Loki: Storm of Swords

Epilogue

The President of the United States looked at the report on his desk and wondered if he had read it right. This was the news from Thor of Asgard, who had just showed up one day and said he had information of import to tell his friends. And he had told Vision everything. "There's no way this is fake, is it? No way Thor could have been lying?" the President asked General Thaddeus Ross.

"No, Mr. President. The Vision said Thor wasn't lying. That he's been to another, newly discovered realm and Loki lives there," Ross answered.

"He doesn't just live there! He's related to their ruling family and virtually untouchable!" the president raged for a moment before he calmed down. He massaged his temples and inhaled deeply. "Also, he rides a dragon. A dragon that can breathe both fire and ice."

"I find that last part hard to believe, sir," Ross stated.

"And yet we have a God of Thunder. I rest my case," the president retorted. Ross closed his mouth and looked at the report. Thor had been forth coming, probably because he suspected the information would not leave the Avengers. However, Vision had told Colonel Rhodes, and Rhodey had given the report to Ross. Ross had seen it and knew it was too big to go unreported. The mass murderer of New York, the would-be conqueror of earth had found a new home and had air tight immunity as the relative of a foreign royal. It was the unspoken, yet accepted clause of diplomacy. Loki Laufeyson, now Targaryen, or Frostborn (Thor said he had a couple of names) could not be indicted. 

"As a pressure point we could use another time, Mr. President, he has a family," Ross said. The president glanced up, his eyes wide.

"You would use a man's family against him?" he queried.

"He is our enemy," Ross answered simply. "Currently, he has a wife, a son and a daughter, and another child on the way. If he becomes a problem for us and we can get our hands on his family, we would have him. It's a thought, sir." The President of the United States stood up and straightened his suit. 

"As a man with a family, I cannot condone such barbarity. Besides, Thor said he adores his family. If we were to do anything to them, Armageddon would be brought down upon us," the president told Ross. And he believed it. If we were to lay a hand on their heads, Loki would finish what he started in New York. 

The cold air whistled in the dark and the snow never ceased to fall. Life was ever thus on the wrong side of the wall. And, it was on the wrong side of the wall that the Night King stood. He stared at the impenetrable Wall that had divided Westeros from the far north for more than a thousand years. This wall was also the key to finding other worlds. It had been constructed by the men of the south at the command of Bor of Asgard. It was the main barrier between Westeros and the other worlds. The Bifrost could bypass the Wall, but if it was broken, the barrier between Westeros and the other realms would be severed.

That was why the Night King was there. Westeros had a god to protect it now. A god and three dragons. That would make it a little difficult. That was why he was looking at other worlds to conquer. There was only one other world that as weak enough for the taking: Midgard. The Night King would submit it to his whim. His power had grown and his control had expanded to the point where a person who died at the hands of one of his minions and was then reborn, retained their previous abilities in every way, shape, and form. Midgard would fall. He would kill their strongest soldiers, and assassins and make them warriors for him.

He thought this as he watched the soldiers he had already amassed begin assaulting the Wall. They hacked at it with their weapons or clawed at it with their bone-like fingers. They were working to break through and even if it took them years, they would make it to the other side, and Midgard would be his. And all the people in it.    

To be continued in "Loki: Winds of Winter"!

Coming Christmas, 2019.