Author's Note: This is an updated, and hopefully grammatically corrected, version of my fic first published over at ao3. It is set after the Avengers but doesn't take Thor 2 into account. Oh and Phil is alive, because I like him; if it bothers you just picture another government suit type (since he's barely in this anyway). Please review if you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Marvel related. I do this for fun, please don't sue me.
One month ago, Loki son of Laufey, son of Odin, prisoner of Asgard, had stood before the All Father and listened, incredulous, to the sentence being passed on him. After having tried to take over the earth, it seemed Odin wished to punish him in an uncharacteristically ironic fashion. He'd given Loki the throne he seemed to want so badly. Unfortunately, that throne was on Jotunheim and it came with a lot of strings attached. He'd been ordered to take control of Jotunn society, the army, economy, and whatever else he could, in order to re-establish order and peace with the goal of subduing the Jotunns so they would no longer be a threat to Asgard. After four long weeks of watching heads roll (literally) as cabals plotted and his edicts were undermined, he'd had about enough. He was back now, before the All Father, to discuss a change in tactics.
"Why do the Jotunns need a king?" He asked, semi-rhetorically.
Odin was taken aback, what a ridiculous question, his look seemed to say. He paused for some time before saying, "What do you mean by that?"
"Why a king? A monarchy? A strong leader to hold them together? Do you forget that I spent almost a year on Midgard? I learned much there. I learned one thing above all others. Let me give the Jotunns governance that will ensure they never gather themselves to rise against us. Governance that will ensure Jotunheim remains a factious, petty realm with no man to organize and incite it to our defeat. Let me give them a terrible gift, All Father. Let me give them democracy."
Odin sank back in his throne stunned to his very bones. He had often pondered his second son, and thought that all his considerable wit was only put towards jests or cruelties, but this was something else. This was oddly brilliant in a twisted way that fit his son like a suit of fine armor. It was risky, potentially chaos inducing. It came out of a pessimistic streak that had been so strong in Loki of late. He thought long before responding. "I realize I had not given you many strict guidelines as to your solution for Jotunheim, but this is not what I had in mind," He finally said.
"I realize that. I knew you probably wouldn't approve. But I saw it work perfectly on Midgard in that it works disastrously." Loki was smiling now, not particularly pleasantly. "I believe that even if they could match us in advanced weaponry and other technologies, the Midgardians would never be able to attack Asgard simply because all of them would never be able to agree on it. They have too many other things distracting them, chief among which seems to be outrageous scandals involving their leaders. Let me take some time to devise a system of democratic rule and I'll go back to Jotunheim and sell it to them as a real chance at freedom."
"Do you think you could devise a system of government alone?" asked Odin. "I grant you spent some time on Midgard, but you know little about the intricacies of this new method and it is not like you to ask for help."
"I know just the person for the job."
In a tiny office in a converted diner in Puente Antiguo, Darcy Lewis found herself on the phone saying, "Yes… yes she's gone for at least a week... Yeah, I get that… I know…Well, I mean Jane's left me a lot of stuff…Yeah, I know it's more my field…Okay, okay. I just worry about the whole 'tried to take over the world thing.' …Oh. No powers at the moment?...Hmm. Well, okay. When's the flight?"
As soon as she hung up, she allowed herself to grin almost maniacally. This was going to look EPIC on her resume, and just maybe earn her some kind of Asgardian Nobel peace prize.