by Alex Irvine
When Loki left his brother, he did not return to Asgard. Instead he visited another realm. The last time he had been here, he had fought at Thor’s side against the overwhelming numbers of the Jotun enemy.
Now he walked alone across the icy landscapes of Jotunheim, knowing that in some way he could not quite understand or accept… he was coming home.
He found his way to the ruined temple, still shattered after the last war. Inside it was dark, save for the shafts of pale light falling through holes in the damaged ceiling. Jotuns appeared from the darkness, surrounding him, but he paid them no notice. He walked deeper into the temple.
Here was where Odin had found him. Here was where his life had been wrenched off course. He was a child of war, a refugee, denied his true heritage. Now Loki would begin to set that right.
Ahead of him appeared Laufey, red eyes burning in the darkness. Loki stepped to him and looked up to meet Laufey’s gaze.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you,” Laufey said.
“I’ve come alone and unarmed,” Loki answered.
“To what end?”
“To make you another proposition,” Loki said.
Laufey’s chin lifted as he understood. “So you’re the one who let us into Asgard,” he said.
Loki permitted himself the slightest of smiles. “You’re welcome.”
But Laufey was in no mood for any humor. “My men are dead, and I have no Casket,” he said. “You are a deceiver.”
Loki had heard that before.
Laufey reached out and seized Loki around the throat. Loki did not resist. This, too, had been part of his plan.
“You have no idea what I am,” he said, as he felt the chill of his Jotun nature spread from Laufey’s gripping fingers through the rest of his own body.
Laufey stared in shock at Loki’s transformation. The other Jotuns gathered in the temple shifted and muttered uneasily. Now Loki grinned. Everything was going precisely according to his plan.
“Hello, Father,” he said.
“Ah,” Laufey said. “I thought Odin had killed you. That’s what I would have done. He’s as weak as you are.”
“No longer weak. I now rule Asgard, until Odin awakens,” Loki said. He waited for this to register with the assembled Jotuns. Then he added, “Perhaps you should not have abandoned me so carelessly.”
Laufey paused to consider this. “Or perhaps it was the wisest choice I’ve ever made. I will hear you.”
It was time to make the deal. Loki led with the part of his offer that would be most tempting to Laufey. “I will conceal you and a handful of your soldiers, lead you into his chambers, and let you slay him where he lies,” he said. “I’ll keep the throne, and you will have the Casket.”
Laufey studied Loki’s face. The Jotun king was wise, and crafty. He knew there was more to the offer than what Loki had said so far.
“Why would you do this?” he asked.
“When all is done, we will have a permanent peace between our two worlds,” Loki proclaimed. “Then I will have accomplished what Odin and Thor never could.”
Laufey was pleased. “This is a great day for Jotunheim. Asgard is finally ours.”
And this was where Loki had to clarify things a little. He had no intention of giving up the throne of Asgard, when he had just begun to rule.
“No. Asgard is mine,” he said. Anger tensed the muscles in Laufey’s face, but Loki went on. “The rest of the Nine Realms will be yours, if you do as you’re told.”
It was quite bold to speak to the Jotun king in this way, especially in his own temple. Loki knew it, but he also knew the chance to kill Odin would be too much for Laufey to pass up.
After a long moment, Laufey gave the smallest of nods. “I accept,” he said.
Loki turned to leave. His business in Jotunheim was concluded, but there was much to do yet in Asgard.
As Loki emerged from the Bifrost in the Observatory, he felt Heimdall’s gaze boring into him. “What troubles you, Gatekeeper?” he asked.
“I turned my gaze upon you in Jotunheim, but could neither see nor hear you,” Heimdall said. His eyes never left Loki’s. “You were shrouded from me, like the Frost Giants who entered this realm.”
Loki knew perfectly well that Heimdall was accusing him of hiding the Jotuns, but he had no desire for open conflict now. He preferred to work by stealth and manipulation. “Perhaps your senses have weakened after your many years of service,” he said, putting on a sympathetic air.
Heimdall did not let the point go. “Or perhaps someone has found a way to hide that which he does not wish me to see,” he said.
Perhaps a more direct approach would be required here, Loki thought. “You have great power, Heimdall,” he said. “Tell me, did Odin ever fear you?”
“No,” Heimdall said.
“And why is that?”
“Because he is my king, and I am sworn to obey him.”
“Exactly,” Loki said. “Just as you’re sworn to obey me now. Yes?”
For a long moment, Heimdall did not reply. Loki was unarmed and Heimdall’s hands held the double hilt of his great sword. It was a bad time for a battle.
But Heimdall’s sense of loyalty—to his role as Gatekeeper and to Asgard—got the better of his suspicion toward Loki.
“Yes,” he said reluctantly.
“Good,” Loki said. “Then you will open the Bifrost to no one until I have undone what my brother has started.”
With that he left the Observatory, but he felt Heimdall’s all-seeing gaze on his back. Loki had a strong feeling that this was not the last time he and the Watcher of the Bifrost would come into conflict.
UNEXPECTED ALLIES
Jane didn’t know what Selvig was planning or whether he would be able to get Thor out of the mess he had created by crashing illegally into the S.H.I.E.L.D. post. What would he tell them? What if they arrested Erik, too, and kept him along with Thor? Every time the wind blew or a car passed by the lab, Jane jumped. Finally, Darcy sent her to the trailer to get some rest, insisting that she’d tell her when Selvig and Thor returned.
Just as Jane was falling into a fitful sleep, there was a loud rapping on the door. Jumping up, she threw it open to see Thor standing there, Selvig thrown over one shoulder. Jane’s hand went to her heart, and she let out a loud gasp. “What happened?” she said. “Is he…?” She didn’t dare say the word aloud. But then Selvig groaned and mumbled something about gods of thunder and realms, and she caught an unmistakable odor.
It seemed Selvig and Thor had gone out to celebrate Thor’s escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. She should have known.
Gesturing behind her, Jane stepped aside so Thor could come in. There was something different about him. He seemed quieter, less sure of himself. She wondered what had happened after she’d left the base to make him act this way. Gently, Thor placed Selvig on the bed and then patted the old man’s cheek. Yes, Jane thought, something must have happened.
Then she realized Thor was no longer looking at Selvig but glancing around the trailer at the empty pizza boxes, old newspapers, and cookie wrappers. “Can we go outside?” Jane suggested.
Thor nodded, and they walked out of the trailer and headed over to the lab. On the roof, Jane had set up some chairs and a telescope and there were a few blankets.
“I come up here sometimes when I can’t sleep,” she explained. “Or when I’m trying to reconcile particle data. Or when Darcy’s driving me crazy.” She paused as a smile crept over Thor’s face. “I come up here a lot, now that I think about it.”
Thor didn’t say anything. Instead, he just looked up at the night sky, as if it could provide him with answers. Once again, Jane was struck with the clear sense that the Thor she had known this morning was different from this Thor. This Thor seemed more human despite the impressive muscles.
Finally, he spoke up, his deep and somber voice in the stillness of the night startling Jane. “You’ve been very kind,” he said. “I’ve been far less grateful than yo
u deserve.”
“I also hit you with my car a couple of times, so it kind of evens out,” Jane said, teasing him.
Thor grinned and nodded. Then he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out Jane’s notebook. He held it out to her. “It was all I could get back,” he said apologetically. “Not as much as I promised. I’m sorry.”
Jane took the notebook and opened it gently, as though scared it would disappear again. He had no idea how important this notebook was. It meant that she wouldn’t have to start from scratch. That she could still prove her hypothesis. It was the greatest thing he could have gotten back. “Thank you,” she said softly.
Then her face clouded over.
“What’s wrong?” Thor asked, concerned.
“S.H.I.E.L.D.,” she answered. “Whatever they are, they’re never going to let this research see the light of day.”
“You must finish what you’ve started.”
“Why?” Jane asked, surprised at the urgency in his tone. And the confidence.
“Because you’re right,” he said simply. “It’s taken so many generations for your people to get to this point. You’re nearly there. You just need someone to show you how close you really are.”
As he spoke, Thor moved closer. Jane’s heart hammered in her chest as he reached over and took her notebook from her hands. Opening it to the image of what he called the Bifrost, he smiled. He was going to show her just how close she really was.
He drew a picture of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, from which all things sprang. Its branches reached out to the Nine Realms. “Your ancestors called it magic,” he said. “You call it science. I come from a place where they’re one and the same. Your world—this world, Midgard—is one of the Nine Realms, linked together by the branches of the World Tree.”
He looked at her. She was listening. Also she was very beautiful, Thor thought. He kept talking, telling the story, just to keep her looking at him and listening.
In the banquet hall, Volstagg did what he always did. He ate. He cleared platters of food, threw them aside, and went on to the next. Sif stood looking out the window, ill at ease, trying to think of a way to get Thor back to Asgard without Loki’s interference. Hogun and Fandral watched Volstagg, awed as always by his endless appetite.
Finally, Fandral couldn’t stand it anymore. “Our dearest friend banished, Loki on the throne, Asgard on the brink of war, yet you manage to consume four wild boars, six pheasants, a side of beef, and two casks of ale. Shame on you!” he shouted. “Don’t you care?”
He swiped Volstagg’s latest platter off the table. Furiously Volstagg drew his sword. “Do not mistake my appetite for apathy,” he warned.
Sif understood. Volstagg loved to eat, but right now he was eating because it made him feel good in the midst of a bad situation.
“Stop it, both of you!” she said. “We all know what we have to do. We’re just too afraid to do it!”
This shamed them all. It was true. They were hesitating because they were afraid. That kind of fear was not worthy of an Asgardian.
“We must go,” Hogun said. “We must find Thor.”
“It’s treason, Hogun,” Fandral protested.
“Not to mention it’s suicide,” Volstagg added.
“Thor would do the same for us,” Sif said quietly.
The Warriors Three fell silent. It was true. They owed it to their friend, and they owed it to Asgard.
But before they could act, an Einherjar Guard entered the banquet hall. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three tensed. Was this the moment when Loki would move against them?
“Heimdall demands your presence,” the guard said.
Volstagg looked gloomy again. He was thinking what they all were thinking: If Heimdall had heard them discussing treason, they might be in very deep trouble indeed.
“We’re doomed,” he said.
One did not refuse a summons from Heimdall. They found him standing at his station, before the Observatory’s controls. He stared at them for a long moment, until all four of them were thoroughly unsettled and nervous.
At last Volstagg spoke, just so someone would say something. “Good Heimdall, let us explain—”
Heimdall cut him off immediately. “You would defy the commands of Loki, our king, break every oath you have taken as warriors, and commit treason to bring Thor back?”
The four of them looked at each other, then back to Heimdall. What could they say? Volstagg nodded at Sif, trying to prompt her to say something. She was the one who usually spoke without putting her foot in her mouth.
She glared back at him, then looked to Heimdall. “Yes,” she said, “but—”
Now it was her turn to be interrupted by Heimdall. “Good,” he said.
For a moment they were sure they must have misunderstood him. But he said nothing else.
Eventually, Volstagg asked the question all of them wanted to ask.“So you’ll help us?”
“I am bound by honor to our king. I cannot open the Bifrost to you,” Heimdall said.
This was a letdown. Sif and the Warriors Three were once again confused.
Then Heimdall strode past them, leaving them alone in the Observatory.
“Complicated fellow, isn’t he?” Fandral observed after a while.
Volstagg waited another moment. He still feared being overheard. Then he asked, “Now what do we do?”
Sif had been looking around the Observatory, frustrated at being so close to the Bifrost, yet still unable to help Thor.
Then she saw something. “Look!”
The others turned and saw what she was pointing at. They all started to grin at each other.
Heimdall had left the Observatory, but he had also left his sword in the controls. The message was clear: He was letting them use the Bifrost, at great danger to himself.
Now all they had to do was open it up and go find Thor.
Heimdall took up his station outside the Observatory, after Sif and the Warriors Three were gone. He had his sword again and feared he would have to use it… for Loki was approaching him on the short spur of the Rainbow Bridge that connected the Observatory to Asgard proper.
“Tell me, Loki,” Heimdall said as Loki stopped a few feet in front of him. He carried Odin’s spear, Gungnir. “How did you get the Jotuns into Asgard?”
Loki did not bother to deny the accusation. “You think the Bifrost is the only way in and out of the realm?” he said with a smirk. “There are secret paths among worlds to which even you with all your gifts are blind. But I have need of them no longer, now that I am king.”
Then he grew more serious. “And, I say, for your act of treason, you are relieved of your duties as gatekeeper. And you are no longer a citizen of Asgard.”
“Then I need no longer obey you,” Heimdall said, and raised his sword. He had known this moment would come.
He struck at Loki, but Loki moved just a bit faster. Pointing Gungnir at Heimdall, he unleashed a storm of frost. Ice collected on Heimdall’s armor, slowing the stroke of his sword. Heimdall pushed forward with all his strength, baring his teeth with effort. Still his great sword moved, but more and more slowly. Loki’s skin turned blue and his eyes took on the red color of his true father, Laufey.
Heimdall was a fearsome warrior, but even he was not quite strong enough to overcome the combined power of Gungnir and Loki’s magic. He was frozen solid, with the edge of his sword scant inches from the side of Loki’s throat.
Loki paused. Gradually, the Jotun blue left his skin and his eyes returned to their normal green color. That had been closer than he would have wanted. He leaned away from Heimdall’s sword and turned on his heel.
There was one final task to complete.
The Vault was silent. The Cask of Ancient Winters stood on its pedestal. Loki stepped around the pedestal and gestured toward the gate holding the Destroyer back.
The gate folded away into itself and the Destroyer stepped forward.
“Ensure my brother does not return,” L
oki said.
A NEW TALE TO TELL
The next morning, Jane woke and stretched. Then she opened her eyes and smiled. Thor slept next to her, the rising sun turning his blond hair golden. They had stayed outside all night talking about the Rainbow Bridge, the Bifrost, and the Nine Realms of Yggdrasil, including Asgard, where Thor was from, and Midgard, or Earth. Her mind was spinning with information, yet she also felt oddly at peace. Thor had opened Jane’s eyes to so many things, and she had opened her life up to him. She wondered what that would mean for their future.
Beside her, Thor let out a small sigh and then his eyes fluttered open. Looking over at her, he smiled. “Breakfast?” he suggested.
A half hour later, the smell of bacon and pancakes filled the lab. Jane sat at a table with Selvig and Darcy, trying to explain everything Thor had taught her. At the kitchen sink, Thor happily attempted to do the dishes. Jane looked over at him, impressed.
“They’re fascinating theories, Jane,” Selvig said, looking at the new notes in her book. “But you’re not going to be able to convince the scientific community of any of this, if you don’t have hard evidence to back it up.”
Jane was about to reply when a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent entered.
There was a knock on the door before the agent stepped out of the doorway and they all found themselves looking at three brawny and dangerous-looking men, plus a woman who was even more dangerous looking than any of the men.
“My friends!” Thor cried, a delighted smile breaking across his face. Breakfast forgotten, he rushed over to let the group in.
The first to enter was the widest of the group. He had a long beard and a big belly, and he wore odd armor that looked ancient and futuristic at the same time. From their talk the night before, Jane assumed these were Asgardian warriors come to rescue Thor. The big man’s next words confirmed her thoughts.
“Lady Sif and the Warriors Three,” he said, his voice jolly. “Surely you’ve heard tales of Hogun the Grim, Fandral the Dashing, and I, Volstagg the Svelte?”