Loki detested chaos.

It was an unexpected revelation. But after two hours of endless shouts, threats, questions, and nonstop words from bigger egos than he had ever experienced in any realm, than even his at his most arrogant, he looked to the silent Heimdall standing just inside the door to the domed Wakandan war room. Heimdall stood tensed as though waiting for someone to enter. The sun streamed across his gleaming armor, and Loki's eyes silently asked how this group of undisguised idiots could possibly come together to save the universe. But Heimdall stared unblinking at Steve Rogers in the front of the room as he argued first with Tony Stark on his left, second with Stephen Strange on his right, third with Wanda Maximoff separated from Stark by Vision, fourth with James Barnes as far from Stark as possible, and fifth back to Stark. The Iron Man stood as a sun, shining and unmissable even without his armor, all the planets in the room revolving around him by his own will and design.

Every individual who had blinked into Heimdall's white void arrived in the war room less than one minute after Steve Rogers sent a message across the complex for all to 'assemble.' No one had walked. Stark's lips were flapping, but otherwise, there was deathly quiet. The silence from Jane, the Aether, fell on Loki like the shadow of a waiting noose. She refused to meet his eye, and she stayed far from him as the shouting began. The very familiar vertical line between her eyebrows told him she was working out a problem, a calculation, an answer. He hated that he did not know the exact question. There were simply too many at the moment.

"This is not productive!" Steve shouted, the first time his voice had risen above the din.

Stark plopped into a chair and spun it in his agitation. "And what is productive, Cap? Busting open Vision's skull? Killing Jane? Because that's kind of what you're leaning toward every time you talk about Odin and that white room and sacrifices." He jumped back up. "Since when did you trade In God We Trust for In Loki We Trust? He's. Using. You!"

"He is not."

Stark rolled his eyes without looking toward Heimdall. "Right. Got it, Golden Boy. Not Loki. Just his enormous buddy who we've never met before and who happens to also be a sorcerer or whatever and who conveniently pulled us all into a magic room with more people we've also never met. I'm all for self-sacrifice. Been there, done that. But you're being played, Steve, and you don't even see it." He looked around at all the familiar faces. "All of you are! I'll help with Thanos, since the world's on the line and Jane threatened me if I didn't behave, but I'm not on board for destroying these stones if it means killing our friends, even though one of them is possessed by magic." He collapsed back into the seat. "God, magic is the worst."

"I hate to agree with Stark," Stephen Strange said. "I mean, I really really hate it, but the stones can't be destroyed. At least not the Time Stone. It's necessary to uphold the balance within the entire universe. Destroy it? Destroy that balance. Destroy the universe."

"That's not true."

All heads turned to the very quiet voice in the corner of the room. Jane had barely whispered, but the power behind her words demanded attention. She leaned against the gray wall, her head low and the line between her eyebrows more pronounced. She looked at no one.

"Not true?" Strange said. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't know what you're talking about. You know the Reality Stone. I get it, but I know the Time Stone."

Jane waved a dismissive hand toward him, but she did not lift her head. "You know very little, Stephen Strange, about the Infinity Stones or otherwise. You wield my brother for the moment, but you are not the Time Stone. Vision wields the Mind Stone, but he is not the very essence of it. Thanos wields many stones now just as terrors of the past have wielded them, but he will never be a stone." At this, Jane looked up and surveyed the room, the whites of her eyes swallowed completely by the black spreading spiderwebs into the skin of her cheeks. "But I am. I am the Reality Stone. I know the history of every Infinity Stone and of the universe that came after us. I know our secrets, and I know every, single detail about what we can and cannot do. Only I know it all. You, Vision, Wanda Maximoff, Prince Loki, Thanos, and every other entity who has ever wielded a stone knows only a fraction of what I know."

"Then what do we do, Jane?"

Heads turned again, mouths opening but silence reigning as they each stared at the surprising man who had spoken.

Jane stared as well and slowly walked toward James Barnes. She stopped inches from him and raised a hand to his cheek. "You," she whispered. "There is something about you, James Barnes. You are unlike any that I have encountered in my long existence. What is it that draws me to you?"

He shuddered at her touch, but held her eyes even as the darkness in them frightened him as much as the monsters of his past.

"Jane," Loki said sharply, now standing at her shoulder. "Time is precious." Better his words hold daggers to Barnes' throat instead of his hands. If possible to spit out the roiling jealousy in his stomach, he would. If it was even jealousy. More likely, it was the sour tang of being once again unworthy. "What do you advise?"

She looked to Loki, her other hand moving to his face. She touched both men, connecting the three of them with a tenderness and curiosity foreign to an Infinity Stone. Then she turned fully to Loki, her hands dropping to her sides.

"Your father's words are wise. I understand now. We must destroy the stones." Her fingers moved to his mouth as he began to protest. "No, Prince. We must. All of them."

The vacuum of silence erupted with the same shouts as before, Steve Rogers once again politicking between the loudest voices. Some remained silent, though, watching. James Barnes was one of them, eyes trained on Jane Foster. His metal knuckles would have turned white if they were still a straining fist of flesh.

"Trust me," Jane whispered to Loki, pressing closer to him to whisper in his ear. "Your brother will live. I promise you."

His hands shook as he pulled her closer, bending to return her whisper. "But she will die."

Jane pushed back slightly to look into his emerald eyes. "One life is a small price to pay for your redemption, my Prince."

"Not her life," he bit out and shook her, the commotion around them galaxies away. He pressed his forehead to hers and squeezed his eyes shut. "I am destined to find Jane Foster only to be parted from her forever? Is this the true punishment for my many crimes? Redemption to my brother, deliverance at long last, but at the loss of my still beating heart?"

She tasted his tears. "I know my path. It is clear to me now." She stepped back once, but still held him close. "I will explain all I know to those gathered. But after, I will find you. I will not leave your side. She will not leave your side. Not until the end. This I also promise." She nuzzled her nose into his neck and breathed him in, the cold scent of evergreens in winter as always. Then she pushed away and strode to the head of the table beside Steve Rogers.

Loki watched her walk away from him and reached out a hand to steady himself against the table. Another penance. Another nightmare. Another fall into the void.

And James Barnes watched the villain. No, the man. A man just like him. He watched Loki shatter. He watched him burn into a million pieces, and he watched him pull a mask into place to hide the ashes. He watched as though looking into a mirror.

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"A stone may destroy a stone," Jane said to all gathered. "But the strength of the destroyed stones is only diminished when the last stone no longer exists."

She stood at the front of the room, hands relaxed at her sides, head tilted to look left then to look right, cataloging each face, each set of attributes, each strength, each weakness, each heart, each mind. This group offered a wealth to the fight, but they resisted her. Just as Jane Foster had resisted the Aether all those years ago.

"Acceptance of that strength, that power, by the wielder protects him or her from the devastation my siblings and I can bring to a weak host. Jane Foster rejected the Aether when it first entered her body, and the fight against it almost destroyed her. By accepting me, a piece of the Reality Stone, Doctor Foster's body has grown strong."

"You mean changed. You've literally altered her genetic makeup," Tony said, gripping the arms of the chair to keep himself seated. His tongue was almost bloody from biting back paragraphs of arguments.

"That is true. She is no longer strictly human. Her body is now capable of hosting an Infinity Stone without harm and will not age or die as a mortal body would. It was…necessary in order to keep her safe. Whatever you believe of me, I do care for her."

Tony snorted but again bit his tongue.

Steve Rogers uncrossed his arms, moved from one foot to the other, and crossed his arms again. "Go on. We promised to hear you out."

Jane nodded. "We must gather the stones and use them before we destroy them."

King T'Challa stepped forward. "You would use the stones? My understanding was that they are weapons."

"They can be, yes," Jane said. "But they do not have to be. Few seek the six stones to wield them for altruistic purposes. That is why when one being controls all of the Infinity Stones, an imbalance occurs. It is difficult to settle for feeding the hungry or healing the sick or righting the wrongs of the world when limitless power beckons. When every desire you have or will ever have can be fulfilled with a single thought. In the wake of that temptation, even the most angelic will fall."

"Angels don't exist, Doctor. Now, do you have a point?"

"Yes, Doctor Strange. I offer you this…point." It was a testament to Strange's mettle that he didn't flinch at the acid behind her tone. "I suggest one member of this team wields each stone. Six wielders with a common goal. The stones cannot be used together without a single, definitive purpose."

Loki gasped in understanding. "To bring back Thor."

Jane nodded.

"Hold up. Better idea." Strange stood and moved to the front of the room, stepping in front of Jane to take center stage. "How about instead of using a set of stones that could destroy the universe, four of which are very likely in the hands of, what, the baddest bad guy in the universe? How about instead of doing that, we just use the Time Stone to reverse Thor's injury just like we did with that guy?" His gloved hand waved at Heimdall with an informality that insulted Loki.

"Thor is not here, wizard," Loki said.

"I get that. But you said he's on his way. With G.I. Raccoon and those other weirdoes."

Loki closed his eyes. He almost preferred Stark to this man. When he opened them again, he saw red as Jane's small hand closed around Stephen Strange's bicep.

"Your idea would have merit, Doctor, except-"

Loki's forward motion spoke of menace. "Except a single stone cannot reverse the act of another stone. Now, is there no way to shut you up?!"

Strange followed Loki's darting eyes to Jane, and he sneered. "What is this? Jealousy? At a time like this." He grabbed Jane's wrist and held it up for Loki to see. "I don't want her. She's all yours."

Loki did not reach Strange first. Neither did Tony Stark as he leapt from his chair. Not even James Barnes, who was the closest and flung a metal fist straight for Strange's throat. Jane herself, feeling no threat, was not the one to incapacitate Stephen Strange. But he was lying on the floor, scarred hands fighting off an invisible grip over his mouth and nose, his chest jerking with his attempts to take in a breath.

"Wanda, darling," Vision said, only a slight tinge of reproach to his voice. "Based on his lack of force and his words, I do not think he meant anything more than to illustrate a point. Foolishly, but not dangerously."

Wanda's eyes flashed as she tightened her grip on the dancing red strands holding Strange to the floor. "I am tired of this man and his condescension. We have no time for it."

Tony Stark applauded her. "Here, here."

Her eyes whipped to him. "You are no better, Tony Stark. Or have you forgotten your own sins?"

Vision cupped her cheek. "Wanda."

She sighed and let Strange go, barely hiding just how much his wheezing breaths pleased her. "Doctor Foster, please."

Jane nodded her thanks to Wanda and then looked to Loki until his shoulders relaxed. Then, she looked to Stark who sat back down, and then to James Barnes, holding his eye until he turned away. She did not spare a glance to Stephen Strange.

"Prince Loki is right," she said to the room. "Prince Thor met the Power Stone, so his injury cannot be reversed using the Time Stone. A single stone cannot undo the direct acts of another."

"Jane?" Tony said, hands raised in surrender. "Now, don't zap me, but I'd really like to know how Prince Charmless knows all this insider info about the stones."

"Of course," she said, nodding. "He knows, because he attempted to remove me from Jane Foster using the Space Stone."

Loki's head jerked up. "You knew?"

She nodded, but she did not look at him.

Tony Stark did, though. "Why?" he asked.

"That is none of your concern."

"Why?" Tony asked again, slowly rising. "Because it kind of sounds like you were collecting stones."

"As I said, it is none of your concern."

"Why, Loki!? Hmm? Gathering up Infinity Stones for your boss?" His voice rose with every word. "I CALLED this! He's been working for Thanos since the beginning. Haven't you? Why else would you use an Infinity Stone to try to steal the one in Jane?!"

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO SAVE HER!" Loki exploded. "Because Jane should not carry the burden of an Infinity Stone! That is why, Stark. She is precious, and I wish her an easy, exemplary life with no gods or monsters or titans or pain. And I failed. Again. So, mock me, but do it later. As Ms. Maximoff said, we are running out of time, and we still neither fully know the Aether's plan nor understand the part that each of us must play. We have no plan against Thanos, and the universe is on the line. If you wish to crucify me, fine. I will lay my throat on the block for your swift ax once this war is over. But silence yourself now for Jane's benefit."

In the wake of the sharp 't' on Loki's final word, the door slammed open. Sam Wilson stomped into the room, took a scowling glance at all present, and after a double take in Heimdall's direction, threw his hands on his hips.

"I can't even make this a race thing since T'Challa and Shaquille O'Neill are here. So, why the hell wasn't I invited to this party?"

"Sam?" Steve said, a flush settling in his face as he realized that he had completely forgotten his friend. "Were you in the white room?"

"The white room?" Sam asked. "Okay, now I can make it a race thing."

Steve wanted to punch Bucky when he heard the first snicker. "Sam, there's a lot going on."

"Yeah, without me."

A large paw settled on Sam's shoulder, and he looked up and up and up.

"Sam Wilson."

Sam nodded, not sure if he was too afraid or too awed to speak to the armored, golden-eyed giant.

"I've been waiting for your arrival. You play a very different role in what is to come."

Sam looked to Steve as Heimdall gently pulled him toward the door. Steve was frozen at the head of the table beside the crazy doctor lady, the God of Whatever, and freakin' Barnes. A few very choice curses mumbled from Sam's lips, and he shrugged off Heimdall's hand and backed out of the room, Heimdall following and closing the door behind them.

Steve opened and closed his mouth three times before words actually came out. "In the interest of time..." He shook his head. "Okay. Jane, to recap. You want us to use the stones to bring Thor back?"

"More than Prince Thor. The united Infinity Stones have the power to restore all of the innocent souls Thanos has taken from the universe. All of the innocent souls any wielder of the stones has taken. As long as those souls so choose to return."

"If they choose…" Loki said, the damned hope he had allowed in his heart beginning to shrivel. "What if they make a different choice?"

"It is their choice to make."

Tony flung open his arms. "Why would anyone choose not to come back to life?"

"Because maybe-"

"Hey! Not a question for you, Barnes," Tony said, squeezing the arms of the chair to hold himself in place. "You have no right to talk about life and death. Especially not to me!"

"Because maybe not everyone's life is worth coming back to!"

It was Natasha's strong voice that finished Barnes' sentence with a finality like steel as she leaned against the wall behind Steve, body tensed like a jungle cat as she glared at Tony Stark.

"Nat," Bruce said, rising slowly. He gulped down unformed words at her cold stare. He wished there was time to…just time. He looked to Loki instead. "Hey. Thor would choose life."

Loki only counted the scuffs on his boots. With all of the misery in his brother's life, most of it caused by Loki himself, would Thor not choose to embrace the peace Valhalla offered him instead?

"The choice cannot be made unless they are offered it." Jane stood five foot three on a good day, but in that moment, she seemed to rise above even the tallest around the table. "Wrongs have been committed. In my name, and in the names of my siblings. Let us right these wrongs, and then," she sighed deeply, "then, let us destroy the stones so that this threat never again returns."

"It is…an understandable way forward," Vision said as Wanda slid boneless into the nearest chair, her fingers still entwined with Vision's. She did not reach for him further, but she did not pull away. "Doctor Foster, I am with you."

"Vision," Tony said. "You know what that means." He was proud of how well he hid the emotion in his words.

Vision nodded, squeezing Wanda's hand. "I believe I do."

Strange stood and moved toward an empty corner. "I need to research." He stuck out one arm and began rotating the other beside it, a circle of sparks appearing and growing.

Several people stood quickly. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can't leave with a stone!" Stark said over Steve Rogers shouting, "Strange, it's too dangerous."

Strange glanced over his shoulder, still expanding the portal in front of him. "I need my own resources. I'll be fine."

Stark strode to him and nodded to Natasha. "Feel like a protection detail? No hard feelings, right?"

She nodded and joined Stark and Strange in front of the portal.

"Tony, we're not finished here," Steve said, trying to catch Natasha's eye.

Tony did not glance back. "Yeah, we kind of are."

Natasha gave Steve a quiet smile. "I'll call in if anything happens."

And the portal closed behind the trio.

"King T'Challa," Vision said, pulling Wanda gently to her feet and approaching the king. "Would it be possible to complete a detailed scan and analysis of my physiology?"

"Of course."

Vision nodded, then turned to Steve. "Then I too must retire to research, Captain." He looked at Wanda. "I will need Wanda as well."

Steve sighed, his control of the situation nonexistent. "Of course."

The three left in hurried conversation, and Steve grit his teeth. Bucky laid a consoling hand on his shoulder. "It's a lot." He looked at Jane Foster, who was staring at the ceiling. "For everyone. But I know that face on you, punk. You're in strategizing mode. So, what do you need?"

"Information," Steve said and walked toward Jane with a glance to his right. "Bruce?" Banner nodded and headed toward the door. "Thanks. Doctor Foster? Can we pick your brain?"

She looked over slowly, a vertical line splitting her forehead and almost blending into the cracks of black steaming from her eyes. "Of course." She looked at Loki, seated and seemingly relaxed, a finger moving slowly back and forth across his upper lip. "A moment, please."

James watched her, an Infinity Stone, something he'd never heard of until a few days ago, glide across the room, tilt her head down minutely, and whisper something into the Prince's ear. Loki did not look up. He nodded and resumed his thoughtful posture. She laid a hand on his shoulder, one finger touching the skin of his neck just above his leather collar, and his eyes closed. James watched agony and relief and agony again cross his pinched face as he laid his hand over hers for less than a second, then lifted it as though burned and brought it back to his face.

Jane moved toward Steve and Bruce. "I am ready."

Steve nodded. He checked on Bucky. "You'll be in here?"

"It's kind of my daytime room," Bucky said with a half shrug. "Lots of surveillance, plenty of space, bad lighting." He winked at Steve. "Go. Figure out the plan. I'll be in here."

With him was left unsaid as they both glanced at Loki. The room may as well have been empty for all the attention he paid them.

Again, three left the room.

And two remained.

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The Aether as Jane Foster followed Steve Rogers down four different hallways to enter another room that looked like all of the others. He knew the complex well, and she idly wondered just how long he had been here.

Bruce Banner shuffled forward beside the Captain, startling slightly each time the group turned a corner or entered a new doorway. He glanced at Jane often, a note of fear in his unfocused eyes before they showed recognition. He shook his head at himself and looked forward again each time.

"Dr. Banner," she said, "what is your relationship to the Infinity Stones?"

He startled again, his shoulders rising toward his ears in a tension he could not shake. "I fought Thanos. Briefly. Well, fought isn't the right word. He had a stone. A purple one."

"The Power Stone."

He nodded and glanced at her again, hollow and afraid. "Doesn't matter which one. Let's just say I'm not a big fan of any of the stones. No offence."

She nodded. "It is always the wielder that leaves an impression. We alone only seek knowledge."

"Is that why you've taken over Jane again? Knowledge?" Steve Rogers asked, not turning around. It was a testament to his trust in both the Aether and Jane Foster.

Jane stopped walking, both men turning after several steps when they noticed her not following.

"Why do you trust so easily, Captain?"

"I don't," Steve said.

She shook her head. "You do. You believe the best in people, and you assess and decide very quickly with limited knowledge."

Bruce was staring at Steve. "I'd say that's pretty accurate. Military maybe?"

Steve tilted his head. "Maybe."

He didn't elaborate, and Jane frowned. "I would like to understand this skill," she said.

Steve finally stopped and turned fully to her. "I do what I have to do. I would rather mediate than fight, but I seem to be the only one, so yes, I assess, I decide, I take action."

"That is why you trust Prince Loki."

He settled his fists on his hips with a sigh. "I wouldn't say that I fully trust him. But I trust his intentions toward Thor and toward you. Or Jane, rather. He didn't put on an act when he attacked Earth. He made his intentions very clear. And he did the same today." He motioned them forward, a little slower. "It's all gut instinct from there. I'm hoping my gut's right about him."

"And what does your gut say about me?"

He inhaled and held the breath. "My gut says you would rather let Jane Foster live a long, easy life without you in it."

"I would if it were possible."

"But it's not."

She shook her head.

"Then I need to understand these stones inside and out so we can beat Thanos. I'm not willing to sacrifice anyone if I don't think we can win, you and Jane included. We'll find another way."

"We can win, Captain Rogers," she said, her voice the neutral tone he was getting used to from the Aether.

"Yeah. I think so too."

All three knew exactly what that meant, and they stared away from each other, leaving the high price unspoken.
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.

.

Loki seemed…smaller, diminished even, without Jane by his side. As though he could face the beasts of any world without complaint, but would do so passively with such an incredible and haunting loneliness that he might break like spun glass.

James shook his head. More poetry for Steve to never find out about.

He found a seat as far from Loki as the room allowed and sat with the man in his periphery. He was distracted once again by thoughts of Jane Foster. So many questions.

How did she even meet Loki? What happened to get them to talk? What made her fall?

Where was Thor when all of this was happening?

How could Jane overlook the villain who destroyed a chunk of Manhattan and killed thousands?

What exactly was between them? Could it be love? Or was it some kind of twisted co-dependency? Stones scenting the residue of other stones? Did Jane and Loki even understand their connection? Could they control it at all?

"You watch Jane often."

The shadow over James Barnes snapped him out of his own mind. He had not heard Loki's approach. The prince towered over his seated form, and the polished marble of his expressionless face was admittedly intimidating.

"I watch a lot of people."

Loki nodded, eyes flashing. "She is different. Do not deny it."

"I won't," he said, and snapped his teeth together when he realized he'd spoken aloud. He dragged a metal palm over his mouth and held Loki's eye.

Loki's long fingers twisted around the arm of a nearby chair and pulled it to his side with an excruciating scrape across the floor. Only James winced at the sound. Loki sat, back so straight he almost curved backward.

"James Barnes, correct?"

James nodded, the fingers over his mouth beginning to tap against his cheek.

"You know who I am. What I have done," Loki said.

James held Loki's eye, wondering where this was going. "Yeah."

"I expect you have judged me like the rest of them."

It was not a question, but James gave an answer. "Judged?" And then he laughed. A sound rich like velvet but clipped and gruff from lack of use. "I don't have any right to judge anyone. Pasts can't change." He swallowed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'd like to think people can."

Loki's eyes were lasers. "I have that hope as well."

They stared. Two dark, broken men with so little and so much in common, both with too many questions. Both too stubborn to ask them.

But James was not Steve Rogers. He sighed. "Look, I can't do this all day." Especially at the end of that green stare, so intense and surprisingly earnest, but he would never admit that. "I just want to know how. With Doctor Foster, I mean." He leaned forward. "How did you convince her to see past…" He left the question open. There was too much to list. Just like with him.

Loki finally lowered his eyes to his hands, clasping and unclasping in his lap, rubbing down his thighs and back up. Over and over. Never stopping motion. "I convinced Jane Foster of nothing. How could I? Jane is…she somehow…" He began the sentence again, then twice more times without success of ever finishing it. His eyes rose, searching the gray ceiling for something as the silence dragged on. Finally, he gave up and snapped his chin to James. "Why are you even interested?"

James stared, confused, at Loki's hands and their ceaseless movement. He could lie. Lie to the God of Lies. Say he wasn't interested and walk away from this circus act. Because he was sitting across from a Norse god talking about women. One woman. Who he barely knew at all. He sighed. He was never that good of a liar.

"It's hard for me to imagine a good woman loving a bad man."

"She does not love me," Loki hissed, his eyes burning. "You do not see love from her. You see pity. You see Jane's endless well of compassion. Her heart, her foolish heart, steers her, and it sees a damned soul in me, a monster to be healed, a problem to be solved, and she cannot turn her eyes away. She-"

"Nah," James said, brushing off a god. "I've seen how she looks at you. How she touches you or how she doesn't touch you but is dying to. I've seen when she doesn't say what she feels, but she wants to. And the Aether? Same, but way more intense. They're one and the same when it comes to you." He took a long breath before leaning back. "Like I said, I watch a lot of people. Makes things clearer."

Loki's head started shaking well before Barnes finished. He sneered at the man, but the feeling was directed inward. "That is a lovely fairy tale you have dreamed up, but your expert observations are incorrect. Jane's goodness would never allow what you say. People may change, yes, but the damned cannot hope to deserve love. They die alone."

A metal finger struck Loki's chest, and a growl started deep in the Winter Soldier's throat. "You're wrong! Maybe it's like that for you. Maybe you believe that, and so be it. But keep all that bullshit to yourself! Some of us are beyond tired of being damned for the nightmares we caused. If I had a woman like that hanging on my every word, I'd tell her exactly how much she means to me and exactly how lucky I am."

Loki's iron grip snaked around the metal wrist at his chest as both men rose from their seats. "And what nightmares are in your past, James Barnes? Hmm? What sins have you committed that make you dream of an angel's kind heart and brilliant love? What do you know of being a true villain?"

James smirked and opened his mouth to scare the God of Lies into silence, but a flat palm landed on his forehead and a burst of white light exploded behind his eyes before the world faded to black.