I took some time to steal my nerves
before approaching the palace, wondering what I would do about my captured
friend, reminding myself of how much Loki needed to be stopped and leaving no
room for hesitation in my mind. Using the power of the hammer, I completely
covered the door in electricity before having it burst open dramatically,
revealing a bored looking Loki sitting on his throne with my trapped allies
dejectedly sitting in their magical prisons.. However, Loki’s boredom quickly
become astonishment that I was alive, followed by extreme anger once he noticed
that I had Mjolnir in my possession.
“What
manner of trickery is this?! I killed you and left no trace! And now you show
yourself before me with my brother’s hammer?”
“No trick, what can I say? It takes
a lot to kill me. But we’ll soon find out how much it takes to beat you.”
As angry as he was, Loki couldn’t
help but laugh at my words. He was mocking me yet again. “How many times would
that make”, I wondered. It didn’t matter though, as I was prepared to show him
the error in underestimating me.
“You
couldn’t even lay a finger on me last time, even with your teleportation. What
makes you think that now with the hammer you’re suddenly better than me? Try
asking Thor how much it saved him when I send you to the afterlife to join
him!”
Loki stood and prepared to do
something, then stopped. He had a malicious grin on his face as he sat back
down and snapped his fingers. In a short flash Leo, Simon, Shock and Bruce were
summoned next to Loki, looking as enchanted as ever… or so I initially thought.
Leo set himself alight, Bruce focused his chi into his hands, Simon
concentrated ionic energy and Shock was suddenly nowhere to be found. I assumed
the kid must have shrunk himself down, but didn’t know what for. Loki found the
time fitting to mock me about the situation.
“Let’s
see how you fare against the friends you care so much about! Are you really so
heartless as to go at them with the strength of an Asgardian? Or do you think
you can take them all out without hurting them? Because if you do, you’re an
even bigger imbecile than I believed.”
Before I could ready myself
properly, Bruce and Simon launched flames and ionic blasts at me respectively
as Bruce charged forward. Throwing Mjolnir at the blasts to combat them, I
traded blows with Bruce before grabbing his arm and throwing him behind me.
Mjolnir took the brunt of Leo and Simon’s blasts easily as I grabbed it to
channel lightning through the pommel and break through the attack. Simon and
Leo were knocked back as I ducked under a kick from Bruce. He had recovered
quickly, but a sudden palm strike was all I needed to send him away again. I
felt the temperature around me suddenly increase and I teleported away from my
position. Looking where I once was, a pillar of flame was jutting from the
ground.
I didn’t have the luxury to pat
myself on the back for making the correct decision as Simon barreled into me at
a high speed. I was taken aback at how he predicted where I would end up, but I
heard a voice inside my head that caused everything to make sense.
“I hope
for all our sakes you’ve been holding back. There’s no way Simon should have
been able to hit you. Get it together or we aren’t going to be able stop Loki.”
Somehow, Alice had broken through
Loki’s magic to converse with me. Before I could respond she continued as I
knocked Simon away and sent streams of lightning at him as well as Leo and
Bruce to put them on the defensive.
“I need
you to keep up the act against those three. I’ve got Sergei working on getting
us out. Loki thinks I’m just some two-bit sorcerer so he’ll never see it coming
when I break us out from here. Buy me some more time.”
With this new information I let
some of my fears fade away as I continued to keep Leo, Bruce and Simon at bay.
Loki was none the wiser about any of it, and he was completely caught off guard
when Shock was suddenly in front of him punching the Asgardian in the face
before shrinking down to retreat. At the same time, Alice had shattered the
magic that had been trapping her and the others and Karen and Sora went to
catch the still unconscious Psyche. I stopped my fighting with the others and
got a good look at how much rage was shown on Loki’s face at the realization
that we had tricked him.
The trickster god quickly turned on
Alice and pointed his staff at her, ready to cast some sort of spell I’m sure.
However, a pillar of ice quickly arose in front of him, knocking his staff
aside. Alice took to the air with her Cloak of Levitation and cast a spell of
her own, binding Loki’s arms to his sides. The others were about to seize the
chance they had to get back at Loki when he started laughing as his eyes glowed
a bright blue. With a flash, the Wrecking Crew was standing before him, ready
to fight. I briefly recalled that they had disappeared after we took down
A.I.M. and realized that Loki was the one behind it.
Loki was also freed from Alice’s
mystic bindings and his eyes retained their blue glow. Without a word from me
or Loki, the Wrecking Crew and my allies started to fight. While the numbers
advantage was ours, Loki must have empowered them with Asgardian magic since
they ended up evenly matched with my team despite the disadvantage. Loki turned
to me as they all fought and spoke, his words heavy with the excess power he
was channeling.
“You’re
putting on a much better show than before I’ll give you that, but it won’t
change how this ends for you. The curtain on your tale comes to a close this
day, you pretend king. All of the Nine Realms shall come to be ruled by me once
I’ve finished with you. Do try your best to make your final moments noteworthy.
It’ll be more entertaining to revisit this memory if you put up a fight.”
I didn’t give him a response and threw
Mjolnir right at Loki’s head. He stopped it from striking him with a magic
barrier, but I had never intended for the hammer to hit him anyway. I
teleported to his left side and punched through his magical barriers while
Mjolnir distracted him. Loki blocked my fist with his staff before pushing me
away. While I’m sure it seemed effortless to any that watched, I could tell
Loki had to pool his strength to create that distance. I summoned Mjolnir back
to my hand and rushed Loki, swinging the hammer at him in a flurry of blows.
The trickster blocked them all, but his form was haphazard and sloppy. Close
combat wasn’t his specialty, and with my immunity to direct magic Loki would
have to catch me off guard again for any of his tricks to succeed.
Despite not specializing in close
combat, Loki was still an Asgardian. He was able to hold his own fairly well,
but couldn’t stop me from landing hits here and there. I refused to allow him
the chance to get away. Thanks to his Asgardian physique Loki could take quite
the beating, but that was a double edged sword because I was not in the frame
of mind to hold back. When I finally got to strike a blow with Mjolnir it was
satisfying and decisive. Loki fell to the ground with a thud and struggled to
stand back up. He was unsuccessful.
“Damn
you. To think I’d be reduced to this by the likes of you. But what can you
really hope to do against me? I’m a god among gods! You can’t hope kill me, or
keep me down for long. This-”
Loki’s eyes once again glowed a
bright blue as I felt the weight of the Odinforce press down on me. The
pressure was immense, but I was able to hold my ground. It didn’t matter how
much power he channeled, I was not going to falter here.
“-is
why you can never hope to win. This power is what puts me even higher above the
rest of you sniveling mortals than I already am. Nothing you’re capable of can
hope to match up to all that I am. So take your paltry, temporary victory while
you can. I won’t rest until I make you all suffer in the most unimaginable way possible.”
“I think you’ve said enough Loki.
Asgard is no longer going to be subjugated to your rule. You’re beaten, and I’m
taking you somewhere even you don’t have power over.”
“And
where would that be you false king? The Odinforce is the most powerful thing in
all the Nine Realms! Where could you
take me where you have enough sway to stop me?”
“Hel.”
Loki’s obnoxious bravado faded all
at once with the mention of Hel. Before he could say another word I slammed
Mjolnir into his chest and teleported us to Amora’s room. There she was waiting
for us with a portal to Hel open. As I launched Loki into it with the force of
my blow, she smiled at me and entered after him. Before the portal closed, the
god of thunder himself stepped through. I heard Hela’s laughter echo in my mind
our deal being completed and sighed as Thor put a hand on my shoulder and
thanked me for saving his home.
Seeing no reason to keep Mjolnir
now that it’s owner was alive again I offered it back to him, but Thor refused.
He showed me that he had taken the Odinforce from Loki and told me that it
would be enough until he could find a replacement for his old hammer. With
nothing else to do I rejoined my allies, all of whom had taken the Wrecking
Crew down and rendered them incapacitated. After a brief celebration, Alice
opened a portal and we went back to Earth to rest and put this ordeal behind
us. Only one more trial before I’m sent back where I belong. I need to make
sure they can take care of things once I’m gone…
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