So Loki and his posse went down the list, convincing them one by one with his testimony and that of his friends.
"Of course I'll help." Clea said. "All those variants of the same person will no doubt risk incursions everywhere they go."
"Count me in!" Captain Marvel agreed. "We can't let universes of innocents get caught up in a war that huge, and you seem like a noble person to protect them all for so long, Loki."
"Thank you; it's no simple task, so I need as many allies as I can gather!"
"Oh, no way!" Rhodey shook his head and dismissively waved his hand. "You're trusting the guy who brought Thanos and his freaky alien lackeys to this planet in the first place to lead the good guys in another intergalactic war? No thank you, goodbye, and good luck!"
"Rhodey, Loki was a pawn in Thanos's game, and Thor and I believe he's genuinely sorry." Bruce explained. "Heck, all of us have had our own inner demons, mistakes and misdeeds in our lives we're not proud of, but we make up for those mistakes, and we learn and grow from them. Let's give Loki the same chance."
"He's right." Sam Wilson concurred. "As my old friend Steve would say, everyone deserves a second chance, and I've been learning myself there's sometimes a lot more to people than what we see on the surface."
"Now you're starting to sound like him too." Bucky groaned. "But you make a good point."
Rhodey facepalmed and sighed. "I must be losing my edge... alright, alright, you get one chance before we lock your sassy Asgardian butt in the dungeons, got it?"
"That's all I require. Thank you."
"So, where in New York do we find this man of spiders?" Loki asked as they searched around.
"Wherever there's a neighbor crime, there's your friendly neighborhood Spiderman." Dr. Strange answered. "Which, in this city, should happen right... about... now!"
They heard an alarm go off, but before the burglar could get far, a stream of sticky webs wrapped him up, and he tripped and fell on his face while the arachnid-themed hero returned the jewels to their rightful owner.
"Spiderman, we'd like an exclusive with you." Doctor Strange addressed him.
"Doctor Strange, Thor, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and... Loki!? What's going on?" Spiderman asked. "Is this an Avengers test? Do I have to beat you and Loki at wizard's chess?"
"Hilarious, but no. There's no test, and we might not know each other well enough, but we need your help to save the multiverse. I do remember you have some experience with that." Stephen Strange recalled.
"Oh yeah, for sure. But, is he... Mr. Loki, are you on our side?"
"Indeed I am. I've changed, and I'm not the same Loki who threatened your city. I apologize for doing so; I was angry, and I was wrong."
"You've reformed, that's awesome! Yeah, I'm in! Oh, but there's someone else I know who could help: he's got hyped up senses on par with mine, plus he's a really good lawyer!"
"Excellent, bring him over!"
"You want me to help you save the world?" Daredevil asked them. "As an Avenger?"
"Why not?" Spiderman replied. "I fight crime during the day, you fight crime at night, we'd make a perfect team!"
"Actually, that sounds more like a conflict in schedule, but if it's to save worlds full of people, I can put off my day job for a bit. I'll help you fight, but I'm not going to kill anyone: it's still against my principles."
"Yeah, same here. Thanks, man!"
When they reached the next member on their list, they were surprised to discover that he already knew their opponent when they filled him in on his mission.
"That was you two who stopped the He Who Remains variant in the adjacent realm?" B-15 summarized.
"The Quantum Realm: that's what we call it." Hope corrected. "And he called himself Kang the Conqueror."
"So he wasn't bluffing... there really is an army of him... great." Scott moaned. "So, you said you're the Loki from the time heist?"
"I am. And you're a professional thief, correct?"
"Yeah, but I steal to help people. You've heard of the legendary Hank Pym, inventor of the Pym Particles? He hired me personally to steal from the Avengers before they recruited me to fight... well, each other. But then I sorta helped them get back together, so it's all good. And you can guess what I stole from Tony Stark, back during that time heist?"
"His picnic lunch, I presume, man of ants?" Loki teased.
"No, the Tesseract, smart aleck."
"No, I stole the Tesseract..." Loki gestured to B-15. "And then she stole it from me."
"But I was the one who kicked it to Tony, before the Hulk sent it skidding over to you." Scott insisted. "So I guess our little mistake worked out for the best?"
"Anyway, how did come across this Kang variant?"
"Well, my daughter Cassie invented this amazing device..."
But a short dark-haired man interrupted his friend's recollection. "Don't worry, Scott, I got this!"
"No, that's okay, Luis, I can tell him."
"Nah, Bro, he needs all the details, I can tell! Okay, so I wasn't there when it happened, but here's what happened: so it was after Scott built that time machine and saved the world, and he wrote a book on all the times he and Hope saved the world! I mean, it's a really good book, really inspiring, like about what everyday folks can do to make the world a better place. Like my cousin Ernesto, he came up to me and was all like, 'Hey man, I was reading this book your bff Scott wrote, and it saved my marriage, man!' And I was like-"
"Luis, focus on Kang!" Scott interrupted.
"Right right, I'm getting there! But Scott's daughter Cassie, she's a teenager now, so she's going through all those angsty feelings, and she gets locked up by the fuzz, so Scottie goes to break her out, and Cassie's all like, 'Yo, why you writing books and kissing babies when I'm out sticking it to the man, like you used to do?'"
"And Scott's all like, 'Girl, I'm too old for that biz, I finally got outta house arrest, and my girlfriend isn't giving me the angry eyes anymore, I wanna chill!' But then, they all get shrunk down super super small to the place where Hope's mom got trapped!"
Loki and his friends exchanged silent, baffled glances as Luis continued.
"Janet, that's Hope's mom, she gets all panicked, and she's like, 'We gotta get big again, because the tinyworld is where all my jealous ex boyfriends live!'"
"And Hank's all like, 'Daaaaayum, how many ex boyfriends?'"
"And she's all, 'Only two, and the first guy you don't have to worry about, but the second guy has crazy anger management issues, and when chicks dump him, he blows up timelines and stuff, and his name is Kang!'"
Loki blinked. "…Okay, but how did you-"
"So Hank's like, 'Aw no dog, I gotta call in the ant brigade!'" Luis went on. "And this army of Planet of the Apes level intelligent ants save Scott when Kang threatens him and his daughter, and after that, Scott and Hope pump him full of blaster fire until his own technology swallows him before it blows up! But before Kang explodes, he's all, 'Joke's on you, Scott, I got a bazillion evil twins everywhere in existence, and without me, they're gonna destroy everything!'"
"That… sounds like what he told me." Loki recalled.
"And Scott thought he and his family were safe after that, until his ex-boss from Baskin Robbins tries to poison them with that nasty rainbow-barf birthday cake!"
Scott nodded. "Baskin Robbins never forgets."
"I told you, Bro! You've should've gotten one of those Blizzard Cakes from Dairy Queen, those are the bomb!"
"Ahm… right. And have you encountered any of these Kangs since?" Loki asked.
"No, like I said, I wasn't sure he was telling the truth, but I am now." Scott replied. "I've got to finish what I started."
"What we started." Hope joined in. "We're in this together until he's gone for good."
Loki sighed. "Alright, where to now?"
"Can I vote for Dairy Queen?" Mobius requested. "I'm suddenly in the mood for ice cream."
"Let's settle for London." Sylvie suggested. When they arrived, he knocked on the door of a messy apartment, which was answered by a man with dark curly hair.
"Good morning, can I help you lot?"
"Are you Marc Spector?"
"No, sorry, this is Steven Grant. You've got the wrong apartment. Anyway, good luck finding him, later gators!" Steven hastened to shut the door, but Loki and Stephen Strange both kept it open with telekinesis.
"We mean you no harm, but we're in need of Khonshu's power; this universe and countless others are in danger. By the way, my name's also Stephen: strong name."
"We're not Khonshu's avatars anymore."
"One of you is." Strange put a hand on his head, telekinetically showing him a scene of his third persona killing a defenseless Arthur Harrow in a limousine, with Khonshu in the back. "He sure looks like you, and I'd bet that guy would be pleased as punch to join us in battle."
Steven Grant's eyes widened, and he paused. "...And if we were to contact him... what if he... what if they all refuse?"
"It's up to you, Mr. Grant." Loki responded. "Each of you individually has a choice: we won't force you to fight alongside us, but if you wish to prevent the destruction of everything you care about, it would serve your best interest to join us."
"Right... no pressure then. Can we have some time to think it over?"
"Of course." As Steven closed his door, they heard him begin to argue the case with a voice they couldn't hear, concerning everyone but Bruce Banner.
Next they went to recruit Gi'ah after tracking down the new Skrull residence, who only agreed to join them if her people were threatened, and Namor, who responded similarly.
Bucky helped them get into Wakanda peacefully, and they told Shuri the situation. "Of course. Wakanda is always ready to fight for those in need of protection, and my brother would have done the same. The Dora Milaje and our sister tribes are at your service, and my good friend Riri is as well!"
"Wonderful, it looks like we have our army!"
However, in that very moment five identical men, mostly wearing variations of purple cloaks and armor, watched Loki recruit his army from a remote location, the feedback playing live from their nanotechnology.
"Ah, he's bringing the Avengers back together..." The Kang in Egyptian armor assessed. "How very predictable."
"Predictable for anyone else." The cybernetic Kang corrected him. "But for a Loki... even his simple clown of a brother doesn't trust him."
The third in green and purple smirked. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, fellow Kangs?"
"I am." The Kang in a business suit replied. "We can use his own treacherous nature to break up their merry band of do-gooders before he ever earns that trust."
"And when L1130 is all alone again, even with his own time manipulation powers, he will be the first to fall..."
"Without his control of time to help them, the others will fall in turn…"
"And the Kang Dynasty will rise!" The lead Kang in an indigo robe, with gold armor underneath and rectangular headdress, finished. "Kangs, alert the council; the war begins today!"