The Devil's Work

Garm wasn't gentle when he landed at the bottom of the pit. The heat was barely tolerable and Loki began to sweat, however he refused to lower his hood or remove his gloves. They were like a layer of armor protecting him from the flames that licked at the path leading to Mephisto's lair. It lay just ahead, rising up like a gnarled hand out of a lake of fire.

Steeling himself, Loki removed himself from the Helwolf's back and touched his feet to the ground. "I can walk from here," he told Garm without looking at him. "Amuse yourself while I speak to the Master."

With that, he left the wolf muttering insults to himself. He walked the path alone to the cave entrance. Sweat that Loki began to think had less to do with the heat trickled down his back. The vast cavern, though bare of flames was uncomfortably warm. Loki felt as if he were walking through a desert. The red stone floor was worn smooth under his booted feet and the walls of the cave rose high above his head. There were no guards to meet him as he traversed further into the cave, which Loki did not find surprising, especially when he saw who were sitting at the feet of Mephisto himself.

The Disir.

The ruler of Hell sat encompassed upon his throne carved right from the stone rising all around him. Chained upon the steps of his dais sat two emaciated women. They were thin and their skin was grey with sunken eyes that glowed red. Burnished armor clung to their withered frames. Loki had enough sense to know to fear them, however it was hard when they looked like animated corpses he could fell with a mere gust of wind.

Mephisto, the Lord of Hell, the only hell he believed mattered, crossed his long legs and folded his hands in his lap, waiting for Loki to come closer. A smile played on his thin lips and his eyes glowed like the birth of flame. He wore all red formal attire in the style of the Midgardians with his red hair slicked back behind the horns that stuck out of either side of his head.

Loki approached on wooden legs, his posture stiff. He didn't remember Mephisto no matter what Ikol said about them making a deal before. It didn't matter if Loki remembered him or not. He was here for one thing and one thing only. The Disir. He would do or say anything to get them back because that would mean he was one step closer to saving Thor. Loki stopped and stood as close as he dared to Mephisto's throne. Glancing up from under his hood, he met the Lord of Hell's eye.

I can pretend to be as much as a villain as anyone, Loki told himself.

"Loki!" Mephisto drawled, peering down his nose at him with a proper air of nobility and arrogance. "How surprising. I was somewhat hurt that you hadn't presented yourself before my court already. I'm happy to see you make amends. Please," he said, tilting his head slightly, "let me get one of the girls to bring you a drink…"

Loki peered at Mephisto, scrutinizing his manner. Though it seemed as if Mephisto were insulting him, he wasn't exactly. It seemed like Mephisto respected him enough not to be to outwardly rude. Or maybe that was just how Mephisto was all the time.

"Er…no thank you," Loki said finally. "Business beckons." Something occurred to Loki that Mephisto might know something of the Serpent that threatens Midgard and his brother. He hadn't thought to gain any outside information about his enemy. It wasn't as if he had anyone to ask until now. "You know of this Serpent?"

"I do," Mephisto admitted. "He wants to usurp the whole of Asgard, does he not?" A chuckle escaped the Lord of Hell's lips, "There's a tune I've heard before."

Loki narrowed his eyes, but decided to ignore the barb that was meant for him. "Do you have an opinion of him?" Loki wanted to know.

"Aye, but as long as he stays to his own domain, it's his domain…" Mephisto said sounding as if that was all he had to say on the matter. "But still," he continued to Loki's surprise. "He appears to be in possession of a somewhat aggressive nature. Those types of character demand expansion. Conservative gods such as Odin and his Kin maintain a status quo. This Serpent, I suspect has ideas above his station. The Mighty Thor or the Serpent, better the Devil," Mephisto sneered. "But that leads to another pertinent question, Little Loki." The Lord of Hell leaned forward and rested his elbow on his knee as he peered at Loki. "Which devil are you?"

Loki turned his head away and blocked out the image of the former Loki standing in his place, replacing him.

That wasn't him anymore. That wasn't who he wanted to be. He couldn't let him win. The temptation of recruiting Mephisto to overtake Asgard for his own, just as Mephisto was implying, all in the name of saving Thor, taunted Loki.

Loki turned his green eyed gaze back to Mephisto, his face dower. He decided to overlook the question in favor of asking one of his own. "When do I get my girls back?" he demanded without sounding like he was demanding.

Mephisto sat back in his throne, an amused glint in his fire born eyes. "They died in Hell," he told him. "They're mine now."

Frustration as well as anger flared up within Loki. He wasn't leaving here without the Disir. He needed them and Mephisto's reluctance to give them back revealed to Loki just how valuable they were.

Now was the time to be cunning.

"Firstly," Loki droned. "That you took such bad care of them doesn't exactly endear you to me, Mephisto. Yes they were skin and bones before, but I didn't want them dead." He stepped closer to the first step of Mephisto's throne and continued, "Secondly, their untimely passing just means they are subjects of hell. They are still under my ultimate control."

Loki hesitated right before Mephisto's throne. "Return them to me and I will make certain this Serpent is contained or better yet destroyed."

The Lord of Hell leaned back in his throne and placed a hand on top the Disir's head, seemingly contemplating. He flicked his unwavering gaze to Loki and frowned. "It pains to me part with them, but I see that I have no other choice. A bargain is a bargain. Take them," he said casually, removing his hand from her head.

Loki expression was grim, but he forced a smile anyway. Now that he had the Disir on his side, he could bargain with Hela. One Devil down, and how many more before this was done?