A hand rested on Loki's shoulder.

'How do you fare, good man?' Ebony Maw asked. His silky voice sent shivers up Loki's spine. 'So many new faces since I last walked along the tables of this hall. The Great Titan will be pleased how many pilgrims answer his call.'

Loki turned to face the Maw and peered up at the man's cold eyes. 'My companion and I are grateful for the Titan's generosity in providing meals for visitors to his domain.'

'The Great Titan is always generous.' Ebony Maw's nose flared slightly as if it offended him to even contemplate any alternative. 'I will be at the Gathering tonight. Your companion and you will attend, won't you?'

'I wouldn't dream of missing it.'

Ebony Maw smiled and withdrew his hand. He moved further down the long table, stopping to converse with anyone that caught his eye, but even once he had made all the way to the other end of the hall, Loki still felt the pressure of the Maw's fingers on the skin of his shoulder. He had been ravenous when he walked into the mess hall, now the sight of his food sent his stomach protesting.

'Who is he?' Brunnhilde asked between bites of her own dinner. Although she continued eating, she kept one hand close to the knife strapped to her thigh. 'He seems friendly.'

'That's Ebony Maw. He is the Titan's first lieutenant,' replied the woman sitting opposite Loki and Brunnhilde.

Brunnhilde nodded. 'I've heard much about him. He's not quite what I imagined.'

'He's supposed to spend most of his time by his master's side,' Loki said, doing his best to keep his tone casual. The woman opposite them was an Other - a rare specimen of her species. Only one out of every fifty-thousand Chitauri wasn't wired into the Chitauri hive mind. Loki didn't relish talking to one of her kind any more than he would have relished the company of Thanos himself. 'If Ebony Maw is here, does that mean Thanos too is on Theta-Three?'

'I'm not one to know such things,' the Other answered.

Loki sighed and forced himself to return to his meal. He wasn't hungry now, but he might well be by the time the evening was over. Ebony Maw's love for the sound of his voice was second only to his love for Thanos himself. And distribution of food was tightly controlled in the Sanctuary. Loki and Brunnhilde had made numerous enquires - the Titan's mess halls were the only sure way the common populace could acquire food.

By the time he finished his oily noodles and the unidentifiable protein supplement on his plate, the tables of the mess hall had emptied. The vast majority of those who had been in uniforms had left - this wasn't their time. The Gatherings, as Thanos' loyalists called them, catered specifically to the newcomers.

They took place daily. Loki had managed to skip a few, feigning ill-health or exhaustion, but he didn't dare make it a habit. Informers and opportunists abounded in the Sanctuary. Someone was bound to take issue if he seemingly idled about, not participating in the usual rites of the pilgrims. And now that Ebony Maw had singled him out - there was absolutely no question of not attending. The Maw would notice his absence.

At some sign known only to him, Ebony Maw strode up to the raised stage at the far end of the hall and clapped his hands three times. 'My friends, let us gather!'

He lifted the long tables and shifted them to the edges of the hall, leaving a large open space before the stage. The newcomers, nearly three dozen of them in all, gathered in a semi-circle before him. It was a motley crew. Some young and wrapped in rags, some carrying the scars of long experience and the wealth of more fortunate times in their lives. Loki found himself a place off to the side and in the second row. Brunnhilde remained by his right shoulder.

'I rejoice,' Ebony Maw said. Although he didn't raise his voice, his words commanded the room. 'There are so many new faces before me today. So many have already heard the Great Titan's call and with each new day, more answer.'

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He clasped his hands together and walked down the steps in front of the stage. He seemed to make a survey of those gathered before him, before settling his gaze on one particularly ragged creature.

'Agullo, are you not? You have travelled far to reach us. What drew you here?'

The Agullo, a foot shorter than Ebony Maw, took half a step back. 'I-I disgraced my family and myself, only death might atone my sins. But it is said that those who are loyal to the Titan's cause might yet find salvation.'

'What you heard is true.'

'How do I... I mean, I have nothing to offer other than myself,' the Agullo said. Loki shifted an inch to the left so he could get a better look. He didn't know much about Agullo physiology, but to Loki he looked very young. 'I can work. I'll work very hard...'

Ebony Maw cupped the Agullo's cheek, then drew his hand up to the top of the Agullo's head. 'Do not fret. Here we are all Children of Thanos and with every step we make, the universe tips closer to balance. Your days of darkness and indignity lie behind you. Salvation will be yours.'

Beside Loki, Brunnhilde pursed her lips. Loki wondered if she too felt the crawl of Ebony Maw's power through the room. It was subtle magic that whispered of hope, safety and comfort. Loki's own magic, recognising an old foe, recoiled within him and energy pulsed through his body. Loki grit his teeth and forced his defences to quieten. He was too slow.

Ebony Maw's eyes locked on Loki and he cocked his head as he spoke, 'Some of you will have trepidations. It is only natural. I encourage you to surrender them and embrace the destiny that awaits you.'

Conscious that any reaction was likely to betray him, Loki forced himself to remain impassive, but his heart thumped. He could spin the finest lies in the entire history of the universe and it would change nothing. The contents of his mind could condemn them all.

I have to... I don't even know what. There's got to be some solution here.

----------------------------------------

After Ebony Maw had finished his preaching and dismissed his audience, neither Brunnhilde nor Loki were in the mood for conversation. They walked back to their hostel, then climbed the steep stairs up to the second floor in silence.

Brunnhilde threw open the door, revealing the disarray of their living area. Loki didn't want to be known for having money to throw about, so he had chosen this small and rather dingy suite with a single bedroom. Brunnhilde slept on a mattress that folded down from the wall in the living area. As his bodyguard, she was his first line of defence against anything that might burst through the door.

She didn't think it necessary to maintain her part of the suite to a presentable standard. Loki had initially made comment about it, but had surrendered on the issue in the past week. It wasn't worth the argument and a small a part of him that had been steeped in courtly manners, did find their sleeping arrangements unpalatable. Charade or no, Thor would no doubt have surrendered the bedroom to the Valkyrie.

Loki's sense of chivalry, on the other hand, didn't extend past taking the cap off a bottle before he passed it to Brunnhilde.

She accepted it, but then simply held it in her hands and sighed. 'This place is messed up.'

'This is worse than my father suspected,' Loki said. He stacked up Brunnhilde's cast-off clothing until there was enough space on the lounge for him to sit. Still unnerved by Ebony Maw's magicry, he searched for something more palatable to focus on. 'Did you learn anything useful today?'

'While I learned a great deal about the factories, I'm not sure how useful that knowledge is. There is a great deal being constructed - ships, artillery, armour, weapons, but nothing points to a particular strategy or target.'

The question of what Thanos' next target of attack would be had consumed Brunnhilde's thoughts in recent days. The preparations were impossible to miss, but no one seemed to know their purpose. For Loki, that question was unimportant - as long as Thanos lived, all inhabited planets were under threat, but he let Brunnhilde burrow further into this tangent in hope that she would strike upon something useful to Loki as well.

'This mission might take longer than five weeks,' Loki said.

'So I surmised.'

'I'll compensate you fairly once we are done here and return to Sakaar.'

Brunnhilde nodded, seemingly hardly registering his words, then asked, 'How goes your training?'

I haven't had so many bruises on me since that green beast on Midgard.

'Tiring,' Loki answered. 'I haven't trained so many hours a day or for so many days in a row in a very long time.'

'And the princess?'

Loki rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen the muscles. 'She's no princess.'

'As good as.' Brunnhilde took a swig from the bottle. 'Have you slept with her yet?'

A sexual relationship with Nebula had been his first thought. That was far from his preferred strategy to obtain what he wanted, but there were times when such measures were necessary. Nebula wasn't one of these, however. The longer he spent around her, the clearer it became.

'She needs a friend, more than anything else,' Loki replied. 'I can be that friend.'

Brunnhilde cast him an incredulous look.