Madness of the Serpent

Growing Pains

Loki's composure had returned to one of serene amusement before he decided to revisit the cosmic being he had summoned, appearing outside her temporary... accommodations. There was nothing but the hint of shadows around his eyes to identify that anything was amiss.

That the words of the Other haunted his footsteps. That the voice of his mother spoke softly from the shadows.

Frigga had appeared to him, once, after his enlightenment at the hands of his allies. He had quickly dismissed her conjured projection, not wanting to be distracted while he plotted and schemed for his inevitable rule of Midgard.

Her soothing, comforting voice had pled for him to return home, attempting to wheedle its way into his heart as it always inevitably did.

I have no home from which to return, he had bitterly growled before sending her image away. Loki had not wanted her bothersome maternal prattling to interfere with his plans. At least, that was the narration he spun in his mind, convincing himself it was the Queen's meddling that irked him – not the fact that her soft eyes had begun to redden at the sight of what her son had become.

No, there was no evidence that he was burdened with anything besides the glory of ruling his future kingdom. Nothing to show that his beleaguered mind sometimes felt foreign and fragile, other times it was manic with energy that left him restless and agitated, pacing through the dimly-lit halls like a caged beast.

Loki was weary, and nothing more. Once his mind eventually quieted from its frenzied cycle, he would be able to close his eyes and rest. Eventually.

In the interim, he had decided to return to the phantom's makeshift cell, though he was not entirely sure of the reason. Had he come see if her language skills had improved? If her knowledge had grown? She had not spoken again, and when he had instructed Dr. Selvig to examine the being once Agent Barton had returned with her – using his various tools of "science" – he had found nothing particularly special or unique about her new form. The only deviation from normality lay in a body temperature that ran higher than that of a typical mortal, and she emitted gamma radiation similar to the Tesseract and the sceptre, though in an infinitesimal amount.

You have given me no knowledge I did not already possess, Loki had snapped, causing the mortal to scurry back to his work on the portal stabilizer in the provisional lab.

Loki turned the doorknob, pleased to see Barton, who was dutifully stationed next to the door, had kept it securely locked. It seemed the Hawk's ears were not as dull as his wits.

The god knew the assassin preferred to observe from a distance, but he had commanded the lethal mortal to remain close by – both to remind the other humans that the area was forbidden, and because it gave Loki a small amount of pleasure to have such complete mastery over the former SHIELD agent.

The spirit-made-flesh appeared to be staring at directly him even before he entered the room, and she slowly rose to her feet – never taking her eyes from his face. The way her eyes could remain both intensely focused and disturbingly blank of emotions was disconcerting, something he rarely experienced in the presence of another. Ordinarily, Loki was the one to cause unsettling emotions in others, and he was more than a little annoyed that she could illicit such a reaction from him.

The trickster god gave her a bright and graceful smile, wielding his charms as easily as he wielded any weapon. The being's expression remained frustratingly blank, causing his smile to falter. It would be difficult to play mind games or lure her into a trap with his words if there was a distinct lack of feedback. There was not much satisfaction in toying with one who could not be goaded into fantastic displays of emotions, as he had soon discovered from his impassive mind-slaves.