WHEN THREE COLLIDE / A Marvel Story

Forward

Standing in the middle of the trophy room in Asgard's prestigious castle is Loki. His eyes fixated in an almost hypnotic state, the tesseract grabs his attention like a magpie to a shiny object.

'Thor needs me'

He grumbled to himself whilst his eyes darted between the Surtur and the glowing cube. He rubbed his head which was aching from the internal debate.

On the one hand he should grab what he needs and head back to help the Asgardian people, but on the other, the tesseract is there in plain sight. He knows the power it possesses and the many people who would do anything to get their hands on it. And there it was. Simply sat there unguarded. It would be almost rude to not take it. But, the events of Ragnorok were happening and Loki needed to help. Not just the people of his kingdom, but his brother too.

Grasping the surtur skull in both hands and launching it into the pit of fire, Loki ran. But not empty handed.

Once he knew the people of Asgard were safe on board the departing ship, he drew out the small cube object that he commandeered and set off on his own adventure. In a flash of light that engulfed him like a flame, he was gone.

****
Several years later
****

Landing with a bump, he found himself planted in the middle New York City. Loki glanced around the derelict roads. The concrete jungle that had once been so full of noise and chaos was as barren as a ghost town. Whilst it was clearly the middle of the night, which he had already noted judging by the dark, clear, starry night sky, and the lack of stores open, it was still unusually calm. A peaceful yet eery stillness filled his ears.

Scanning the street for signs of life he set off down the borough in search for someone. Anyone. But more specifically , someone he would have once known.

An Avenger.

The last time he had properly set foot in the city was when he was brain washed and controlled by the mind stone. With a shudder he shook off the memory which clearly caused him pain and regret and set out to find someone.

After walking for quite some time scouring the roads and alleys and encountering the odd drunken homeless person asking him for money, he turned a corner at the end of the street to be greeted with a shadow covered face. This was not one he had crossed paths with properly , but one he had heard of through his brother and his friends.

"Didn't think I'd ever get to meet the one and only god of mischief" said a figure lurking in the shadow of the street lights. His voice raspy and deep.

"And yet here I am" Loki replied so graciously, arms held out either side in a pure arrogant leader stance.

Rolling his eyes and stepping towards Loki from the shadow appeared Bucky Barnes. His appearance spoke volumes about his mental state. His hair shaggy and face filled with stubble where he had not shaven in days, and his eyes sunken through the lack of rest.

"Why are you here Loki? More importantly , how?" He sighed, hands deeply set into his leather jacket pockets.

Loki stepped forward, "Well, Asgard was no longer an option with regards to housing, or life living in general, and so I thought, why not Midgard? After all, I haven't seen it in quite some time" he teased as he paced back and fourth like a lion stalking its prey.

Bucky rubbed his forehead realising Loki, from this particular timeline, whilst an improved version of the one from years before, was still not aware of the events that had occurred over the last few years.