DARKEST HOUR

 

 

A short while later, the van screeched into the parking lot at Smith Motors. Jane leaped out and raced inside. “I can’t just leave him there!” she cried when she saw Selvig and Darcy. The two had been attempting to clean up the mess left by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Darcy, however, had been distracted by a children’s picture book that had somehow been left behind.

Flipping through it, she half listened as Jane filled Selvig in on what had happened out in the desert. Suddenly, a word on one of the pages caught her eye. “Hey! Look!” she shouted. The word looked an awful lot like the one Thor kept repeating. And above the word was an image of a hammer.

Jane walked over and grabbed the book from Darcy. “Where did you find this?”

Selvig answered, “In the children’s section. I wanted to show you how ridiculous Thor’s story is.”

“Aren’t you the one who’s always told me to chase down all possibilities?” Jane said. “If that’s really an Einstein-Rosen Bridge out there, then there’s something on the other side. Advanced beings could have come through it before.” Like Thor and his hammer, she added silently.

For a moment, no one said anything. Jane had never dared challenge her mentor before, but there were just too many signs pointing to the fact that Thor, whoever he was, was not from Earth. And now he was trapped by agents intent on covering up his existence.

Finally, Selvig spoke. “I don’t know what any of this means, Jane,” he said. “But I’ll help you because it’s you.” Sevlig didn’t want Thor staying in Puente Antiguo. It was too dangerous… for all of them. But he also knew that Jane needed information from Thor. And despite his reservations, he knew that Jane would eventually guilt him into helping her.

Selvig grimaced at Jane, who let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“Thank you, Erik,” she said.

He nodded and went to make a call. Now all she could do was wait and hope whatever plan Selvig came up with would work.

Thor sat in a chair while one of the soldiers spoke to him. A small man, calm, not threatening. He asked Thor questions about places he had never heard of. He accused Thor of crimes, and Thor did not bother to respond. None of it mattered. If Thor could not lift Mjolnir, he was unworthy of his father’s gift. He did not care what happened to him.

After interrogating him for what seemed like all night, the small man left. Thor lowered his head.

“I thought he’d never leave,” a familiar voice said.

Thor looked up, startled. Loki was there! “Loki? What are you doing here? What’s happened? Is it Jotunheim—?” Thor knew he had acted rashly. He hoped he could atone for his mistake.

But what Loki said next made that impossible. “Father is dead.”

Thor was speechless. Loki went on. “Your banishment, the threat of a war with the Jotuns… it was too much for him to bear.”

It was my fault, Thor thought. I did that. I killed my father, the All-Father of Asgard, because I was too stupid to listen. There were tears in his eyes.

“You mustn’t blame yourself,” Loki said. “I know you loved him.” He paused and then added, “The burden of the throne has fallen to me now.”

Loki ruled Asgard. Thor understood this. It made sense. It also gave him a small glimmer of hope. “Can I come home?” he asked.

With sorrow plain on his face, Loki shook his head. “The truce with Jotunheim is conditional upon your exile. Mother has forbidden your return.”

Thor was cast out from Asgard.

Forever. He lowered his head. No wonder Mjolnir had refused him. He was unworthy even to be called Asgardian.

“This is goodbye, brother,” Loki said. “I’m so sorry.”

“No,” Thor said. “I’m sorry. Loki… thank you for coming here to tell me.”

“Nothing could have stopped me,” Loki said.

He vanished then, as the small man from S.H.I.E.L.D. came back into the room. “You have a visitor,” he said.

Behind him, the older man who was Jane Foster’s friend burst into the room. “Donny, Donny, there you are!”

Who was Donny? Thor wondered. Then he remembered the name tag on the shirt from Jane’s closet. “It’s going to be all right, my friend,” Selvig said. “I’m taking you home.”

Thor let Dr. Selvig lead him from the building. Along the way they passed a clutter of instruments and machines on a table. Thor spotted Jane’s notebook and picked it up as they walked by. He was not a thief; he was returning it to its rightful owner.

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.