Hi everyone!

Sorry for this delay, I had less time to write, also a little less motivation, but I am definitely not running out of ideas, which makes me think that this story will definitely have more than five chapters, and that yes, I did it again in the end, because you know, angst and all that stuff.

Enjoy!


"Tell me the name again." Loki requests.

"Don't stop me now." Morgan replies, still staring at the screen.

"I was not planning to."

"No, that's the name. Don't stop me now, that's the song." She clarifies "Also known as the ultimate cure to depression. And I'm not even joking here, there really is a neuroscientist who devised an equation to determine which songs were the most likely to make people feel good, and this one came on top."

"Midgardian researchers have way too much time to spare."

Morgan smirks but remains focused on the phone she is currently holding. Curtesy of Stark. She rarely uses it though, except, as it seems, to look for a very specific melody.

"Got it!" She finally beams, touching the screen one last time "The problem is, I wonder if it will be loud enough..."

"By the way, may I please know how much longer you will keep pretending not to be seen?" Loki laconically asks the person on his right.

It has approximatively been five long minutes since Drax has started to stare at them with a stillness that is almost frightening. Loki came close to grabbing a stick and poking his eye, just to make sure he was alive.

"People generally jump out of surprise when they turn around." Drax, visibly disconcerted, admits.

"Sorry to disappoint." The god of Mischief shrugs.

"Do you need a speaker for your music?" Drax questions.

"That would be very convenient." Morgan acknowledges.

Then, a long and uncomfortable silence settles.

"What?" Drax finally reacts.

"Well, you asked if I needed a speaker." Morgan reminds him.

"Yes."

"So, do you have one?"

"What makes you think that I have one?"

Morgan turns towards Loki, eyes wide open with astonishment, and perhaps a slight tint of distress.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He queries.

"If it fails, can I ask you to erase my most recent memories?" She demands, and Loki cannot really tell if she is being sarcastic or not.

"Hey, Quill!" Drax calls "Do you have a speaker?!"

Peter Quill, along with the rest of the Guardians, is standing on the other side of the room, busy arguing with Rocket about who should hold the title of best spaceship pilot.

"Wait, lemme see..." Quill slowly replies, carefully putting down what is surely not his first glass of ale, then checking his pockets "Oh no, that's weird, I'm not carrying with me the giant speakers that are fixed to the walls of our ship, Drax!"

"You're clearly not strong enough for that." Drax, the visible proof that idiots can live a long, full life, feels compelled to emphasize.

"Pains me to think that they will all be dead within a week." Morgan sighs.

"What makes you say so?" Loki interrogates.

"Nebula. She is going to kill them all."

"That is very likely." He agrees.

The absence of answer makes him realize that Morgan has started to play the song she was talking about. It is... Well... Not exactly what he thought it would be, to put it mildly. However, Morgan's posture gives it the benefit of the doubt. She is standing very still, with her back straight and the tips of her fingers touching her temples. And, the most surprising element of all, her eyes closed.

"Here we go." Loki hears her whisper, before the song rhythm changes radically.

Punchy, as Morgan likes to say, is quite an adequate word to describe it. Something about shooting stars and explosions and light speed. Drugs, of any kind, were evidently involved in the process of making this song. However, Morgan's attitude is something entirely new from what Loki has witnessed until then. Whenever she was confronted with the need to influence the behaviour or emotions of a living being, from a venomous snake to the Earth Mightiest Heroes, she has always put the accent on visual contact, in order to give much more efficient and rapid results. At the present moment, a genuine smile is clearly visible on Morgan's face, but her eyes, especially the familiar golden colour that indicates the use of her powers, are purely and solely shut.

"I like this music!" Mantis suddenly shouts.

"Pretty cool!" Quill approves.

"Hey, what is she doing?" Valkyrie frowns, noticing Morgan's unusual position.

"Making all of you completely high!" Morgan readily informs them.

"Awesome!" Mantis giggles, clapping her hands like a child.

"I'm sure I should be pissed off!" Valkyrie laughs, before clinking glasses with Quill again.

Morgan opens her eyes and withdraws her hands from her temples. Everyone in the room appears, and certainly is, even more cheerful than before.

"To be honest, I don't think they were in dire need of your intervention to finish all the alcohol into this room." Loki informs her.

"Of course not." She winks "That was just a warm-up."

"To get every single person in this building..." Loki starts to guess.

"... Utterly wrecked." Morgan gladly confirms.

Loki does not need to hear more to offer his arm.

"Shall we?" He suggests.


Crafting an invisibility spell for someone other than himself is a first, hence the necessity for Morgan to keep holding his arm. Not that she is complaining.

"What a perfect date night." She teases.

"Classic." Loki retorts.

And yet, it is dangerously true that they look like two lovers on a picturesque stroll. If one omits the fact that they can neither be seen nor heard by anyone else than themselves.

"So, are you going to tell me how?" Loki finally inquires.

"How what?"

"Please." He sighs, rolling his eyes "You know very well what I am talking about. How did you change the way you exert your powers? As I recall, visual contact was a crucial part of the process. And now, not only do you seem to do well without it, but you also managed to influence an entire group of people, instead of one person after the other."

"Mmh." Morgan evasively mutters "Will you believe me when I say that I have absolutely no clue at all?"

"No."

"Just my luck. Why would I lie to you?"

This time, Loki's gaze is stern, and Morgan immediately stops walking.

"Should I really answer this question?" The god of Mischief asks, as the two of them are now standing in the desert hallway of the Avengers' compound.

"I wouldn't like that."

"My guess is that the Soul Stone did something to you, which you do not exactly know yet, and you are reluctant to tell me." He continues.

"I said I didn't want to hear your answer." She nervously grumbles.

Loki tightens his grip around her arm a little, as she has mechanically started to let go of it.

"The promise works both ways." He reminds.

"Which promise?"

"You swore you will never pity me. Neither will I." Loki pledges.

"Even if I am not even me anymore?" She asks, on a trembling voice.

She suddenly looks, and certainly is, terrified. Loki can feel her arms shaking a little. He hates to see her that way, yet it is too late to act as if nothing has happened.

"You're aware that my connection with the Soul Stone was... Well, it was more than a connection." Morgan hesitantly starts "You, and Nebula, and Strange, and Quill, and Maximov, all wielded the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos, but with the Soul Stone, it was different. I made a sort of... bargain."

Loki winces. Bargains rarely are the equivalent of good news; he is well placed to know this.

"Not as if I had the choice, though." Morgan continues "In order for me to free myself and the Avengers from the Soul World, and in order for the Soul Stone to free itself and the five others from the Gauntlet, both of us had to be more than what we already were."

"You speak of it as if it was a person." Loki observes.

"Kind of... For a time, I was the Stone and the Stone was me. I was created to be its bearer, remember? But at this moment, none of us was in position to have the upper hand over the other."

"Yet, you told me you managed to counter its power."

"That's also what I thought!" Morgan huffs, evidently frustrated "But now, I have these recurrent migraines, and I start to... I start to feel more than I already feel. My abilities are increasing, but I don't know if they are really mine, or if there's still something else inside my head!"

She is on the verge of panicking, and Loki has absolutely no idea of what to do.

"What if the Stone never left?! What if it is slowly killing me?!" She stammers, now trembling violently "Or what if I'm just... going crazy?"

"Morgan." Loki calmly speaks, which already seems to appease her a little "First of all, you are not crazy. At least, no more than usual."

Feeble smile on her lips. Good.

"Second, there is one thing that makes me suppose the Soul Stone is not trying to take over your mind, or whatever you may think it is doing." He smirks.

"And what is it?!" She hurriedly questions, half-reassured, half-anxious.

"If I were someone, or something, attempting to control you, why would I even let you believe that I am doing so?" Loki points out "Why would I allow you to be wary of me, so that you could warn everybody of my presence?"

An expression of pure relief instantly appears on Morgan's face, and Loki mentally congratulates himself.

"This is... This makes perfect sense!" She exclaims "Why didn't I think about this sooner?!"

He does not answer anything. He knows very well why.

Because mind control blocks your thoughts. Because it makes you afraid, enraged and irrational. Because it turns you into someone you are not, and yet who is still very much you.

Loki stares at Morgan. Now, he knows better than trying to hide his apprehension, the same way she cannot hope to fool him about how anxious she feels.

This does not prevent him from having an idea, though.

"I have something to ask you." He begins.

"Ouch. Judging by your tone, it will very probably displease me." Morgan winces.

And she can say that again.

"Bring me to the Scarlet Witch." He solemnly requests.

Morgan rapidly turns her gaze away from him, which makes Loki think, for an instant, that someone is coming. He frantically checks, left, no one, right, no one, all clear, just the two of them in the corridor, still invisible to any ear and eye.

"Whether I help you or not, you will find her anyway, won't you?" She breathes out heavily.

Loki does not even take the trouble to answer. Of course, he will. It will take him more time, that is all, but he will. And of course, Morgan will not try to stop him.

"You know..." She speaks, raising her eyes towards him again, and the god of Mischief can see a fierce, one would even say wild, determination, shining in her golden irises "I would have killed her. Maximov. Had she not knocked me down, I would not have stopped."

Loki bites his lip. What state was he in, when she first saw him on the balcony? What was the Witch exactly doing to him? And what had Morgan done to her?

"I am not angry at her for hurting me." She carries on "She defended herself, that's all. Neither am I angry at her for hurting you either. Every single person in this building is everything but mentally stable, at the moment."

"Do you think me defenceless?" Loki grins "If it reassures you, I have no intention of harming Maximov, but I will not go unprepared either."

"I have no doubt you will." She firmly answers "But if she does it again... If she attacks you, or me, I will do my best to ensure that she cannot harm us any longer."

"And so will I." He affirms.

Loki has heard of what the Witch did, right before Thanos snapped his fingers. In order to prevent the Titan from acquiring the Mind Stone, she had to shatter it, killing the being she loved the most in the process. A decision which ultimately did not solve anything, and surely is the cause of her present torment.

The god of Mischief has no idea of how she came to do it.

To him, as long as Morgan stands, the entire world may very well burn to ashes.


"We are not here to kill you." Loki calmly repeats, for the third time.

"And even if we were, I'm pretty sure the outcome would not be very fortunate. For the two of us, I mean." Morgan adds, with her hands still in the air.

Despite the edge of the knife pressing against his throat, Loki finds it hard not to laugh. Not because he can very well switch the weapon with any kind of harmless items of roughly the same size (although it does help a little). Rather, because he is quite fascinated by Morgan's borderline suicidal behaviour. A sort of if-we-have-to-do-this-let's-at-least-do-it-right mindset, which often involves a tremendous amount of confidence, with a zest of insanity.

"Then, why are you here?" Wanda Maximov questions, not dropping her guard the slightest.

Funny how the Witch, who clearly appears to be in position of power, turns out to be the most uncertain of the three in the room. Her hands, extended on both sides of her body, are trembling a little. Loki cannot deny that the flickering red lights around them are far from making him at ease, however, the situation is completely different from what happened on the balcony of the compound, a few hours ago.

For as long as he can remember, Loki has always laughed at the very concept of trust. To him, trust equals dependence, and is always followed by disappointment. It still does, to a certain extent. But there is trust and trust in Morgan, which are two completely different things.

I am coming with you, she said, earlier on, and obviously, he refused. Once. Twice. Thrice. She deepened her argument, tranquilly reminding him of her uru-solid stubbornness; You have as much the right to ask her why she played Jenga with your mind than I have to face her with the fact that she turned my head into a Picasso. There were some flaws in this logic, he pointed out, even after the ten-minutes explanation of what her comparisons actually meant, but Morgan was in no mood to make any compromise.

And now that the two of them are faced with two impressive, though not sharpened enough, to Loki's mind, cooking knives, he is quite relieved to have given in. No matter the threat he is faced with, Morgan stands by his side.

As for the Scarlet Witch herself, she is far from impressive. Never has she looked more like a terror-stricken child. Her voice, despite her visible efforts to muster some assurance, is erratic. Hoarse, most of all. This especially has to do with the impressive marks ensnaring her throat. Loki can almost distinguish the shadows of his fingers, which left some dark bruises on the woman's skin.

"This is making it quite tedious to speak, you know." Morgan placidly tells, eyeing the knife again, which is still levitating a millimetre away from her neck.

The bedroom in which the three of them are presently staring stonily at each other is, as Loki often likes to put it, quite unspectacular. The only item that stands out, leaning against the wall, is probably the only one which actually belongs to the Witch. A guitar. Odd. He can hardly imagine the Avengers doing anything else than... Well, avenging.

Ironically, this is probably the exact same way Maximov is looking at them. The Avengers can hardly imagine Morgan and Loki doing anything else than (delete as appropriate) thwart the Avengers' plans, thwart anyone's plan, or having a plan of their own that does not take into account the fact that there may be alternative plans.

Nothing he cannot deal with, right?

"I don't want to hurt you..." The Witch begins.

"Not very convincing." Loki cannot help commenting.

"... But you should leave." Maximov warns.

"Oh, that is definitely what we should do." Morgan provokes "But if we were reasonable beings, we wouldn't even have set foot in this room, would we?"

The young woman sighs heavily, then starts to lower her arms. The knives follow her move and slowly hover towards the floor. Yet, she keeps an eye on Morgan. A watchful eye.

"I never meant to hurt any of you." She quietly whispers, to avoid making a too intense use of her voice.

"Neither did we." Morgan assures "Everything went downhill, that's a fact. But we are not really interested in bringing this up."

The Witch looks, understandably, confused.

"But... What are you..." She stammers.

"Do not worry." Loki grins "If revenge was what we were looking for, no doubt that we would have picked a much cleverer way of getting it."

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a little twitch on Morgan's lips. Flattery works both ways too. So, better get to the heart of the matter.

"What exactly is the Mind Stone?" The god of Mischief asks.

This time, Maximov cannot help but turning her head towards him, with a look of utter bewilderment.

"What do you mean? You two have seen what it did, why do you ask-"

"We have indeed seen what it did." Morgan explains "We actually got a pretty good picture. But what we really want to know is what the Mind Stone is made of. Is it a part of you? Are you a part of it? How does it... speak to you?"

Loki smiles as he sees wariness gradually leaving the Witch's face, to be replaced by interest. Good start.

He still does not know whether or not she has attacked him on purpose, yet he tends to presume that it was the case. Evidently, he intends to answer that question, but asking Maximov directly is by far the least successful strategy. They need to earn her trust, to make her see that they will listen to her. And, let's face it, the Scarlet Witch is much better to have as an ally than as an enemy.

"Whether we like it or not, the Infinity Stones have left their marks on us." Morgan theatrically presents "But I heard your connection to the Mind Stone started long before all of that."

"It did..." Maximov carefully acknowledges, before turning to Loki once again "After they took your... After they took the Sceptre, they started to... Experiment. My twin brother and I were the only ones who survived it."

"Twin brother?" Morgan repeats.

"They?" Loki queries.

"An organization called Hydra." The Witch explains, now avoiding both of their gazes, with a posture that clearly indicates guilt "We were... So angry. At the Avengers, mostly. And they..."

"Helped you." Loki ends, sarcastically emphasizing the first word.

"Yes." Maximov breathes out "I did not listen to anyone. I thought I was powerful, but I was just afraid. And I..."

She is now staring at him, and Loki instinctively tightens his fist, ready to counter any attack that may...

"I am sorry."

The sentence is so unexpected that for a handful of seconds, he is absolutely sure to have dreamed it.

"What happened was entirely my fault." The Witch rephrases "And I am sorry."

She is telling nothing but the truth, Loki is more than sure about it. Strangely enough, for someone who wields the Mind Stone's powers, Wanda Maximov can be read like an open book. An echo of their previous discussion resonates in his head.

"All I am good at is destroying."

Loki can almost feel what she felt, earlier, and what she feels right now. Hatred and shame, one feeding the other. He is all too familiar with this vicious circle.

"Since we are all giving a go at fixing things, let me try my luck." He suggests, smirking at both the Witch's and Morgan's perplexity.

Then, he extends his hand towards Maximov. More precisely, towards her neck.

Still at a fair distance from him, she considers his silent offer. Evidently, her apprehension is not entirely gone, and Loki would lie if he said it is also the case for him. Yet, she progressively comes closer to him, with Morgan simultaneously taking a few steps back, her back turned to the door, in order not to corner her.

"Will it be painful?" The Witch nervously inquires, as Loki's hand is already glowing with dim green light, ready to make the bruises covering her skin fade away.

"I will do my best." He teases, which is followed by a small, yet real smile on the woman's face.

"What the hell?!" Morgan suddenly exclaims, which makes them both turn their head towards the entrance of the room.

The picture is unexpected; that is the least Loki can say. In front of them is hovering a V-shaped automated device, not very large, not very long either, roughly the length of his arm, a sort of autonomous metal wing. What has Morgan once evoked, which seems to fit this description? Oh right, a drone. What kind of silly name is that?

The answer is not important. Everything that follows is not important. Neither is everything that comes before.

Because it fires a bullet right at Morgan's chest.