Chapter 29

"No matter. You being alive is nothing I can't handle." The other Loki snapped his fingers and more guards appeared in the room, surrounding the Avengers. They quickly threw out small circular devices around the Avengers. Those devices beamed up light blue electric beams all the way to the ceiling, trapping the team.

"An electrical cage? Please?" Thor chuckled.

"Thor, don't-" Before my Loki could finish, his brother grabbed the bars in an attempt to pull them apart. But the electric bars shocked the God of Thunder and sent him to his knees. The other Loki chuckled and I exhaled hard as I closed my eyes. I opened my eyes as Loki helped his brother to his feet and Thor clenched his jaw as he stared the other Loki down. The other Loki snapped his fingers and the guards disappeared from the cave.

"It's quite interesting, Loki...." The other Loki said as he slowly paced towards the team. Loki clenched his jaw and I furrowed my brows as the other Loki smirked at my Loki, like he knew something.

"Seeing you be so....human with these beings. Thor-" He said as he motioned to the God.

"I get that. The big lug always ends up with these sad excuses of sentient life." The other Loki scoffed in disgust as he looked around the inside of the cage.

"But you....this is the only universe where you end up here." He said as he began walking back towards me.

"It's also quite interesting how you took the spot of Alex's lover." He added as he smirked and glanced back at the men. 

"Normally it's a Bucky." Loki said as his eyes landed on my boyfriend. Bucky inhaled as he clenched his jaw and glared at the false God. I couldn't help but wonder if that meant Bucky was my soulmate. If the other me's ended up with him too, does that mean it's destiny?

"Sometimes even a Peter." The other Loki chuckled as he looked over at Peter, who was surprised by his words. I was too. It's interesting to know I ended up with Peter in other universes. I never had any romantic feelings towards him, but apparently one of me did.

"A few occasions it was a Stark." He added, winking at Tony. We both cringed at the thought of us being romantically involved. He's a father figure to me.

"But never a Loki." He finally said as he looked down at me. He placed his hand on the top of my head and I violently pulled away from him. He grabbed my arm and yanked me back into place and huffed as he motioned for me to stay put. He began to gently stroke my head and I knew it was to piss off the others. Especially Loki.

"Want to know why?" He asked the others.

"Not really." Tony replied as he crossed his arms.

"This Loki..." The other Loki said as he looked over at the team.

"Has fooled you all into believing his lies." He smirked at Loki and I furrowed my brows as all eyes fell to the God.

"I mean, it's easy for him. He is the God of Mischief and lies." The other Loki shrugged.

"Shut up." Loki harshly said.

"Why should we believe anything you say? Are you not also a Loki, God of Mischief and lies?" Thor asked as he crossed his arms.

"That's why it won't come from me." The other Loki smirked as he pulled out the small black remote from his pocket. We all knew what it was for. I quickly and desperately shook my head no, begging him not to use it. The other Loki smirked and pressed the button, sending unimaginable pain down my spine and through my body. I tensed up and fell over as I screamed under my mask.

"Stop this!!" My Loki screamed out.

"Tell them, Loki! Tell them the truth! Tell them how you lied!" The other Loki laughed out. I rolled over to my back and my hands were smashed under my dead weight, causing them to move and the band around them to tighten. I could feel the blood trickling from my wrists but I couldn't do anything about it. My whole body felt like it was on fire and being burnt with salt as the same time. I felt tears run down my cheeks and nausea began to take over.

"Fine!" Loki yelled back. The pain stopped and I inhaled properly for the first time since it started. My breathing was just as rapid as my heartbeat. I forced myself off of my back and hands and on to my stomach. I turned and looked at the group, resting the left side of my face against the cold stone beneath us.

"They're waiting." The other Loki smirked at him. Loki inhaled and looked over at me with apologetic green eyes.

"I..." He began. He inhaled through his mouth as he furrowed his brows and looked away from me. He looked over to his left and into the curious eyes of our team mates.

"I lied about New York and my plan." He admitted. I furrowed my brows as my breathing settled and the pain went away. The band was still tight around my wrists but the bleeding stopped.

"What do you mean, brother? New York was the work of Thanos and his mind control. Was it not?" Thor argued as he uncrossed his arms and furrowed his brows. I could see the look of betrayal filling his eyes.

"No..." Loki softly admitted as he looked down. The other Loki giggled to himself and then looked down at me. He bent down and loosened the band around my wrists as he pulled me back into a sitting position. He removed the mask over my face and I licked my lips as I fully inhaled the air around me.

"Explain." Steve harshly demanded.

"Yes, Loki, explain." The other Loki giggled to himself.

"I attacked New York because I wanted to take over Earth. Not because Thanos told me to or controlled me. I...only had his help stealing the Tesseract from Fury, everything else was of my own accord." His voice was low and almost shameful. He swallowed hard and then looked up and I watched as his body deflated with regret. The others looked as I felt, betrayed and lied to.

"This cannot be true." Thor suddenly argued.

"Oh, but it is." The other Loki laughed.

"Instead of going out in a glorious death or actually taking over Earth like all the other Loki's, this one begged for forgiveness like a pathetic human. Tell them the rest, Loki." He smirked.

"I...." Loki sighed and looked back down to the ground, his jaw clenched.

"Yooouuu?" The other Loki egged him on. Loki shook his head a little, refusing to finish. The other Loki inhaled hard and shot his attention to me as his brows furrowed. I inhaled and that same disgusting pain washed over me. I let out a blood curdling scream and fell over on my side this time. 

"Alex!" Loki yelled out as he and the others looked over at me. I guess they didn't realize my mask was off.

"Tell theemmm." The other Loki sang. I felt so weak from all of this pain, it was like torture. My body ached and my mind wanted to give up and knock me unconscious to stop this.

"I was going to infiltrate the Avengers and use them to get into S.H.I.E.L.D and then finally take over Earth!!" Loki screamed. The pain stopped and I groaned as I slowly rolled over to my stomach. I silently cried, closing my eyes and laying my forehead against the hard stone.

"Your plan was to use us?" Bucky asked. I sniffed a little and laid on the side of my head, facing the others. Loki's tear filled eyed stayed on me as he slowly nodded.

"You really are evil." Steve scoffed as he crossed his arms.

"No." Loki quickly replied as he looked over at the man.

"I was. I mean, I thought I was. I had always been second best to my brother, treated as if I was unwanted. Finding out my father lied about who I was and that I was cast away by my own blood father....i-it made sense as to why I was never enough. My world came crumbling down around me. I-I just wanted to be noticed. To have the attention on me for once!" Loki argued as tears began to stream down his face.

"B-But when the Avengers, you, took me in and trained me...some of you-" Loki said as he looked over at Peter.

"Made me feel...accepted. I felt like I finally belonged." He softly added as he looked down. In a way, I completely understood him. Growing up how I did...I always felt like I didn't belong. My adopted parents loved me but after they died, it was hard living with my aunt and uncle. They always treated me just a bit different than their own kids. I always felt like I wasn't supposed to be there. They cared about me, sure, but not in a way that made me feel loved and wanted.

"You make me sick." Peter harshly said.

"Peter!" I yelled out.

"No, he's right. How could you do something so...evil? You tricked us!" Steve added.

"It doesn't matter if you changed your mind, you lied in the first place." Bucky nodded.

"It does matter!" I argued as I forced myself to my knees.

"Poor Loki...these humans really know how to make a God feel...hated." The other Loki harshly said.

"After all you've done for them...all the lives you've saved, the world's you've protected, the danger you've put yourself in...and they still have the audacity to act like this." He added.

"Shut up!" I snapped at the other Loki.

"You shut up! You are the worst of them all!" The other Loki screamed at me. I inhaled through my mouth as his dim green eye pierced into my own. I couldn't believe how much hate filled it. It didn't seem possible.

"You pretended to love him. You strung him along, pretending you'd always be there for him! And then what? He goes to war and comes back to find another man in his bed? Another man kissing you. You betrayed him more than he did you." He harshly said, his voice going low as he glared over at Loki.

"Th-that's not- no! I thought he was dead! I grieved for him for a year before finally trying to move on! You-I-" Tears poured down my face as I looked over at my Loki. My heartbroken Loki.

"Forget these miserable humans and join me. I killed the other Loki's but you.... you're wonderfully different." The other Loki smirked at the true God.

"Loki, don't." I begged as I tried to stand up. The other Loki forced me back to my knees as the Avengers put their attention on Loki. He furrowed his brows as he thought about everything that was just said. He inhaled and clenched his jaw as he looked over at the other Loki.

"Alright." He firmly said.

"No!" I yelled. The other Loki smirked and snapped his fingers, making my Loki disappear from the cage and at his side.

"Brother!" Thor yelled out in disbelief.

"Traitor!" Peter and Steve shouted out.

"Silence!" The other Loki bellowed out, causing the cave to shake a little. He pulled me to my feet and smirked as he positioned me in the middle of the runes carved in a circle.

"I'm going to remove the band around your wrists and collar, you will open the gate below you and free Svanhild for me. If you decide to act out, I'll torture your dear Avengers there." He smirked as he looked over at the cage. I swallowed hard as he looked back at me and reached for my neck. He pulled the collar off in one swift motion and then snapped his fingers, making the band disappear. I brought my hands to the front of my body and gently touched the raw skin on my wrists.

"And, just in case you think you're the better Alex, here's how it went for the others." He said as he quickly placed the palm of his hand on my forehead. Everything around me went black and then flashed white. I was suddenly looking through the eyes of this Loki. He stood in this exact spot and stared at another me. The other me blinked in slow motion and then slowly turned, her whole body flashing to other versions of me. I was seeing all 199 versions of me at once. I continued to flash, my costume changing, my hair changing, my eye color even changing, as I looked over at Loki. I could see the anger in my eyes. Some of the other versions raised their fists, other ones threw their open hands out, and a few threw both hands towards Loki. The ones with the fists attempted to punch him, the single open palms attempted to throw rocks at him and the two palms threw boulders at him. 

He dodged them all. He looked over at the cage and the occupants were all the same, minus Loki. The costumes the Avengers wore all flashed, showing me the different versions of them. Most of them had similar costumes but others changed a bit throughout the different universes. Their hair changed and so did their body sizes. It was so surreal seeing everyone like this. 

Loki raised his hand and a dagger flew out from it. It went through the bars and straight into the throat of the nearest Avenger. Sometimes it was Peter, other times it was Bucky or Steve. I saw a few Bruce's in there but I noticed it was never Thor.

He turned back and told the other versions of me to open the gate again. A few of them began to do it, others refused. Lok threw another dagger, killing the next person. This time it was mostly poor Tony. A few Bucky's and Steve's too. But again, never Thor.

Loki ordered the other me's to open the gates once more and more of them began doing it. The few that still refused tried to attack him again, but he pushed them away from him and threw another dagger. It killed a few Peter's and Bucky's, one Tony and even a Bruce. But not Thor.

I realized that even this Loki loved his brother. He was refusing to kill him. He continued to aim away from his brother, killing everyone else. I didn't know how yet, but I knew that was the key.

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