Cover Up The Sun

Chapter 2

Despite the Gray woman's suggestions, Loki did not arm himself with a 'lesson plan' before he entered the teaching hall on Monday. In point of fact, he had no plan at all. He rarely did; he usually found that his best performances came when he improvised rather than scripted.

The hall he had been assigned to was large, though not so grand as a similar chamber would be on Asgard, and arranged in a semi-circular pattern. Rows of chairs sat in risers that curved around half the room, offering an unobstructed view of the platform at the center. There was a table at the platform's center, and the wall behind it displayed a blank sheet of plastic where an image could be projected. Loki gave it a glance before dismissing it; it was far too flat and constrained for his needs.

The students were here already, a crowd of mortal (no, mutant) children filling most of the seats. He saw a variety of ages, from a few little ones only just entering the awkward throes of adolescence, to a few tall students in the back who had already achieved their full height, if not yet the flesh to fill out their still-gawky frames.

And there was yet more variety to be seen than of age. Most of the students looked human enough, with a variety of skin and hair colors that ranged from black to fiery red, but there were a few who stood out. One boy sitting down by the end of the row had pale green skin and dark green hair, almost like fur. Another girl had hair in stripes of rainbow color, that he at first assumed was the result of cosmetics until he noticed how the colors shifted when she turned her head. Another boy, deep in conversation with his compatriot, seemed perfectly normal until he laughed - and a long green tubular tongue whipped out briefly before disappearing back into his mouth.

The hum of chatter and clamor of movement died down somewhat when Loki walked into the arena and took the center stage, hands clasped behind him, shoulders thrown back and legs spread for balance. There was not complete silence, though, as there should have been - a few girls continued to whisper to one another, and a few other students continued to be absorbed in their small handheld devices. (Xavier had assured him that camera phones were not permitted on the campus, which was the first Loki even heard they had such things.)

Well. So these would-be champions of Midgard found their game of Angry Birds more interesting than his person? Loki felt his lips curl up in a smile. He could correct that, he was certain.

He brought his arms around him, and his plain Earth suit shimmered and vanished, to be replaced with a set of Asgardian leathers. It was not his full formal war gear, like he had worn to the battle of New York - this was a simpler, plainer set, more like the ones he had carried on his back during that fateful trip to Jotunheim. Plain as they were, they would be plenty exotic enough to these childrens' untested eye, and set the stage for what he as about to say.

"I am Loki," he announced," his voice carrying loud and sudden into every corner of the theater, "son of Odin, King of Asgard and Father of All. For thousands of years Asgard has watched over the Nine Realms, keeping the peace amongst them and protecting them from dangers that threaten from outside.

"As foremost among the Realms, Asgard is the height of prosperity and civilization, burdened with the the honor and the duty to defend its peoples against the savages who would threaten all that is order in the worlds: the trolls, the Sons of Muspel, the Dark Elves, the Frost Giants.

Loki reached the end of his patrol and fetched up at the center of the platform once again, raising his chin with a bitter jerk. His voice took on a brittle tone, not entirely feigned for effect. "So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I discovered how very wrong I was. I was not a son of Odin, I was not a prince of Asgard; what I was, what I am instead is one of the very monsters that I was taught all my life to fear and despise."