God with Whiskers

The Avengers

Ufff, there were a lot of familiar faces here at the Avengers facility.

Everybody who had fought against Loki in the battle of New York was present. Well, all except the Man of Iron; he was a no-show.

But all the rest were here: the black spider woman, his old pet hawk, the insufferable do-good captain man and the big green ogre also called Bruce Banner. And, of course, Thor himself.

Oh joy... What a reunion. For once in this new life, Loki was pretty happy just staying a cat.

There were also some new faces.

The talking raccoon and... urgh, Nebula. Loki shivered. He remembered her all too well from when he had been Thanos's captive! Apparently she had changed sides now, though her eyes were as dead and devoid of light as ever.

There was another bird man, this one called Falcon. He was yet another do-gooder, so of course he was the Captain's friend.

And then there was the long awaited... Man Who Talks to Ants.

Considering Loki had spend an entire year thinking about this guy, seeing him in person was kind of disappointing. The man was a dork. But what had Loki expected? The man was talking to ants. When Loki actually thought about it, that was a really stupid power. It only made sense for the man himself to be equally unimpressive.

Once Loki's initial defensiveness had subsided though, he started to notice things. These people looked terrible!

Yes, it had been nearly a decade since he had last seen them and that was a long time in human years but... it honestly looked like they had all aged even more than a decade. These people looked haggard and just used, wrinkles of worry and stress had infused their faces. There were shadows in their eyes that were both unexpected and familiar. It bothered him that he couldn't place it.

Then Loki realized.

Yes, Thor was very close to his old self now but... There was still that shadow within his eyes. There was a wrinkle on his forehead which hadn't been there before. That sadness was ever present deep inside of him. This new knowledge and heavy burden. And that... was never going to go away.

Though in excellent repair, Thor's armor showed the marks of true battle and true sorrow in every smoothed out dent and scratch. It had been scrubbed and buffed, but was no longer spot free and burnished bright, carrying still the ghosts of dirt and sweat and blood and pain. The shadows in his heart would ever leave a stain. That wasn't going to change.

And the same went for everyone in the building. Every single one carried such shadows. But in Thor, there was also hope. Some of these people didn't even dare to hope.

Clint Barton was in that category, he was reluctant to get help yet desperate for something to change. His despair clung to him like tar and he barely dared hope to hope.

Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers were nearly the opposite. They clung to a thread of hope with a desperation that stank of denial.

The only ones who looked like they had managed to somewhat accept their present and move on with their lives were Bruce Banner and Thor. The shadows that surrounded them were leavened with purpose and interest in life-as-it-is.

Loki didn't know Sam Wilson, Scott Lang or Rocket the raccoon. He wished he didn't know Nebula. He could tell they carried burdens and shadows of their own, but didn't know what they had been like in the past to make a comparison.

Well okay, he had known Nebula. But again, she had been without visible emotion in the past and now she looked... without visible emotion. She had gotten a new face plate, that was honestly the only real difference Loki could see.