Special Agent 2: The Dark Soldier

Chapter 3

The flashing colors of the Bifrost faded around Loki as he felt his boots crunch in the ice. It had been three years since his last visit to this world. Then, he had been searching for both revenge and closure.

He hadn't found either.

Now, Loki had returned, but for a completely different reason. Jotunheim was under attack by the gang of pirates known as the Marauders, and Odin had sent his sons to defeat the last group of them, once and for all.

Thor glanced over at his younger brother, a tinge of worry in his eyes. Loki caught Thor's eye and offered him a slight grin. "Just like old times, isn't it, brother?"

"That's what I'm afraid of," Thor retorted as Loki, looking out at the desolation surrounding them, felt his grin slip.

I did this. All this.

The large jarring pits in the surface of the world drew his eye as the Asgardian gazed over the landscape. Jagged spires of ice pointed up at the sky, fierce and sharp. Jotunheim had always been desolate, but Loki could see the fallen towers of rock, the trenches carved through the ice, that hadn't been there before.

My hands. My hands had the Bifrost wreak destruction on this world.

My world.

Loki wanted to take back the words as soon as he had thought them. No, he thought savagely. My home is Asgard. I've made my peace with Odin. Jotunheim has no place in my future.

Without any more words, the two sons of Odin set off at a fast clip, towards the small settlement Laufey had once ruled from, his seat now occupied by a young frost giantess. Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, and Sif followed after them, weapons out as they ran.

The Asgardians raced into the settlement to see a band of nine frost giants holding back the thirty or so Marauders. The frost giants were falling back rapidly and as Loki drew his daggers, he saw one hit the ground, the ice plate on his chest blasted to smithereens by a Marauder rifle.

Thor hurled Mjolnir into the rabble as Loki, Sif, and the Warriors Three flung themselves into battle. The past five months had been filled with similar battles throughout the Nine Realms as the Asgardians reestablished order, but none of them had brought Loki in contact with his roots.

Cutting into the Marauders with his daggers, the Asgardian used both his magic and his knives to work through the crowd. Sif's sword flashed left and right as she blocked energy blasts on her shield, Volstagg's axe sticking into the helmet of a pirate from somewhere near her. Hogun's mace collided with a Marauder's breastplate as Fandral laughed, shoving his sword into one neck before yanking it out and knocking a second pirate between the eyes with the blade's hilt.

Meanwhile, Thor slammed Mjolnir into the ground, causing lightning to crackle and topple the surrounding pirates. The frost giants slowed their retreat and as Loki glanced over at them, he got his first look at Jotunheim's new ruler.

Asgard had heard reports about the frost giantess who had reestablished order in Jotunheim after Loki's devastating attack three years ago. One of the nobility and a warrior as well, she had assumed the throne after Laufey's death, filling the sudden power vacuum and rebuilding her society.

Her name was Hailstohm.

Now she forced the Marauders out of her way, leading her warriors forward in a charge. Flashing red eyes, dull blue skin marked with ridges on her forehead, and silver hair parted into multiple braids that cascaded down her back. Her simple leather tunic, formed by interwoven bands, was covered in ice armor plates, twin blades in her hands.