SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 8: Invisible King
Loki herded the man into a chair where Secretary Pierce coddled the porcelain vase as if it were a shield. He collapsed into the chair and stared at Loki, though Loki failed to distinguish the emotion beneath his aged face. Pierce's eyes stayed trained on Loki as he paced the length of the room, his hands behind his back, encouraging the silence to flame growing tension.
"You are too late," Pierce said, breaking the silence as if cracking thin ice over a pond. "Our plans are too far ahead for you to stop them."
"Do tell more, Mr. Secretary."
"I don't need to. You can look out the window and see for yourself."
Loki kept one eye trained on Alexander Pierce while he scanned the view from the top of the 20th floor of the Triskelion. The window soon captured all of his attention as he saw bursts of light interrupting the dark city-scape and heard the sound of sirens approaching. Would this Midgardian city also fall during this night?
"What have you done?" Loki asked in a whisper.
"What needed to be done. Hail Hydra," Alexander Pierce said. He pulled his gun out from the center of the vase, placed it on his temple, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. Alexander Pierce's eyes grew wide and he stared at the gun and tried again. Once again, the weapon failed to fire.
"Really, Mr. Secretary? A grand suicide attempt-I did not take you to be the coward. You will not be permitted to run from the destruction your own hands have wrought," Loki said as he turned towards the man, snatched the weapon from his hands, and crumpled it into pieces in his left hand. "You tarried too long in your return here. I found myself very idle and sought to remedy my boredom by discovering all your hidden weapons before you arrived. It has proved fortuitous for both of us, especially as I am now personally responsible for preserving your pitiful life. Now, tell me, Mr. Secretary, who are the assailants below?"
Loki turned towards the window again and watched as a firefight broke out between black-clad figures and military personnel. Loki could only assume that meant the intended targets had already been reached. Chaos poured from the government buildings around them. He could see the tell-tale signs of smoke billowing in the distance where orange flames licked up the sides of one of the white fortresses guarding the centers of power of this region. Uniformed personnel chased through buildings, poured water from vehicles onto flames, and rushed to help civilians out of buildings.
Alexander Pierce pursed his lips and refused to answer him. Loki waited in silence for nearly an hour till he finally tired of waiting. He retrieved the living manifestation of the scepter from his store and bent over the elderly man. Pierce gave him a scathing look meant to inflict the damage his weapons could not cause. Loki simply smiled and placed the glowing blue point against the man's chest.
Loki smugly listened to a much looser set of lips.
Oooooooooooooooooooooo
"In breaking news tonight, the U.S. economy is in shambles as the capital of the federal government and the four largest economic powers in the country were attacked two nights ago. Washington D.C., Florida, California, New York, and Texas are all struggling to return to some sense of order after the loss of their key civic, government, and business leaders. Attacks at key ports, transportation hubs, and business districts have also contributed to the chaos. Airports across the country have been closed as the nation tries to figure out what to do in the aftermath. Hundreds of thousands flee capitals in the remaining states, fearful that theirs will be the next target.
"The Secretary of Labor has woken to find himself the next president of the United States as his previous ten players in the line of succession were targeted in a single night in an unprecedented event. The U.S. has now joined as the 37th country targeted in this global terror event that has destabilized entire continents.
"An emergency council of the United Nations has been called at a time and location that has yet to be disclosed. Authority figures promise they will have some answers for the world as all watch and wonder who will be next?"
Loki watched and smiled. He knew who would be next.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"In world news tonight, a breaking event has taken place. While the eyes of the world looked on in fear for who would be the next victim to the global catastrophes taking the world by storm, for the last two nights, no countries fell.
"Argentina, Italy, Thailand, and Malaysia all appear to have been the next targets, but in each location, the attacks were prevented by the appearance of an interstellar hero.
"While better known for his role in Norse mythology and, more recently, his efforts to fight off the attacking army in New York, the man identified as Thor, God of Thunder, appeared flying through the capitals of each of these countries over the last two nights. Reporters and news cameras caught him in the act, capturing snipers dressed in black, forcing them into handcuffs, and transporting them in a jet to a secure facility for containment and prosecution.
"Contacts from a global intelligence agency known as SHIELD have confirmed that Thor is working as an ally in preventing the further destabilization of countries around the world."
Loki smiled. The images of Thor flying through the air behind Mjolnir dominated each news station and news headline. Crowds cheered Thor's name wherever Loki projected Thor's illusions for them to cheer.
It was too easy, really. Alexander Pierce, with his falsely blue eyes slightly glazed, told Loki all the most intimate and secret details of Hydra's plots of world domination. Then Loki could twist them as he saw fit. Between Pierce's subservience and the power of the scepter, Pierce's army was easily dealt with and brought under Loki's dominion instead.
If he just so happened to parade them publicly in handcuffs behind Thor for the news cameras to capture, so much the better.
By tomorrow night, Loki would put an end to the attacks entirely. The news, the public, SHIELD-they would all praise Thor for coming to their rescue, for vanquishing their mysterious foes, and stopping the fall of the entire realm. Loki would ensure that "Thor" would make rousing speeches on public television dressed in his finest cape and armor. He would flash his most brilliant smile and steal all their hearts.
As Thor always did. As he was meant to do. As only a true king could.
ooooooooooooooooooooooo
Loki, dressed as Thor, stood in front of the gathering of government officials in the covert United Nations meeting. He stood next to Alexander Pierce, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill. Loki's carefully placed glamour hid the blue tinted eyes of Secretary Pierce.
A glance around the hidden facility deep underground in Hanoi showed the fragile threads holding many of these countries together. Desks representing each of the member countries of the United Nations showed the name of the country and names of the representatives. In 37 of these desks, pictures and flowers showed who was now represented by a hastily chosen, under-prepared set of substitutes.
A somber mood covered the room as the first three hours were spent listing their national losses and the challenges each country now faced in the aftermath. It became apparent that even the countries that remained intact faced economic repercussions from what some news anchors now dubbed "The Fall".
"It's chaos. Pure chaos!" the representative for Saudi Arabia said. "All 200 of our most powerful princes were assassinated. Our oil operations will not be repaired for at least two years. Our people are afraid. Their fear has led them to riot and loot all the shops in fear of the future."
"With all of our top trading partners destabilized in combination with U.S. infrastructure damage, the U.S. economy will take years to rebuild," said the representative for the U.S.
"Not to mention all the major aid donor countries will no longer be in a position to be providing aid. Even those of us who retain our governments and our businesses will suffer," said the representative for Tanzania.
"We all are in agreement. It's a bloody mess. The real question is: what do we do about it now?" said the Secretary-General, calling order and bringing direction into the proceedings.
Secretary Alexander Pierce rose and addressed the council in a calm tone full of self-assurance and projecting wisdom. "Nations of the world, we have all experienced a terrible tragedy. Just as we have shared in the effects of this disaster, so we must band together to rebuild. If you would allow me to make a suggestion: SHIELD has competent and highly trained agents that can assist each of your nations develop transitional governments and restore order. We are a global and apolitical entity. We can agree on a timed exit strategy, but we have the man-power and the skills to step into the chaos and restore peace. This is what SHIELD exists for. Let us help stand in the gaps that have been left by this terrible tragedy until you can stand on your own two feet again."
Debates continued late into that night and late into every night for the remainder of the week.
No further countries fell into crisis and the information from apprehended agents continued to assure the United Nations assembly of the end of "The Fall." SHIELD's Secretary Pierce provided them with clear, thorough plans to rebuild with the assistance of his specially chosen, well-trained fleet of agents and Thor gave rousing speeches and pledges of honor and fidelity to all.
Thus all United Nations member states (save five who still distrusted the idea) wholeheartedly approved the plans of Secretary Pierce to rebuild their human and physical infrastructure.
Each U.N. member state returned home with a sense of hope for the future and plans to ease the fears of their constituents. Loki still found that both hope and fear proved invaluable tools in the quest for world domination.
oooooooooooooooooooo
Loki lay on the uncomfortable cot in his commandeered room. SHIELD seemed to prioritize fixing the world over fixing the broken heater in this undamaged portion of their headquarters. He did not mind the fluctuating temperatures. Still, he wondered, what the world would think if they knew their puppet master slept on a hard cot hardly suitable to soldiers in a room smaller than his wardrobe at home.
Home. He didn't have a home anymore.
He rolled over, suddenly even more uncomfortable and stared at the drab white wall across from him. On the small nightstand next to his bed, Mjolnir's edges shone and glistened. The sight of it gave him an irrational sense of familiarity.
"You would have enjoyed this, brother," he said softly to the hammer, in a ritual he seemed to fall into every day now, much as he had done with his brother during their childhood when they still slept in the same chamber. "Flying about, rescuing people, stopping mighty foes, instilling order and hope onto the masses of peons beneath you. They worship you as much now as they ever did. Though, I do not think I enjoy it as much as you would. I find I enjoy…what do I enjoy?"
He paused, lost in thought, and finding himself uncomfortably disturbed by the thought that he no longer knew what he enjoyed.
He enjoyed making mischief…but without Thor to disturb, irritate, or laugh with him at his efforts, he felt rather deflated. Like an empty barrel of mead.
He enjoyed upsetting order, but now he found himself cleaning up other's messes instead, which was, in a way, still upsetting another's well-laid plans in a way they did not expect, but he did not revel in the sight of frightened, lost people cowering before him the way he once did. He did not feel powerful anymore or thirst for the undisguised fear or adoration of others as he once did.
"I am the invisible king of the realm I sought to conquer and for what? Who will be impressed with my feat? Certainly not I. Nor you. Mother and Father…your mother and father, I should say, will no more look upon my accomplishments with pride than a mother looks with pride upon her child's feet traipsing mud across the floor. It is all hollow. Now what will I do? What will I accomplish? Humiliate another evil genius? Discover another plot and overturn it?
"I am not made to rule, I am made to overturn and upset. Some people build towers. I knock them down. I do not like playing this other role. I do not relish playing the hero. Nor do I relish playing the villain. I much prefer playing at Loki for that is the only role I truly excel at."
But who is Loki? He thought uncomfortably to himself. Without Thor, without Asgard, without a title, without a duty, without a family-what remained? A failed Frost Giant? A failed Aesir? A failed prince? A failed brother? A failed son? The noun changed, but the adjective remained the same.
He thought he knew it all, had it under control. He had a plan. This was not his plan.
He no longer bothered to hide himself from Heimdall. What could be done to him? If the All-Father sought vengeance and justice upon him, he could welcome it with open arms for he knew he deserved it. What of his actions were worthy of hiding now? That he played at both his own life and his brother's? No, if anything he honored his brother's memory by keeping the myth of him alive among the mortals, in some way preventing him from dying, keeping him immortal for all time. That way, he could keep pretending too.
No, if Asgard wished to know his whereabouts, he would not hide. Not anymore.
"Goodnight, brother," he said. He pulled his rough blanket higher around his chin and fell asleep.
ooooooooooooo
Author's Note: So, I was debating whether to drag this out a bit longer and give more detail. Then I realized that this plot is more centered upon what happens after and not the process of how it happens. Thus, the world is "conquered" rather quickly and without a lot of details.
Hope you enjoy! I'd love to hear your thoughts thus far in the story!
FYI, I didn't want to list all of these in the text of the story, but in case you are curious, here's the list of countries that have been conquered:
Day 1: Iran, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia
Day 2: United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Russia, India, and China
Day 3: Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, Nigeria, South Africa, and Chile
Day 4: Guatemala, New Zealand, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway
Day 5: Pakistan, Turkey, Switzerland, Taiwan, Sweden, Denmark
Day 6: Belgium, Austria, U.A.E, Egypt, Israel
Day 7: U.S.A.