Dark Avenger: A Tale of Mischief

Chapter One: Mischievous Wrath

It had been two days since his return to Asgard, at the hands of Thor.  He had yet to be brought before the All-Father for judgement.  Loki could feel his blood run cold at the prospect of facing his adoptive "father" Odin.  As quickly as his apprehension came, it was replaced by rage.  His rage would not be contained. Not now. He contemplated for a moment, wondering if his rage might ever be calmed...The truth.  It still burned to know the truth of where he came from. Everything he was ever told.  It was all a lie.  Thor, Odin,...even Frigga...his mother whom he trusted above all.  They all knew.  They all deceived him.  Even the Gatekeeper Heimdall knew.  Why?  His heritage was all the answer he needed as to why there was secrecy.  Jotuns were monsters, enemies of the Asgardians despite the fragile "truce" fostered by Odin.

Loki clenched his fists tightly as he thought of this.  He remembered the humiliation of his defeat at the hands of the oaf and his newfound friends, the so-called Avengers.  He seethed as he recalled the memory of the Hulk grabbing him and beating him senseless, though that memory was a tad bit fuzzy.  He tried to recall the battle of New York, certain details were difficult to remember.  It was like trying to look through a thick fog.  The bits he could remember, were almost dreamlike.  Like a moment lived by another, almost an out of body experience.  Shaking his head, he began pacing in the sparse cell he was trapped in.  Loki thought of ways he might take revenge on Thor, his Avenger friends, and maybe eventually the All-Father himself.

It didn't take long for a name to come to mind, through the thick fog of his recollection.  Jane Foster.  Of course!  That witless oaf had developed some form of attachment to the mortal.  Loki would exploit that..IF he could get himself out of his current predicament.

  Of course,  thought Loki, I can use the mortal woman to strike at Thor.  I just need to make my way back to that pathetic realm and find her.

He paused for a moment in his musings as the sound of approaching guards broke the oppressive silence of his imprisonment.  Loki turned as the footsteps came to an abrupt stop, and he came face to face with a solitary guard.  He wondered to himself where the other guard might have gone, he could swear he heard two approaching.  It was also possible he could have been hearing things while locked away in solitude.  Grinning ominously at the guard, he began to formulate a plan.  Creating an illusion, he moved closer to the edge of the barrier of his cell.  His illusion appeared to have never moved from its spot, still grinning at the guard.

   "The All-Father requires your presence," said the guard, warily.  Loki watched as the illusion shifted, putting its hands behind its back.

   "Does he now?" the illusion retorted, still grinning.

    "Don't try anything, now. We wouldn't want it to become more unpleasant for you...Prince Loki," replied the guard, smiling back venemously.

Oh, I will enjoy this, thought Loki.  He felt the barrier come down, and watched as the guard stepped through into the cell.  Holding the illusion, Loki quickly conjured a pair of daggers.  Before the guard could react, he was stabbed twice by the real God of Mischief as the illusion faded before him.  As the guard lay gasping for breath on the cell floor, Loki stepped out of the cell.  He turned to the guard, eyeing him as he made to leave.

    "As much as I would love to grant the All-Father the pleasure of my company," Loki said as he smirked at the guard, "I really must be going."

In a shimmer of green light, Loki was gone, as the guard drew his last breath on the floor.