Mischief on Midgard

Next step

Loki was sitting in front of a television, legs crossed, observing the well of information presented to him on the screen. Most of it was just nonsense disputes among Midgardian countries, but you never knew when beneficial information would present itself. The primary benefit that he'd found was that he did not have to find a way to observe the Avengers directly. These 'news studios' were doing all the work for him. All he had to do was to sit back and watch.

Loki could not deny that his time with the Toomes crew was nearing its' end. He had gotten what he needed from them in the form of his ID card, and he had no desire to grow too comfortable amongst the group. He had even managed to develop a few items that didn't require magic from the user to be activated.

The healing cube, a force-field cube, and lastly, a little stick able to knock anyone out by touch, aptly dubbed the 'sleeping stick'. It was a tiny thing actually and looked like an ordinary pen. All Loki needed to do was to press it against someone's forehead, and they would be out like a light. Not dead, as he wasn't allowed to hurt anyone, but sleeping.

Loki was throwing this very item up and down in the air while his eyes lingered on the screen.

Tony Stark had been front and center in the news for a while now. Ever since that terrorist group started attacking him, at least, and of course, there was news regarding his short disappearance during that time. He seemed to be back for good now and had officially declared that he would dedicate less time to being Iron Man, and focus his resources and energy on development. 'Creating new things to benefit the world'... how noble of him.

Steve Rogers was, well. The best way Loki could describe it was that said male had been presented as and even acted as a kind of a circus clown in his early career. He was presented as a 'real-life hero' to the masses and appearing in several 'talk shows' and PTA's. Always talking about how you needed to 'do good' to 'be good' and... urgh, it made Loki cringe all over his body. Did the man not have any shame? Or self-respect for that matter?

Sadly, judging from those old commercials they were showing on the news, it didn't look like it.

Bruce Banner seemed to be keeping to himself for the most part. There had been a few short documentaries about him and his work on the TV, but no real news about the man's current activities. From what Loki could tell, he was now living in Stark Tower with Tony and rarely, if ever, left the building.

The employees of S.H.I.E.L.D., however, remained a mystery. People had, of course, asked plenty of questions. Who were these two new heroes at the battle of New York? Where did they come from? Where were they now? But no response was forthcoming. News regarding the male archer and female 'femme fatale' had been kept a secret, much like most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s actions. All Loki could tell was that they were special agents working for S.H.I.E.L.D., which of course, was a government program and needed to remain 'hush-hush' for the safety of those involved.

A new issue had presented itself to Loki; What should his next step be? He couldn't very well insert himself into the American government post haste now, could he? Well, he could if he decided to go in 'guns blazing' so to speak, but he was not allowed to harm any human directly or indirectly. With the way the U.S. government functioned, he would most certainly end up stepping over that line if he involved himself in any matters of state. Furthermore, becoming a public figure was not in his self-interest! And with all the restrictions that had been placed upon him, being stuck in a situation where he couldn't fight back was in no way desirable.

Although, it would be fun to take over Earth using Odin's precious rules if only to see the look on Thor's face. As hilarious as that mental image was, though, it wouldn't be worth it. There would eventually be better ways to get the better of both Thor and Odin.