Chapter 6.
The mansion he had left behind was in such a deplorable state he was advised not to step in the building, lest he would suffer an accident. While the much needed reparations were underway, he would move to the city, which made easier for him to get in contact with the human world.
Under different circumstances, Loki would have spent his days carousing in London, remembering the time he spent there when Queen Victoria still reigned. Not now.
Having a limited amount of time was something that would always make a mind focus, and that Loki knew well. He was a hedonist by nature (and Asgardian customs strengthened those tendencies), but he knew he had a limited set of years to accomplish what he wanted. He was still in his prime, but in a few decades his health would decline, and in a few decades more even his mind would start to drift away. He had much to do and partying could wait, if only a little.
But some things never changed.
Like the fact that money and polite words opened you most doors. It also made you famous, especially if you had claimed a legendary inheritance. It was the perfect method to create a positive image for himself which would also serve as a protection in case SHIELD tried making any move against him. As soon as journalists caught wind of the famous Norwood heir, they bombarded him with offers to give interviews. He was tempted to be swept along, but he took care that his public appearances were scarce enough to create a halo of mystery while maintaining the interest.
And in that privacy he researched about the appearance of what they called "metahumans". Modified human beings, as a result of experiments or by an accident of nature, which could harness powers otherwise barred to such a weak race.
The truth was that such humans had always existed, only they hid among their lesser brethren, something Loki always knew from his visits to Midgard. He remembered that there was a group of mystics who could harness magic, and wondered if they would help him regain his powers. Or if he could find them.
Someone who didn't hide their presence was a man named: Tony Stark. Ingenious and wealthy, he had fashioned a flying armor which allowed him to achieve super human feats. He alone had brought most conflicts on Midgard to a grinding halt. But he didn't hide his identity, like most masked "heroes" roaming the planet, but wore his Iron Man moniker with pride, relishing in the fame like Thor always did. Big egos could be found even in petty worlds like this one.
Stark was also a multimillionaire and the owner of Stark Industries, formerly the biggest weapon manufacturer, and now the most important business in the clean energy sector. Though lately Mr. Stark had been engaged in all short of scandals and erratic behavior, the Company's reins were in the capable hands of Miss Virginia Potts, who acted as the CEO. Just like when Norse women stayed at home managing the gold and household, while their husbands were out plundering and pillaging, so did this woman who ran an entire Corporation while her man fooled around with a tin armor.
Though at first Loki had entertained the thought of creating his own company, he knew Stark industries hadn't reached the level of power Loki needed until the second generation stepped in. It would take far too much money and time, and the market was already full as it was. Instead of creating his own empire and waging a time-consuming war upon the rest, he would slowly take control of each one of them, keeping the visible heads so subordinates didn't resent the new lord.
Loki had seen Miss Potts on television and read about her. She seemed calm, intelligent and skillful, someone worth dealing with. And he looked forward to do so, but not until at least he could sort out his other projects, like getting in control of Hammer Industries.
The former owner, Justin Hammer, had been involved in a shady business which included, among other things, smuggling a criminal out of jail and the creation of a small army of autonomous armors in the line of the original Iron Man, which nearly killed thousands of bystanders during the public unveiling, just because of an inferiority complex towards Stark. Loki could but shake his head at Hammer's antics and second-rate way of handling things, not being in the least surprised that he ended up in jail after his sloppy attempt of putting himself ahead of Stark who, truth be told, had showed to be far more brilliant despite his eccentricities. However, it benefited Loki, for Hammer's Stock Prize had slumped, making it very easy to take control of the ruined industry and giving it a facelift.
But trouble would have to find him again, and it was trouble with a capital T.
His cell rang one night, waking him up with a jolt. He fumbled sleepily with the lamp until he could switch it on and could pick up his phone; he then had to blink until he could read the caller's name. It was Jane.
"Yes?" he answered in a raspy voice. They had kept the contact for the past months, be it by phone or videoconference, almost on a daily basis since he moved to London, but it was the first time she woke him up in the middle of the night. He felt his heart racing, feeling that something serious had happened.
"Robert?" Jane's voice sounded a bit hesitant. They had agreed on using his Midgardian name in case SHIELD was listening. "Sorry I woke you up."
A deep voice boomed in the background from her end of the line, making Loki's stomach sink, as well as waking him up completely.
"What happened?" he asked, hoping that it was only a TV show Darcy would be watching.
"Well… uh, we caught another disturbance last night and-could you please leave that alone?" she said to another person.
Loki rubbed his brow. He had a very bad feeling about that call.
"Let me guess," he said tiredly. "Someone paid a visit."
"Yes, how did you know? Never mind. He says he's your brother and believes we have imprisoned you somewhere. Could you-?"
"Pass him on to me," he sighed, already sitting cross-legged on his bed, his chin resting on his free hand.
After a fumbling noise and Jane's hushed voice indicating how to use her cell, a deafening shout from her end made Loki take the phone away from his ear.
"BROTHER!" Thor's voice roared in joy. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
"Could you, please, keep it down?" Loki hissed, already feeling the beginning of a thumping headache.
"Oh, sorry," Thor apologized. "I came to take you home. Tell me where you are and I'll come to pick you up!"
Panic began to well up inside him. He had been exiled, it was forbidden to bring back anyone banned by the King himself! What was this oaf trying to do? What if other mortals saw him?
"No! Go back before anyone notices!"
"No one will take heed," Thor bragged. "I assure you. Tell me where you are!"
"No, I will go instead. Do not move from where you are right now," Loki ordered. "Look, this place has changed a lot. Listen to me just once, please. Stay where you are."
"But, why? Midgard has always been safe for us."
Loki grinded his teeth in frustration; he had to speak very slowly so his voice didn't tremble.
"You not listening to me saying that you had to stay home is what got me stranded here in the first place."
There was a long silence from the other end.
"I'm sorry, brother," Thor's voice was barely audible.
This surprised him. It was the first time he had heard Thor so contrite.
"Wait for me where you are, please. I'll be there in a day. And do try to behave. Darcy and Jane are good girls and I don't want them to get into trouble. Oh, and tell Jane to lend you some clothes to hide your armor. Understood?"
"Understood."
He hung up without giving Thor a chance to say anything more. Something had changed in Asgard during his absence, he felt it on his brother's voice, and it was bound to be something unpleasant if it had taken Thor's hubris down a notch.
The next thing he did was calling his secretary to tell her that he had to travel to the States a day before scheduled. He instructed her to cancel all his appointments and meetings in England for the following week, but confirm the one with Miss Potts.
His trip back to the States went smoothly, but it could have been better if only he had his own private jet already and didn't have to take a commercial flight. Why Thor couldn't wait a bit longer to pay him a visit?
Jane's laboratory still sat on that former repair shop, and was still full of gizmos that only she knew what they were for. Loki left the rented car beside Jane's caravan and hurried inside the building.
Thor was there, thankfully dressed as a Midgardian. Far from what Loki expected, the prince was behaving fairly well, sitting still and listening to whatever Jane was explaining to him.
Upon Loki entering, however, he got up and greeted him with a wide smile.
"BROTHER!" he bellowed, springing up from his seat. "We have been so worried about you!"
"Could you wait for me outside?" Loki said curtly, stepping back when Thor attempted to grab his shoulder.
Thor was taken aback by his terse tone, but said nothing and did as instructed while the girls watched in silence.
Loki sighed deeply once the door closed behind the warrior.
"He said he wanted you to go back home," Jane said softly.
He smiled wryly and shook his head.
"Thor is very impulsive," he told them. "But he's incapable of actual malice. I hope he didn't cause any trouble."
"Well…" Jane starter, hesitant.
"He ate all our poptarts," Darcy interrupted. "And then he nearly caused a traffic accident because he didn't want to look both sides of the road before-"
"Darcy, please!"
"What? I was going to say that besides that he did nothing more!"
"Nothing that I didn't expect, at least," Loki said as he turned for the door. "Thank you for your help."
"Wait!" Jane went after him. "Are you going to go with him?"
Loki shook his head, more to reassure himself than her. On his current state, Thor could drag him all the way to Asgard without a chance for a fight.
"Not if I can avoid it," he said instead.
Thor waited for him under the sunlight. It was nearly midday, but it wasn't enough to warm Loki's mood.
"It has taken you quite some time to come visit me," Loki remarked icily. "Three whole months. For all you knew, I could be sitting at a road's edge, starving to death. Why have you come?"
"We need you back at home," Thor said. "The Frost Giants have declared war on us."
"What use would you have for me? I only cast illusions," he said acidly. "I never actually fought, remember? You and your precious Warriors Three and Sif should be more than enough."
Thor's expression had changed; his distress was evident, and Loki had to fight very hard to hide his surprise. For the first time during their long lives he saw anxiety in his blue eyes. Not even when they had been outnumbered during battle did he see on Thor a trace of any other thing that wasn't a mixture of bravado and excitement. There was unease and… fear?
"Brother, you don't understand, our father-"
"Your father," he corrected. "And don't call me brother."
"What are you talking about?" Thor said, making a face. "Stop saying such nonsense! You have to come with me, it's very urgent! Father has fallen into the Odinsleep!"
"I can't. The Allfather sealed my magic and my immortality. Now I'm just a mortal man."
"There must be a way to-"
"There isn't," Loki interrupted him. "What happens to Asgard is no more my concern, nor is in my power to avoid it."
"How can you say such a thing?" Thor hollered. "You grew up there! Your family lives there! As the King I order you to-"
"I am not an Asgardian," Loki interrupted him, pausing a moment before speaking again, knowing that he was severing the last ties that connected him to Asgard. "A Frost Giant grabbed my arm during our incursion. I am immune to their touch. You surely know what that means."
Thor gaped at him, visibly struggling with this revelation for a moment.
"But, maybe your magic protected you," he ventured.
Loki shook his head.
"Only having their blood can serve as protection. Father must have taken me when he last visited Jotunheim. You might recall something amiss when you were younger, like never seeing Mother pregnant."
Thor's expression remained adamant, but Loki could see in his eyes that he was pondering his question, trying to remember any detail of their mother being pregnant. He had been old enough to register those kind of memories.
"Odin fought the Frost Giants who tried to enslave Midgard," Loki continued, finding a perverse pleasure in seeing Thor's expression. "And now he sent another who can build an empire for himself. Isn't it ironic?"
"An empire? Why would you do that? It was decided that Midgardians would be free from our influence many centuries ago."
"Have you the slightest idea of what they have done with their precious freedom?" Loki leered. "They have been massacring each other for so long they can't remember any other way of living, and in the last hundred years they have been several times on the brink of total annihilation. They need guidance, and I'm more than willing to provide it."
"Being a tyrant? You have gone mad!"
"Mad?" Loki nearly shouted. "You can claim Asgard's throne only because it's your birthright, because the ones who wrote the laws accounted for neither wisdom nor responsibility as obligatory to govern the Realm. That is going mad. Look at yourself! So anxious of sitting there but now you can't even administer a war situation."
"Is this because of it? Because you wanted to be the king instead?"
"Hang the throne! I never wanted it! The only thing I've ever wanted was for someone to recognize my loyalty and my efforts at protecting it! But I tell you this: that now that I know myself not from Asgard I see Odin's punishment as a blessing instead, for I will be hereafter free from you and your friends' foolishness until the day I die. My only grief is that I won't have many years to savor it before Death takes me."
"LOKI!" Thor bellowed, grabbing his brother's shoulders in desperation. "Stop this at once! I will return your powers, I promise! But you have to come back home! I am the King, and I can annul your punishment!"
"I told you I don't have a home anymore," Loki said coldly, shaking his brother's hands off and taing a step back. He knew that, more than hostile gestures, it was the lack of reaction what hurt Thor the most, as he could see when the warrior released him. "What would your people think if you contradicted your father's last command? They need a sense of continuity in these hard times. Every good governor knows it."
"Why do you turn on us?" Thor asked, his fists clenched in frustration.
"You turned on me from the very first day. Odin knew what I was from the beginning, yet he raised me to despise and scorn my own blood. All was well and good while I followed you like a shadow, protecting you from your reckless actions so you could reach your coronation day unscathed, but when he suspected that I wasn't fit anymore for that task he casted me away. Tell me, who is the liar now?"
"You will come with me," Thor insisted.
"What are you going to do?" Loki teased. "Abduct me? Do you know how obsessed Midgardians have become over the last years with what might be beyond their atmosphere? They would be scared to death if someone from another world came to kidnap one of them! And no doubt they will brand Asgard an enemy world, like they would do with Jotunheim if they knew of its existence."
Thor took a step towards him.
"I'll have you know that I am rather famous in Midgard," Loki continued without flinching. "My disappearance will be noticed and talked about, unless you want to take those two adorable ladies with us. Against their will, of course."
Thor's gaze turned to the laboratory's windows, from where Jane and Darcy stood looking at them with worried expressions. They couldn't have heard a word they had said, but the body language said everything they needed to know.
"Or maybe kill them," he kept teasing Thor. "We all know that humans are not allowed in Asgard, and it would be very bad for a King's reputation to break the rules."
For a few seconds, Loki was already picturing the stronger man hauling him like a newborn cub and dragging him back to Asgard. But his words worked the desired effect, for Thor lowered his gaze in defeat for a moment.
"You are not coming back, then?"
"No."
"Very well," Thor said with badly restrained rage. "If you are not coming with me you are never to step on Asgard again. That is my command."
Loki could barely keep himself from smiling. So gullible, as always.
The new King of Asgard turned away without another word and walked towards the desert, where Heimdall would take him back home. Loki was about to advise him against doing it in broad daylight, but remembered he was no longer in charge of Thor's behavior. He was now the King, let him decide what to do and when and see how well that would go.
"It looks like you are going to have another disturbance," he told Jane when he came back into the laboratory.
"Are you ok?" she asked anxiously.
"He looked as if he was about to rip you apart," Darcy pointed out.
"He might look fierce, but he wouldn't harm me," Loki laughed. "You might not have another opportunity to study the Bifrost, Jane, you might want to go with him."
"What!? NO!" she yelled, but quickly checked herself. "I… I mean, look at how angry he was! What if he takes it on us?"
"Us?" Darcy echoed with incredulity. "Jane, he's a frigging GOD!"
"If we are going somewhere, we are going together," Jane ordered.
"Thor has many weaknesses," Loki tried to calm them. "But he would never harm two ladies like you."
"Well," Darcy retorted. "He sure was bossy."
"He's a king on his land," Loki told them. "He's entitled to act as such, even when he's not there. Take comfort in the fact that it's very unlikely that you would cross paths ever again."
"Will you follow us at least?" Jane pleaded.
"Very well," he sighed.
Loki got into his car, while the girls drove the van. Slowing down when they reached Thor, they convinced him to hop in, and they all made their way towards the desert.
Finally reaching their destination, he leaned on the side of his vehicle, parked by the van, both at a good distance from the landing site. The girls were busy with their reading apparatus, Jane running to and fro like a squirrel on a tree, no doubt as a result of Loki telling her that this would be the last time that the Bifrost would be activated from Asgard in a very long time.
Thor, however, was oblivious to either the girls or Loki as he strode to the center of the pattern, his brow deeply creased on that frown that settled each time he didn't get his way.
Loki had expected feeling some sort of closure with sending Thor on his way home. It was true that he had found some relish in his dumbfounded expression, but beyond that it was as if he was watching everything happen to another person. He felt void.
Thor shouted a command for Heimdall to open the Bifrost, though before he finished the sky had already darkened with swirling clouds.
"That's too soon," Loki muttered.
The explosion from the Bifrost's energy made him loose his balance. He heard the girls screaming inside the van, but the vehicle withstood the blast easily. Something was very wrong.
When the cloud of dust cleared, Loki saw five figures on the landing site; the four new visitors looked bloodstained and battered, and one seemed to have passed out while two others carried him. Thor was already addressing them, asking frantically what had happened. This time Loki felt his blood run cold. He had never seen Sif and the Warriors Three so covered in blood.
Chapter 7.
"Why did you leave the Palace unprotected?" Loki yelled.
No one said a word. Volstagg sat in silence, eyes downcast; Sif had finished bandaging her head to cover a gash on her brow and sat leaning her elbows on a table, while Hogun lay on a makeshift bed, conscious but unable to move, as Fandral and Darcy tended to his wounded chest.
"What about the King and the Queen?" Loki asked, even when he was afraid of the answer.
"We don't know," said Sif, staring into the void. "The Queen had a vision of the attack just as Thor crossed the Bifrost, but didn't want to interfere on his mission, so she called for her Vanir kin for help. She also ordered all those unable to fight to take refuge inside the Palace. Heimdall tried to activate the shield from the Observatory as soon as everyone was inside, but his outpost was the first place they attacked. Then the Queen and her kin casted a protective spell to substitute the original one, although we don't know how much longer it will last, or for how long our troops will resist, even though Commander Tyr was at the front. The army…"
She choked with the emotion. Thor put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but her hands clenched in silent fury. They were had gathered inside Jane's laboratory at Loki's request: it would do no good having so many outsiders in a small town at the same time, especially when many townspeople were excitedly discussing that strange phenomenon they had witnessed in the distance.
"Heimdall called for us," said Volstagg. "We thought it was because he needed help, but he was alone at the Observatory. They had damaged it but it could stand for a last travel, and he tasked us with finding Thor. He threw us through the portal as the Frost Giants gathered at the doors, spawned from who knows where, and he alone stood to fight them."
He hid his face behind his hand in weariness. Dying in battle was an honor for an Asgardian, while leaving a comrade to face a certain death was deemed as a sign of cowardice.
According to Thor and his friends, not too long after Laufey had declared war on Asgard, Odin had given orders to Heimdall not to let anyone use the Bifrost; Thor had confronted the King about Loki's fate and demanded to bring him back. Thor didn't give many details, but Loki knew that it hadn't been gentle. As a result of the strain and him having postponed his rest for too long, Odin fell into the Odinsleep, leaving Thor as temporary regent.
Thor tried carrying out diplomatic conversations in an attempt to keep war at bay, but Laufey's people had murdered each messenger they sent, the last one returning home barely alive, with just enough breath to tell Thor that Laufey would crush every Asgardian and that he would take what was his.
After that, the sighting of Frost Giants inside Asgard was more and more frequent. They appeared seemingly from nowhere and attacked people on their very homes, butchering most of the household and their animals, to then vanish without a trace. Worry began to spread among the people, who felt defenseless before an enemy who attacked them so cowardly.
That was why Thor wanted Loki to be back at their home; the Queen had a deep knowledge about magic but it was Loki the one who experimented the most with arcane powers, and Thor thought that he could be the one to help protecting Asgard.
But a day after Thor had left his home there had been a massive attack: An unknown force had appeared on the sky and started bombarding the city while the Frost Giants, with Laufey at the head, had entered into the city to raze it.
Loki listened to the story with a somber expression. Asgard wasn't his home anymore and he was sure that, if they knew that they had a Frost Giant among them, they wouldn't doubt about killing him on the spot. But still, listening to what had happened put a weight on his chest very difficult to bear.
Ragnarok was a reality that every Asgardian lived with. Some day everything would return to chaos to start the Universe anew, but Loki never agreed with the philosophy of staying idle while everything came down crashing around you.
Jane was busy analyzing the data she had gathered that last time, which she said had been exactly what she needed for her investigation. She was so absorbed that she didn't notice Loki standing behind her until he put a hand on her shoulder.
"Could we build an Einstein-Rosen bridge?" he whispered on her ear.
"Ah, well," she stammered, startled by him. "In theory, yes, but we need a gigantic power source to open a portal. I don't know where we could find such a thing."
Loki pondered his options. He had planned to instigate Midgardians to "discover" a viable source of energy for an artificial wormhole, developing Stark's arc reactors' technology even further; said process would have taken some years, which wouldn't have supposed a direct interference with their development. Now things had changed: If Asgard fell, the Nine Realms would go down with it. Though Stark's technology would still be useful, they needed a more potent source, and Loki remembered having read about such a thing.
But first he needed to secure the technology.
"If I could get your power source and the instruments," he said aloud. "Could you construct a portal?"
Thor and the others looked at him suddenly.
"Um…" Jane's cheeks reddened at the unexpected attention. "I suppose I could, but I would need help, not to talk about what SHIELD would say about it."
"Don't worry about them for now," he waved his hand dismissively.
"Easy for you to say," she replied. "It was you who put me under their command."
"It was this or losing your investigation for good," Loki said as he went for his coat. "And don't think they didn't try to put a leash on me too."
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Tomorrow morning I have a reunion with Stark's CEO. It's in California, so I'd better be going."
"I can take you there," said Thor. "It will be faster than any transportation. Tell me how many miles and which direction."
"No one should see you," Loki argued. "In fact, no one should see ANY of you, or panic would spread and you might put these two lovely ladies in danger."
"No one will see me," Thor insisted. "Time is on the essence, brother!"
"You listened to me before," Loki said calmly. "Now listen to me again. Mother is strong and she has her kin with her. You are all battered and weary, and resting will do you good now that we don't have any healing stone."
But as he went to the car, Thor's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Brother, what have you planned?"
"Why? Do you suspect me?"
"No, I…" Thor seemed at a loss for words. "You not always confided in me with your strategies, but-"
"I did, Thor. Every single time before entering battle. But you hardly ever paid any attention."
"I know," he shook his head. "Now I wish to know what you will do."
"Not this time," Loki said, turning away.
But Thor grabbed him again by the shoulders and forced Loki to look at him in the eye.
"You said you wanted to rule Midgard," he said. "You were always prone to mischief, but not this. This is not you, brother."
"My current concern," Loki said curtly, removing Thor's hands from his coat's lapels. "Is getting all of you off to any allied Realm. Beyond that I have no further interest on what happens with you or with Asgard, and you would do well not meddling in Midgardian affairs."
Thor's glance hardened at those words. Loki could see how he clenched his jaw and his fists, but neither man said anything more.
He drove without a single glance to the rearview until Puente Antiguo was a dot on the horizon.