Work Text:

Earth, in all its 2012 apocalypse-ness. Loki, in all his mischievous playfulness.

When you think of Loki, you probably don't think of someone who is tall, bald, bearded, and black. However, in this timeline, that's exactly who Loki is.

Loki has just received a beatdown from the Hulk, who smashes him against the floor repeatedly, leaving him weak. Or has he?

Loki, being the trickster he is, had cast a projection of himself, which is what the Hulk tortured and what the Avengers have faced in New York.

Once the Avengers have their weapons pointed at the fake Loki, the real Loki jumps from the shadows, grabbing his Scepter from Black Widow and thrusting it through her heart, then killing her instantly. He does the same to Cap, whose shield is no match for the power of the Scepter and the Infinity Stone it wields.

As Iron Man tries to shoot him with an ion blast, he throws Cap at Tony, knocking him down. As Thor swings his hammer at Loki, Loki ducks and gets up with a jump, right by Hawkeye, stealing his arrows. He quickly shoots Hawkeye and Black Widow, killing them. As Thor throws his hammer at Loki, an ion blast from Iron Man is shot as well. Loki can't avoid Iron Man's shot, being thrown back against the far wall from the impact. Mjolnir then hits him in the face, not killing him, but REALLY hurting him.

He sits there against the wall with a bloody face, mustering the strength to stand up as the Hulk charges him. He slides under the Hulk, getting up and throwing the Scepter at Iron Man, nailing the arc reactor in his chest. The shot makes Tony die almost instantly. As Thor starts swinging his hammer to increase the impact of his next blow, Loki runs fast and pulls the Scepter out of Tony's chest. He uses it to deflect Thor's hammer swing and touch Thor's heart, taking control of his mind, but not wanting to kill him.

Knowing he can't defeat the Hulk, Loki runs upstairs to the roof, Hulk in hot pursuit. He grabs the Tesseract and escapes to the throne of Thanos, sitting in space.

"Almighty Thanos," Loki addresses, "I have acquired the Tesseract, but the invasion of Earth has failed."

"Failure!" Thanos roars. "You need to give me a reason not to kill you right now, gOd Of MiScHiEf."

"Well, uh," Loki chuckles, "give me a chance to acquire more Infinity Stones for you. I will not fail you."

"You better not," Thanos consents angrily, almost regretting it. "If you don't, there is a dark place for you out here somewhere."

"You can't kill me," Loki taunts. "I wield two Infinity Stones. No other being has had the might— nay, the nobility— to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones."

Loki uses the Tesseract to go back to Earth, where the Hulk has become Banner again and Thor has broken free of Loki's spell, his Asgardian strength keeping him from staying subdued for long.

Loki emerges on the roof of the New York Sanctum, where the Ancient One walks out the door onto the rooftop almost immediately.

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever arrive," the Ancient One muses.

"That thing, around your neck," Loki says, pointing the Scepter at the Eye, "I need that. I'm to be the most powerful being in the universe."

"Ah!" The Ancient One reacts, looking at the Eye. "I think not. The Eye of Agamotto is a relic only for the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Well, then," Loki reasons playfully, "I guess that makes me the Sorcerer Supreme."

The Ancient One laughs. "I'm not sure history will see it that way."

"Maybe not," Loki says seriously. He makes a portal with the Tesseract and disappears through it. Another portal appears right in front of the Ancient One. Loki reaches through, pulls the Eye off of its chains, and disappears again.

"Did… not see that coming," the Ancient One reacts. "I've got to get to work."

Loki comes out of a portal by the Chamber, where the Reality Stone is kept. Behind him, a threatening voice asks, "What do you want with the Aether?"

Loki smiles. "Malekith," he says, turning around. "Controller of the Aether. I am prince Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose. To continue my conquest of the Infinity Stones. I'll have you know that I killed most of the Avengers and have three Stones in my possession."

"Leave at once," Malekith commands, not caring about Loki's accomplishments. "The Aether is mine."

Loki sticks his Scepter out into the darkness, touching Malekith's heart and taking control of him. "Make the Aether into a stone," Loki directs.

Malekith obeys, chanting an ancient spell and moving his hands around. Inside the Chamber, the Aether consolidates into the Reality Stone, which Loki's Frost Giant nature enables him to hold long enough to put it in a pocket without being hurt.

Loki escapes and goes back to Thanos, informing that he has the Time and Reality Stones, but he doesn't know where the Power or Soul Stones are.

"The Power Stone is on Morag," Thanos tells Loki. "I would have gotten it by now, but severe acid rains that have been raging for seven hundred years are keeping me away. If I told my children, they would risk it all and die trying to retrieve it for me.
"As for the Soul Stone, talk with my daughters, Gamora and Nebula. I sent them on a mission to find it. They are on the Dark Aster with Ronan the Accuser.
"You are doing very well. Give me the Stones."

"As you wish, almighty Thanos," Loki agrees. "I'll have you know, I possess four Infinity Stones, and I can and will use them against you if you don't let me hang onto them."

Thanos, fearing the power of the Stones, agrees.

Loki believes he is powerful enough with a special suit to land on Morag, grab the Power Stone, and escape, without being hurt by the acid rain. He grabs the suit from Asgard, undetected. The suit has a sort of green/black checkered pattern on it, woolly shoulderpads, and expensive black/gold leather armor that covers his abdomen.

He takes a ship to Morag, and the pilot tells Loki that it's a suicide mission, but of course Loki doesn't listen. His suit serves him well, as he finds and grabs the Power Stone quite easily, escaping to the Dark Aster, where Gamora and Nebula are talking with Ronan the Accuser about something.

"Gamora and Nebula, daughters of Thanos," Loki interrupts whatever conversation was going on. "Speak with me at once. Ronan, leave us."

"Why would I do that?" Ronan snarls.

"It's okay, Ronan," Gamora says. "We'll see what he wants."

"And if it doesn't comply with our plans," Nebula muses, "we kill him."

Ronan walks away as Gamora and Nebula approach Loki.

"What do you want?" Gamora asks.

"I've been informed you are searching for the Soul Stone," Loki says, putting the point of his Scepter on Gamora's heart, "and you're going to tell me what you know."

"It's on Vormir," Gamora informs Loki.

"No!" Nebula exclaims, not wanting Thanos's plan ruined. She lunges at Loki, but he escapes through a portal to Asgard, where he takes a ship to Vormir. At the bottom of the mountain to that fateful cliff, Red Skull encounters him.

"Loki, son of Laufey," Red Skull greets.

"Yeah, yeah, just skip to the part where I get the Soul Stone," Loki interjects.

Red Skull leads Loki to the cliff. "Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones," he narrates. "In order to take the Stone, you must lose that which you love."

"So, a sacrifice," Loki realizes. "Well, there's someone that I wouldn't mind dying, but I might miss him, too."

Loki escapes through the portal to Asgard and finds Thor. "Brother, see this," Loki says, holding out the Orb.

"What is it?" Thor asks, reaching out to grab it. Loki grabs his wrist and escapes with him through a portal back to Vormir, throwing him down the cliff the moment they're out of the portal.

"Bye bye," Loki taunts, waving as Thor falls to his death.

He wakes up in a shallow lake. The last thing he remembers is seeing Thor die. In his right hand, though, is the Soul Stone. He uses the Tesseract to go to confront Thanos.

"Did you do it?" Thanos asks Loki the second he steps out of the portal.

"Yes," Loki answers triumphantly.

"What did it cost?" Thanos wonders, curious.

"Everything," Loki says, unlocking the Orb and using the Power Stone to put such internal pressure on Thanos's body, that Thanos is killed in seconds.

"Well, that was easy," Loki chuckles.

At that moment, a window opens in the space a few feet in front of him. Through it comes a woman, clad in a black suit with armor and a helmet. Behind her are two others: a man dressed like her and a man in a suit-and-tie, sporting a mustache.

"Who are you people?" Loki asks.
"Loki Laufeyson," the woman declares, "On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Sacred Timeline."

"I think not," Loki chuckles, escaping with the Tesseract to Asgard.

A window opens behind him, and the woman tackles him, putting the collar on him. She and the man drag Loki through the window as he struggles in their grasp.

"Don't fight it," the mustached man taunts Loki. Turning to the woman, he compliments, "great job, B-15!"

"You know me, Mobius," B-15 replies. "No Loki can stop me."

Loki is taken through the window to what looks like the lobby of an office building. He is frisked, and all six Infinity Stones are taken from him and given to the man behind the desk.

He is then thrown into a room with a machine that exchanges his clothes for a beige/orange prison uniform.

Next, he is taken to a room where there is a desk. On the desk is a high stack of papers. Behind the papers is a man, who tells Loki, "this is everything you've ever said, please sign to confirm that this is true."

Loki tries to make a dagger, but can't.

"Don't even try," the man says annoyedly. "Just sign."

Loki rolls his eyes and signs the papers, deciding to play along for now and destroy the TVA later.

Next, he is in a room with an Earthly metal detector, or something that looks similar. The person manning it asks him to confirm he has a soul.

"I had the Soul STONE, does that count?" Loki teases.

The man sighs. "Just walk through."

Keeping up his charade, Loki walks through, a snapshot of him taken.

The next thing he knows, he's in a room where he is given a ticket. Next, he walks through a winding line while Miss Minutes informs him of what the TVA is and generally why he is there. At the end of the line, a woman behind a window tells him to go to a certain courtroom. He is instructed to go to the podium before the judge's seat, and he obeys. In the seat is Ravonna Renslayer, going over some papers.

"Laufeyson," she proclaims, "Variant L1125, AKA Loki Laufeyson, is charged with sequence violation 7-36-09." She looks up from the papers and asks, "How do you plead?"

"Uh, why am I here?" Loki asks.

"You caused a Nexus event," Renslayer informs. "You acquired all the Infinity Stones."

According to TVA files that Loki doesn't know about, Loki was allowed to steal the Stones, as long as he didn't kill Thanos, because there were ways for other beings to use the Stones to revive those killed by them. In this reality, if you are killed by a Stone, you're dead by human standards, but the Stone that killed you can bring you back. If you were in proximity to a Stone, the same rules apply.

"That I did," Loki boasts. "I'm the most powerful being in the universe."

"Guilty," Renslayer declares. "Prune him."

A pruning stick touches Loki's back, vaporizing him.

Loki wakes up under a canopy of trees. Above the canopy is a clouded sky. In front of him is a child, an old man, and an alligator, all wearing the classic Loki horns.

"What's happening?" Boastful Loki asks, sitting up.

"Your slow death," Kid Loki replies.

"It can be prevented," Classic Loki informs, "if you come with us."

Alligator Loki just snarls, as Boastful Loki is helped up by Classic Loki.

"This here," Kid Loki says, "this here is a great crew of Lokis."

"Lokis?" Boastful Loki repeats. "Plural?"

"There's a lot you don't know," Kid Loki elucidates, "but you will learn."