Chapter 1
Loki stirred. Everything hurt. What had happened to him? The last thing he could remember was…
He opened his eyes. Nose to nose with him was a bald blue girl with a metal eye. Before he could blink, the girl rose and turned around.
“He’s awake. Shall we take him to Father?”
Loki took in his surroundings quick as lightning. He was in a cell, that much he knew. He thought he was on a ship, but he couldn’t be sure. He reached for a dagger and found none. They had searched him. Silently, thinking quickly, he rose up and punched the girl in the back of the head. She stumbled, but recovered her balance and turned around. Shock paralyzed Loki. Her skin was metal. She growled a battle cry and punched him. He nearly fell down, but stood his ground. He sized her up. Just as he was deciding to take her on in a fight, another girl stepped out from behind her. She shocked him even more than the blue girl did. The mechanical girl was Kree, he knew that. The other had black and pink hair and green skin. She had silver markings on her face. She was a Zen-Whoberis. Her species was supposed to be dead.
“Who are you?” He asked her. The blue girl spoke.
“We are children of Thanos. You soon will be, too.”
Loki looked to the blue girl. He blinked.
“Who?”
She snarled but said nothing more. The Zen-Whoberis handcuffed him and walked out of the room. Loki stood still. The Kree prodded him in the back with a knife.
“Move.” She demanded. He followed the girl.
She led him through many corridors. Loki still wasn’t sure if he was on a ship or not. There were rooms that made him think he was on a ship. There were rooms that made him think he was in a palace. Then they were in what looked like a shuttle bay. The three of them stepped into a small room. The windows opened and Loki saw that he was, indeed, in space. He saw the massive ship he had been held captive in, and he saw the planet they were descending to. It wasn’t a long trip, and it wasn’t a large planet. It seemed like small asteroids held together with bars of metal. He saw a courtyard, a throne, and many steps. The ship landed near these steps and the girls forced him off the ship and up the stairs. From what he saw of the planet, Loki figured they were leading him to the throne courtyard. He was alone, without the protection or companionship of his brother. He hated to admit it, but he was scared. He was already regretting his decision to let go of the staff, and with each step he took, that regret and fear intensified. With every second that passed, he missed Thor more and more.
Finally they were at the crest of the planet, and the end of the stairs. Their destination had been the large courtyard, and at the far end of the courtyard was a floating, stone throne.
The girls led Loki to the ground in front of the throne. Only now, Loki noticed a hooded figure that stood off to the side, because it approached. It bowed to the girls. The Kree girl spoke,
“We have brought the prisoner, Father.”
“Good.” The voice didn’t come from the hooded figure, and at the voice, it retreated to the shadows once again. The voice seemed to come from everywhere, but Loki knew instinctively where it truly came from. The throne slowly turned around, and he saw who was king of this darkness.
Loki was fifteen hundred years old. He had been taught magic by his mother and fought in bloody and gruesome wars with his brother and friends. Nothing he had seen before had instilled this much fear in him. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t speak. He had been taught his mother’s magic.
And he knew. He already knew.
The enthroned figure smiled menacingly.
“Son.” He said.
“Kneel.” The Kree hissed. Loki did the only thing he could think to do, because he was missing Thor so desperately.
“No.” he said.
The other girl kicked him in the back of the knee and he fell to the floor.
“Don’t be so harsh on him, daughter. He has done nothing wrong.”
Both the girls stepped away from him. Loki didn’t move, but stared up at the figure. Despite the feigned benevolence, Loki knew deep in his blood that this man made Laufey seem a kind and caring father.
“What is your name, son?”
Loki didn’t answer. The man smiled,
“I know far more about than you think, Loki of Asgard.”
Loki didn’t speak.
“I know you’re more lost than you’ve ever been in your life. I know you miss your brother and mother desperately.”
The man’s tone wasn’t mocking. At the same time, it felt like he was ripping away every piece of armor Loki had built up around himself. The man continued,
“I know you’re scared.” He leaned forward, “Whether or not you believe it, this shows your wisdom rather than your weakness.”
Loki stared up at the man. He could now see directly into his eyes, and though it made him ache and shaky, he kept eye contact with the Titan. He could see that now, in his eyes. He was a Titan. Though what kind of mutated, twisted Titan, he didn’t know.
“What do you want?” Loki asked. His voice sounded much smaller and more scared than he would have liked. The man smiled an almost warm smile and leaned back into the shadows.
“What do you want, Loki? I want to give you what you want.”
“Then let me go.”
The man chuckled,
“You’re free to go.”
Loki stood abruptly, and his shoulders fell. The Titan had him trapped. He couldn’t get back to Asgard. He didn’t even know where he was. The titan watched him wrestle with his thoughts, amused. Finally he spoke,
“I’m offering you a home, Loki, a family. This is a place where you will be considered an equal, where you will be loved and cared for by your siblings. You’ve already met Gamora and Nebula, two of my daughters. I saved them just as I saved you.”
Loki looked at the Titan. He knew the subtext. He was implying that Loki was indebted to him. But love for Thor burned inside Loki. He balled his fists and turned to the man, squaring his shoulders.
“Why.”
This time the titan stayed silent. Loki continued,
“You would not save me without a purpose.”
“You were an innocent child.” The man said. Loki chuckled,
“I’ve heard that before.”
The titan smiled,
“I am not as weak as Odin, son.”
“Really?” Loki laughed again, “You don’t seem so different from him.”
“You hold your tongue!” Nebula lashed out at Loki and threw her knife at him. Loki caught it.
“Stop!” The titan stood. Nebula and Loki stood down.
“He does not know what he says.” He descended the platform until he was in the courtyard.
“He does not know my purpose. And even he, who has suffered the brunt of so many of Odin’s lies, even he does not how deep they go.”
Loki frowned. What was that supposed to mean? The titan didn’t elaborate. He said,
“Loki, I could show you knowledge of the Tesseract, of the infinity stones.”
“You seek the infinity stones?”
He didn’t answer. Loki continued,
“Why?”
“To fulfill my purpose, my destiny.”
“And what is that?”
“To bring balance to the universe.”
Loki blinked. The titan continued,
“Loki, you cannot understand time like I do. You have hardly begun to live, but I have watched worlds die. I watched my own world die. Child, this universe is finite. Its resources are finite, and life continues to grow unchecked. Think of your own world. Asgard will run out of food, of housing, of land. But your people will continue to breed like cockroaches. Soon everyone will be starving. What will your children do then?”
Loki found himself reciting the words of his father.
“This light is not eternal. It had a dawn as it will have a dusk. This world was not made to endure eternity.”
“Small words from a child, reciting what he has been trained to say.”
“Why should that mean it is all lies?”
“What if you are there when the dusk of the light falls?”
Loki shrugged,
“I’ll die.”
The titan continued as if he hadn’t spoken,
“I mean to correct the universe’s path to extinction. If I had all six infinity stones, I could simply snap my fingers, and half of all life would cease to exist.”
Loki stared. Half of all life in the universe.
“Who are you?” He breathed.
“I am Thanos.”
“Father.” Nebula spoke, “The Maw has arrived with the scepter.”
“Loki. Join our family.”
“No!” The words left Loki’s mouth before he could think about what he was saying. But he meant it.
“No. No, you will never own me, Thanos, titan of insanity!”
“Who are you to speak to him this way!” Nebula bellowed. Loki whirled around. He gripped the knife he still had.
“I am the god of mischief.” He disappeared. Chaos broke loose, and Loki grinned. This was what he knew. Thanos and his children scrambled around trying to find him, but he slipped through their grasp and dashed down the staircase. He ran into another hooded figure, but dodged hitting him on the way down. He boarded the ship at the base of the stairs and flew away from the planet.
That had been the plan. Instead, Loki smashed right into the figure coming up the stairs and the sisters heard the commotion. Before Loki could get away, the Maw had the scepter around him, holding him trapped to the floor.
“What shall we do with him, Father?” Nebula asked.
“Put him back in his cell. We’ll convince him later.”