Pain. Such exquisite agony. But nothing that she couldn't handle. By this point, pain was an old friend for Loki, Goddess of Mischief.
And besides, it only hurt so much because the Midgardians were incompetent. They were new to toying with the fabric of space, new to portal travel. And their inexperience was ultimately what made this possible in the first place. Hijacking the Bifrost, by comparison, would have been all but impossible. But hijacking the Midgardian's experiment was all too easy.
It still hurt though. Hurt so much that when she finally landed, it was not with her back straight, chest puffed out, and arms spread wide as she'd hoped. It was not the grand display of power she'd been aiming for. Instead, everything hurts and she finds herself on one knee, her arms curled inwards as pain radiates through every fiber of her being and the blue energy of the portal wafts off of her body and up into the air above her.
Breathing in and out slowly, Loki takes in her surroundings without actually looking up. There are many Midgardians in the large room with her, she can hear the sounds of their pathetic, weak hearts pitter-pattering away oh so rapidly. Likewise, there's quite a lot of their vaunted technology, the pathetic attempts at mimicking true power beeping and squealing in alarm.
Loki tilts her head to the side, hissing as she raises it to take them all in with her eyes. Slowly, parts of her body screaming at her for every move she makes, the Goddess rises to her feet, beads of sweat trickling down her face. Her, a Frost Giant, sweating. Ridiculous.
"Ma'am. Please put down the spear."
One of the Midgardians, a dark-skinned man wearing an eye patch of all things, presumes to order her. But… what spear? It takes her a moment to remember. Takes her a moment to even realize the damn thing is still in her hand. Looking down, Loki pauses, staring at the glowing gem of the bladed scepter she's holding.
Where had it come from? Ah yes, that's right. It was a gift. But like many gifts, it came with strings attached. She was here… for a reason. Staring at the glowing gem she smiles slightly. It's all coming back to her now. Her reason for being here on Midgard. Her mission. Her rewards if she succeeds… and her punishment if she fails.
While the one-eyed Midgardian dared to command her, others were trying to flank her. Aiming their pathetic Midgardian weapons at her as if they had any hope of doing damage to her. Though she must admit, the way those weapons glow with energy is strange. Weren ' t the Midgardians using ballistic ammunition last she checked?
No matter. Nothing on this planet could harm her. Nothing on Midgard could cause her the same amount of pain as she had already experienced.
With a vicious snarl, Loki thrusts out the scepter and a concentrated blast of energy lances from it towards the one-eyed Midgardian. He's pushed out of the way at the last second by a familiar face, while the other Midgardians bring their strange rifles to bear on her. She's already moving though, flinging herself through the air at great speed.
And good that she did too. The Midgardians fire their rifles and the air where she was just stood is suddenly filled with energy blasts. Loki's eyes widen and she has to use the scepter to deflect one that would have taken her right in the chest. These were not the 'bullets' that she had expected to face. Perhaps the Midgardians were further along into their research with the Tesseract than she'd initially anticipated.
No matter. In the end, Loki is still faster than even the fastest Midgardian's reflexes. Knowing better than to test what damage those white energy blasts are capable of, she dodges each one and through a combination of the scepter and her knives, takes down the four Midgardians armed with rifles quite easily.
The others have smaller weapons, and these have the normal bullets she's expecting. She easily tanks those, feeling them plink off of her chest without penetrating through her robes. One of them catches her eye and she can ' t help move towards him, grabbing him by the wrist as he tries to bring his weapon to bear on her face.
Except it's not HIS weapon, she belatedly realizes. No… right now the Midgardian is not armed properly. He's missing his bow and his strangely powerful arrows. A shame that, maybe he would have had a chance to escape if he was properly equipped. As it is…
"You. I remember you from the desert. You fought alongside my brother. You will serve."
With a wide grin, Loki presses the scepter against the Midgardian's chest. But not through. Rather than impale him, she simply takes him. The already glowing gem in the scepter' s head glows even brighter as the eyes of the Midgardian cloud over before becoming a bright, vibrant blue. In that moment, she knows she has him. He belongs to her now and his loyalty is without question… she can see it in his eyes. Loki quickly moves onto the next Midgardian, not stopping in her sudden recruitment drive. Now that the only threats have been dealt with, she can turn every single person in this room to her side, make them her thralls.
Ah, if only she had this scepter when she sat Asgard's throne. She could have used it on everyone. On Heimdall. On Sif. On the Warriors Three. On her mo- no. She would not do such a thing. She would not … ah, but there was no point in worrying about what ifs, was there? Especially when the one-eyed Midgardian was trying to make off with her objective.
"Please don't."
The man stops in his tracks at her quiet, whispered words. He doesn't turn to face her completely, but his hand hovers near the small weapon holstered at his side… as thought that's going to help him. "I still need that."
"… This doesn't have to get any messier."
Loki giggles somewhat madly at that, running her free hand through her black locks, her fingers scratching along her scalp as they go. Odin's beard, when was the last time she'd had a bath? She felt like filth caked upon filth. But… priorities.
"It does if you force my hand, Midgardian. I've come too far to stop now."
He turns to face her then, properly. And Loki… introduces herself.
"I am Loki… of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose." She's not sure why she says that. She's not of Asgard. She never was. Perhaps just because it's funny? Perhaps because lying is all she's ever known? Perhaps because if by some strange chance she fails, it might cause trouble for the people she despises down the road. The Midgardians might even take their grievances to the All-Father himself and wouldn't that be hilarious?
Of course, she's not expecting one of the older Midgardians to suddenly speak up.
"Loki. Sister of Thor!"
Looking over at the man, Loki's eyes narrow. He was in the desert as well. Not that he did any fighting like the archer, but for him to be in both places… a scholar? Useful, she realizes. Just not in the same way.
"We have no quarrel with your people."
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