Chapter Text
"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
oOoOo
2011
Puente Antiguo, NM
Loki appeared on Midgard without sound, without the dazzling lights of the rainbow bridge, and most importantly, without a trace. He turned, sand grinding under his boots, to take in the desiccated land.
An unforgiving sun leached the color and life out of the rocky earth and sparse vegetation. Even the sky was a pathetic, muted shade of blue. It was all so monotonous, so dull. He raised a brow, thinking it had a striking similarity to Svartalfheim.
His gaze flicked to an odd little building, then down at a many-legged insect, skittering across the fissured ground near his feet. He took a step forward, indifferent to the crunch that followed, and continued on to the astrophysicist's dwelling. The one his mother had foreseen and whom only he saw as a potential threat.
Frigga had convinced the All-Father there was no danger or harm in allowing this turn of events to proceed. So, Loki had decided it was up to him to investigate this mortal, even though it was an unsanctioned, and therefore clandestine, mission.
A hot breeze scraped across his skin, filling his nose with dust and leaving behind the taste of grit on his tongue. He curled his lip in revulsion. Of all the places to live, the astrophysicist had to reside in the middle of a desert. Not that he preferred any location on this particular realm. It was Midgard, after all, the backwoods of the World Tree.
A woman launched out the door and shot toward the dingy trailer next to the building. She stopped mid-stride. Her long hair whipped forward, unaware the rest of her no longer moved. She turned, sweeping back the brown mass with a slender hand, and stared at the spot he found himself rooted to.
She could not see through his cloaking spell. If Heimdall couldn't, no one could. Especially not a Midgardian. Not even Jane Foster, the one destined to build a Bifrost.
He watched as her eyes lit up and a slow smile took shape. It was as if she were greeting him, pleased he was there. Something stirred within him. The grim line of his lips threatened to crack. He gritted his teeth and crushed the nameless sentiment like the insect it was.
"That's it," she hooted in excitement and darted back inside. The screen door slapped shut behind her and a hazy cloud billowed out in her wake.
It mattered not what Frigga or the All-Father had said, Loki would discover this woman's secrets. He'd peel back as many layers as needed to know everything about her. He'd hold the spark that made her who she was, and if he must, for the good of Asgard, he'd smother out its existence.