Thor really was lucky he had all the right friends.
Natasha had easily pulled up all the diagrams of the old SHIELD facility in question, exact dates for when they found the Tesseract, where they brought it and when. From the moment it was found in the ice alongside Steve up until the day Loki stole it and Thor subsequently took it to Asgard in exchange for Loki's scepter.
There was only one issue with this… Thor would have to memorize everything. It made him wish dearly that Loki was with him.
Loki would only need to take one single glance at all of this, be told the times and dates exactly one time and he would remember.
Thor, on the other hand? He didn't have nearly as brilliant a mind.
Shortly Thor had considered trying to write it down and put the piece of paper into his pocket dimension to pull it out in the other reality.
There were two issues with this… One, it might not work. The universe itself wanted the Infinity Stones here… It had no care for pieces of paper.
And two, a much greater concern. If it worked and Thor was to pull out an item from another timeline in the one where Loki was waiting for him.
Loki would now know that Thor had the ability to transport Infinity Stones from one reality to another, he would without a doubt accuse Thor of tricking him, of just wanting to bring the Infinity Stones to the original timeline.
There was no telling what Loki would do then, he would be furious without a doubt… Try to remove Thor from this very timeline forcefully, restrain Thor, go for the other Infinity Stones himself... No matter the scenario, it wasn't good.
The trust Thor had started to build with Loki was frail, it was better than when he started, but still very frail and he had to be careful.
It was better to not take any chances, he had to man up and just remember it.
To do just that Thor took all the papers and went to another room, looking at it with serious eyes, trying to imprint it all.
The door opened, a pair of footsteps Thor did not know too well came in and Thor looked up to see a female, she wasn't of Earth though. She was blue, her eyes were black. Not just the iris and pupils, but all of it, parts of her head and hands seemed mechanical and there was a weird, dead look across her.
Thor did remember her, Nebula… Thanos's daughter. Whom had shown them all where Thanos was, whom had witnessed Thor murder her only father.
"Can I help you?" Thor asked in a defensive voice.
"Depends," Nebula commented "Father miscalculated when he so thoughtlessly destroyed the Infinity Stones, correct?" she asked. "As a result the universe itself is collapsing, it has broken apart into multiple different realities in a desperate attempt to find the Infinity Stones. You are now trapped in a state where you exist in two realities simultaneously. The original one here, which has no Infinity Stones. And another one where Loki lives which has Infinity Stones. You alone are what links these two realities, and you alone can transport the Stones from one to another. Is all this correct?" she asked.
Thor nodded. "Aye. That is correct."
"You know that if you take the Infinity Stones from the other reality and bring them here, that other reality will vanish," Nebula commented. "There is only one purpose in the scheme of the cosmos, to give the Infinity Stones back to this reality, the prime reality. And that is the task the universe itself has given you."
Thor sucked in a breath. "I am not going to sacrifice the other reality," he said.
"Oh," Nebula commented, she didn't sound angry, or even amused. As always her voice and posture were just lacking all emotion. "Then what are you doing?" she asked.
"I don't know," Thor admitted. "But I'll figure it out. Loki will..." he halted.
"That's a great burden to put upon his shoulders," Nebula observed, once again without emotion.
"What else is there to do?" Thor asked.
Nebula looked at him, she didn't even blink, then she turned. "I was one of his prison keepers, you know."
"What?" Thor asked.
"Loki..." Nebula said. "He fell through the void, fell with no hope of salvation. My father… Thanos, saved him from his fate, only to hand him a new fate… Whether this one was worse or better, I do not know."
A shiver ran down Thor's back as he looked up. "What… happened at that time?" he asked.
"Much cursing…. Much screaming," Nebula commented. "Loki would often curse your name… blaming you for his suffering while parasites would eat into his flesh, lashes would be delivered to his backside and embers were forced down his throat."
Thor's eyes widened. "What?" he asked.
"And yet, for all we did to him… He would not bend. He would not kneel," Nebula commented. "He was cast in front of Thanos after his treatments, he was demanded to kneel… He spat at Thanos in the face."
"That does sound like Loki," Thor had to admit.
"It took an Infinity Stone to make Loki submit," Nebula commented in an absent voice. "It needn't have gone so far if he hadn't been so proud," she reflected. "His pride… seems to be both his greatest strength and his undoing."
Thor nodded. "Aye," he fully admitted.
"Now he is the one we are asked to depend on?" Nebula asked.
"If there was another way, I would do it. If I could do it myself then..." Thor sighed deeply. "Why are you here?" he finally asked.
"I am here to protect my own reality," Nebula stated. "I wished to make sure you are aware of what you are dealing with. Loki is proud, stubborn… strong. He will not give up his own existence without a fight! He will use any tricks he can, he will try to convince you, he will try to trick you, he will try to overpower you in order to save his own existence."
Thor swallowed, feeling the shiver.
"I know… For I would do the same," Nebula informed.
Thor closed his eyes.
"The Time Stone is here on Earth," Nebula informed. "A man called Stephen Strange had it in his possession."
Thor looked up.
"You already have Power," Nebula commented. "Concentrate on gathering Space, Time, Mind and Reality," she advised. "When you have gathered all of those, I will tell you where to find Soul."
Thor's throat was dry. "Mind..."
"Was in Thanos's possession, I shall tell you how to reach it," Nebula informed. "I can do it now if you want."
Thor frowned slightly. "But not Soul?" he asked.
"When you have gathered the other five, I will tell you where to find Soul," Nebula repeated.
"Why not now?" Thor asked.
"Because… Soul will be the most difficult for you to get," Nebula breathed. "You are travelling with Loki in the other timeline, correct?"
"Erh… Yes," Thor hesitated.
"And Loki is very precious to you," Nebula commented. "So precious in fact, that without him you don't feel complete."
Thor was quiet.
"I see," Nebula commented.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Thor asked, confused.
"Nothing yet," Nebula informed. "Concentrate on the other five Stones first, then I shall tell you where to find Soul."
Thor took in a deep breath, but nodded. "Thank you," he breathed. "I appreciate it."
"Don't thank me yet," Nebula replied in a dark voice. "When the time comes to gather Soul... you will most likely be cursing my name."
Thor frowned, what Nebula said made no sense.
"Do you want me to tell you about Mind?" Nebula asked.
"No… I am not very smart, I am not good at maintaining a lot of information. I am going to concentrate on the Tesseract for now. I am going to shift, probably not in too long a time. Then Loki and I will get the Tesseract, and then when I shift again, I would be most grateful if you would tell me."
Nebula nodded. "Very well."
The shift came a few hours after, when Thor had spent the best part of the day trying to really get all the details of the things Natasha had shown him. Thor heard the voice, Loki's voice, in the back of his mind.
"Good, we could use some more information. Have a nice trip."
One blink and Thor was back, looking at Loki leaning back on a bench, casually eating that box of sushi as he looked at Thor.
"Well?" he asked.
"I'm back," Thor informed.
"Oh." Loki blinked. "You… You were just in the other timeline?"
Thor nodded. "Time really doesn't pass at all here, huh?"
"No. I shall admit, this is a little unnerving," Loki admitted. "I had hoped for at least something, a distortion, a surge, something. But there is nothing."
"Is that…. bad?" Thor asked.
"Your current predicament is a result of the universe collapsing. Define bad," Loki asked.
"Ah," Thor gasped.
"So, got anything useful?" Loki asked, taking out a piece of Sushi and putting it in his mouth.
Thor nodded. "Aye. I know where the Tesseract is, how to get in there, and the best route of escaping."
"Wow, you've been busy," Loki commented, reaching into his box and finding… nothing. Loki looked down to witness an empty box, the pure disappointment on his face was clear.
"I could get you some more if you want," Thor offered, a soft smile on his lips. He didn't know why but his heart was tugging.
"No need," Loki stated, throwing the now empty sushi box into the bin. "The food was only decent, not anything special," he snorted.
Thor chuckled, amused, the longing in Loki's eyes told another story. Thor had hit right and he made a note to get Loki some more Sushi.
Though, it probably had to be the fresh real high quality kind like the one he just got, something told him Loki would absolutely be able to tell if he tried to feed him supermarket Sushi. Then he looked softly at his little brother.
"What now?" Loki asked.
"I am just… so glad I got to have you as a brother. You know?" Thor asked. "I got to grow up alongside you, play with you… Compete with you." He smiled, feeling the mist in his eyes. "Without you, I wouldn't have been the same. My life would have been so much poorer for it."
Loki shuffled uncomfortably back, clearly he didn't like Thor's little speech.
"I'm sorry," Thor swallowed.
"So what do we need to do to get the Tesseract?!" Loki asked.
"The S.H.I.E.L.D. facility is not that far outside of this city," Thor informed. "We can take a bus at least part way. But after that it's government property. We'll have to hike the last bit."
"Hiking is fine." Loki shrugged. "What's a bus, though?"
Soon after Thor and Loki were stuffed into the large vehicle, squished in among the many Midgardians.
"I hate everything about this realm," Loki growled.
Thor elected to not comment… Sushi, remember the sushi. Find him some good sushi.
