Every Villain is a Hero

Chapter Two

Norse proverb: The man that walks his own rode, walks alone.

Chapter Two

Loki was shocked by the events of today and more than that, he was being returned to earth with his powers virtually intact. He couldn’t understand what kind of game they were playing. Did they think this human would weaken him, as Jane Foster had done for Thor?

The woman he was bonded to was unusual looking for a human. She was fairly tall, standing at close to six feet, but her skin and hair were very pale. Her hair might once have been a light blonde but despite her young age, white was overpowering the blonde now. Her complexion too was pale, almost sickly at times during the ritual but as they walked into Heimdall’s Observatory, her grey pallor was fading. He could almost picture her with a little rosy tint in those cheeks and thought that she would probably look very fetching… for a human.

Her gift of telepathy was also interesting, few humans were special and of those that were, many were the product of science, such as the Hulk and Captain America, rather than being gifted by nature. Loki put a lot of merit in breeding and thought that superior genes were immeasurably more important that science experiments. People like this girl were the next stage in human evolution and one day, her race might be as evolved and powerful as Asgardians. Of course that day was centuries from now, possibly even a few millennia.

It was marginally better than being paired with a regular human, he supposed.

Heimdall was talking to her, hoping that she enjoyed her visit, while she professed sadness that she couldn’t stay longer, and claimed that she hoped to return one day and see more.

That was a lie, of course, she felt a great deal of relief to be leaving this place. Truth be told, he was glad as well. Given their most likely similar feelings, he briefly wondered if he was feeling her emotions or his own.

“You might want to hold on again,” Thor was saying to her, wrapping a large arm around her shoulders, as her arms enveloped his waist.

The gesture irked Loki somewhat but then again, he did not want her clinging to him during the journey.

“Until we meet again,” Heimdal told the girl, activating the Bifrost and sending them all… well, somewhere in Midgard.

They landed in a large countryside valley, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Thor released the woman and she stepped back, although she looked as if she may topple over at any moment.

“This way, brother,” Thor boomed, as if Loki was miles away, rather than standing beside him.

The party began to walk towards mountains in the mid-distance.

“Wait, where’s Eir?” the girl cried, realising that she hadn’t made the journey with them.

“She is travelling directly to your family to fulfil our side of the bargain,” Thor explained.

“How do I know that, what if it isn’t true?”

“Do not trouble yourself, Lady Lisa,” Thor said with confidence. "Eir will let me know when it is done and then you can…” Thor shot a quick glance to Loki. “You can confirm it for yourself.”

Loki was a little surprised to realise that he hadn’t known her name until Thor said it, and he was intrigued by the secret they were keeping.

Nevertheless, he was content to wait and bide his time.

“So, where are we?” he asked.

“This base is a SHIELD,” Thor answered.

“He means that in those mountains, is an emergency SHIELD bunker,” The woman, Lisa, explained.