Was it wrong to assume that he was still innocent? Please say no.

Where had helpful intentions gotten him? Please don't say anything.

Were his assumptions wrong? It could go either way, he thought.

Did he perhaps carry the situation on the Bifrost a little bit too far? Alright, even he would admit to that one.

In his defense, he didn't expect what happened after he let go of the staff. Really.

He expected the end. He had expected to die; to be smashed into oblivion.

That was the main idea when he let go. He wanted to die, because he would be completely without a home otherwise. He would be sentenced (possibly put to death) for his crimes against Asgard. He would be slain on the spot for assassinating Laufey if he returned to Jotunheim. Death was a far easier choice- it was frightfully imminent, anyways. So he let go, and let the Bifrost Void pull him in.

Furthermore, he was pretty sure he WASN'T headed for Valhalla. Almost certain.

Still, that expectation blinded him to other possibilities. He did not foresee what followed.

Landing on the Chitauri world was no-one's idea of a picnic. It most certainly wasn't his.

Loki had to admit- it takes all sorts to make a universe. It was a very distasteful joke- even to him. Still, it was amusing, and he occasionally wondered how he even had a sense of humor left.

Thanos had used him. Understand that. Loki knew what was going to happen to him if he failed to obey Thanos. He had received a tiny taste of Thanos's brutality, and it was more than as much of a helping as he had ever desired to receive.

As the Other had warned him, if he thought he knew pain before, (and quite honestly he thought he HAD) then it would be nothing compared to the consequences of not procuring the Tesseract to the Chitauri.

Admittedly, maybe a little bit of it was Loki fault. The raid on SHIELD for the Tesseract wasn't, by definition his idea, but he had an objective. Also, Life and Death were poised precariously in the balance of the outcome. So, needless to say, he was a little edgy. He didn't show it. He couldn't show it. No one could know.

Save for Thor, anyways, who was always getting Heimdall to poke his nose (eyes and ears, actually) in where it wasn't exactly welcome nor needed. Loki was supposed to take the blame for the invasion. Fortunately for Loki (and unfortunately at the same time; he didn't know quite how that worked, either), although Heimdall could observe him from afar, the blasted Gatekeeper never saw anything IMPORTANT . He never saw Thanos manipulating Loki- only Loki with the Chitauri army. Which was both good and bad- good in that Thanos couldn't accuse him of letting the cat out of the bag, bad in that he was going to take a hard fall for the whole situation.

Loki wanted to tell them. He wanted to be free from Thanos's crushing grip. He wanted to just do what Thor had told him. He wanted to go home, even if it meant facing Asgardian justice. Even that would be better than what Thanos was capable of.

Loki still loved his family. He still cared about them. He promised himself while on the mountaintop that he would even find some way to forgive Odin, and accept Asgard's punishment with dignity and honesty if it meant that he could just be free from Thanos.

Wishful thinking. He had been given strict orders, and was warned yet again by the Other what would happen if he failed; that there was no place in the universe he could hide. That Thanos would always find him, and have vengeance.

Loki lived in a state of constant dread. He didn't like it. Who would?

Loki killed the poor man with the big gun, yes, but... Well. It was complicated. He knew that he couldn't stop the Chitauri. Not without the consequence of certain doom. He also knew that there were earth's mightiest heroes on board the Carrier. That if anyone could stop the army, they could. If anyone could stop Thanos, they could. If anyone could stop Loki Laufeyson, that they could.

Planning both your rise and demise wasn't the traditional thing, he was sure. But this was different. He hated what he was doing, but he was (for all points of argument) powerless to stop it. So he incensed the heroes to do it for him.

That was why Loki manipulated Dr. Banner. Clint Barton. He hoped that at least the archer might forgive him; he did, after all, explain to the man that he knew exactly how it felt to be controlled by the scepter- and that while Barton was under his control. He wondered if Banner ever would. He was almost sure the doctor wouldn't, but then- where had his assumptions gotten him recently?

That was why he did what he did to that poor man with the big gun (whom he later learned was named Phil). He felt very badly about that, by the way. 'Phil' hadn't even seen him coming. Hadn't even the knowledge to turn around. But he did have the right idea. The "You're gonna lose." was actually surprisingly reassuring, considering that it came from a mere Midgardian. Loki sometimes wondered if 'Phil' understood what he was doing. And if the Midgardian did- well then he was much more clever than all of Asgard put together.

That was why Loki threw Stark out of the window. He didn't know about the arc reactor, but he did see the bracelets, and he knew that out a window was a better choice than through the floor. The Hulk would later reaffirm his decision. By the way- getting beaten into the floor a total of five times really had hurt quite a lot.

Thor could be so dull sometimes.

"Look at this! Look around you! You think that this madness will end with your rule?"

No, actually, he had thought that this madness would end up with him getting carted off to the safe haven Asgard, probably in chains. And his plan had been going full tilt. He told Thor he thought so.

"It's too late. It's too late to stop it."

Oh, simple one- how much you claim to know me, and how little you truly do!

Loki had it all planned out. Acted out. Like a play. Possessing no such luck as a rehearsal, with only he possessing the script, and having actors who unintentionally ad-libbed their roles in the great stage of Manhattan.

The play ended well, he had the assurance of knowing, with him on Asgard and the Tesseract out of Thanos's reach.

When he finally woke up from being smashed into the floor, and he crawled to the steps, he was greeted by the world's mightiest heroes. He asked if he could have a drink before being arrested. Because it was all the same to him. No one could know it was HE who stopped the invasion.

That it was Loki (and Phil deserved credit, too, by the way) who brought together

THE AVENGERS