"Put your hand up," Stark said, "If you knew that Loren was Loki the whole time."

Many hands went up.

"Alright let's see... Strange, you're a dick. You should've told me."

"It would've compromised things." Strange replied.

Stark scoffed. "Would've compromised things..."

"Wong knows too." Strange added.

"Of course he does." Stark said. "Moving on... Shuri, I thought you were smarter than this."

"Why would I, an intellectual, have told you anything?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't recognise that meme being put into a serious conversation."

Shuri leaned over to Peter. "I can't believe he knows what a meme is."

"Peter," Stark said, "I'm really disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark!" Peter said. "But I thought it was best not to tell you. I didn't know how you would react."

"After we beat Thanos, I'm getting May to ground you forever. I'm also revoking your Avengers membership."

"But I'm not an Avenger." Peter pointed out.

Stark paused. "You've got me there, kid. But I guess now you never will be."

"James Barnes," Stark continued icily. "How did you find out and why didn't you tell Steve about any of this?"

"Shuri told me." He shrugged. "And she said not to tell anyone else."

"Shuri!" Peter whispered harshly.

Shuri shrugged. "Man's good at keeping secrets."

"Whatever." Stark shook his head, looking for a new hand to pick. "Clint- Clint? Sorry, but what the actual fuck?"

"I suspected it." He replied with a shrug. "Decided I'd keep an eye on her and see if my hunch was right."

"That was ridiculously stupid."

"It's not like I didn't tell anybody about it." Barton said. "I talked to Tasha and Okoye and we all decided that the rest of you weren't mature enough to handle a theory like that without acting impulsively.

"It's true." Romanoff added. "You would've ruined our investigation."

Stark shook his head. "You know what?You're right about me being impulsive. Because I know that your hunches are usually right and would have acted on it instead of keeping secrets from everyone else."

Barton shrugged. "We're spies."

Stark let out a heavy sigh and continued to the next person. "Wanda. Not surprising that you didn't tell me, but you didn't think that Steve should know?"

"I wasn't sure if he would give the same treatment to Loki as he did me. I didn't want to risk it." She said. "Besides, I told Vizh."

"Vision?" Stark sounded betrayed, and looked to the robot.

Vision looked at Stark as passively as always and nodded his head. "Wanda told me, yes."

"And you didn't think I should know?"

"I thought you might do something reckless. Wanda said she believed that Loki wanted to get rid of Thanos more than anyone, and so I thought they'd be a valuable asset to the team."

Rogers spoke up. "Did you read their mind?"

"Partially." Wanda replied. "Enough to see her anger towards Thanos."

Rogers looked conflicted. "If Wanda thinks she wants to kill Thanos, I might-"

"You'll excuse me," Stark interrupted, "If I don't believe anyone on your little band of misfits."

Thor leaned over to Loki and whispered. "Did something happen between them?"

Thor, herself, Bruce and Brunnhilde were all shoved to the back of the small room with the Guardians while the others talked about the revelation that she was really Loki. The Guardians were currently looking over Loki's list of heroes and their powers, and the number of Wakandans and sorcerers they had on their side. The one who called himself Star-lord was writing a similar list about the abilities of the Guardians by request of Loki.

"Tony said the Avengers broke up." Bruce replied.

"I saw the whole fight through the eyes of Huginn and Muninn." Loki grinned. "It was most entertaining."

"You should've let me know." Thor said.

"Why?" Loki asked. "It was nothing but a petty squabble. Nothing that concerns you."

"They're my friends. If there was a fight big enough to break apart the Avengers, I should've known about it."

Loki scoffed. "What does it matter? It was in the past."

"The past matters, sister." Thor said. "Your past is what the Avengers talk about at this very moment."

"I care not for my past, and their opinions on it matter very little to me."

Thor frowned. "They should. What if they throw you in a jail cell?"

"I'll escape."

"But you'll be a criminal. How are you supposed to turn over a new leaf with that kind of branding?"

"Who says I want to turn over a new leaf?" Loki challenged for the sake of challenging him.

"Why else would you be battling Thanos?"

"Self preservation." Loki answered quickly. "If we don't kill Thanos, my chances are fifty-fifty. And I've escaped death so many times that it's likely my luck is down to zero."

"There is more than that, I know it."

"I simply don't want to die." Loki said. "Isn't that enough? I'm a survivor. I want nothing more than my own continued existence, can't you accept that as my motivation?"

"I have reason to doubt survival is one of your goals."

Loki's throat tightened and she looked away. "Shut up, Thor."

"Shit." Thor said. "I didn't mean to say that. It was... crass. I wasn't being sensitive or-"

"Shut. Up. Thor."

"But we should talk about that at some point." Thor added.

"No."

"I think you want to protect people. That's why you want to fight Thanos. You want to save Asgard again and protect those Midgardian children who seem so attached to you."

"Leave me alone, Thor."

"Why are you so afraid to talk about your feelings?"

Loki barely understood what she was doing until after she had summoned a dagger and thrust it into Thor's side.

"What the actual fuck." Brunnhilde said.

"Are you alright, Thor?" Bruce asked.

Thor only looked upset.

Star-lord seemed to have put together that something was going on and looked over at them. "Shit!" He exclaimed.

"Is everything okay down there?" Rogers asked.

Everyone was looking at them.

"Thor," Romanoff said, "Is that a knife in your abdomen?"

"Ah, perhaps?" Thor replied, he removed the knife and handed the bloodied blade back to Loki without looking at her.

"Loki fucking stabbed him and you want me to trust them!" Stark yelled, and suddenly everyone was talking at once.

"Loki-" Thor began.

Loki didn't want to listen. She called on the universe to turn herself invisible and left a double in her place, before slinking away. It didn't take long for Thor to find her sitting cross-legged in the grass outside, a gentle breeze blowing through her hair.

"I'm sorry, Loki." He said, sitting down beside her.

"Do tell me, dear brother, what for?" She snarked.

"For pushing you to share your emotions. I know you're a private person. I just assumed that-"

"Did you think us both thinking one another dead would bring us closer together?" Loki asked.

"In a roundabout way... yes?"

She shook her head. "Oaf."

"As you always tell me." Thor smiled. "I'm sorry for assuming such. Brunnhilde simply told me you were opening up to people."

"Did she now?"

"Is it so hard to share your feelings with me if you can do it to her? I'm your brother."

"That makes it even harder." Loki replied.

"How so?"

"It just... does. There is no reason to it." Loki said. "You deserve to know a lot of things about myself and my thoughts."

"I have no entitlement to knowledge of your feelings." Thor said.

"No. You don't. But you still deserve to know them." Loki paused. "I'm not ready just yet."

"But one day?"

"After the battle with Thanos. When that threat it passed..." Loki said. "Then is when I'll talk to you about these things. My mind is in too much of a frenzy for that kind of discussion right now."

"You promise?"

Loki let herself smile. "I promise."

She didn't know why she couldn't tell Thor things she had told people like Bruce or Peter, but every time she tried to get the words out, they died on her tongue. At least Thor wasn't pushing her, she could do it when she was ready. And she definitely would do it... eventually.

Thor and Loki snuck back into the room, their absence barely noticed. Loki sit passively through the rest of the meeting, bored stiff.

Stark thought it'd be safer for Loki to be locked up, though it was obvious he just wanted to keep Peter away from Loki and didn't really care about the actual risk of Loki being in the battle. Rhodes agreed with Stark, but for less personal reasons.

Rogers seemed conflicted. He wanted to believe that Wanda was right and that everyone had good in them but he also had seen first hand the destruction Loki had caused and was probably associating Loki with those fascist men he had fought in whatever one of the numerous Midgardian wars he had fought in. Which was ridiculous – Loki was an anarchist if anything. When Barnes thinks Loki should be allowed to fight, Rogers looks like he's beginning to lean towards that side of the argument too. Sam thinks she should be going to a therapist, not fighting in a war – he's probably right, but Loki is sure the same could be said about most of the Avengers.

Barton thinks she should fight. Romanoff thinks it's too risky. Barton gives her a look that most likely has something to do with him giving her a second chance in their past despite the risk then and she doesn't say anything else after that.

Shuri thinks Loki should fight. T'Challa disagrees. Okoye agrees with T'Challa.

Peter thinks she should fight too. He makes a cute speech about how Loki is good now and that they're friends which Shuri contributes to. Strange and Wanda makes small additions too, and Vision agrees with them for the most part.

Ant-Man thinks she shouldn't be locked up. His partner, Wasp thinks she should, but her father, Pym, agrees with Ant-Man.

When Thor is asked to speak, Loki pointedly ignores what he's saying. Thor shouldn't be as nice as he is, Loki's betrayed him time and time again and yet Thor is willing to put his absolute trust in him. He's stupid and Loki hates him and loves him equally.

Whatever Thor said convinces most people to wait until after the battle to decide what to do with Loki. They trust that Loki wants to kill Thanos because, duh, and later they'll punish Loki for her past crimes whether it be 'locking them up in a dank dungeon and throwing away the key' (a sarcastic suggestion made by Stark), 'an actual prison, Tony' (a reasonable suggestion made by Rogers), or 'somewhere where they can get the help they clearly need' (a suggestion by Wilson that Thor, terrifyingly, seems to consider).

Nobody even suggests that at the end of the battle, Loki might be dead. That they all might be dead. While that scenario seems to be an 'if' in most of their minds, Loki is positive that's the only path there is to take. She's escaped dying several times already and Lady Death is sure to want to collect.

Loki wouldn't be surprised if fate had planned to kill her off in this battle. But she looked at Thor and all the others she had become close to, and decided that she would be willing to die if she could save them.

She wasn't going to give up until the rest of them were safe and Thanos was dead. Fate be damned.