Chapter Text
The maiden voyage of the Ratatosk Express was just weeks away, and as far as Odin knew, everything was progressing smoothly, exactly according to plan.
Odin didn’t know everything, though, much as she tried to make it appear so. She didn’t know, for example, about Thor’s recent uncharacteristic decision to dabble in espionage, entering government buildings after hours to go through her files in search of blackmail material. Increasingly critical of her rule and tired of waiting for her to step down on her own- or, more likely, die- he had decided to take matters into his own hands. She had anticipated this, or at least, expected that someone would try it at some point. She just hadn’t anticipated him being able to find anything.
But find something he did. Not enough to hold over her… not on its own, at least. Just enough to suggest that there was something fishy about the train. Enough to make Thor believe that, if the Ratatosk Express completed its first journey from Asgard to Midgard as planned, nothing would ever be enough to remove Odin from power. Enough to make him decide he needed to stop it.
Even if Odin had known about this, it wouldn’t have worried her much. Thor could be dangerous, but he wasn’t much of a planner; if he caused any trouble on the train, she could have him dealt with. At the most, she might have increased security, just in case. Unfortunately for Odin, she also didn’t know what Thor did next- when he, too, realized that he didn’t have the skills to effectively act on what he’d learned by himself.
See, Thor may not have been much of a planner, but he still had enough intelligence to admit when he needed help, and to find someone who could provide it- someone who would be more than happy for a chance to finally bring down Odin. And, crucially, he had enough strings at his disposal for the pulling to be able to contact that someone, however difficult she made herself to find.
He made damn sure that Odin didn’t know about the meeting he had, just a few days later, with Sigyn.
The resistance leader was wary of his proposal at first, and understandably so. Thor was next in line to rule, while Sigyn and her people wanted the Asgardian government destroyed. There was no question that they’d be at each other’s throats the second Odin was out of the way. On the other hand… what better choice did she have? One way or another, the resistance couldn’t let that train get where it was going unimpeded, and having Thor on their side opened up more new possibilities than she had time to count. At least for now, the enemy of her enemy would be her friend. The two shook hands and agreed on a time to meet again and figure out the details, and Thor left. Sigyn had three potential plans laid out in her head before he was fully out of the room. After a few more meetings and a lot of arguing, she even managed to come up with one they could both agree on.
Now, it’s the day of the train’s launch. Thor will be on it, of course; thanks to his influence and some neatly forged paperwork, so will Sigyn and a handful of her people. Judging by the strange, rambling quality of the speech Odin gives, pulling off their plan will hardly be any work at all.
Outright assassination had been ruled out early: in an investigation, the two of them with their clear motives would be the first suspects anyone looked at, and it would come down to who could push the blame onto the other first. Instead, they’re going for something a little subtler: killing Odin’s reputation, and making it look like PR suicide. A quiet and, most importantly, unprovable three-day campaign of psychological warfare, culminating in a paranoid breakdown caught on the train’s cameras, should be enough to end even the Allmother’s political career. The first step begins now, as Thor mingles with the crowd during Odin’s speech, dressed down and wearing glasses to make himself less immediately recognizable. It wouldn’t do to have someone who knows him try to start up a conversation.
The event is underway, and Thor sidles up behind a couple of his fellow passengers. “I’m not so sure about this,” he grumbles, as if to someone else next to him. “From what I hear, the train isn’t as safe as she claims.” The people around him start to turn, maybe to ask what exactly it is he heard, but he disappears back into the crowd before any of them can see his face. He hears the worried murmuring start up in his wake, and smiles.
Thor makes short work of the audience’s mood, dropping hints in just the right places so that the ripple effect of did-you-hear-that takes care of the rest. The rumors wouldn’t work if everyone weren’t already secretly thinking them, but of course they are. No one in their right mind would be perfectly at ease boarding a vehicle that’s never carried passengers before, and Odin’s speech isn’t exactly reassuring. Inspiring, sure, if you’re willing to believe what she says about scientific progress and all that- but not a single mention made of safety testing.
Odin finishes speaking, and the crowd applauds with more nervousness than enthusiasm. Success.
“Step one complete,” Thor says quietly. No one around him hears, but the earbud Sigyn gave him picks it up just fine.
“Good,” she replies. “Everything’s fine on our end. We don’t want to push too hard, so just get on the train as normal and I’ll tell you when it’s time for step two.”
He nods, then remembers she can’t hear him and says, “Fine.” He doesn’t exactly love taking order from anyone, and he especially doesn’t love taking them from someone who’s usually one of his worst enemies. She is the woman with the plan, though, and he was the one who approached her for help, so he’s resigned himself to put up with it for as long as it’s necessary.
He sheds his semi-disguise and rejoins his fellow passengers as himself. No one will notice or care that his enthusiasm isn’t very genuine when they’re all more concerned with hiding the fact that theirs isn’t, either. As if the entire nobility isn’t telling about ten different lies of varying degrees of importance twenty-four-fucking-seven anyway, which everyone knows about and no one will ever acknowledge. Politics. Thor really can’t stand it sometimes, not that his distaste will stop him from using it to his advantage all he can. It’s almost funny how afraid all these people are of letting him overhear them discussing rumors he started himself.
It’s definitely funny that none of these people- some of whom he considers something like friends- realized who he was earlier, when all he did was change clothes, switch up his hairstyle and put some glasses on. Mostly it’s funny to Sigyn. She keeps offering amused compliments on Thor’s ability to blend in while he forces himself through polite conversation with people who have clearly never paid a bit of attention to any face other than their own. Sure, face-blindness is a thing, but he refuses to believe it’s a condition shared by every single one of his acquaintances. If causing a scene weren’t likely to ruin the entire plan, he would be having some words with these people. As it is, he quietly reminds himself not to trust them with anything too important once he’s the one in charge.