The Limits of Mischief

Chapter 11

(The following chapter includes a scene that made me cry writing it, so you have been warned...)

Lost in thought, Loki gazed out the window at the four remaining Avengers. He knew someone would die. This whole affair just seemed risky from the start, but that didn't make it any less disheartening. He didn't have any attachment to Natasha. A part of Loki was even thankful that it had been her instead of Tony. However, it still pained him to see them all so distraught. He knew what that felt like. Loki even wanted to offer them comfort but he knew it would be inappropriate to do so.

"How long do you think they'll be out there?" Nebula asked.

"As long as they need," Loki growled, glaring at her.

"Yeah, show some compassion," Rocket agreed. "They just lost one of their closest friends." Loki nodded in agreement. Nebula walked away, sitting over by the platform. Rocket glanced at Loki.

"What do you think her deal is?" He asked, pointing at her.

"No idea," Loki admitted, shrugging. "Maybe she just wants to get everyone else back as soon as possible."

Rocket shrugged. "Can't say I disagree then. The ship is so quiet without Quill and the others." Loki nodded, understanding the drastic change for him. There was a slam. Loki and Rocket glanced at the door to see the four Avengers entering the building. Bruce gestured to Rocket. "That's my cue." He stood up, rushing toward the group. Not knowing what else to do, Loki followed the group into one of the side rooms. Bruce held the Time Stone and Tesseract, Rocket held the Aether and an orb that Loki guessed was the Power Stone, and Tony held the Soul Stone and the scepter. Loki instinctively took a step away from the scepter.

"What's going on in here?" Loki asked.

"We're trying to get the stones out of these things without getting ourselves killed," Tony explained.

"I can help with that," Loki replied, stepping forward.

"Good." Bruce set the Time Stone down in a glass containment, full of little metal pickers and a gauntlet. Tony did the same with the Soul Stone and Scepter, to which Loki instinctively stepped back a bit.

"I think most of these we can just handle with this thing," Tony explained, gesturing toward the device. "Don't know about the Tesseract and Power Stone."

"The Tesseract is easy," Loki replied. "Thanos was able to get the Space Stone from it just by crushing it to pieces."

"Can you can do that?" Tony asked. He was standing in front of the containment, picking the Mind Stone out of the scepter.

"I can try," Loki replied, taking the Tesseract. For a moment, he simply glanced at it. The Tesseract was the last thing he ever thought he would see again. He smashed it between his fists. Cracks began to appear in the cube before it shattered completely, the pieces scattering to the floor. Only one piece remained in his hand: the Space Stone. Loki placed it in the containment alongside the Time, Soul, and Mind Stones.

"Do you wanna try to get the Power Stone out?" Rocket asked, holding the orb in front of him. Loki nodded, taking the orb in his hands. The easy part was cracking it open like a pistachio. The hard part was the burn on his skin that followed as the Power Stone rolled into his hand. Loki gasped, jumping back. The Stone slipped out of his hand, nearly hitting the ground. Loki extended his hands, forcing the power stone to levitate just above the ground. He let out a sigh of relief.