Thanos' Daughter

Chapter 4

I was forced to close my eyes as the dingy, under-lit subway tunnels faded into blue mist. I opened my eyes and found Loki and I kneeling in front of the Other. The position in which the Other allowed me to land bothered me. I shouldn't be bowing to him, he should be bowing to me. I would have to mention it to Father the next time I saw him. Loki's kneeling form faded away into golden light. He appeared again in full Asgardian battle armor an instant later.

The Other was pacing away from us. "The Chitauri grow restless."

"Let then goad themselves. I will lead them into glorious battle," Loki strutted around this tiny piece of the Dark Moon like he was in the halls of Asgard.

I stood up from my bent knee and kept to the shadows. If the Other wanted to talk with Loki first, I was fine with letting them talk. Secretly, I was hoping it would be more than talk. The Other had a wicked temper, rivaling that of my father's and I was dying for him to give Loki the kick the prince so deserved.

"Battle against the meager might of Earth?" I could hear the snigger in the Other's voice.

"Glorious not lengthy," Loki surveyed the area beyond the planet like a king looking out over his kingdom. "If you force is as formidable as you claim-".

"You question us? You question him? He who put the scepter in your hand, he who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out, defeated," The Other's voice changed to anger.

I was mimicking his anger. This foolish prince had guts to challenge the Other and by association, my father. I was interested to know what my father would say about the prince's insubordination.

"I was a king, the rightful king of Asgard, betrayed." Loki looked truly angry for the first time since he'd arrived at the meeting.

The Other touched a nerve there. It was good to know the prince had some nerves to poke at if the need arose. Loki wanted to be king and I could understand his drive and ambition for power, but his approach to that power was wrong. His strategy relied on Thor staying banished and with how popular Thor was, Loki should have known that plan would fail. I could think of a hundred different ways that I could have done better.

"Your ambition is little, and full of childish need. We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the Tesseract can unveil. Our commander will lead us in the conquest while you watch idly from your Earth kingdom." The Other moved closer to me. He bowed low to the ground. I nodded my head, allowing him to rise. He paced behind me, finally stopping with his six fingered hands on my shoulders. "She knows the true power of the Tesseract and she is not so easy swayed by the meager amount of power you crave. She shall be rewarded higher than any except our king, her own f-"

"Enough. All of this talk is useless." Loki stamped the butt of his staff against the ground. "Besides, you've forgotten. You don't have the Tesseract."

The Other surged forward, his hand raised to rip Loki's mind to shreds. I was two seconds behind him, reaching for my sword as I stepped. Loki looked calm, which confused me. The Other stopped within touching distance of the god. I halted also, but couldn't understand why the Other didn't destroy Loki. I moved for a better angle and saw that Loki had turned the weapon my father gave him against the Other.

"I don't threaten."

The staff was pushed against the Other's chest. The Other did not move and I wondered for the first time how powerful that staff truly was. My father never would say where he got it, and I gave up asking the first week it appeared in his treasury. It wasn't possible that the staff could control the Other the way it controlled other humans, was it? If the staff really had that much power, I needed to have a serious talk with my father. I couldn't imagine what he would have been thinking placing the staff in the hands of such a maniac.

"But until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, until your bitch is leashed, you are but words." Loki seemed extremely proud of himself.

I let the bitch comment slide. He was just goading me now. I wasn't sure whether I should be impressed that he stood up to the Other, or wonder about his mental stability.

For the first time since I had known him, the Other retreated. "You will have you war Asgardian."

Loki turned to leave.

"If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you."

I heard a scraping sound and looked around. Off to the left of Loki and the Other, I spotted a large moving serpent's body. It rose and fell with each of the Other's words, like it wanted to exact revenge on Loki right now.

"You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain." The Other forced Loki's mind out of the piece of the planet the Other had created.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Loki vanished.