SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 7: Double Agents
Loki sat in the now dustless room he had commandeered and stared at the handful of glowing flecks spread across the cot in front of him. The report from SHIELD, unfortunately (and fortunately), supported his own conclusions. The Tesseract could not be reunited and its power could not be restored to its previously incalculable state.
He tried with every method he could think, including using the power of his scepter, but to no avail. The Tesseract remained in shards. He could not use it to transport him into the washroom, let alone to another realm.
But, now he knew: Infinity Stones could be irrevocably destroyed. Unfortunately, this meant he could not use said stone to transport him to the places he needed to travel in order to find the rest of the stones before Thanos.
He stared at his scepter and internally debated. Maintaining ownership of one Infinity Stone did provide him with an advantage against possible foes, but he would rather destroy the scepter than risk it falling into the wrong hands and being used against him. Still, Thanos could use it to keep track of his actions and communicate with him. However, the Titan could do little more than threaten and until Thanos arrived to reclaim it, the scepter was still in Loki's hands. He would need to ponder this further, but not today.
Instead, he let his eyes fall onto the tiny room considered lodgings on Midgard and felt as if the walls themselves were closing in on him, suffocating him with their enfolding grasp.
He was trapped on Midgard. Alone.
From Asgard, he could secretly travel to any of the other realms, but from Midgard? He cursed himself for ignoring the realm for a millennium.
He had found a secret pathway to Midgard once, nearly a thousand years ago. He emerged on top of a glacial mountain range, a bitter wind biting into his summer Asgardian clothing, and he did not bother staying long enough to discover the name of the peak. He did not have time to climb every mountain on Midgard now to discover its name.
Besides, he had no desire to find himself back on Asgard, facing the grief, disappointment, and wrath he was sure to face from his adoptive parents and the entire Kingdom. He was solely to blame for the death of their prince and he now must serve his self-imposed exile alone on this backward, barbarian realm.
It would be more convenient if he could simply create his own means of travel between realms. Even Asgard no longer had a Bifrost. At this he shuddered…how would all the realms fare against Thanos, especially Asgard, without the Bifrost? It was more than a convenient means of travel. It was trade, it was information, it was the power of Yggdrasil across the realms. Without the Tesseract, how would Asgard rebuild it?
More importantly, how could he access such a Bifrost? Could he discover a means to build his own?
Unfortunately, masterminding the conquest of an entire realm while maintaining two identities instead of one could be counterproductive to researching the location of the remaining Infinity stones and building a Bifrost. Loki could not manage all on his own. While his invisible allies proved themselves nearly unstoppable at dismantling the infrastructure of the entire planet, he would require some of Midgard to remain intact. It would do him precious little good for the realm to self-destruct entirely. This meant he would also need to uncover their nefarious plot and use it for his advantage.
But every evil plot is in need of minions and, of these, he currently found himself gravely lacking. He could simply co-opt a few using the scepter, but he loathed that nefarious evil object with all his being. He would prefer to gain allies through more stable methods, such as genuine respect, loyalty and common causes (unless that failed, then, maybe he would consider the scepter again…after all, he still preferred using the despicable relic to losing).
Perhaps he could develop two teams-those for Loki and those for Thor and then he could tap into both of their passions and skill sets to his advantage. Fortuitously for him, both teams also happened to be headquartered in the same building.
Thus Thor, God of Thunder, walked into SHIELD Headquarters asking to speak with Director Fury.
And Loki, God of Mischief, met Agent Jasper Sitwell in a dark alleyway outside of a French Deli on his way to the gym.
One of them was bound to provide useful information to his cause(s). One of them was bound to provide him with allies. He would take what he could get.
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Director Fury hung up his phone and sat up a little straighter as the Asgardian prince walked into his office, his presence filling the entire office with an unsettling aura of power.
"Thor. To what do I owe the honor?" he asked coolly. He could not shake the memory of his close encounter with Thor's fist during their last tête-à-tête.
"Director Fury, I am happy to see you well," Thor said, breaking into a warm smile and clasping Fury's arm with his massive hand. Thor plopped himself down in the chair across from Fury, his large frame making the office chair appear to be built for a child. "I have come seeking information."
"I told you, I can't disclose the location of…" Fury began. Thor cut him off with a hand wave and another easy smile.
"You misunderstand me, Son of Fury," he said. "I understand your oath of secrecy and I will not pressure you to go back on your oath. I am come for other information. Tell me, what is this I hear of chaos on Midgard? I have heard tell of nations falling and attacks upon kings across the realm. Does truth undergird these rumors?"
"I am afraid so."
"Do you know the name of your enemy?"
"I'm afraid not. I have agents working around the clock, but so far, I've lost more agents than I've gained information. We've lost thirty of the most powerful countries on earth in a week and nearly a dozen agents have disappeared in the process."
"I am saddened to hear that."
"Hmmm. Thor, I don't mean to upset you, but are you certain your brother is dead?"
"Director, I, too, have heard these rumors and I can assure you that rumors they remain. Loki is no more behind these attacks than my mother. In fact, my mother would prove the more likely of the two because she still lives."
"Thor, how do you know your brother died?" Fury said, staring intently into Thor's keen eyes. Thor's eyes dropped to his hands and a wave of grief shadowed his face.
"I found his body in the rubble. The Aesir are renowned across the realms for our hardiness but even we are not impenetrable. The blast dislodged a lamppost and sent it straight through his heart. It was a dishonorable death for a prince and I am loathe to share it publicly. I had no option but to send him to the halls of our ancestors in a shameful farce of a funeral upon the cold northern waters of your realm."
"I am sorry about your brother…and that you couldn't give him a proper burial," Fury replied, attempting to force himself to feel sympathy as opposed to relief.
"I am grateful for your condolences," Thor said. "Now, I have sworn an oath to protect this realm from foes, both within and without. As I find myself remaining here, is there a way that I can prove myself an ally to your realm again?"
"You are stuck on earth?"
"Yes. The Tesseract was to be my means to return to Asgard."
"Huh. You bought a one way ticket to Earth? A bit overconfident that you could take Tesseract back with you, weren't you?"
"I have proved to underestimate a great many parts of this realm. I stand chastened. As I am here for an indefinite period of time, tell me, Son of Fury, how can I be of assistance to Midgard in your current troubles?"
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Loki's façade of Thor left Fury's office with an uncharacteristic smirk on his face. Fury, as he predicted, had accepted his offer of assistance and provide him inside information into the next possible locations under attack. In his pocket, he held a covert copy of the entire SHEILD database that only Fury had authority to access. He vanished himself, returned to his borrowed quarters, and began to read.
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Jasper Sitwell nearly dropped his coffee all over his gym shirt when he heard a voice call out to him from the dark corner of an alley. Loki stifled a laugh and attempted to project a menacing position over the quivering man.
"Agent Sitwell, I hear I've been conquering the world. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?" Loki said. He watched as the man's eyes searched around him for an escape route. Loki could easily track him down again, but he thought it would be more entertaining to keep him from trying. Loki flicked his fingers and Agent Sitwell found he could no longer move. The man's eyes filled with terror and before he could act on his intention to scream, Loki sidled up to him and whispered into his ear.
"Don't think about it. You are both invisible and silent to the outside world."
"What do you want?" Sitwell responded with a visible gulp. "Your brother said you are dead."
"Maybe I am," Loki responded. "Would you like to test that?"
"I don't know anything," he managed to stammer out as sweat trickled down his forehead..
"Oh, but I think you do," Loki responded. "You see, I have it on very good authority that you know about a secret organization hidden within SHIELD…an organization that just so happens to be conquering Midgard in my name…and I would like to know why. It's only fair, you see. If I am to return to my original purpose of ruling Midgard, I would like to know why Hydra is working so diligently to place me on the throne."
"How do you know about…," Sitwell began and then stopped as the pieces clicked into place. "Agent Smith told you."
"Of course. My allies told me all their deepest secrets, just as you will," Loki said. He produced an illusion of his scepter and placed it against the agent's chest. It produced the intended result and the agent's lips freely poured his secrets to Loki's listening ear.
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Alexander Pierce entered his office and flipped on the lights. He placed his briefcase on the side table and reached to loosen his striped tie before a noise made him pause. He turned and saw a man sitting at his desk, his feet nonchalantly on the desk, his hands clasped behind his dark-haired head.
Pierce silently pushed an alarm button he held at all times in his pocket and reached for the gun he carried in his briefcase.
The man's face broke into a grin.
"Mr. Secretary, I am so glad you've finally returned. I was beginning to grow bored. Please, don't bother with your weapon. I can assure you, I am quite bullet proof. Incidentally, I also have discovered that I am nuclear-bomb proof. Thank you for assisting me in that bit of useful information. As for your alarm system, I'm afraid I've dismantled it."
"Loki," Pierce said, his eyes glancing around his office for a possible escape or means of communicating with the guards. "You are alive."
"In the flesh."
"Why are you here?"
"I think the appropriate question, Mr. Secretary, is why are you here?"
"I do not understand."
Loki threw his feet off the desk and stood, towering over the other man, and he began to pace the office with his hands clasped behind his back. He turned and broke into a menacing grin before he continued.
"Mr. Secretary, I have it on very good authority that you and the organization under your leadership, intend to conquer Midgard. Yet, as your minions overthrow the kings of this realm, you sit here, blissfully free of the chaos sowed elsewhere. Do you intend to wait until the last moment to step into your throne or will you rule from the shadows?"
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"I'm sure you don't. I'm convinced of your perfect ignorance. Happy for us both, there is another topic I am hoping you can provide more insight into. Tell me, Mr. Secretary, what exactly is your role on the World Security Council and why did you so influence it in its decision to kill my brother, the Prince of Asgard?"
Alexander Pierce paled and he began to back towards the door. He grabbed a vase off a counter and held it in his hands, as if he could beat off his superhuman attacker with its fragile painted porcelain.
"You have taken away both my army and my brother, Mr. Secretary. Since you are incapable of replacing the one, I propose an exchange. I will take the former as compensation for the latter."
"You must be insane," Pierce replied, finding himself blocked into a corner, still separated from the door, but unable to get past Loki.
"You would not be the first to so accuse. Now, without further ado, you have two choices. You can fulfill my orders willingly or unwillingly," Loki said.
With a blinding flash of light, he unfurled his armor and pulled the scepter out of thin air (no illusion). He pointed it towards the now cowering man as Loki grinned at him, all his armor glinting in the dim light, and reflecting the blue of the Mind Stone onto the wall.
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