Of Gates and Gods
A Stargate SG1, Thor Crossover
Part Two: Neighborhood Associations
Naglfar's database is a treasure trove of knowledge. The other had been just as prone to pushing the boundaries and rule bending as Loki himself. There are files and histories for more worlds and species than Loki has ever heard of. Libraries worth of genetic maps and possible combinations that are just so intriguing. The schematics for Asgardian battle tech are not disappointing, either.
The transporting array is particularly amusing.
His high priest likes to use it to spook the novices, but it's all in good fun, and they way they poke so interestedly at Loki's liberated sorcerous science...
...his people are highly adaptable.
There are other gods in this place, gods and ethereal spirits that feel weighted and Ancient when Loki catches sight of them in the corner of his eyes, but they are small things and many have small minds. Even these shadows that call themselves Asgard have curbed their actions. But the gao'uld, as they call themselves, are slick and wriggling with old, old minds that have been jaded into uncompromising stone. Gods, they call themselves. Gods, their people answer. Gods, the few free cultures sneer in both hate and fear.
Loki might have sneered, but for the seiðr that runs through their veins. They call it magic. Less educated (and sometimes more) call it technology. Loki knows it to be both. It is small, a pittance that they have laboriously taken into themselves and cultivated, but it is something in this dry running world. Naquadah. Naquadria. Used to construct ships and generate energy. It is the distilled sap of the world tree and when Loki first takes it in his hands and blows on it the ripples become snowflakes that turn to daisies.
What he could do with such a thing...?
It is a pity Thrymswold has no deposits, but Loki is Loki, trickster god of magic and fire, lies and larceny, and he will not make himself dependent on anything no matter how tempting the power boost is.
Loki has taken the reigns of seven worlds, only four of which were followers of the other, with Thyrmswold as his power base. He's organized scattered, abandoned peoples, secured the contained, miniature Bifrost, and is happy. He never wanted the throne. He never expected to be given it. He never expected to keep it. To want to keep it.
But he knows he won't give them up. Not now. Not even if Odin himself comes knocking to bring him to face - what? Justice?
When the planet called Glitnir is burned, a single warrior in black armor laying waste to a village that has only recently begun the transformation into a city, Loki feels his calm contentment rip away leaving nothing but a cold rage.
Someone has woven a shield around the warrior, has increased his strength and speed, but his protections falter against the elemental frost that Loki summons, and shatters into pieces when the Folk descend like wrath-fueled Valkyries upon the unmoving form.
"Care to explain why your ship is orbiting my planet?" Loki asks as a man with regale bearing is brought before him. There is something off about him, ripples in ripples, and Loki approves. This man is a copy of a god. A perfect copy. Expendable, and yet, he was crafted with care. Devotion.
"Only to meet the one that defeated Anubis' dog." The man smiles, teeth and eyes flashing. "Despite the rumors, I see you are not Asgard."
Loki smirks and leans back on his throne that is more of a couch. One of his guards giggles. "There are many things I am not. And many things that I am."
Loki considers.
His people were the victims of an unprovoked attack. His people were killed -if only temporarily, most of them, for the healing arts gleaned from Naglfar are a true wonder- and he would have... vengeance. But the sorcerer who cast the protections on the now dead warrior is hard to pin down. Sometimes Loki picks up glimmers of the trail in the ether, but he will not risk leaving his people unprotected to route it out. The magic of this place is primitive but effective. Loki does not know how such a battle would go.
He needs information.
They are both gods. They can come to an accord.