"Back to torture me some more?" Lana asked when Loki entered the small room she'd been moved to when they'd changed locations.

"I never tortured you, don't be so dramatic," Loki chastised; "Besides, that's nearly a week ago, why must you keep holding onto that?"

"I don't know, I haven't experienced much else since," she mentioned with an annoyed grimace.

"Furthermore, I am here to do the exact opposite, I am here to heal you!" Loki argued; "Which, might I remind you, I have done much more than I have harmed you, so if you must remember me for one thing, please do let it be that!"

"Remember you?" Lana noted out loud, her eyes shooting to Loki's face.

"As much as I enjoy your presence, which is really not at all, I have no reason to keep you here. I wish you no harm, Lady Lana," he told, raising his eyebrows in an attempted support of his argument.

"Bit difficult to sense that when I can't stand up thanks to you," Anna noted; "Besides, why would you just let me go after all this?"

"Because of the following question," Loki stated, placing his hands in his pockets. He looked at her directly, his tall figure standing before her weakened body on the floor.

"Did you steal anything from me?" he asked, licking his lips while waiting for her reply.

Lana took a deep breath, looking down.

"I did," she told, facing him and preparing herself for whatever might follow. Loki nodded thoughtfully.

"And what did you do with it?" he continued.

"I put it in my shoe to hide it, but I think I lost my shoe at some point," she told, waiting for his reaction.

"Thank you for answering honestly," he told, nodding before turning around.

"I knew you were lying," Lana scoffed, using the wall to help her stand up; leaning against it so her leg wouldn't have to support her. Loki stopped before slowly turning around.

"You said you could smell lies. And for a second you really had me with that," she admitted, scoffing slightly. "God of lies, it makes sense. For the last week, I have not lied to you once. Until now."

"Well, god of lies and all, lies cannot come entirely unexpected," he commented, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"And you were so close with getting away with it, too," Lana continued unaffected; "I was going to keep the charade up until you either killed me or let me go, but if we're being honest, you won't kill me."

"I don't mind you as much as I do most mortals, so no, I would not have killed you without a reason," he admitted, looking unaffected by his own words of emotions.

"But you won't be letting me go either, will you?" she continued, making Loki smile slightly.

"I was considering it."

"No, you weren't. Because despite everything, you like me. You like that I'm clever, and you like that I can keep the truth from you without lying."

"Speaking of. You did lie," Loki pointed out.

"No. Every time you asked if I stole anything, I either deflected or twisted your words. You remember our first conversation, don't you?" she shot; "'I'm not the criminal here, I didn't steal shit'?" Lana could've sworn Loki's face dropped just a little bit at that point. "And then, of course, you asked me if I'd stolen anything, and I were honest because, despite everything, I think you deserve that much from me. The closest thing you have to a friend. So I told you the truth, and that is when the penny dropped. I'd gone against my previous story, and you didn't think twice about the fact that I'd gotten away with lying to you. If you could tell when I lied, that would've caused some sort of reaction, so I lied to you. I told you I'd hidden it in my shoe, and that I'd lost my shoe, because my shoe was the only place I could've hidden it and gotten it away from you, and you, you gullible thing... You believed me."

Loki raised his chin slowly. "You've exposed your last card. Now I know you have it."

"I know. Because I would rather be killed than stay here with you, in your own, little, private insane asylum. So let me just give you this one hint. I have it. If you want it, you'll either have to kill me or agree to let me go," Lana finished, facing him proudly with her chin, bloodied and bruised as it was, raised.

"You're the first human I think I've ever hated so strongly. The first human I've had such a disdain for," Loki hissed through his teeth.

"That's because you thought we were some kind of friends, and I just betrayed you. This is what it feels like, in case you were wondering," Lana told harshly, Loki mouth shutting quickly.

"Why?" he then questioned hardly. "Why betray me as such? You could have been on my side."

"That's exactly why. Why would I want to be the bad guy?" Lana spat at him.

"For the fun of it? For the power? For the relentlessly handsome villain?" Loki suggested, making Lana laugh ever so slightly.

"For a god of lies, you are terrible at them. You don't even want to be on your own team, do you?" she asked, only then realising it; "Why the hell are you doing all this?"

"Not everyone gets to have a choice," he stated loudly, his breaths quick as his voice rose in volume; "Some of us don't get to outsmart our villains as you did, and now, you don't get to live, because I need that bloody ring back!"

"Fine."

Loki froze and looked at her puzzled. Lana shrugged.

"You're gonna kill me anyway, get it over with," she told, holding her arms out to show her vulnerability, balancing on her one leg without any broken bones.

The door Loki had previously entered through opened, revealing an emotionless Clint. "We've landed," he informed. Loki looked at Lana in what could only be disgust before walking out of the room.

"Bring the girl," he ordered Clint, not waiting for him to grab Lana and toss her over her shoulder. Lana couldn't help but hiss in pain at the sudden disturbance of the wounds, but did her best to remain quiet; she hardly wanted to anger any of them. She closed her eyes to keep up appearances for the roughly sixty seconds it took before Clint obeyed his new command and tossed her down. Instinctively wanting to sit up, Lana placed her hand on the grass-covered ground before opening her eyes.

They'd been on some sort of aircraft, but were now outside it, in what looked to be a deep forest. Clint didn't look back as he went back up the bridge to the vehicle and disappeared into it.

"This is where I'm going to die, then," Lana stated, taking a deep breath; "Not too bad, I guess."

"I'm not killing you," Loki stated dryly; "You are not my friend, but an enemy... Not quite either."

"Can I ask you something?" Lana asked, feeling stupid for sitting in front of the tall god. "Are you really the bad guy?"

"It'd seem that way," Loki answered.

"I'm not so sure anymore," Lana admitted with a small laugh before grabbing something from her bra.

"I'm not quite sure what is so important about this, but I'm guessing it can potentially harm a lot of people. Please don't do anything stupid with it," she asked, looking at the circular object before tossing it to Loki, who effortlessly caught it in the air, his look not falling from hers for a second.

"Why?"

"I don't know. You weren't prepared to kill me for it, so either it's not that important, or you've grown, or you aren't so bad. No matter the case, it's yours," she stated with a shrug, realising how irrational she was being.

Loki looked at it before kneeling down before her.

"Keep it. I don't have much use for it," he admitted.

"That's nice, I was kidnapped and tortured for it, glad to hear it was worth it," Lana pointed out with an eyeroll.

"It was. At the time. It was... For sentimental reasons," he admitted, clearly with struggle; "It was a gift. From... From my mother."

"Your mum gave shitty gifts," Lana told, making Loki do an impressive eyeroll+sigh combo.

"Give me your hand," he ordered, Lana immediately letting go of the ground and reaching it out to him. As he took the cylindrical ring and slipped it over the tip of her finger, it narrowed in a swirl of green smoke, and when he was done putting it on her, it was in the shape of a ring; a silver band with an intricate pattern and a green stone in the middle.

"It's a healer's ring," Loki explained while Lana was still in some state of shock; "As I've told you, my mum was always a much better healer than me. As a gift for my 900th birthday, she put some healing energy into it. If used correctly, it can heal even some of your injuries."

"Bloody hell, and I who didn't believe in crystal healings," Anna muttered, looking at the ring on her finger.

"Humans are not creative enough to come up with something like that. Every once in a while, a stone from Asgaard will end here one way or another, and on occasion, they'll have a little of our magic in them," Loki explained.

"What... What do I do with it?" Lana asked softly, watching as Loki showed her how to twist it on her finger so the stone-faced her palm. He slowly guided her hand to the wound of her stomach and watched as her face suddenly released the pained expression it had had up until then.

"There's not much left in it, but I suspect a little will do a lot in your state. And, I would think a little Asgardian magic would do a lot for a mere human," he added with a shrug before standing up to his full height.

"Are you sure you want to give it up?" Lana questioned, looking at the green ring sparkling in the sunrays that reached through the trees.

"See it as an apology," he offered.

"For the torture?" Lana suggested.

"No, that was clearly just a misunderstanding. For the kidnapping," he corrected.

"Right. Naturally," Lana agreed, laughing slightly. "So... Friends?"

"Not enemies," Loki hesitantly admitted.

"Any chance I can catch a ride to the nearest city from a friend?" Lana asked jokingly.

"I don't know, do you have any friends passing by here?" he replied before smiling slightly. "I'm kidding. Your little team are on their way, I made sure they knew when we landed. I wouldn't just leave you like this."

"Such a good friend," Lana commented, smiling mockingly at him; "A bit psychopathic, some violent tendencies, definitely a batshit, but also kind of a good friend. In some weird way."

"I must go," Loki mentioned, taking a step back.

"Try not to blow the world up, will you?" Lana asked.

"I'm doing my best not to," he muttered as he turned his back to her and walked up the bridge to the plane-like thing they'd been on.

I can't tell if this chapter is kind of alright or if it's absolutely insane. I wanted some kind of friendship between Lana and Loki, but I don't know if I overdid it. Furthermore, I'm uncertain if the whole thing was just a mess. I tried to do kind of a plot twist-ish thing where Loki was seen as the bad guy, but Lana figured out some of the Thanos things because I feel like she had a unique opportunity to talk to Loki and she wouldn't let that pass, and it just seemed to work out in my head, but I'm not so sure it worked out as I'd hoped