"To be a god is not to rule but to suffer immortality in silence."
Everything was quiet.
Not the kind of quiet that comes with peace, but the kind that smothers, like a velvet glove pressed over the mouth of time itself.
Loki sat upon his frozen throne, eyes glazed with distant galaxies and burning timelines. Around him, branches of fate spiraled like serpents each one a universe trying to breathe, to break free, to grow wild.
He held them together. All of them.
His fingertips shimmered with ancient green magic, entwined with golden strands of time. His heart, once chaotic and hungry, now beat with rhythmless monotony. A silent metronome in a multiverse without music.
It had been eons since he took this role. He didn't count the years time meant little now. At first, it was awe-inspiring. Purposeful. Noble, even. He had saved the multiverse from collapsing. He was no longer a villain, a liar, a prince discarded he was the God Who Waited, the stitch that held the fabric of reality.
But now?
Now, the silence mocked him.
The timelines pulsed like vines tethered to his soul. If he let go, if he even blinked wrong, chaos would spiral and the TVA wouldn't be able to fix it. Entire realities would shatter, infinite lives lost. So, he stayed. Alone. Watching time grow, twist, dance, and repeat.
Until today.
Today, something in him snapped softly, mischievously.
A grin tugged at the corner of his lips.
"God of Mischief… not Patience," he muttered, brushing his thumb across one golden thread. "How unbecoming."
He couldn't help it. The mischief was in his veins. Still was. Always would be.
And so, Loki clever, brilliant, reckless Loki decided to do what he did best.
He whispered an enchantment older than Asgard, born from the chaos of the Void. A glowing figure peeled away from his form a perfect alternate version of himself. Identical, immortal, disciplined.
"I shall remain here," the alternate spoke, voice laced with purpose. "You are free."
Loki the real Loki stepped back, chuckling under his breath. "Ah, what a delightful lie. I never left."
He vanished in a flare of emerald magic.
Present Time – New York, 2012
The moment when everything went wrong… again.
Smoke curled over Stark Tower. The Chitauri invasion had ended, and the Avengers had gathered in the lobby. Past Tony, Past Steve, Hulk, and others stood in position unaware that two versions of themselves from the future were lurking nearby, preparing to steal the Tesseract.
Future Tony. Future Steve. Everything was in motion.
Until…
"Well, this looks fun."
Loki appeared cloak flowing, mischief radiating from his grin. Not bound, not chained. No muzzle. No TVA guards.
"Wait, what the hell..." Future Tony turned, eyes wide.
Two Tonys. Two Steves. One god of chaos.
"Oh no," Future Steve whispered. "He's not supposed to be here."
Loki gave a dramatic bow. "Did you miss me?"
Without warning, a ripple of green exploded from his hand. The Tesseract blinked and vanished. Both versions of Tony and Steve were engulfed in light
and the world around them twisted like melting glass.
The Void
Where things go to die… and to be reborn.
Tony Stark hit the ground hard, groaning.
"What the this isn't the lobby."
Steve rolled beside him, shield up. "Loki. He portaled us."
Future Tony sat up, scanning the empty desert. "This... this is the Void. I've read about this in the TVA files. Everything pruned ends up here."
"Are we dead?" Past Steve asked.
"Worse," a voice replied.
From the shadows emerged a red-suited figure with katanas and attitude.
"Welcome to the edge of existence, gentlemen," Deadpool grinned. "Let me guess. Loki screwed you too?"
"And you are?" Tony raised a brow.
"Deadpool. Fourth wall-breaking assassin. You're lucky you didn't land in the poop dimension. Loki's been tossing people all over the place lately."
"Lately?" Steve blinked.
Behind Deadpool, a gruff voice growled.
"He's here again."
Out stepped Wolverine, claws half out, eyes narrowed. "Loki's back, and he's using the Void like his playground. We're pawns."
Steve looked to Tony. "We need to get out of here."
Tony tapped his chest. "No suit. Loki must've scrambled the tech."
"Classic me," Loki's voice echoed in the sky, laughing.
Meanwhile – In the Timeline
While chaos brewed in the Void, Loki—free and unshackled—sipped tea in the Stark Tower lobby, disguised as Future Tony.
Past Tony and Steve had no idea they'd been replaced. The real Tesseract rested in Loki's pocket now, pulsing like a captured star.
"I've missed this," he sighed. "Chaos. Deception. Oh, how I've missed being me."
But this was only the beginning.
Loki had a plan a new multiversal mischief, one that not even the TVA could predict.
He had seen the Void. He had beaten time. Now, he would rewrite fate not just his own, but everyone's.
And first?
Loki sat like a king in a world unaware of its dethroning.
Disguised as Future Tony Stark, he strutted through the glass halls of Stark Tower, Tesseract in hand, the fake one now conveniently placed in the secure S.H.I.E.L.D. briefcase.
"Such trust," Loki muttered, smirking. "Admirable… and foolish."
The Avengers were caught in the routine of their own timeline too arrogant to notice the seams unraveling.
Outside the tower, the city buzzed with post-battle recovery. Civilians cheered. News helicopters circled. But inside? A god was rewriting fate with every footstep.
"Let's see how long this illusion holds before the tower of cards crumbles," he whispered to himself.
He touched the real Tesseract, now resting in his pocket, pulsing with blue cosmic energy. A drop of mischief danced in his veins. The multiverse had rules, yes but Loki was never fond of rules.
Elsewhere The Void
Four men stood trapped in an endless wasteland of silence and swirling violet storms.
Two Tonys. Two Steves. One headache.
Future Steve broke the silence, staring at the group like someone who'd seen this kind of insanity before. "He sent us here. All of us."
Future Tony snapped, "Yeah, no s***, Cap. But why? And why us in particular?"
"Maybe one of you is Loki," Past Steve muttered, eyes narrowing. "Wouldn't be the first time."
"Oh, great," Past Tony groaned. "Let's start the paranoia. Very on-brand for a soldier."
"You think I want to be trapped here with you again?" Future Tony snapped back. "Maybe this is your fault. You always wanted the last word."
"I'm not the one who created Ultron," Future Steve shot back.
"Ultron?! We're bringing that up?!"
"Would you all shut the hell up?" growled a new voice.
They turned. Deadpool, red suit torn and scratched, leaned on one katana like a crutch.
"Oh no," Future Tony sighed. "Of course, he's here."
"And me." Wolverine stepped into view, claws half unsheathed, clearly not in the mood for introductions.
"Let me guess," Deadpool continued. "You guys got pranked by Loki too? Welcome to the club. He's been tossing people in here like it's a hotel with bad Wi-Fi and zero exits."
"Is there a way out?" Past Steve asked.
Wolverine shook his head. "None that we've found."
"That's because you haven't tried the back door," Deadpool said, pointing west where an old, cracked path stretched into glowing fog. "Logan and I were just about to investigate it when you drama queens dropped in."
Future Tony rubbed his temples. "Perfect. Stranded in a cursed sandbox with a Canadian gremlin and a human meme."
Suddenly the sky tore open.
A shimmering green rift spiraled above them. The voice that echoed was unmistakable.
Loki.
"Ah, my lost boys," his voice rang with delight. "You look so... dusty. And confused. Delicious."
The four looked up as the swirling mist above them formed Loki's smirking face, projected like a god through the sky.
"Loki!" Future Steve shouted. "What do you want?!"
"What I always want," he replied smoothly. "Entertainment."
"You risked the entire timeline for this?" Past Tony shouted.
"For this," Loki said, "and because I'm bored."
He folded his hands theatrically. "Here's the deal. Survive three little trials, and I might let you return to your silly little timeline. Or maybe not. Who knows? The suspense is thrilling, isn't it?"
"Go to hell," Wolverine growled.
"Oh Logan, I'm already there." Loki grinned. "I just made it fun."
The Void shifted.
The ground beneath the four heroes cracked. The sky twisted until it wasn't a sky anymore, but a chaotic arena formed from memory, guilt, and fear.
They were separated.
Each one now stood alone, surrounded by illusions, but the pain they faced was painfully real.
Tony Stark (Future)
He stood in the ruins of a burned-out cabin.
A child stood before him Morgan her hair singed, her eyes hollow.
"You said you'd keep me safe," she whispered. "You promised."
"I this isn't real," Tony muttered.
"You built suits. You saved strangers. But not your daughter."
She stepped closer. The fire behind her roared louder.
"I died because of you."
Tony fell to his knees, the arc reactor in his chest pulsing violently.
Steve Rogers (Past)
Hydra banners flapped in the sky.
He stood in a world where he had given up the fight.
Soldiers goose-stepped down broken streets. Civilians cowered.
A hologram of the Red Skull spoke in Times Square: "Captain America is dead. Long live Hydra."
Steve turned his own face, aged and smiling in a Hydra uniform, stared back at him.
"You chose comfort over courage," the illusion said. "This is your world now."
Tony Stark (Past)
He was surrounded by wreckage.
Videos played around him news footage of his weapons used in war zones, villages turned to dust, children crying under collapsed rubble.
"You made this," a voice whispered.
"I didn't know..."
"You didn't care."
His younger self stood across from him, pointing the Iron Man gauntlet at his chest.
"Profit over people. What kind of hero is that?"
Steve Rogers (Future)
He faced Tony, not real but it looked real.
"You refused to build the shield," the illusion spat. "You let Earth fall."
"I didn't want to play God..."
"And people died."
"I lost everything."
"Because you were afraid of power," the Tony illusion whispered. "You're no leader."
Steve punched the illusion, but it reformed instantly.
Meanwhile Deadpool & Wolverine
They walked along the jagged path into the fog.
"Should we help them?" Wolverine asked.
"Nah," Deadpool replied. "Loki said trials. Sounds like a side quest. We're main quest guys now."
"You're a walking side quest."
Deadpool shrugged. "Still more charming than Tony x4 meltdown."
TVA Hidden Sector
Mobius stood in front of a screen, watching the Void chaos unfold.
Next to him, a small resistance team analyzed temporal readings.
"He did it," Mobius said. "He split himself."
"Which one's real?" a TVA agent asked.
"That's the thing," Mobius muttered. "They all are. And none are."
He pulled out a small device a temporal tracker. "Tagged the original timeline Loki before he took the throne. We follow this, we find him."
"And then?"
Mobius stared at the screen, eyes heavy. "Then we either bring him back... or erase him."
Back in New York
Loki still in the disguise of Future Tony paused mid-sip of his tea. A ripple moved through the timeline. Something sharp. Cold.
Order.
He stood, eyes narrowing. His chaos magic danced between his fingers.
"Well, well," he whispered. "The TVA is finally stirring."
He looked toward the skyline, smile returning.
"Let the next game begin."