Means and Ends

Loki prodded. While his body and mind recovered, the injury to his magic lingered. Every time he reached for it, his sole permanent companion, it was as if he poked at a mangled limb and every touch threated to reopen the countless lacerations. It might have been more prudent to wait until later in his recovery, but he needed to be sure exactly what Thanos had seen before the uncertainty drove him mad. Besides, prudence had never been Loki's strength.

He lost track of time, aware only that his eyes had begun to water from the pain, but in the end he found the fortified bunker he had constructed around his more sensitive memories. Loki followed the line of the outer wall all along the perimeter. Unbreached. No evidence of damage either. If Thanos had noticed its existence, he must have assumed it was a natural construct of Loki's mind.

Grinning with relief, Loki opened his eyes and uncrossed his legs. Lies within lies. Believing he had uncovered Loki's falsehoods, Thanos shouldn't have reason to dig deeper. After all, how many people came to him with more than one cover story? Loki slid back until he was flat on his bed once more and despite the lingering pain, savoured the moment. It had been a long time since he had cause to be so pleased with himself.

He didn't have a chance to enjoy the moment for long, however. There was a knock, then the door slid open. Nebula leaned against the door-frame.

'You're in a good mood,' she said as Loki sat back up.

'I feel better,' he replied. 'And I'm glad you are here. I wasn't really up to thinking much last time you came to see me. You'd like some explanation from me, right? You've been more honest with me than I with you.'

Nebula froze for a moment, then shut the door to the room and walked over to the end of Loki's bed. 'Yes, rather so. Here I was thinking you were fleeing some petty tribal violence among your species, but it's all much grander. You didn't even grow up on Jotunheim. Didn't you —'

'It's not you, Nebula.' Loki cut in. He threw up his hand in an effort to get a few more words in. 'Please don't think this was a personal slight. It's just not a story I like to share. How many people would respond positively when I tell them I tried to destroy my home planet?'

'What about Baugi? I hear that's not your name either.'

Loki sighed, his good cheer utterly deflated. 'I borrowed the name from a friend. Well, we didn't know each other particularly well, so maybe "friend" is an over-statement. I help him once and he helped me out of a tight spot in return. You can keep calling me Baugi if you like.'

'I don't think so. Loki suits you better — more appropriately slippery somehow,' Nebula replied. Loki wasn't sure if it was meant to be a jibe at him or not, but Nebula made it sound like one. However, she then seemed to collect herself and went on in a milder tone. 'Now isn't the time for a long conversation about this. I came because my father wanted you to join us for the midday meal if you were feeling up to it. Will you?'

Were Thanos or any of his other children present, Loki would have gushed about the honour to receive such an invitation. With Nebula, he didn't trouble himself.

'It's not the kind of invitation you refuse, is it?' Loki climbed out of bed and reached for his shoes. 'Not unless you are nine-tenths of the way to dead already.'

After two days, he no longer needed to hold onto a wall to feel secure, so they moved at a steady pace through the corridors of the Palisade. There was little said. Nebula had reverted to the reserved woman Loki had encountered during their first few days of training together.

'How angry are you with me?' Loki said. Sometimes you just had to force the issue and get the aftermath dealt with.

Nebula motioned for him to take a left turn, then shrugged. 'I'm not really. You're right, your story isn't the sort of thing you blurt out to a stranger. It's just I told you how I ended up here and you… Look, I don't know, maybe I am somewhat angry. Would you've told me the full story eventually?'

'I nearly told you up on the roof,' Loki lied.

Loki remembered the dining room — the broad table carved out of obsidian in the centre and the stiff, high-backed chairs lined up on either side. The table was too wide for the space and there were no windows, so in an attempt to make the room feel less cramped, vistas of vast, distant nebulae and galaxies were projected onto the walls. The effort was of limited success. For a change, Loki didn't need Thanos' presence to feel dwarfed by the forces around him.

But Thanos was present — seated at the head of the table, flanked at both sides by his Children and the senior member of his administrative staff. Loki was glad he and Nebula seemed to have arrived late. The remaining seats were on the opposite end of the table to the Titan.

'I am pleased to see you up and about, Loki,' Thanos said as Nebula and Loki slipped into adjoining vacant seats. 'We have much to discuss, don't we?'

Loki forced a smile. 'If that is so, I am at your disposal.'

'See that you are,' came the reply.

Beyond that, Thanos had little interest in Loki at that moment. He turned to Proxima Midnight, who had managed to nab the chair immediately to Thanos' right, and queried the readiness of the thirty-sixth artillery unit. Proxima's answer sparked a rapid-fire discussion that drew in half a dozen people around the table. Lacking context and hearing only snatches of the dialogue from his distant seat, Loki couldn't follow the trail of the conversation.

He worked instead on clearing his plate. Thanos and Loki's appetite didn't really go hand in hand.

'We should get back into the training hall tomorrow,' Nebula said between eager mouthfuls of her soup. 'We'll take it slowly. Better that than linger idly too long and become soft.'

Loki nodded. 'Quite right. Though I doubt you'll go all that easy on me.'

Nebula smirked.

Whatever else one could say about the ethics of those who facilitated Thanos' mad crusade, they worked hard. No one lingered at the table once they were done. Since Nebula and Loki had been the last to arrive, they were soon the only people, save Thanos himself, who remained in the room. Nebula too didn't sit about staring at her empty dessert bowl. She glanced to her father, then pushed her chair back.

'I have some errands to run,' she said. 'Do you remember how to get back to the medbay?'

'I will have him well looked-after if he doesn't,' Thanos answered in Loki's stead. 'Come up here and sit by me, Loki. Have you finished with your meal? If not, bring it with you. We'll talk while you eat.'

Nebula rested her hand on the back of Loki's chair, the tips of her fingers brushing along Loki's shoulders. 'I'll leave you two to it then.'

Loki wistfully followed her departure out of the corner of his eye while for his part, he rose from his chair and moved to sit by Thanos' side. He brought his plate with him. A polite man didn't talk while he chewed, thus chewing afforded you time to consider your words.

'When we last spoke, you made a certain statement,' Thanos said. What minute jovial undertone there had been to his words earlier was gone. 'You claimed your father once sought the infinity stones. I would like you to elaborate on that.'

Frowning, Loki set down his fork. 'Nebula hinted that you were searching for an alternative way to carry out your plans. Is this it? The infinity stones?' He chuckled. 'That's an ingenious idea.'

'What do you know of them?'

'They are the six elemental crystals born in the genesis of the universe. Each controls an essential aspect of existence — reality, space, mind, power, time and soul. Their potential has few rivals, but the stones are as dangerous to their wielder as they are to those the stones are wielded against. If you are not powerful enough to wield a stone, you won't survive.'

Loki could see Thanos' patience strain while he recalled what his history tutor had drilled into his head in the first years of his studies. Anyone with a thorough knowledge of the history of the universe would have been able to blurt out the same explanation, so it was not a word more than Thanos already knew. But Loki found himself reluctant to say anything more. He had set out to leave Asgard out of the game, yet had given up Asgard with his opening gambit. Now he had to give up the infinity stones too.

To make a mistake once is unfortunate. To do so twice is blatant stupidity.

And yet.

Means and Ends, Loki. Ends and means.

'In truth,' Loki went on, 'I know little of my father's quest for the stones. He wishes to be known as a peacemaker and dislikes speaking of his more… bloodthirsty years. To my knowledge, he only possessed one. It was the space stone, I believe.'

'Possessed? Thanos' eyes narrowed. He leaned forward, his elbows sliding across the polished tabletop. 'Are you certain? What's happened to the stone since? Did someone take it from your father?'

'He hid it. On Midgard. It's one of the planets that make up the Nine Realms, but I cannot really tell you anything more precise than that about its location.'

'Oh, my friend, you've told me plenty already,' Thanos replied.

They weren't friends, but Loki did agree with the rest of Thanos' sentiment. He wasn't getting anything more out of Loki when it came to the infinity stones. Not the history of the Tesseract since Odin had brought it to Midgard; not where King Bor had buried the reality stone; not the location of the time stone; and certainly not how the dwarves of Nidavellir had once forged a gauntlet that would contain the power of all six stones.

'I'm glad I could be of service to you, my lord,' Loki said. He picked up his fork and sank his face towards his plate lest his expression betray him.

'Midgard,' Thanos said under his breath, then more audibly. 'Another planet I am unfamiliar with.'

Loki swallowed a piece of root vegetable he couldn't quite put a name to, then responded. 'Midgard is its name among the Asgardians; the local inhabitants call it Earth. There isn't much to say in favour of the native population. Their greatest achievements are the endless methods they devise to murder one other. They've made a few brief visits to their moon and sent some unmanned ships out to explore other planets in their home system, nothing more. If your navigational charts have the planet labelled, it'll be in the Virgo Supercluster.'

'That supercluster is thirty-three megaparsecs in diameter and contains a good hundred galaxy groups,' Gamora said as she strode into the room. 'Can't you do better than that?'

Loki waited a beat in the hope that Thanos would order Gamora out of the room, but he seemed unbothered by Gamora taking a seat opposite Loki. When a servant brought out a bowl of soup for Gamora, Loki surmised he would have to accept her intrusion.

'Certainly,' he said. 'It's in the Orion-Cygnus arm of the Via Lactea galaxy. Your navigational charts are most likely to list it under the designator "Sol 3". Is that detailed enough or shall I map out the flight path for you as well?'

Thanos' chuckle cut off Gamora's reply before she could get past the first syllable.

'Fate plays strange games. Titan is located in the Perseus arm, right next to the Orion-Cygnus arm,' he said. Still smiling, his gaze lingered on his daughter. 'Gamora, are you trying to avoid somebody or have you suddenly developed a taste for tepid food?'

'The latter, father. Definitely, the latter.'

Thanos' smile faltered. 'Careful. Don't disappoint me more than you already have.'

Although the words hadn't been directed at him, Loki drew back as far as the stiff chair would let him. Was this still about the fight between Gamora and Nebula? Or was this something else? He didn't particularly want to become entangled so deeply in Thanos' family matters, so he was relieved Gamora recognised the danger in her father's tone and made a show of contrition.

'I trust you don't want to disappoint me either, Loki,' Thanos said. 'I want you to give me a written account of everything you remember about this planet and about the infinity stones. Don't spare a single detail.'

Shivers trailed down Loki's back as he nodded. He had made a conscious decision to take a different path to Thanos, yet he was so close now to reprising his original role. A demand for information was how it had started last time too. Even the phrasing to Thanos' words was nearly identical. The Titan had offered Loki the chance to lead the invasion force not four weeks later. What if some events were beyond his power to his change? For all the muck between Asgard and Jotunheim, Loki had still killed his birth father and had still unleashed the Bifrost upon the frost giants.

He took a breath. 'How long do I have to make my report?'

'I would advise you to…'

The medic lost his train of thought at the hiss of the door to Loki's room. For a moment, Loki was glad to have the reprieve. The medic and his assistant had been poking and prodding at him for some minutes now. He was less glad, however, when he saw the source of the interruption.

'Is Nebula not with you?' Gamora asked as she strolled into the room.

Loki grabbed his shirt and pulled it back on. 'Why would she be?'

'Why shouldn't she?' Gamora replied, then cocked her head in an eerie imitation of her adoptive father.

Nebula had in fact spent the best part of an hour here and had left only when the medic had demanded custody of Loki one last time, but Loki wasn't about to share that titbit with Gamora. Instead, he turned to the medic. 'Is there anything else?'

'No, I believe I'm satisfied with your condition,' the man replied. He gestured for his assistant to start moving out of the room, then in a half-hearted tone, went on. 'It would, of course, be wise to be respectful of your body in the coming weeks.'

'I'll do my best.'

'Are these two going to finally release you from their care?' Gamora said once the medic and his assistant left Loki to endure Gamora's company on his own. 'How nice. Your body-guard must have missed you while you were stuck here with only the lonely Nebula to hold vigil over you.'

'Why should she feel lonely when she has a sister as wonderful as you?'

Where he had half-expected a backhanded slap — Gamora could be liberal with such when provoked, came only a derisive chuckle. 'Nebula thinks you two are good friends. But it strikes me as odd that your body-guard knew your real name, while you didn't deign to inform Nebula of the truth. Guess she wasn't special enough in your estimation.'

Loki surmised Gamora was still bitter about her recent defeat; those who were unaccustomed to losing seldom made for gracious losers. If she hadn't already, she would probably try to rub this fictive relationship between Brunnhilde and him into Nebula's face. It was an attempt to drive a wedge between himself and Nebula. He could appreciate the sentiment and the pettiness of it, but the method was so crude it was nigh embarrassing.

She really is unused to losing.

'The guard knew my true name because she entered my employ before I thought to adopt another name,' Loki said, tugging at the collar of his shirt. The garment had been sewn for a species with a different anatomy to his own and didn't sit right on his shoulders no matter what he tried. 'I'm afraid you've misinterpreted the relationship between us. I pay her to watch my back, not to warm my bed or whatever other nonsense you've dreamt up.'

Gamora raised an eyebrow. 'Why does a combat master feel he needs someone to watch his back?'

'I knew very little about the Sanctuary before I arrived here. It's only sensible to have a back-up when you are entering unfamiliar territory. Surely your father taught you that much?'

That left Gamora silent long enough for Loki to reach for his coat.

'Your concern for the quality of acquaintances your sister makes does you credence,' Loki said in a tone so polite it could only infuriate, 'but I'm afraid, I don't have the time right now to answer a host of questions. Your father expects a great deal from me.'

'I'll expect we'll have a chance to speak again soon enough,' Gamora replied.

Loki smiled and offered her a shallow bow as he hurried out of the room. He was keen to be gone before Gamora spotted his rising anxiety. Petty grounds or not, she had it in for him. Now that Brunnhilde had sparked her interest, she was unlikely to forget about the Valkyrie's existence and move on.

Trouble was, Brunnhilde was a vulnerability. He had fed her that story about spying on his father's behalf — a story that directly contradicted the tale he had spun for Thanos. And Brunnhilde's mind had no protections against the mind stone; Thanos needed only to look.

'There has to be a way to smooth this over,' Loki told himself.

Yes, it's true, my father initially sent me on a covert mission to investigate your crusade, but when I got here, I came to agree with your philosophy. Why didn't I tell you earlier? I wasn't sure you would believe my change of heart. Why continue to keep the Valkyrie around? I'm pretty sure she reports back to my father, I didn't want to take the risk of him realising I'd switched sides.

That was weak. A dim-witted child would be incredulous was suck a load of codswallop. Loki swore. When you had a story, you need to trim all the loose ends, when was he going to learn this lesson?

I was desperate to leave, but the only way my father would let me go was if I did this mission for him. He told me to find the Valkyrie. She's a fugitive, having betrayed her oaths. I think my father has been using her as an informant — she passes on news from outside the Nine Realms. If she is his agent, I am sure she's reporting on me as well. I couldn't let him find out that I'd legitimately changed sides.

Why didn't I tell you? I… don't know.

Perhaps he could just go up to Thanos and sell out Brunnhilde now under the pretence of full-disclosure? After a momentary consideration, Loki dismissed the idea. Thanos would be enraged. Loki himself wouldn't come out unscathed, but Brunnhilde would bear the brunt of it. Of course, once Thanos tore out the contents of her mind, he wouldn't find the memories to support Loki's claim that she was Odin's informant. At that point, the rage would turn back to Loki.

Besides, the suggestion that Odin might be interested in Thanos' work would implant a dangerous suspicion in the Titan's mind. Once he considered Asgard a potential threat, the realm wouldn't be safe.

This was all working out too bloody smoothly.

'Well,' Loki muttered under his breath. 'You need to trim the loose threads. She's got to go.'

The first step to fixing up a horrendous fuck-up in your plans was to look like you didn't realise you had made a mistake. Thus, Loki took the medic's advice and made no effort to push his body. He strolled the streets, pausing to listen to the buskers and lingering at a stall that stocked knick-knacks the Sanctuary's inhabitants could entertain themselves with during their sparse leisure time. He picked out a Kree puzzle box that he then fiddled with the rest of the way to the hostel.

When he entered the suite, Brunnhilde was upon him in half a second. She pushed him against the plaster wall and aimed the tip of her knife at his throat. Before Loki could respond, however, she seemed to realise who she was manhandling and lowered the knife.

'Where the hell have you been?' she demanded.

'Making new friends,' Loki replied, gently pushing Brunnhilde away from him. 'It rather took a lot out of me, I was in the Palisade's medical wing. Can we move this to the suite proper? You and I need to talk.'

Brunnhilde's lips curled as they moved into the lounge area. He wasn't sure if she doubted his explanation for his two-day absence or if she was irritated he had not sent a message to her informing her of his situation. In hindsight, he ought to have arranged for a messenger. But in either case, it wasn't going to change what he needed to tell her.

'We sure are overdue for a conversation,' Brunnhilde said. 'Someone was in here yesterday while I was at dinner. They searched the rooms. They were good, but they missed a few details when they were putting things back into place.'

'Is anything gone?'

'No.'

'Are you certain there was someone in here then? I move your stuff around all the time and you've never suggested someone had been through the suite until now.'

Brunnhilde glared at him. 'When you move something, you move it, not shift it over by half an inch. Do you think I'm so incompetent that I can't tell the difference? Besides, you haven't been here, have you?'

Loki swore. If the chaotic mess Brunnhilde left behind was a strategic decision on her part, so be it. But just because Brunnhilde didn't notice something was missing, didn't mean there wasn't something she had overlooked. Moreover, a smart spy could have made copies before returning the originals to their place. He shook his head, then sighed. This development only confirmed his instincts.

'Change of plans,' Loki declared. 'Take half of the remaining money — I trust you know where it is — and get yourself onto a ship getting out of here. When you get back to Sakaar, go to Nahera's in the M'or precinct. I made arrangements with him for a secure locker, so he'll be expecting you. There will be 1.7 million in there. Fair compensation for your work here.'

'Are you sure about this? That's rather sudden. I can still be useful to have around here,' Brunnhilde responded after a momentary pause.

'I've made up my mind. If you can't find a smugglers' ship heading in the right direction, just take yours. I'll find my own means to get out of here.'

'Ah… sure you will.'

'Gamora saw you coming out of my bedroom and overheard you referring to me by my real name!' Loki replied with more venom than he'd intended.

'How the fuck was I supposed to know —'

'I called out for a "guard", didn't I?' he shot back. 'She saw you and thinks there is something between us. And she has it in for me. It only follows that she'll try to use you to get to me. By the sound of it, she's already trying with this intruder.'

'How is it that she has it in for you after you spent two days in the med bay? What did you do to piss her off?'

Loki was about to explain about his intercession into the life-long rivalry between Gamora and Nebula, but decided against it. That was mere distraction now. He gestured in Brunnhilde's direction. 'This isn't about Gamora, it's about her father. The contents of your memories can condemn us both and Thanos has the means to extricate them in about two seconds.'

'If my mind's not safe, neither is yours.'

'I've already survived the trial, Brunnhilde. I've given Thanos enough to make him believe I can become an instrument to fulfilling his ends. Back on the ship I explained to you how I came to be out here. Should Thanos extract that memory from your head, I'd be hard-pressed to reconcile that with the story I told him. A few extraneous details I can explain away, but there are limits to my talents.'

Brunnhilde turned the knife in her hands. 'All these undercover theatrics. Have you considered that you are making this overly complicated? We know now he's up to no good. Just shank the bastard.'

Loki burst out laughing. When he brought himself under control Brunnhilde was staring at him as if he were utterly devoid of common sense.

'A Valkyrie through and through, even after all these years,' he said, offering her a condescending smile. 'Just charge out with your weapons drawn. How well did that work out for all of you against Hela?'

'Fine, Odinson. Do as you fucking like.' Brunnhilde replied. She slipped her knife back into its holster and began gathering up the articles of her clothing scattered all around the suite.