The night air was heavier with pollutants than she expected to be as she stepped through the portal. Loki felt it with every breath she took and the way it clung onto her skin, making her feel dirtier than she's felt in a long time. As she wandered towards the edge of the building, she peered up to the skyline, taking in what this world has to offer for exploration (and possible mischief if she felt up to it.) While the skyline was mostly the same, there were a few key differences that made it clear that she was in a different Midgard than the one Loki knew.
For starters, there wasn't the Avengers Mansion that she could see - though the city of New York was vast enough that she couldn't spot everything from where she was standing. Another was that most of the technology that Stark loved to put out wasn't littering every possible place that would allow it. (There was however a Stark building at the edge of her vision that even by her Stark's way of designing was tasteless.) Still, everything was mostly the same, almost down to the same buildings and historic sites that she had visited with Verity in the past.
But there was something to this world that made the magic under her skin stand to attention. Something that had called to the portal, that was stronger than the other multiple Midgards that were out there, waiting for her to visit. This one wanted her to visit it first, a soothing siren call that only seemed to entice her the more she listened to it.
No use in guessing what was making the call, it was time to go exploring. To seek out what was calling Loki like it was.
With a deep breath in tasting the harsher pollutants and all, she stepped up to the ledge of the building, looking across to where she could land. It took only a few moments to decide and with a jump that the Midgards would call a leap of faith, Loki crossed over to the building across.
Loki followed this path, sometimes using her seven league boots to carry her up the sides of buildings when their ledges were too high for her to jump up to. When walking up the side of them, several times she was caught by the people inside apartments who happened to look out the window. They always reacted with a double glance as if they could hardly believe it that they were seeing a woman walking up the side of the building with nothing but air.
"Guess there's no Spider-Man here," She mumbled to herself, after the fifth time this happened, continuing to walk up the building. Often the Midgardians of her New York City weren't phased anymore by a person climbing or walking up the side of the buildings for both superheroes and villains alike used this trick to travel quickly.
Which was a strange occurrence even to someone like her that there would not be a spider person in any New York City, trying to protect the city. There is always one, sometimes multiple of them if the universe or situation would allow it. What was this world if it didn't have any familiar street-level heroes or villains?
As she reached one of the taller buildings in the city, Loki looked over the edge to take it in. She was closer to the hideous Stark Tower - which she momentarily wrinkled her nose at - but wasn't close enough that she would consider messing with this world's Tony Stark for her own amusement. Looking away from the monstrosity, Loki took note of that she was close enough to travel towards Hell's Kitchen if she chose to do so.
It didn't take much for her to decide.
'If there's not Spider person, perhaps there wasn't a Daredevil as well. Anything is possible at this point,' She thought, taking a more daring move towards the building across the way which involved a flip off the ledge.
After landing on the side of the building, she took note of the few people who were walking nearby. In their hands were phones, poised to take more pictures or videos of her doing gravity-defying acts. (To sell to the news from what little she understood from that part of Migardian culture.)
She tilted her head in thought and then decided, why not?
With practiced moves from her younger years on Asgard, Loki moved down the street, giving the people what they wanted. So what if they decided to send it to the news? Most likely she would be gone by tomorrow, just an interesting blip in this world to ponder and theorize about for years to come. Maybe even those two men on the internet would talk and joke about what she was if it got popular enough.
Soon she left them, going into the heart of Hell's Kitchen. The buildings were the same and even the few landmarks of the area were any different from her own world. She was a bit disappointed, wanting to have something different. She was the Goddess of Stories after all.
As soon as she landed and paused on a rooftop to look towards the starless sky, something hit her in the back of her knees, causing her to fall backwards. Loki let out a surprised gasp, using her magic to keep her body from hitting the hard rooftop. Looking around, she saw the familiar costume that ruled the ten-block radius that was Hell's Kitchen.
Daredevil.
"Well at least that's the same," Loki said, getting back to a standing position. "How are you, Matthew Murdock?"
The man went to go for another strike, growling all the while and Loki countered it easily enough. "How do you know that?" Matthew said loudly, tone bewildered.
Loki smiled and pushed the costumed hero away. She watched him stumble for only a moment before he righted himself. "Not much of a secret on my world I'm afraid, even with that hilarious sweater you would wear. You mortals and you're silly need for a secret identity."
Daredevil let out another growl and went to fight her once more. Smiling, she went along with the fight, delighted that someone was giving her a reason to apply her combat training. Most of her enemies were only magic based and even the few who weren't were untrained. Matthew, however, was trained and obviously had no qualms on how he fought as long as his opponent went down.
"Tell me, does the Punisher exist here? I hope so since mine always liked to blow me up when he saw me. It was fun to see him frustrated." Loki said, dodging a few kicks and strikes. "He was like - what is it you humans call it? A cockroach? Yes, he was like a cockroach, somehow able to stand up despite all the damage he received. Please say he exists, Matthew."
"Who the hell are you?" The question was asked with a growling voice and it caused her to laugh.
"I guess I don't exist here then. I'm Loki, Goddess of Stories. Pleased to meet you Matthew Murdock, protector of Hell's Kitchen."
This stopped the vigilant from making another strike at her. He tilted his head as if to listen to something and Loki stood, waiting for whatever the man would decide next. "You're telling the truth?" The questioning tone amused her, probably more if she could see the confusion on the man's face.
"In this instance yes, I am. Haven't dealt with a deity yet, Matthew?" She asked, tilting her head. She watched as Matthew paced for a few moments. Even when distressed, the man was graceful, the muscles of his body containing the strength and power until it was needed.
Loki could appreciate that especially in the lithe body that Matthew had. It meant deceiving and trickery for his foes - and honestly, what more could a Goddess that used to be the deity for mischief want than that?
She watched as he stopped, turning his head her way. She smiled, knew it was poised for almost looking like a smirk that many had said was the cause of great strife. "Have you Matthew?" She asked, watching the momentary cringe on the man's face.
"No. And quit calling me that."
"You're a bit more boring than mine." She says, a bit disappointed. "A shame since the two of you are interesting. I recall the ability to tell when people are lying."
"Yes," He said hesitantly.
"You know why I find that interesting, Matthew?"
"You're the Goddess of Tricks and Lies."
"On some occasions, yes. Not lately though. But I was branded as silver-tongued in many of my stories. Take a guess why."
There was only a moment of silence, Matthew taking his time to think of the answer. Loki stepped forward and leaned down to where she guessed the man's ear would be underneath the red helmet. "Because the stories I told were always half-truths and nobody could believe what was fact or made up. Not even those with the ability to tell what was a lie could detect that."
"Why are you saying this?" Matthew asked, frustrated. "It makes no sense. If you can do that, then why tell me you're Loki?"
Loki smiled, amused once more. She leans away as she says," "Because I'm curious to see if you're any different. I do like a good story after all. It's my thing now."
"As opposed to mischief?"
"Oh, I still deal in that as well. But I got tired of being labelled as a bad guy after my rebirth, so I decided to go another way."
"It was just that easy?" The disbelief in the man's voice made her bitterly smile. He was sharp, sharper than most when it came to talking. She liked it, kept her on her toes.
"No. But change always takes effort, Matthew. Some might never really believe it. I believe there's something about that in your Midgardian's book, the Bible. Correct me if I'm wrong."
"You've read the bible?"
Loki laughed, light and filled with delight. "Yes, I have. It has many stories contained within it and I figured I should know them as the Goddess of Stories."
There was a faint smile on Matthew's lips and it caused further delight in Loki's heart. Perhaps she should speak to her own Matthew Murdock when she returns back to her universe. "Maybe a second read-through would give you an answer, Loki."
Another bout of laughter and she placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "You still haven't told me if you have your own Punisher, Matthew. Please tell me he exists here?"
A grimace on the vigilante's face and it caused her to smirk. "Yes he does. Why are you so interested in him?"
"Lady never tells her secrets, Matthew."
"You mentioned he was like a cockroach in your world earlier?"
"Good ear. Yes, he was. I was always interested to meet him since he never went down despite the life-risking injuries he gained. But alas, my brother kept me away. Probably afraid of what we could get up to together."
Another faint smile appeared on his lips, almost as if he were amused by her answer. "Probably for the best."
"Yes, yes. Maybe I'll find him during my exploration of the rest of the city. I'm sure you'll hear about it on the news tomorrow." She said, turning away. "You have a good patrol, Matthew."
"Call me Matt."
"You Midgardians and your nicknames. Makes everything harder."
"And yet you come here for answers despite that."
"I'm always looking for a good story Matt. Midgard seems to have a lot of the good ones it seems."
This was originally supposed to be Loki meeting Frank Castle from Netflix the Punisher, but things got changed when I thought it would be a bit funnier to have her meet Netflix's Daredevil lol. I might still use the idea of Loki meeting Frank Castle at another point, but I have a few other ideas of who Loki should meet next.
I did a bit of a fusion with MCU and Netflix Marvel shows since it was revealed that none of the Netflix shows were connected to MCU at all. (Which disappointing.) So I just worked with the details and made it a fusion with bits and pieces of MCU and the Netflix shows like having Tony Stark there, but not Peter Parker. Hopefully, it was coherent when reading the actual fic
Hopefully, it was a good read! :D