Chapter 2: Loki
Sixteen days earlier.
It was fortunate, Loki thought, that Odin hadn't found a replacement for the Destroyer. That would make stealing the Tesseract from Asgard's Weapons Vault a lot harder.
As it was, he'd merely had to deal with the two Einherjar stationed at the doors. It was child's play, really.
Now he had the Tesseract, the Stone that had almost cost him everything to acquire once before. It rested in his palm, glowing prettily. He concentrated upon it, and the Tesseract faded into nothing, moving from the physical world into that secret little dimension from which he could conjure it at will.
A sound from the doorway alerted him to another's presence and he turned, keeping his expression unconcerned as he faced Odin. He had anticipated this meeting.
The Allfather stood on the top step into the Vault, Gungnir in hand. Heimdall stood at his side, silent and powerful as ever. Neither of them looked pleased to see him.
"Is this what you have become?" Odin asked coldly. "A thief in the night?"
"All's fair in love and war," Loki replied with a shrug. "Or so they say on Midgard."
"Are we at war?" Odin asked.
Loki chuckled dryly. "Oh, yes."
Odin's face hardened. "Very well." He raised Gungnir.
When would they ever learn? Loki was starting to get tired of people assuming he was where he appeared to be every single time. It didn't say much for their intelligence, and tricking fools wasn't something he could brag about.
He sighed as he slipped past the two men out of the chamber, invisible. The blast from Odin's spear broke the illusionary image of him that had remained by the Tesseract's plinth, and as the spell faded from the room it revealed that the Casket of Ancient Winters was gone from its place too.
"He has been here already," Heimdall said.
Now they're stating the obvious, Loki thought as he hurried silently through the palace to the chamber where the Bifrost's energy source waited, a spinning golden orb of light. Brilliant. He pulled a black hole grenade out of his pocket and threw it at the energy source.
He'd found the weapon on Svartalfheim after his faked death. It wasn't really his style, but it certainly did the job. Within seconds the energy was gone, leaving the chamber dark. That took care of the Bifrost. It wouldn't do to have Odin getting in the way of his plans for Earth. Not when he had Thanos to answer to once more.
So far, so good though. It was time to return to Midgard and put the second part of his plan into action. He was going to need allies.
Loki opened a portal with the Tesseract and stepped through into another world.