"Now Loki comes, cause of all ill!

Men and Aesir curse him still.

Long shall the gods deplore,

Even till Time be o'er,

His base fraud on Asgard's hill."

Valhalla (J.C. Jones).

This soldier, the man out of time, was making it far too easy for Loki to beat him up. He knew he had to get captured eventually, but it was just too easy to fling him and that ridiculous shield down. And would Loki have to be the one to tell Captain America that his outfit was gaudy and completely outlandish? When, suddenly a strange mortal, loud, song played around him, and he heard the sound of thrusters. Then, there was a flash of light and energy and Loki was flying backwards, and landed hard against the stone steps.

"Make a move, Reindeer Games." Iron Man had stepped forward bristling with all kinds of technological weapons.

Loki almost laughed, but he did his best to look absolutely intimidated by the mortal in a suit of armor. He sat up and put his hands up and dissolved his Asgardian attire, transforming it into still regal, yet more functional and a little less menacing clothes.

"Good move." commented Iron Man. He put down his hands and the weapons dropped back into his armor. Bad move. Loki thought, if he wanted to escape he could have. If he wanted to kill them, he could have. It would have been so easy, far too easy for his taste. He had yet to play with them. Mess with their fragile psyches and render them incapable of stopping him. The beast he needed to unleash was wherever they would take him. They had only themselves to blame for giving him the opportunity. After all, they had found and brought the monster.

Meanwhile, it appeared that Tony Stark and Rogers were having their very first meeting. "Captain." Stark said. "Mr. Stark." Rogers responded.

The large, black, helicopter landed there in front of the opera house, and the soldier and Stark marched him into it.

Loki knows who the woman is who is in the helicopter, Agent Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow. Barton, Hawkeye, has told him so many things about her. Wonderful things, and absolutely delicious secrets. These humans, pitiful creatures that they are, are capable of so much violence and horrific murder, but they always think that they can change their fate. They think that they can become a better person by pretending to repent.

("And you think that saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything?")

Agent Romanoff was radioing in to Nick Fury, "We've got him."

"He saying anything yet?" Fury asked.

"Not a word." Romanoff responded.

"Just get him back here." Fury ordered. "We're running low on time."

"I don't like this." Captain America turned to Iron Man, "It's never been this easy."

"What? Rock of ages giving up so quickly?" Stark shot back.

Loki smiles inwardly, now they finally realize that something is amiss? Poor, sad, tiny mortals. Poor, little ants.

Once again, it would be very easy to simply destroy them, right here, and they would never even have a chance to save this pathetic planet or form their wretched team. Rogers and Stark were obviously in an argument right then, the entire team couldn't work together, they never had a chance and most of them can't even put aside their egos.

Thunder boomed in the sky and lightning flashed across dark clouds. A tempest roared about them, high up in the air. A storm was brewing. Loki stiffened, his brother was coming here, fast and soon.

He sat up, wide eyed.

"What's wrong? You afraid of a little lightning?" Captain America asked, turning to look back at Loki.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki said pleasantly. Really, he was not at all fond of what was about to happen. And he could see this coming from leagues away.

There was a loud thud of something landing on top of the helicopter, Iron Man opened up the carrier ("What are you doing?" Rogers was asking), and immediately, Thor landed and Loki processed his rage in his eyes as Thor slammed back Iron Man and grabbed Loki by his neck, whisking him off into the stormy, dark sky.

Really, it was all sentiment.

All of it.

He knew what Thor longed for, he longed for bright, happy days that never really existed. Days that were no more real than the illusions Loki created.

"I remember a shadow." He had told Thor.

Decades and centuries of living in Thor's shadow had slowly changed Loki into this, at least partially. But, it had been that one being in space who had showed him real power.

It had felt like he had fallen for more than ten of his lifetimes. All the nine realms could have burned and Loki had this horrible feeling that he would have never known and he would have kept falling until all the worlds had turned to dust. It had been so cold and so dark. He wasn't even aware he had stopped falling for a brief reprieve. His clothes in tatters and his face gaunt and his eyes sunken in, Loki looked like what he was: an exile.

Wherever he was, he was surrounded by stars and they glittered all around him, blinded by their brilliance, the being turned and faced Loki. It turned and looked at him. That emotion that he had not felt in a while came rushing up, cold fear and terror of something very old and very malevolent. It examined him, like a bug collector looking at an mildly interesting specimen, and it finally determined that Loki had some worth. But, what did he care? If this monster wanted to kill him, he would not bother trying to stop him. It would be a monster killing another monster, and that is just poetic justice.

"I have a plan, Asgardian." It spoke in an ancient tongue, but still in an understandable one.

"Will you help?" It sneered at him. Loki had doubted he had a choice, but angering this beast, he supposed, could be his last defiant act.

"I will do nothing for you, foul creature." His voice was small, cracked, and hoarse after such a long disuse. It was more of a whisper, really.

It smiled.

And Loki burned. It was agony and so much of it all at once, it tore the breath out of him, and he just wanted it to stop. This thing was torturing him into madness and he was sure that his skin was being peeled away, slowly and it was just too much to bear.

It ended.

Loki's breaths came in heaving gasps.

"I will give you power and the Earth will be yours to conquer."

Loki tasted blood in his mouth, he had bitten his tongue.

"What makes you think I want the Earth? I don't want anything from you, either. You might as well kill me."

The monster bent down and seized his throat in a vise grip. With the other hand, he touched Loki's chest at the point where his heart was.

Things began to slide in and out of focus. Colors blended together and bright blue and red hues swam around the edge of his vision. Loki's eyes were filled with visions of the Tesseract, and he knew his glorious purpose.

"And I will kill you, in due time." His master promised him.

"Thank you. I am indebted to you." Loki bowed low.

"Now, you will join the Chitauri, you will tell no one but them of my presence, now leave, would-be King."

Loki bowed again and left the realm of Thanos.