head clean off. The bright green glow in his eyes dulled down as his anger settled. Thanos was dead.
"What did you do?"
"I went for the head."
It was then when the Avengers knew for certain they had lost.
When I reread the plan for this fic, I had forgotten what I planned to happen and I cried. This is your warning.
Next chapter is set 5 years later :)