Loki unexpectedly appears behind the Black Order and seems cheerful, "If I could interject ... if you are going to Earth, you may need a guide. I have a little experience in that terrain."
"If you mean mistake experience.", Thanos explains unimpressed.
"I consider experience to be experience. Almighty Thanos, I ... Loki ... Prince of Asgard ...", Loki looks meaningfully at Thor, "Odinson ... the rightful King of Jotunheim ... God of Mischief ... do hereby swear my undying fidelity."
Thor blinks in confusion and notices a dagger appear in Loki's hand. Loki readies himself, thrusts upward with lightning speed, and attempts to stab Thanos, but is frozen by the power of the Space Stone before the dagger could strike Thanos.
"Undying? You should choose your words more carefully.", Thanos twists the dagger out of Loki's hand with his right hand, then grabs Loki's neck with his glove and lifts him to eye level. Loki struggles and kicks as his throat is compressed. Thanos makes eye contact with Thor before increasing his force on Loki's neck.
Finally Loki gives up the fight against Thanos, "You will ... never ... be a god." Thanos broke Loki's neck and killing him.
"NO!" screams Thor in a muffled voice.
Thanos walks over to Thor and drops Loki's lifeless body in front of Thor.
"No resurrection this time.", Thanos raises his glove, sends purple force fire through the remains of the spaceship and uses the space stone to teleport away with the Black Order.
"No ... Loki ...", Thor is released from his bonds. He crawls to Loki's body and rests his head on Loki's chest, shedding tears for all he has lost. The ship explodes along with Loki and Thor...
Loki wakes up startled and sits up in bed in one swift movement. The haze of sleep is still heavy on him. He rubbed the sleep from his face. The sky was turning yellow-gold, slowly chasing away the dark night as Loki looked to his window. He realized it was still very early in the morning. After returning from the dead, like so many millions in the universe, nightmares had become commonplace for Loki. He wondered if the people who had shared his fate of returning from the dead shared the same torment. But perhaps it was just his punishment, the price only he had to pay to be alive. After a while Loki managed to push aside the tormenting thoughts that occupied him and pulled aside the velvet green bedspread. He sat down on the edge of the bed, his feet touching the cold black floor, and if he weren't an ice giant, the cold would bother him. Loki let his gaze wander around his room. It may be that this room did not remotely resemble his chambers in Asgard, but even Loki had to admit that living in Avengers Tower was not as bad as he had first feared. Loki turned his gaze down to his left hand and closed his eyes for a moment. As he let the semblance of his appearance, imposed on him by Odin as a newborn, fade, he took a deep breath. Loki, after a moment's hesitation, opened his eyes and studied his blue hand closely, markings running along his hand. He got up from his bed and walked across the room to the dark wooden mirror that stood in the right corner in his room next to the door. His eye color was ruby red instead of the usual green of his eyes and blue markings ran along his face. Markings that showed his origin. The blue markings on his blue skin ran across his neck, his arms, and all over his chest. Loki cautiously walked closer to the mirror. He raised his hand up to the mirror and pressed his flat palm against it. The mirror began to freeze in a few seconds and when it was completely covered with ice, he removed his hand from the mirror surface. Loki waited until the mirror was completely thawed before hiding his ice giant form, his true appearance, again. With a quick flick of his wrist, he made a dark green short-sleeved T-shirt appear over his muscular torso. Loki knew that he would probably not find any kind of peaceful sleep after the nightmare. Training would not hurt him and perhaps will help him against the thoughts that occupied his mind. He remembered that during the tour of the Tower with Thor, he had noticed an internal gym.
Loki snaps his fingers as he enters the studio, thereby turning on the lights with his seidr. He looks around the studio at the various sports equipment. Loki spots a punching bag hanging in the corner and walked across the studio to it. He punched the punching bag, first one punch, then harder, faster, and more often, as if he were repressing memories by doing so. Loki's punches get harder. With one powerful punch, he hits the punching bag and flings it from its moorings across the gym floor.
"How do you feel about fighting with something alive.", Loki turns around and saw Bucky standing behind him in the doorway, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Why are you up so early?", Loki asks as he tries to catch his breath.
"I think the reason that keeps us both from sleeping is one and the same."
"Are you sure you can keep up with me?" asks Loki, smiling.
"With you? All the time."
Bucky struck unexpectedly as Loki caught Bucky's clenched fist. Bucky and Loki continue to fight. Loki grabs Bucky's right arm and tucks it behind him.
"Who's winning?" asks Sam as he sits down next to Stephan on the bench. Wanda offered him some of the popcorn from the bowl. Sam ate some of the popcorn and watched the fight intently.
"I'll bet on Bucky," Stephan says.
Loki pushes Bucky back. The two continue to fight. Loki punches Bucky in the face, causing him to fall backward. Bucky jumped up before sweeping his leg under Loki's legs, causing Loki to lose his balance. Bucky tried to kick Loki, who was on the ground, but he rolled out from under him and got up behind Bucky in a quick leap. Loki punched him in the back, sending him stumbling forward.
"I'm Team Loki." said Wanda, continuing to eat popcorn.
"Alright, I'm on Loki's team too.", Sam explains, leaning back as he watches the fight.
"Vis?" asks Wanda, the hitherto silent Vision.
"Although I don't really participate in this sort of thing, I have to disagree with you, Wanda. Bucky clearly seems to have the advantage," Vision states matter-of-factly. Bucky lands a kick to Loki's side. Punches went back and forth between the two.
"What does the losing team have to do?" asks Stephen, crossing his arms in front of his chest."
"Take over the cleaning schedule for two weeks," Wanda says without taking her eyes off the fight.
"Sounds fair to me. Deal.", Stephan agrees. Bucky's foot connects with Loki's face, nearly dropping him to the floor. Loki's hands twisted Barnes' wrists and arms, keeping him from moving for a moment. With a kick to the back, Bucky gets Loki to loosen his grip and is able to break free.
"Since when they do that?" asked Carol, confused, as she joined them in the gym. Sam looked at his watch.
"About an hour and a half now."
"And neither of you are intervening? ", Danvers asked.
"Nope." said Sam, Wanda and Stephen in unison, only Vision doesn't answer as he continues to watch the fight intently. Bucky tries to hit Loki's head with his metal arm, but Loki ducks and kicks Barnes in the right side, this made him stagger back a little. Unexpectedly, an orange protonblast hit the two during their fight, knocking them off their feet and sending Loki and Bucky backwards across the studio onto their backs. Loki strained to lift his head to see what happened and looked in the direction from where the protonblast was shot. Carol smiled triumphantly at the two as her fists returned to normal.
"Now if you're done with your...little comparison. We have a mission.", Danvers explained. She took some of popcorn from Wanda before walking out of the room.
"So no team is the winner." declared Sam, disappointed. He stood up and walked behind Carol.
"According to my calculations, we'll have plenty of that to watch," Vision explained matter-of-factly. As Vision left the room with Wanda and Stephan. Loki and Bucky, meanwhile, still didn't get up from the floor.
A/N: Tell me in the comments what you think of the chapter, pls!
