2 Interlude Loki
Loki felt he was ripped out of his body.
His astral body was in the realm of Thanos. Loki remembered having nightmares about this place. A world without hope. He remembered kneeling before Thanos' throne, making promises faithfulness to him. Promising the conquest of Midgard. Promising to deliver the Tesseract, the key to other worlds. Worlds full of beings to sacrifice for death. He remembered grabbing the scepter and then being among the mortals. For a moment he didn't even know where was he been. It was only Director Fury's words that snapped him out of this daze.
Loki stepped closer.
On the throne sat Thanos himself in golden armor. Proud and majestic. And before the throne was standing furious The Other.
"You have failed, Asgardian! The entire army is destroyed! You lost! ”The Other screamed.
Loki didn't want to be afraid. He defeated The Time Keepers. Beings a hundred times worse than Thanos and The Other. However, he could not contain the fear. It seemed to flow over his body. The Time Keepers didn't torture him until he almost lost his mind. He still remembered the warmth radiating from his forehead to his feet. As if he were drowning in the hot lava of Muspelheim. Loki's face grew impassive. He couldn't show fear.
Loki approached to throne of Thanos. As a King of Asgard(for a while, when his father was sleeping). As God of Mischief and God of Stories who has in hand every story. As creature who killed The Time Keepers. Thanos was only their pawn. Yet felt shake of the ghostly hand of Thanos almost grabbed his throat. It was a different life. Life under the grip of The Time Keepers. And they are dead. Loki is free.
Loki had to be brave. If it wasn't for his TVA adventure, he would never have thought he could beat Thanos. The most likely plan would be faking one's own death and living as someone else entirely. That was the only way he could be sure Thanos would not find him. And yet Loki now he knew Thanos was nothing compared to The Time Keepers.
So why was he still afraid?
A cruel smile adorned Loki's mouth. He might be afraid. However, that didn't mean he had stopped plotting.
"Great Thanos. Why do I have the pleasure of talking to you?" Loki made a royal bow.
"Loki. I must admit you were always the most wayward of my children. Your invasion failed, you lost your scepter and you failed to bring a tesseract," Thanos replied.
"Well, I still have the tesseract in my hand," Loki replied.
"But you're not going to give it back, are you?" Thanos asked.
"What if I am?" Loki replied.
"And what do you want for it? Our contract included your rule over Earth and a tesseract for me. But you lost," Thanos replied.
"I'll give you a tesseract, great Thanos. I only have one request," Loki replied.
"And what is it?" Thanos asked.
"Let me, great Thanos, redeem myself in your eyes," Loki replied.
"How will you do it?" Thanos asked.
"In the only possible way. I will become King of Midgard, as I promised you, and I will sacrifice you some of my subjects as intended as a sacrifice for death," replied Loki.
"You don't have an army. And I won't give you another one to lose," Thanos replied.
"I don't need an army. You know I'm a cheat and I can gain power that way. But I want something smaller," Loki replied.
"Oh?" Thanos asked.
" The Other's Head," said Loki.
The Other attacked Loki's throat. But Thanos laughed and allowed Loki to kill his servant. Loki summoned his daggers. He stabbed The Other like he was insane. Maybe he was even a little. In one clean move, Loki cut his head off him and put it in his dimensional pocket. After a moment, he had tesseract in his hand.
He fell to his knees and handed the tesseract to Thanos, and the Titan looked closely at it and checked to see if it was real.
"Go, Loki. Retrieve my scepter and take power. You have received my forgiveness," Thanos replied.
Loki returned to his body. Dawn has come. Peter was still asleep, and he still didn't know where Sylvie was.
He was still shaking from what had just happened.
Most importantly, the first step of his plan was successful.
Time for the next step.
Loki pulled out another tesseract. He had to find Sylvie. Playing cat and mouse with Thanos is very dangerous. He had to keep her and Peter safe. Loki appeared in The Stark Tower. He might have guessed. Cameras. Sylvie didn't know how to be invisible. He had to teach her that as soon as possible. Sylvie was sitting on the couch. Mjolnir was resting on her body. Her eyes were empty. Just like before. She was stuck in a memory. Her mouth was open as if in a silent scream.
Loki touched her lightly and began to sing.
What can you expect
From filthy little heathens?
Their whole disgusting race is like a curse
Their skin's a hellish red
They're only good when dead
They're vermin, as I said
And worse
They're savages! Savages!
Barely even human
Savages! Savages!
Drive them from our shore!
They're not like you and me
Which means they must be evil
We must sound the drums of war!
Sylvie's eyes seemed to glow with awareness again.
"You know I hate this song!" Sylvie shouted, hitting Loki on the shoulder.
"That's why I knew it would work," Loki replied.