Family is for all time, always [1]

Another Loki?

~~~May 4, 2012~~~
~~~New York~~~
~~~Loki's pov~~~

I was lying on the floor of Stark Tower after the Hulk ragdoll smashed me into the floor.

My day was going great! Not only was I being forced to fight my brother, but now he and everyone else thinks I'm doing this of my own free will.

I felt a sharp pain in my head. I shook it off, thinking it was just a side effect of the Mind stone, but as it got stronger, I realized this was something different.

My mind was infused with memories that weren't mine. It was like my mind was being merged with someone else's.

I saw various events that I had never experienced. Emotions that I'd never felt before.

There was a woman. I couldn't make out her face though I could see her long, dark brown hair and hear her enchanting laugh.

What I felt when I saw her... It was an emotion that was very fleeting in my life.

Love.

But who was she?

As I was mulling over these thoughts, a voice that sounded much like mine echoed throughout the room.

"Take care of them."

"What the hell..." I murmured before losing consciousness.

~

I didn't know how much time had passed when I woke up. I thought about getting up from my position on the floor, but I knew my efforts would be futile.

I didn't have control of my body while the Scepter was still influencing me. It's cruel, really. I can't speak for myself or control my actions, but I'm allowed to be aware of what's happening. That seems to be a worse punishment than anything the Avengers do to me.

But it's still worth a shot.

I tried to move my arms, and they did! My arms moved! I tried to move my legs, and they moved as well! I was in control again!

I got up and inched closer to the steps, as I was still weak from the brainwashing by the Mad Titan.

I heard a noise and turned to see my brother with the rest of his new "friends" glaring at me, Barton's bow and arrow aimed for my face.

Oh, joy.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

Stark finally broke the angry silence by saying, "Alright. Get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later."

My mind still wasn't right after what happened. Who did that voice belong to? Why did it sound like me? He asked me to take care of someone. Who? Was it that woman?

My thoughts were interrupted when Thor placed a set of handcuffs on me. Once we get back to Asgard, I'll explain that this wasn't my fault. But I doubt anyone would believe me.

The soldier passed me, speaking into an earpiece. "On my way down to coordinate search and rescue."

I changed my appearance into the one of the Captain. "On my way down to coordinate search and rescue." Then I changed back into myself. "I mean, honestly, how do you keep your food dow-" Thor cut me off by placing a mouth guard on my face. "Shut. Up."

Oh, come on! I just want to have some fun.

~

I was escorted to an elevator and taken down to the ground floor.

I still couldn't help but think about what that voice said. Take care of who? Who was that woman?

We reached the ground floor of the tower and were met by another group of men.

I didn't pay much attention to what they were saying because I noticed something off. Very off.

There were people that shouldn't have been there, to put it simply.

Unusual people that shouldn't have been at the tower. A little girl, another Tony Stark (the cologne gave it away), another Captain Rogers (annoyingly), and a small figure, no larger than an ant, that moved the case that contained the Tesseract.

Interesting.

Another guard came and picked up the case, but before he could grab it and get away, he turned to me.

Correction. He was me.

He had my face.

That's not another guard. That's another me.

This, combined with the memories I had seen earlier and that mysterious woman, had my head spinning.

I looked at him wide-eyed and confused. So I did what I do best. I read the duplicate's mind.

He's from the year 2023. He came here with Stark, Captain Rogers, Banner, some man named Scott Lang, and that little girl I saw walk past before, though I still couldn't see her face, to take the Mind and Space stones. In his memories, her face was blocked out. And that woman from before, she was there too. Both of their faces were blurred. But that only happens when a memory is in the protected part of someone's mind. Specifically mine. Why are they so special?

And those memories I had received earlier, were they his? Mine?

This is giving me such a headache.

This day has been a nightmare, but this? This is just pure chaos.

There's another me!

Suddenly, the Hulk burst through a door on my left-hand side, throwing the other me back, and the case containing the Tesseract dropped at my feet.

Time to escape.