Your name is Nova Hemming and you've been a Stark Industries legal advisor since Tony Stark became Iron Man.
You are in the heart of New York City when the Chitauri invade Earth. But then, in a split-second decision fueled by survival instincts, yo...
You look at the clock on your nightstand and groan as you see that it's 4am. You have been tossing and turning in your bed, unable to sleep after the events of the last two days. You let out a frustrated sigh as you untangle the sheets from your legs and throw off the covers.
Trusting Loki might have been your biggest mistake yet. Everyone warned you about the God of Mischief and his lies, but you ignored them and followed your instinct instead.
Stupid instinct.
Your instinct barely ever let you down in the past. Less than a handful of times in the last thousand years, so it has been pretty reliable. Just not this time.
Thinking to have bonded over some literature, the realization hits that you might have just trusted Loki way too soon. He is a criminal after all. He wouldn't care about leaving anyone behind. And he is not afraid to torture or kill.
The team had told you about the events in Stuttgart. How he used a torturous device to get a man's eye and did so with a smile. He forced all those German people to kneel in the middle of the road but not before blasting one of their local police vehicles with his scepter. Those poor police officers barely got away with their lives.
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Kneel before me.
I said... KNEEL!
Is not this simpler?
Is this not your natural state?
It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation.
The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power.
For identity.
You were made to be ruled.
In the end, you will always kneel.
Nat told you about his dictator speech. Loki believed he could just show up somewhere and demand people to obey his every word. Then, a brave old man had the audacity to stand up to him and compared him to Hitler. Loki almost killed the poor man if it weren't for Steve, who jumped in front of him, right on time.
The New York attack, well you were there and saw firsthand all the damage that was done by Loki and his army. A lot of people died then and countless people were injured, let alone the massive costs to the entirety of Manhattan.
You just don't understand how they're exact same person. There's only been about a year difference between New York and now. How does he go from a mass murdering maniac to an introvert, reading English literature with you in the living room of the Avengers Compound.
They really sound like two completely different men. But you know it was him. Loki admitted to all these crimes, you saw that in Asgard. Even when you and Thor picked him up to take him to Earth, he seemed like a different person. More cocky, more sure of himself. Here on Earth, he's much more tame. You're not sure who the real Loki is at this point. Which one is real? And which one is an act?
