Chapter 13: Voices of the mind

It started as a typical day.

Or at least, it should have been a typical, ordinary day - a day like any other day.

It should have been a wonderful day of scheming and dreaming of all the glory he soon would obtain. It was a simple plan, play distraction for the simpletons, and then the grand victory would be within his reach. And yet, there was a pain shooting through Loki now was almost unbearable.

Loki tried not to let it show on his face, and so far, he had succeeded in that particular matter. Not that anyone would care to notice what was going on with him anyway, they had all made that painfully clear the last time he had seen his so-called family, and he had never really had any friends among the Asgardians. Perhaps he had played a little too rough with them in his childhood? But they were all weaklings anyway.

Although, the fact that he had magic and chose it as his primary weapon had put his very existence at the bottom of the food chain from the beginning. It had always been acceptable to treat him however people liked - he was fair game - even Odin had turned away from him; he had never been good enough. Never worthy of any kind word or praise. Never anything like Thor.

Pain shot through him again, making Loki's whole frame stiffen; his face was painted with a blank expression, and it felt like a small piece of his soul was slowly dying inside of him. As if someone were plucking the petals out from a flower, counting their blessings with every pull.

He knew this feeling; how could he ever forget? It was the feeling of love that had become a lost cause, the joy he once had felt like a ray of hope and sunshine becoming a burning agony that scorched his already broken soul - begging him to break down. To crumble underneath the darkness that was threatening to overtake his mind.

But he tried to hold it in, not letting go of the last bit of control he had in this entire situation, yet it was getting harder and harder as he felt the pain crawl up inside his chest. Loki took a deep breath subconsciously. Sometimes he wondered what the point of even trying was. The darkness before his eyes started to swirl around like it was alive. Dancing as the humans on the other side of the glass cage milled around like tiny ants.

Honestly, Loki couldn't remember when everything had all started going wrong; he didn't remember when he had stopped eating unless someone reminded him or forced the food into his hands. He couldn't remember when everything had started to turn into ash in his mouth. Once, his memory had been flawless; now... Now he had trouble distinguishing between what was real and what was only in his head.

A blue light shimmered over his field of view and then disappeared again. Did it matter? It had all started a long time before Thanos walked into his life with a hard to refuse the offer of power and world domination. But it was like he was missing something, something important, and Loki could not for the life of him remember what it was; every time he tried, it slipped through his fingers like water. It was like it had been cut from his very soul, and no matter what he did, nothing could fill the void that was eating up his soul.

Loki knew that he was broken, broken with betrayal, broken with distrust, and most of all, broken with the burning hate for a foe he could no longer remember. It was like the pieces no longer fitted together, almost like someone had used a burning dagger to sever him from reality, like a rotten branch of a tree that no longer was needed.

And it hurt.

The cold, biting feeling that nipped at his lungs and the stabbing in his heart spread pain through his body. It took everything he had to try and maintain the act he had so carefully laid out for everyone to see, and they all had swallowed it - hook, line, and sinker. But he could not, for the love of everything good in the world, remember what had happened. It felt like he was at the breaking point, the darkness now crawling inside of him.

Loki felt the hatred that was burning inside his chest grow even more, like an unstoppable wildfire. No one had ever noticed how much pain he was in; no one cared. To have the world go grey, to feel neither pain nor pleasure, to lose all concept of reality. It made him feel hollow, and everything was going right through him like a shadow of his imagination.

Sometimes it was like he could hear a voice that called his name, lulled him with a sense of wholeness, promised him that everything would be alright. But everything felt thick, muffled and it never got any better.

But that was then.

This is now.

Now he had a new purpose, something that made him feel alive, even if anger and hatred were what was driving him. Loki could feel the heat scorch his veins and make his frozen heartbeat once again, scaring away all the other useless feelings. They were worthless anyway.

Loki would show them all what he could do; he would show them that he was indeed a more fitting king than that fool Thor could ever be. He would show them that he was more than an empty shell they all had thrown away like a broken toy.

He would even be a greater king than Odin ever had been, and then he would be able to feel everything. That old fool that called himself king was growing more and more senile by the day and was getting neglectful of his duties. Loki knew that people were afraid to speak or stand up against the old king, fearful for their lives if they stepped out of line.

No one wanted to be the one to tell the great All-father that he needed to step down from his golden throne. A throne that he had built on blood and riches from all over the nine realms. Odin was the god of war, and he had earned that title, even if all any outsider that visits Asgard would ever see was its beautiful culture and architecture.

No one would ever wonder where all the gemstones and gold that the buildings were made from initially came from. And if they did, they probably wouldn't care; Loki had no idea which was worse, honestly. Odin used to call it spoils of war, his right as the conqueror of the realm he had taken over. Loki sneered in his mind at the mere thought. What did that make him then? Had Odin seen him as a spoil of war?

The thought haunted Loki more than he wanted to admit. As a mere infant, he had been taken from his homeworld and thrown into a false reality, a make-believe reality. Not even his mother was who she said she was; he should probably stop seeing her as such. Loki would never admit it out loud, but the idea of denouncing his mother hurt. And then the real pain started again, crashing through his mind and body almost to the point of making him beg for it all to go away. For it all to end.

Almost, but not entirely.

There was fear inside of him, a fear that he could not place, and it was all circulating alongside the black hole that swirled around inside his chest, a blue hue clinging to it. This burden, this darkness, was a danger that Loki would carry inside himself at all times. He needed to accept that. It had always frightened him, so he had tried to bury it deep under sweet words and jokes for as long as he could remember.

Lately, the darkness had found its way through the cracks in his dreams, the pure lure of power pulsed in his veins as he thought of what the blue color of his magic meant. Like a whisper of alluring power so deep and dark, it threatened to drown the world in its emptiness. That power was now dripping from Loki's long and pale fingers like honey.

He was a god capable of bringing humankind peace, and they would know the sweet relief of never having their own free will. Never knowing what it felt like to have to choose between two necessary evils. He would relieve them of that burden. A twinge of pain shot through Loki'sad, and a flash of blue invaded his vision, deepening the darkness only to disappear the next second.

Loki tilted his head to the side as a sudden movement caught his attention, and he had to admit that he, for a second, had forgotten about the one-eyed and dark-skinned man that was standing right before him, looking smug over 'catching him.' Loki held back a snort over their pettiness; he had walked into this glass container of his own free will; he was precisely where he wanted to be.

The dark-skinned man on the other side of the glass wall was now at the end of his so-called speech and walked away with nicely withheld irritation and his cape billowing behind him after a few well - placed jabs from Loki's side. He found it funny how humans could be so blind to their greed. They were mere fools for their faults, and they sought power without knowing the consequences.

They were small children playing with fire. And in this case, they wanted the tesseract. Loki would gladly show them their error in their ways, all in due time.

Suddenly, there was a cold fear coursing through his body, different from earlier, as if there were a considerable threat right in front of him, but the only thing he saw was metal and glass and nothing else. Even so, he could feel the tingling of magic traveling over his cold skin. He wanted to push the fear away, but at the same time, his heart was racing at the prospect of new magic. If only he knew where it came from.

Loki felt around with his magic, finding a connection he ever remembered feeling before. However, he didn't feel anything threatening through it; it was just there like it had always been like it was a part of him. But how could he have missed it? How could he have missed it for all these years? Loki tugged on the connection, and suddenly there was a sinking feeling beneath his sternum as the feeling of fear grew.

It was like the fear was his, yet, it didn't belong to him. Loki blinked a few times at the unfamiliar emotions. As if he were possessed, there was a strong feeling to protect him from whatever evoked this feeling, but he couldn't figure out why he felt like this. It caught his interest. As there was nothing else to do, he pulled on the sensation, dragging it into himself, and poked and probed at it.

Loki could suddenly feel so much. He sucked in a breath between clenched teeth. He felt grief invade his body, his chest feeling like someone had squeezed it together, and for a second, the darkness in his vision flickered. Like the shadows were alive and trembling with excitement, greeting a long-lost friend.

Pain raced through him, and the feelings left behind a numbness that eluded him into nothing. Like an empty shell of what he once was, trying to remember something he had sealed away. But then again, Loki had never been someone to back down from a challenge that was staring right at him. And this was indeed a challenger worthy of his attention.

Loki stared at the glass cage he occupied; he showed none of the inner chaos and pain that whirled inside him while he was in there. He only stared forwards at the empty room they had left him in; it was a neat room indeed, but he was beginning to become bored and had only been here an hour.

The man of fury had swept away with his head held high and coat flying like a cape in his wake. It had been fun to toy with the man, but not overly so, as it could entertain him for a few minutes. The humans had no idea of ​​what was waiting for them, and Loki would love to enlighten them of their destiny, and he would gladly remind them of their place, but for now, he would play nice with the annoying, puny humans.

Loki took hold of the sensation of magic, the center of the fear, hurt, and pain that was leaking out. It was almost like his magic was trying to pull that something to him. He felt a sinking sensation in his chest again, and he forced his arms to remain behind his back so as not to attract attention. A longing together with sadness welled up inside of him in waves, his breath suddenly stopped, and it felt like a lump had formed behind his Adam's apple that bounced up and down almost painfully. He did not withdraw this time; it felt as if whatever was on the other side of this feeling could fill the void within him.

He needed to know what it was.

So, Loki did the only thing he could; he violently tugged on the connection and demanded the source of magic to come to him. When the sudden, dizzying feeling swept through him again, louder this time, he stopped in the middle of a step and stared at the transparent glass surface in front of him.

He couldn't see the creature very clearly at first, but the long black hair immediately caught his attention. The reflection was hunched down, almost as it was in pain and a small voice inside his mind whispered that it was probably because of him. Then again, it wasn't Loki's fault that the creature had caught his interest now, was it?

Slowly, the creature straightened up and looked around, and it was fascinating how the reflection could do something like that when it was stuck on a transparent surface with the grey metal in the background. But what made him lose his breath was the sparkling viridian green eyes that were wide open and now staring straight at him. How he could see the vibrant color of the reflection's eyes, he had no idea, magic probably.

A surprised and almost angry look shifted onto the reflection's delicate face. Loki ignored that look and felt how his magic sang inside of him, almost like the reflection was making him feel more at ease than anything he had ever come across. It was intriguing.

Loki let a charming smile fall over his lips. He couldn't feel any strange energy or magic surrounding the image, and yet, this was not a usual illusion. This was who had stirred all this emotion inside of him. He raised an elegant black eyebrow and took a slow step towards the reflection that watched him as intensely as he did it. The closer he got, the more of the black-haired reflection he could see, and a pleasant shiver went through his body.

The eyes of the black-haired reflection stared at him almost angrily; no, that wasn't right. Frustration, fear, irritation… and was that joy? Loki blinked in surprise at all the emotions thrown at him, and he felt how each feeling hit his already bruised body. Loki could see the man's mouth moving, but no word left his plump, red lips, yet somehow, he could still hear the words being spoken.

' Loki ... '

Loki stared at the reflection with a curious look. Interesting. He could feel that the creature originated from magic, and it wasn't something that radiated from this world. He had heard this voice before. It was the phantom he had heard before in that wasteland; how had it found him again? And more importantly, why was his magic singing in tune with the reflections?

' Well, met again, phantom. I see that you can finally show yourself to me this time. Didn't I tell you to be gone and not bother me? '

The reflection's eyes widened in surprise at Loki's reply, and he could see how the lips parted slightly in shock. ' You… you don't recognize me? '

Loki blinked, was that pain he heard in the phantom's voice? The mere thought made him wince; he did not like the pain in their voice. But why did he even care? None of this made any sense. The way the phantom spoke to him sounded like they knew each other, but he had no memories of ever meeting this gorgeous man before, and he would remember them. Right?

Loki tilted his head only slightly to the side; there was something familiar about the man. It was probably his eyes; Loki wondered how their eyes were compared to the gems of the realms. If they were gorgeous in his reflection, how would they be if he had the chance to stare into them with the phantom right in front of him.

' Not that I can remember, and trust me, I would remember someone like you, ' Loki spoke with a casual tone as he strolled closer to the glass pane and noticed that he was now looking down at the reflection. Being this close, he could now see the phantom's eyes narrowed in something that Loki alone could only describe as irritation, and it made the golden spots shine through in the green eyes.

Fascinating.

Loki mused over those eyes, and he had to admit, the intense look the phantom gave him made him smile; an amused feeling started to soothe his aching soul. He had always been proud of the ability to read people like an open book and make them dance to his tune. However, this phantom, no, this man, was something entirely different; he was an enigma that Loki had trouble reading.

'You know me, Loki, or more like you did know me….' The lips of the reflection didn't move this time, but his voice echoed within Loki as the phantom hesitated. 'did you hit your head or something?'

That made Loki's brows shoot up in surprise.

' I can promise you, dear phantom, that I would remember you if I had ever had the pleasure of meeting you before. And my head is nothing of your concern' Was the phantom insulting his memory? It was bad enough that Loki belittled himself over it. He didn't need a mere reflection pointing it out to him; it was infuriating.

Loki could feel how the phantom suddenly became incredibly... Nervous? Angry? Yes, it had to be anger he was feeling, and Loki tilted his head softly to the side and inspected the reflection, curious.

' I don't have time for one of your games, Loki. You can be however angry you want to be at me, but I need you to release me right now. I need to go back, or even better, tell me where the bloody hell you are and then send me back so I can find you. After that, then you can be as petty and angry as you want.'

Loki now looked amused at the mirror image. Did the phantom think he needed rescuing? 'Now, why would I do that, little one?'

However, it seemed as if the mirror image sensed his amusement, and something flashed in the reflection's gorgeous eyes, and then something changed inside of the phantom. Loki felt a cold shiver find its way down his spine as he could feel anger and determination leak from the phantom. The reflection suddenly raised one of his elegant eyebrows, challenging him for the control of the conversation.

' Because I asked you nicely? '

Something in the green eyes had changed completely, something sharp had stepped into the corner of his eye, and Loki had no idea if he would be excited by the pure challenge the reflection gave him or offended that he had stood up to him.

' hmm… no, ' Loki answered with a slight grin now on his lips, ' I don't believe I can do that, little one. '

' And why not? ' The Phantom crossed his arms over his well-sculptured chest in a blank action of disapproval. Loki accepted the challenge and let his magic open up a little bit more to the phantom, his heart skipping a beat over the raw sensation of emotion that invaded him.

' I'm incredibly bored, and you will serve as a good distraction at the moment until the next step of the plan is complete, 'And there was something else inside of Loki that suddenly was screaming at his mind—begging for attention. He needed the reflection to stay close, to hold the pieces of his soul together as they were threatening to shatter. He needed him to be there and never leave him, but the question was, why?

Loki could see how the viridian eyes grew a shade darker, and the man's brows drew closer. He wanted to laugh, but the feeling of irritation that filled him in the vicinity of the phantom made Loki hold back his chuckling. He could see how the phantom's forehead creased as something was bothering the magical being.

'Loki, where are you?' the voice was now more firm, serious, like an order.

'And yet again, why should I tell you that?' Loki's smug grin set off a nervous twitch in the reflection's brow, and it only made Loki want to provoke more reactions from the phantom. He was having fun.

' Oh? Should I take your refusal to answer as you don't know where you are? '

Wait, what? Loki felt his whole body stiffen as the reflection refused to stop in his taunting. He used that tone that triggered something inside of him, making the darkness in his sight close in around Lokis's mind.

'This is funny! Perhaps I was wrong. I guess you can't tell me because you can't remember The Phantom sighed. 'How disappointing, and here I thought you were smarter than this, you used to have such a good memory…'

Loki blinked, dumbfounded. His mind was racing on its own as he tried to come up with an answer. Was the reflection patronizing him? Mocking him? Yes, he realized, yes it was, and suddenly there was a new cold, freezing feeling leaping inside his chest. It cut out all the amusement he had been feeling. Loki did not like how feelings, neither his nor the phantom's, were bleeding through his magic, fuelling his negative emotion and eating away the peace he had for a moment felt.

A snarl formed on Loki's lips as the darkness thickened in his veins and the whispering in his mind cooed at him. Who was the phantom to even dare and try to taunt him, to talk back? The phantom was nothing! Nothing at all; he was like everyone else, looking down at him, waiting for a moment that Loki would turn his back, and then the phantom would stab him, like everyone else.

' You dare to mock me, a god? ' Loki snarled

The reflection looked at him now with a bored expression that made something snap in Loki's mind. There was no rational thought in his mind, thinking that maybe he had fallen right into the phantoms trap, only that this mere low-life of a reflection had dared to mock him!

' I dare; the question is if you dare to do anything about it, oh mighty God, ' The phantom taunted again.

Every word the phantom said made Loki's spine crawl, and he forced himself to blink slowly as he registered some of the terms. No, he didn't... He didn't want to. .... Loki could only stare at the reflection for a moment longer before snapping out of it. Dark energy started to swirl around him as small bolts of blue invaded his eyes.

The phantom stared at him, and Loki sneered at the image, but something else caught the god's eye. In a heartbeat, the trickster had zoomed in on the phantom's right wrist where something eerily familiar was peeking out, and a cold sensation flooded him. The phantom noticed and looked down at his arm before pulling the fabric up, revealing what had caught Loki's eye.

Loki could see a faint sea of ​​blue invaded by large golden dots, much like suns in the sky, and his finger twitched to take a better look at his own arm. But he ignored the impulse; the mark was dull, lifeless, ugly, and dead. He had no longer any feelings tower that mark, so he covered it up and ignored it. Loki felt how his whole body was now shaking, the longing in his chest made his breath hitch, but he refused to give in to the need. But why? Why was it so hard? Loki could not remember, but one thing he did know. It was nothing he ever wanted to have on his body; it wasn't pleasant, and it was a constant reminder of… of something…

'What? Too afraid to look at your own?' the phantom asked. ' to confirm who I am? '

The viridian eyes stared intensely into his own blue eyes. It was strange that the reflection even knew about that tattoo; Loki had no idea how that was possible because he had hidden it from everyone, even himself. Blue invaded his mind, and something happened, as though he had lost control over a part of his mind.

'you are a cower, Loki, The Phantom now sneered, lifting his chin, looking down at Loki with that stern expression. ' think for yourself for once in your life.'

' Are you asking if I'm brave enough? ' Loki questioned lowly with a dark snarl on his face, trying to dominate the conversation of their minds.

The reflection answered with a sneer of its own. ' No one is questioning your bravery, you bloody idiot, only your mind. '

Loki snapped, like a rubber band that had been stretched too far, and the backlash of the words hit something inside of Loki that he did not even know was there. Anger, pure, unfiltered rage. It had been held back before, but now, when a mere image, a phantom, had questioned his sanity, it was coming free. It was the last drop that made the already filled cup spillover.

"My mind?" Loki now asked aloud, with a cold low voice that sent shivers through everyone who heard it. Even the air around him had dropped several degrees as a fine layer of ice coated the ground.

"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY MIND!" Loki bellowed as he shot out with his magic as hard as he could against the link that was binding them together. Slamming it into his connection with the phantom, brutally and without mercy, he felt a twinge of satisfaction as the reflection gasped in pain with a hand at its chest.

The sudden burst of magic made the light flicker only for a second around him. The reflection shimmered, and he felt a twinge of smugness as he saw hurt flash over the phantom's face. It was a small victory, and yet it pained Loki more than he ever would admit.

' There is everything wrong with it! ' The reflection shouted back.

"What do you mean by that?" Loki sneered out loud as he saw how the reflection started to get more and more transparent, the magic that held them slowly together fading. Loki could almost hear a faint, I'm sorry, as the phantom disappeared. A sudden pang of pain hit Loki from nowhere, and he tried to get a hold of the phantom again, no, no, no, no, he couldn't lose him again. He pushed away everything he had been feeling for a second, and his face was suddenly broke into a desperate and haunted expression as he tried to strengthen the connection, but it was too late.

' Do not go, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I… no…don't leave me…' But as he met the now dimmed eyes of the phantom, he could not get the words out as the desperate feeling threatened to swallow him whole.

Then he was gone, and Loki let out a scream of frustration, pain, and desperation over what he had lost, with no idea ​​why it impacted him so. He needed to remember why, WHY was this phantom so important to him? What had he forgotten? Why could he not access whatever memories he knew were there? Because Loki could feel it, there was something wrong with his mind; he had denied it for a long time.

The phantom was right, yet he could not figure out what was wrong, what had happened. And that scared Loki, because there was nothing, nothing! That he could not figure out. There was nothing in his opinion that was wrong, yet he could feel it: the darkness, the sucking feeling, the emptiness.

His magic tried to grab hold of what was no longer there, and the darkness slowly closed in around him again. The darkness was whispering into his mind, a voice was there, and Loki tried to shut it out for a moment. He needed to find the Phantom, his Phantom, his other half. But the more he tried, the more the feeling started to slip past his fingers, like the most refined grains of sand, smooth and warm against his cold fingertips, as the dark voices began to gain a hold of him yet again, invading his mind. Loki could hear how they whispered to him, laughing, taunting him, telling how pathetic he was. Letting a simple reflection rile him up like this, pathetic, useless.

-It wasn't real; people are trying to fool you; they are playing with your feelings. -

Loki stared at the glass wall in front of him; dread filled him before anger started to blossom again.

- He wasn't telling the truth, but you still played right into their hands, and for what? A moment of satisfaction? For fun? -

The old, dark voice was now whispering in his brain. It was right; they had tried to make him lose his mind, but how could humans develop something like that? It had to be a trick of the mind, or was it perhaps his so-called family that was responsible for it? Who else knew of the tattoo?

-That's right, it was all a trick. The people are the reason that you have suffered, this is another one of their tricks, a mere illusion, and they almost had you. But you are not the master of illusions for nothing. -

That right, he is the god of illusions; Loki fisted his hands hard; the bones cracked as he felt how his magic started to leak out. He couldn't lose control of it, not yet; he still needed to gain some time to make this plan work. Then, only then, would the humans suffer. Only when there was no more use for them. He could wait. He was biding his time until the Humans were at their lowest, so he could step out and crush the last of their hope into oblivion.

-Yeees, - the voice hissed - Was it not the humans' side that Thor took instead of yours? He knows your weaknesses; he plays on them. He must be involved in this, and was not Midgard chosen by Odin before you fell off the bridge? You were never worth anything to him, to any of them. You are the runt of his arch-enemy, a spoil of war taken as a trophy. He raised you only to sacrifice you when you were no longer good for anything else -

The feelings of anger and betrayal that rose in him stung Loki, and he gave off a low breathtaking sound; it was true. People had begun to take on too much, believe too much, they no longer knew what peace was, inner peace, but he could give it to them. He could take their liberty and provide them with peace and freedom from difficult and painful decisions.

- It's just a trick; they're all lying. The humans are not worth anything, those who do not want to follow you must burn. They must be purged for their will -

Loki stared at his reflection, which now stared back at him. There was no phantom this time that stared back at him; the connection they had before was now silent like it had never been there at all, like a trick from the humans.

Loki's eyes glowed in a light blue color that he could see staring right back at him as a slow, sly grin bloomed on his lips. Yes, the humans would never know what hit them, not before it was too late for them to do anything.

Perhaps he should get a new pair of boots afterward when everything was done, and they were crushed underneath his feet.

.:*¨¨*:._ .:*¨¨*:._ .:*¨¨*:._ .:*¨¨*:._ .:*¨¨*:._ .:*¨¨*:._

The silence in the room was almost too much to bear as silence came in over the monitor.

They had all seen Fury's talk with the prisoner, how he had played it cool and not given anything out. It was as if Loki had enjoyed the whole situation, the wordplay. Making most of the observers uncomfortable, then Stark had walked in like he owned the place, taking their focus away from the monitor.

The mood was tense after Fury had come back, and a discussion broke out that Thor ignored. He looked away, not wanting to see his brother in the state he was now in. He was angry and frustrated.

Wherever he went and whatever he touched, chaos followed him. Honestly, Thor did not know if he was angry that Loki was here or that he had even dared to think about the idea of threatening his Earth. Because that what it was, Earth was his domain either by All father's words or his actions. There were a few people here that were his friends and, of course, Lady Jane.

To think that his brother would fall so low and try to invade this planet. Even if he had an army behind him, there was no excuse to kill an entire species.

"Thor, are you even listening?"

He looked up at his name, "No," he answered honestly and saw how the bald man glared at him in anger, but it was nothing that bothered him. He wasn't afraid of the man.

"Please pay attention, or get the hell out of here; this is important. " The Man said sternly, "I ask you, what is his end game?" Fury bit out through clenched teeth.

"I have no idea," Thor answered, honest. Once upon a time, he probably could read his little brother like one of his books. But now? Now he was staring down at an entirely different being, and it was not the brother he knew.

"Then he is a danger to us all."

Thor narrowed his eyes and let his arms fall by his side, "Yes, and no,'' lies had never been his strong side. That was all Loki. So, he did not care about how his words would be received.

"Explain" The red-haired women, Lady Natasha, he vaguely remembers, ordered

Thor held back a slight. This was like handling a conversation with children, pettiness, and high emotions. Honestly, he found it a bit funny how single-minded the humans were, but then again, who was he to judge.

"He can indeed be dangerous," Thor said, "but he will not become so because he will not stay here long enough for that to happen. He will be brought to justice by the Allfather."

"He has killed people here on Earth and is currently holding some of our own under his control," she argued. "HE is not going anywhere."

"Loki is my brother and still a prince of Asgard, " Thor bit back. "I don't need your permission."

"He is out of his mind!"

Thor felt his anger rise again and took a warning step forward. "Have a care with how you speak…" he said, only to be interrupted by one of the workers.

"Energy spikes noticed with the prisoner and rising fast."

"On-screen," Fury demanded as he walked over, ready to give the command to drop Loki from the ship if he had to. Demigod or not, he was a threat to humanity, and even he would have trouble surviving a drop of that height.

A switch of the camera showed them Loki in all his glory. For a moment, they could see a variety of emotions reflected on his face. Something that had not happened before, although no words left him, the energy spike that had alerted them had now stabilized.

Thor stared at the screen and felt a twinge twist itself inside his chest. How far his brother had fallen. He shook his head and walked up behind the man of Fury and looked at the image of his brother that was doing…something—perhaps talking to someone? It was hard to see from this angle.

"Find out what he's doing, send soldiers to the cell," Fury demanded as he refused to look away.

"Thor, do you know what he is doing?" The man of age asked him, and Thor looked over to the other blond in the group and shook his head.

"No," he answered

That was true. After Harald's Death blessed his soul, Loki had changed completely, blocking them out and refusing to have anything to do with whatever reminded him about Harald. It was like a large part of him had also died, and Thor had no idea how to approach him anymore. Every time he did, Loki became defensive and tried to bite his head off or stab him. Whatever he was in the mood for that day. All of them had hoped that Loki would come back to them with the years that passed, as time heals all wounds.

Thor let his eyes be fixed on his brother, who stared straight in front of him before his face was utterly twisted into an angry sneer. More emotion than he had seen in hundreds of years.

"My mind?" Loki questioned in a low voice that came over the speakers, "THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY MIND!"

"Who is he talking to?" Steve asked while he walked over and made himself ready to take to get there down, but Loki's snarl stopped him as his voice came from the monitor.

"what do you mean by that?" Loki snarled.

"That's it, he's lost it," The man of iron, Tony, said as he started to walk away "shall we get the party started?"

"NO!" Thor protested immediately.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Odinson, but the time of talking is over," Fury said as he turned around and started to walk away. However, before any of them could get very far before, a loud explosion was heard, and the Helicarrier violently tipped to the side.

They were under attack, and alarms were blaring all around them.

It was time to take action.