Perhaps Loki should have just left the Tesseract where it was.

But he wasn't sure if even Ragnarok itself would be enough to destroy an Infinity Stone, and he couldn't have risked Thanos finding it floating in the void. Besides, Loki needed it to escape the catastrophe.

Why did Odin have to die when the universe needed him the most?

Having failed to locate the Power and Mind Stones by himself, Thor had returned home. He had never been one for sorcery, but while Sigyn was busy avenging her friends in Midgard and Loki still ruling the Nine Realms disguised as Odin, he had started being haunted by dreams of Ragnarok. They all knew the ancient prophecy. That Surtur would return and destroy the Realm Eternal. So, he had left to investigate, and returned with Surtur's skull. All was supposed to be well. But then the new Gatekeeper, Skurge, had come to them, saying their father wished to see them. So, they had traveled to Midgard and found him dying. His final moments had been quite peaceful, and he had warned them against their sister, Hela, though he hadn't had enough time to explain the details. Hela had returned immediately after Odin's death, declared herself queen, shattered Mjolnir like a piece of glass. Panicked, Loki had summoned the Bifrost, hoping to leave Hela stranded in Midgard. Let the mighty Avengers deal with her, right? But Hela had been able to follow them, and thrown them off the bridge before they could return to Asgard.

Loki had ended up on Sakaar. He had been taken to the Grandmaster. A lunatic, but a rather harmless one, especially if you knew how to manipulate him. Two weeks later, Thor had followed him, and naturally, become the Grandmaster's favorite champion in no time. Thor had been busy entertaining the masses at the arena, Loki strengthening his position with the Grandmaster. Then they had met Brunnhilde, the last living Valkyrie. She hadn't been easy to convince, but in the end, they had stolen a ship from the Grandmaster, escaped Sakaar, and returned to Asgard to kill Hela. Unfortunately, the only one who had been able to do that was Surtur.

The plan was to build a new kingdom in Midgard when Thanos and his Black Order had shown up and massacred the half of whatever had remained of Asgard. Loki had thought he could keep the Tesseract safe in his personal pocket dimension. Once Thanos killed him, the dimension would become inaccessible. And more importantly, his beloved Sigyn wouldn't be forced to kill him. The future she had seen was changed. Whatever the Stark girl had done, it had worked. Loki just hoped that the Avengers were fully ready for Thanos by now.

But when Thanos had started torturing Thor instead of Loki himself, he had given up the stone. He knew Thanos was going to kill him anyway, but he just couldn't have watched his brother scream in pain like that. Thanos was a master of torture; he could tell the worst way to hurt a person by simply looking at them.

So, the blue gem was glowing on that Infinity Gauntlet now, along with the purple one.

"Forefathers," Heimdall, who had been badly injured, pleaded. "Let the dark magic flow through me one last time."

At first, Loki had thought he was saving Thor, but then, much to his horror, he found himself in the Bifrost, with Brunnhilde behind him. Fool, he thought. Why hadn't he sent Thor while he had the chance? Loki could see Midgard ahead; who on this planet would trust him? Heimdall must have sent Brunnhilde with him so that she could vouch for Loki, but no one knew Brunnhilde either. Even her Valkyrie tattoo would probably mean nothing to the ignorant mortals.

They crashed into a building, and the two mortal men who lived were clearly expecting them. Also, Loki couldn't quite put his finger on it, but they seemed different from the other mortals Loki had met before.

"Loki Odinson, the God of Mischief," the one with the red cloak spoke solemnly. "Brunnhilde, the last Valkyrie… Welcome to the New York Sanctum. We've been expecting you."

Well, this had been much easier than Loki had expected…

Brunnhilde gave Loki a questioning look, but Loki simply shrugged. He scrambled to his feet and looked around. He could sense magic here. Right, these had to be the sorcerers Sigyn had told him about. "You're the mortal sorcerers."

"We call ourselves the Master of the Mystic Arts. I'm Doctor Stephen Strange, this is Wong."

Loki smirked. "And I believe that pendant you're wearing is the Time Stone."

In the blink of an eye, the Asgardians were transported from the hole they were standing in to an undamaged part of the hall. "Do not use your magic on me without my permission," Loki warned them.

Doctor Strange ignored the threat. "I don't have time for your tantrums. Thanos is coming."

"Where's my wife?"

"In Wakanda."

Wakanda… A secret Midgardian civilization that was more sophisticated than the rest of the realm. Their princess, too, had been warned against Thanos by the greater forces of the Cosmos. "Why is she in Wakanda?"

"Odin lied to you and your brother about the Infinity Stones. He knew where they were. He sent Sigyn and Sif to Vormir to retrieve the Soul Stone. He conveniently forgot to mention that the stone demanded a sacrifice."

"What sort of sacrifice?"

"The soul of a loved one."

Loki gritted his teeth. He loved his father, but… He was so cruel sometimes.

"They didn't make the sacrifice," Strange went on. "After Vormir, they went to Xandar to warn the Nova Empire, but Xandar had already been decimated by the time they made it there. They ran into an old acquaintance, though. Carol Danvers. When they saw what happened to Asgard, they came to Earth. The Mind Stone is in Wakanda, so the battle will be fought there. I'm sure King T'Challa has already told your wife about the plan by now."

"Wait, how do you know all these? Even most of Asgard didn't know anything about Thanos until he attacked our ship," Brunnhilde questioned.

"The Time Stone," Loki guessed. "He used the Time Stone to see how to defeat Thanos… Clever."

"Thank you."

"What about the Nexus?"

"It's ready," he said, but he didn't seem very happy about it.

"Something troubles you, sorcerer."

"The process of its creation was… unnatural. But it was a necessary evil."

Loki was intrigued. He just couldn't help but feel thrilled when "heroes" had to use questionable methods to achieve their goals. "Tell me."

"You're about to see for yourself."

The wizard started circling his fingers in the air and opened a portal. All Loki could see on the other end was a bright, pristine, spacious, but empty hall.

"You stay here and guard the Sanctum," Strange told Wong. Wong nodded. The two Asgardians followed Strange's lead into the portal.

"Where are we?" Brunnhilde asked, looking around.

"The Avengers Compound."

So, Thor's companions lived here now…

"Hello, Doctor Strange. I shall inform Mr. Stark of your arrival," a disembodied voice said. JARVIS. Loki had met him before, while waiting for the Chitauri to arrive at the Stark Tower. He wondered if Sigyn knew about this mortal-made, formless fellow named after one of her dearest friends. "The most honorable man in the Nine Realms," she would call him.

"JARVIS knows you," Loki observed. "You've been here before."

"Indeed I have. Mr. Stark and I made a plan to stop Thanos. In fact, your friend will play a crucial role in it," he said, looking at Brunnhilde.

"I'm not really his friend," she corrected him. "And I wouldn't mind playing a crucial role in that big purple bastard's doom, but can you be a bit more specific?"

"You'll be a part of A-Force, a team that will bury the Nexus into the roots of Yggdrasil."

Loki grinned. He had figured out what "the plan" was. "You're planning to trap Thanos here with the Infinity Stones, aren't you?"

"Yes. There is a tunnel to the roots of Yggdrasil in Wakanda."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't. Mr. Stark does."

"Since when is Mr. Stark so knowledgable of Yggdrasil?"

"Since he read the Darkhold."

Loki's grin widened. The plot thickens, he thought to himself. Tony Stark reading the Darkhold… Of course Loki had heard about the Darkhold. The legendary book that contained infinite knowledge… But it would destroy a mortal mind. He couldn't wait to see what it had done to Iron Man. "The Darkhold? Was it the necessary evil you were talking about?"

"Yes. It was the time-traveler's plan all along. I only chose to tolerate it because there was no time to do this the right way."

"And I thought Ana Stark loved her father…" It appeared the younger genius' grand plan was to sacrifice her own father's sanity for the greater good. Loki wasn't surprised that Stark had gone along with it, though. That man would do anything for his daughter. He probably hadn't even hesitated before reading the grimoire.

"She does," another man's voice interrupted them as a door behind Loki slid open. "That's why I am here." For an elderly mortal, he seemed quite strong. But there was something wrong with him. Loki could sense some kind of dark, cold, raw force radiating from his body. And more importantly, although Loki had never met him before, he knew who this man was. How could he not?

"You…" he gasped.

"Do you know him?" Brunnhilde asked.

"That's Howard Stark."

"So?"

"He died almost three decades ago!"

Howard Stark nodded. "I did. Then I went to Hell."

"Hell?"

"Mephisto's realm. I escaped his dungeons, but I had no intentions of returning to Earth until my son and granddaughter came to find me."

If Loki weren't mourning Thor, he would be having so much fun right now. This was much better than he had originally thought. He couldn't help but wonder now what else they had in mind for Thanos. "They ventured into Mephisto's realm and returned here with you? Was it Ana's plan all along? It looks like I underestimated you and your family, Howard."

Howard stared directly at him, and something in his eyes made Loki shiver. "I know what you did to them, Loki. If it weren't for Sigyn, I would've ripped your spine out of your mouth the moment you set foot on the Compound."

Loki didn't doubt it. This man was no longer a mere mortal. "Speaking of, does Sigyn know you're back?" he asked to lighten the mood.

"She must have been told by now."

"Doctor Strange!" Captain America's authoritative voice echoed in the hall. He was coming towards them, in his full uniform, with the other Avengers trailing behind him. Loki smiled at them. They gave him angry glares, but didn't say anything. "They're here. A ship is terrorizing civilians, not very far from the Sanctum."

The sorcerer nodded gravely. "They're looking for the Time Stone."

"Shall we?"

Strange opened another portal. This time, there were panicked mortals running around and screaming on the other side. The Avengers crossed the threshold first. Loki, Brunnhilde, Howard, and Strange went after them.

Loki immediately spotted the Q-Ship hovering above. The Q-Ships were used by the Black Order, the children of Thanos. He wondered which ones Thanos had sent for the Time Stone, but it didn't take long for him to find out. Soon, they found Ebony Maw, giving his usual speech about becoming children of Thanos even in death and bringing balance to the universe. Loki clenched his fists angrily when he recalled how that despicable creature had tortured him until he had agreed to serve Thanos, and the atrocities he had committed along with his father and siblings on the Statesman.

But Captain America didn't let him finish his speech this time. "Enough! We know what you came for." Loki was grateful for that. Even he didn't have the stomach to hear the same morbid speech twice in the same day.

Maw looked at him with a mock surprise. "Do you, now?"

"You will never get the stones!"

"We will. But we are not here only for the stones. There is something else our father wants. Someone else."

"Who?"

"The one who has been conspiring against him, of course… Where is Ana Stark?"

Naturally, Tony Stark took a step forward. Rogers tried to stop him, but he probably didn't even notice. "How do you know that name?"

Loki couldn't see Tony's expression, but Maw was looking at him with the malicious grin that appeared on his face when he discovered a weakness of his enemy. "You must be her father…"

"HOW?" Tony roared.

In response, that ugly bastard just pointed his finger at Loki. He didn't have to say anything.

"Stark," Loki started warily when the mortal turned to him. He looked absolutely murderous. He hadn't put on his armor yet, but the power source was attached to his chest as usual. Loki wondered where the armor would come from this time. "I don't want to fight you. I don't want to fight any of you. Maw knows I'm on your side now, that's why he's lying! He's trying to turn us against each other!"

The armor didn't come from anywhere. It simply materialized around the power source. Sigyn was right about mortals; they evolved fast. But there was no time to admire Stark's genius, because he flew right at Loki, grabbed him by the throat and shot up into the air. They landed on the roof of a building, but instead of releasing him, he slammed Loki against a wall. His helmed melted back into the rest of the suit, but his grip around Loki's throat tightened.

"How does it feel?" he hissed. "Being choked to death? Not fun, is it?"

"Listen to me. Maw's lying. It wasn't my fault. When Thanos sent me here, one of his minions was watching me. I went to your tower, Ana was there, waiting for me, and she started talking about this warning from the future…"

"Oh, I know. I've seen the footage. She was trying to help you, you son of a bitch! She was begging you! And this is what you did to her in return!"

He then let go of his throat, but only to slap him with all the strength he had, then grabbed a fistful of his hair and exposed his throat, just like Loki had once done to Ana. Well, Loki hadn't used his full strength on her, obviously, but still… Stark had gone mad the moment Ebony Maw had spoken his daughter's name.

"She got butchered because of what you put in her head! Perhaps I should show you what that feels like!"

Loki had no idea what he was talking about, but he couldn't care less right now. "ENOUGH!" he pushed him away by using both his magic and physical strength. He then cloaked his physical form and left only an illusion in his place to speak through. When Stark tried to choke him again, all he had been able to grab was air.

"Where are you? JARVIS, find his heat signature!"

"Sir, Miss Stark is approaching," Loki heard JARVIS say, and only then, Stark seemed to have regained some sense.

Another Iron Man suit landed on the roof, and when the helmet disappeared, Ana's face was revealed. So, she, too, had become a fighter, like her father. "Dad? Loki?"

Loki decided to reveal his true form. "Hello, Ana. It's been a while…"

"Hey, Mr. Stark!" Some else swooped down next to her. Whoever he was, he didn't have an Iron Man armor, but he was dressed up as a… spider? He moved quite nimbly and gracefully, though, and judging by his voice, he had to be very young.

"Peter decided to tag along," Ana explained quickly when her father frowned. "Not my fault."

"What are you doing here?" Stark asked her. "I thought you had a board meeting today?"

"I did, but then I looked out the window and saw a spaceship."

He turned to the spider. "What's your excuse?"

He pulled off his mask and Loki realized he was indeed a young boy. "Uhm, I didn't have any board meetings—"

"Obviously…"

"But we were going to the Coney Island, and I looked out the window and saw the spaceship."

"Come on, guys," Ana said, "The fight is down there, let's go."

"Yes, that's what I've been trying to tell your father!"

Ana looked at them, obviously confused.

"He's been trying to kill me."

"He told Thanos about you, Ana."

"Thanos is here?" Peter cried, and he sounded more excited than scared. Foolish boy.

"I didn't tell him anything! The Other was watching me! How was I supposed to know she was going to start talking about Thanos? I concealed her the moment I realized it wasn't a trick."

Ana seemed to have understood. "And when was that?"

"Right after I used the scepter on you."

"So, you knew I was your ally, and yet you…" She paused and gulped uncomfortably before continuing, "did what you did."

I was under the Scepter's influence, too, he thought, but didn't say anything. It wasn't exactly remorse he felt, but if he had been himself, he would have never hurt the Starks. He would have never attacked Sigyn's world.

"Ana, those freaks aren't just here for the Time Stone. They're looking for you, too!"

The girl smiled loftily. She had grown quite arrogant since Loki had last seen her. "Awesome! I'll go introduce myself."

Tony put a hand on her shoulder. "Nope. You're going home."

"What? Dad, you can't—"

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir."

"JARVIS, no!" she said, but the helmet materialized around her head again, and she flew off, though probably against her will.

"See you at the Compound, honey!" Tony said cheerfully, and then charged at Cull Obsidian, who was climbing on the building to reach them. Peter put the mask on and went to help Tony. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton were leading the civilians away. The Hulk was busy destroying the Q-Ship that was terrorizing them. Loki wanted Maw.

He found the foul creature fighting Howard Stark and Doctor Strange. Loki had expected the latter to be a master of magic, but Howard Stark… Either Loki had lost his mind after Thanos' massacre on the Statesman, or the undead mortal was commanding the Darkforce. Damn, that man had become the very embodiment of darkness. Sigyn wasn't going to be happy.

Maw threw a truck at Howard, to block his way, then snatched the pendant from Strange's neck. His grin faded. "Fake!"

"Did you think we weren't prepared for you?" Strange taunted him, and then conjured his shields.

Normally, Loki preferred to fight with his daggers and throwing knives, but throwing weapons at Maw would mean handing them over to him. So, he decided to do something he had never done before. He decided to use his Frost Giant powers. The Tesseract wasn't the only relic he had saved from Ragnarok. He had wanted to save the Casket of Ancient Winters as well. He still considered himself an Asgardian, but he was also a Jotunn. Like Sigyn had said, he was both. And that didn't necessarily have to be a curse. He was the rightful king of Jotunheim, whether his real father had wanted him or not. And he had wanted to protect what was left of his kingdom.

He snuck up on Maw from behind, conjured the Casket, and unleashed its powers, trapping his enemy in a block of ice, just like once he had trapped Heimdall. Loki wondered if Heimdall was still alive. It was unlikely. After sending Loki and Brunnhilde to Earth, Thanos wouldn't have shown him any mercy, especially knowing Earth had been preparing for him.

"Hello, Maw," he started. "Funny, all that time you tortured me, you never realized what I really was. You're not as clever as you think you are."

He grunted, and there was a small crack in the ice. Loki repaired it with the Casket quickly.

Strange conjured a weapon. "We should just kill him and be done with it."

"Not yet," Howard said, unleashing some Darkforce from his left palm. "First, I want to know how much Thanos knows about my granddaughter."

Maw's face beneath the ice remained unchanged, but Loki smirked. If rumors could be believed, the Darkforce could inflict a sort of pain that no words in any language could describe. A few seconds of it was better—or, worse, depending on where you stood—than months of most ruthless torture. It was also said those who could command the Darkforce could use it to read minds.

A muffled scream was heard when Howard touched Maw with the Darkforce. Loki kept repairing his icy prison as cracks appeared. What a sight. Ebony Maw screaming, finally having a taste of his own poison… If only Thanos were here to see this. Howard closed his eyes and when he opened them again, the screaming had stopped and Thanos' favorite torturer was dead.

"I see Mephisto has taught you a few tricks," Loki told Howard.

"You were telling the truth. Thanos was never able to see Ana again after you concealed her."

"You're welcome," he boasted.

The ground shook with a loud thud, and when they turned around, they realized Cull Obsidian was dead, too. Strange opened another portal back to the Compound.

…

Someone had called Fury—it was just Fury now, not Director Fury—and he would soon be at the Avengers Compound with his flying fortress and they would all be going to Wakanda. Loki had contacted Sigyn and briefly told her and Sif what had happened to Asgard. After that, he didn't have much to do. No one wanted to speak with him, so he was just wandering around aimlessly when he found Pepper Potts and Ana, in a disgustingly colorful room full of toys. They were cooing at a child. He was too old to be an infant, but still too young to be able to walk by himself. Morgan Stark.

"So, this is the youngest Stark," he began. "Your half-brother."

Potts' eyes widened in panic when she saw Loki, but Ana just frowned. "My brother," she corrected him sharply. "And if you go anywhere near him, I'll blow your head off with a repulsor cannon." She could actually look intimidating if Morgan weren't busy stuffing a fistful of her hair into his mouth.

"Morgs, no!" she scolded him when she noticed, and gave him to his mother. "Come," she then told Loki and dragged him away.

"You Starks should really not reproduce. Children are not good for sanity," he mocked, recalling what a terrible man Howard Stark had come after siring Tony.

"Your concern for my sanity is touching."

"Can't we just let bygones be bygones?"

"No."

"Shame. We could make a good team."

She stopped and looked him in the eye suspiciously. "What do you want, Loki?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"You're the reason Sigyn's vision never came true. Thanks to your schemes she wasn't on that ship with us when Thanos came."

"Well, now that I have your gratitude, can I ask you something?"

"Ask away."

"It's the same thing when we first met, actually. I want you to tell me about Thanos."

"What do you want to know?"

"What do you think he'll do to me when he comes?"

"Thanos respects you. Trust me, that's no easy feat. You should be proud of yourself."

"Proud? I don't want a genocidal maniac to respect me. I want him to fear me."

"You must understand, Ana. For a man like Thanos, respect and fear are the two sides of the same coin."

"So, he wants me dead?" For some reason, she sounded more hopeful than scared.

"Probably. Collecting the Infinity Stones is his life's ultimate purpose, and you're standing in his way. You're the one who created a force that could reduce the power of the stones to nothing."

"I didn't do it by myself. Believe me, I needed plenty of help."

"Yes, but it was your idea. It's all that matters to Thanos. Manipulating time itself, opening a portal to Mephisto's realm and bringing your grandfather back to read the Darkhold… To be honest, I'm proud of you."

"Why do you care? It's not like we're not related or anything."

"Are we not? Do you not know that I was the one who told Sigyn about your existence in the first place? I'm the reason you have your father's name, and all that power that comes with it. I'm the reason you got to become the Heiress. In a way, I made you. And I'm proud of my creation."

"I'm not your creation," she said stubbornly.

"Whatever you say. But you've always been something that brought me and Sigyn closer since you were born. When she came back to Asgard after the Dark Elves—"

"Okay, you can stop right there. I don't have to know if my alien fairy godparents had make-up sex or not."

"You had to make it weird…"

"Look," she suddenly said, pointing at a black dot in the clear, blue Midgardian sky. "The Helicarrier is approaching. I got stuff to do. Go bother someone else."

Loki sighed. For once, the God of Lies was speaking the truth and no one wanted to hear him.