The plan to fool Thanos was set to happen the following morning. Loki, however, couldn't manage to fall asleep that night. He snuck out of bed, careful not to wake Natasha, and left to visit Thanos and set things in motion right here and now.
Loki swiftly shut the door and made his way down the path leading to Thanos's cell. Under his arm was a stainless steel suitcase that he kept close to his side.
Thanos was seated at his bench and happened to look up at Loki with a grin. "No company tonight?"
He shook his head and held out the suitcase. "I'm holding up my end of the bargain," he informed him as he held out the suitcase.
Thanos' smile widened. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Promise me your Skrull army will bring no harm to the Avengers," continued Loki in a defeated tone.
The alien creature stared at him coldly. "For your cooperation, I could consider it. The Tesseract comes first."
Loki drew Natasha's ID which he had tucked in the folds of his shirt and swiped it to open the door. As he readied his arm to throw the suitcase inside, Thanos grabbed the case and Loki along with it.
Thanos threw Loki into the ground and snatched the suitcase from his hands.
While Thanos was occupied with trying to pry the locked case open, Loki escaped the cell and locked it behind him.
The steel case was soon torn apart by Thanos' bare hands, revealing the glowing blue Tesseract hidden away inside. He lifted it up into one of his large hands and marveled at its glory.
"There. You possess the Tesseract. Now what becomes of the Skrulls?" he wondered.
"Oh, they'll come," he grinned. "This earth will be left to nothingness!" He outstretched his arm towards the cell's door and waited for the Tesseract to use its powers. "Nothing happens. How is this of use?"
"Unfortunately, its powers don't work in that manner," Loki explained with a smirk.
Thanos' red eyes glared at Loki.
"Don't you see?" he coolly continued, "you've absorbed all of its power."
Thanos stared at the glowing cube in his hand.
"You've rendered it useless now," he gravely warned him. "All its powers are now a part of you."
A smile returned to the creature's purple face. "Is that so?" He threw a punch at the glass and Loki jumped back. The cell trembled slightly, but there seemed to be no damage to lead to any concern.
"Well," Loki shrugged, "this cage is proving to be quite impressive."
"Release me!" Thanos shouted.
"And ruin the fun?" jeered Loki as he stepped further away from the cell. "Why attack when the others are left defenseless? That's a sign of weakness."
"Whose side are you on, god?!" he demanded as his fist smacked the glass.
"I gave you the Tesseract, did I not?" With that, Loki ran off.
Loki quietly shut the bedroom door and made sure to walk across the darkened room just as silently.
"Where have you been?" asked Natasha. She had been sitting up in her bed, eyes locked on Loki in the darkness.
"Did I wake you?" he asked. He set her ID down on the nightstand beside bed.
"You were gone for a while," she reminded him.
He knew there was no point in lying to her. "I was giving Thanos what he wanted."
"You know you shouldn't have done that without backup," she reminded him.
He sat down on the edge of the bed. "You will be glad to know that he lacks the power to break free."
She raised a brow. "And doesn't that upset him?"
"I told him that it would show weakness to come after his targets whilst they were asleep." He smiled and reached out to touch her face. "I've also convinced him that the Tesseract's power has been absorbed into him."
"You better hope he doesn't see through you," she warned him as she grabbed her phone.
His hand covered up the screen, filtering away the light that had illuminated the dark. "You should be asleep."
"After I message this to Fury." She brushed his hand aside and sent Fury a lengthy text summing up what Loki had told her.
Loki accompanied her in the bed and waited her to finish. When she set her phone aside, he pulled her against him and they soon fell asleep.