บท 2648: Chapter 1861: Madman's Journey (Thirty-Seven)_1
Loki wasn't confined to a single room, but rather within a raised enclosure in the middle of the hall. Stark had just had the cage raised, so now Loki was on display in the center of the hall, like an animal in a zoo.
The bars of the energy cage were made from the energy circuit of the Devourer Engine, making them extremely resilient. Loki continually hammered at these bars, but they didn't budge an inch.
Although he noticed that the Thor before him was slightly different from the one he knew, he assumed that Thor had probably changed during his time on Earth. So, he stiffened his resolve and shouted, "Damn you Thor! How dare you set a trap for me! You will never earn the approval of the Father of All Gods. You will never…"
"Whoosh", the energy bars vanished.
Loki stared incredly at the disappearance of the only barrier between him and Thor, only to realize that the cage bars were intended to protect him.
The pressure of facing this Thor was incredibly intense, even more so than confronting Odin alone. As Thor coldly stared at him, all of Loki's vicious words stuck in his throat and he found himself unable to utter a single word.
"You... you…" Loki seemed somewhat dazed, and even shocked. It took him a few seconds to react.
Not long ago, he had found out the secret of his origins from Odin, and he was full of anger and resentment when he confronted the Father of All Gods. That feeling hadn't dissipated yet.
Sensing Thor's cold attitude, Loki's anger deepened. Had they even stopped pretending to care? Were they eagerly waiting to kill him, just like they had killed Laufey?
"Thor, whatever game you're playing, I'll make you pay! " Loki shouted defiantly. His instinct for self-preservation fully activated, he tried to intimidate Thor into backing down. "You should be ashamed of what you have done! You have disgraced Asgard by causing chaos in Jotunheim, the Father of All Gods will never forgive you!!!"
"I know exactly why I created chaos in Jotunheim, and you should know better than I, Loki." Thor calmly replied, "This is just another one of your pranks, stop it."
"Who are you to order me?!"
"Whoosh — Bang!"
A long spear appeared behind Loki, cutting through the air sharply. With a swift, sweeping motion akin to a golf swing, the spear knocked Loki to the ground from behind.
Loki was stunned. He instinctively tried to get up, but a second later, the spear was at his throat, pinning him to the freezing floor, his face pressed harshly against it.
Tears welled up in Loki's eyes. He had never been so roughly treated by Thor. The biggest disagreement they'd had among the Warriors Three was arguing in front of them, and even if Loki messed up Thor's battle plans, Thor never reprimanded him in front of his soldiers.
But now, in front of so many strangers, Thor didn't seem to be interested in wasting any more words with him. It was as if he was just another soldier who had screwed up, a treatment very typical of Asgard.
In front of the Father of All Gods, one was first asked to submit, only then were issues of right and wrong raised. No matter what kind of dispute, once it reached Odin, there couldn't possibly be a side that was right, as disturbing the Divine King was in itself a great offense.
Thor now gave Loki such an impression, and following the instincts developed since his birth in Asgard, he dared not argue with Thor about why he came here and why he was in a cage. He instinctively felt that he had to pay for his offence against a superior.
"Thor… Thor!" Loki clenched his fists, then released them, staring anxiously at the ground in front of him, the veins in his hand visibly throbbing. He was practically begging: "Thor, let me go, Thor…"
The cold touch of the spear on his neck made him afraid, but what truly terrified him was that Thor knew what he had done in Jotunheim, knew that all this was his plot, yet he didn't seem angry anymore. It didn't feel like revenge; it was as if Thor was simply annoyed by his noise.
This feeling tore Loki's heart apart.
"Whoosh", a green figure appeared in the hall. Loki's eyes widened as he watched another self, identical to him, approach Thor.
The newly-appeared Loki sheathed his magic wand, bowed his head and nudged Thor with his own forehead. According to Asgardian etiquette, this meant he was about to deliver bad news, and he was asking for Thor's forgiveness.
Thor reached out and touched Loki's shoulder, motioning for him to speak. Loki shook his head, sighed, and then spoke, "He got away. Natasha is dealing with another murderer."
"So, there are indeed two murderers?"
Loki nodded, recalling what had happened when he left the Devourer Engine to travel to Earth in this universe.
Seeing the abnormal state of Thor in this universe, Loki immediately teleported to Thor's side and tried to examine him, but the magic check found nothing, raising Loki's suspicion.
Compared to Thor, Loki was much more proficient in magic. There were many ways to make someone agonize without showing any physical injury, such as magical curses.
Loki suspected that Thor had been cursed, but he needed to know what kind of curse it was. So, he went to Asgard to find out about Thor's recent whereabouts.
Nothing in Asgard can escape Heimdall's sight, but this Loki was the real Loki. Heimdall simply found it strange how often Loki was going in and out of Asgard, but he didn't stop this newcomer Loki.
Thus, Loki enacted a blind eye technique in Odin's palace. In a flash of light, he used his power to bind this universe's Loki and transport him back to the Star Devouring Engine, and, disguising himself as this universe's Loki, left Odin's palace.
He first came to Thor's quarters, and asked several warriors in the training field who were friendly toward Thor. They reported that the biggest trouble Thor had recently stirred up was causing chaos in Jotunheim, other than that he had not left Asgard.
So, the problem definitely appeared in the land of the Giants. Loki arrived in Jotunheim and met with his so-called biological father, Laufey.
In fact, Loki had seen Laufey in his own universe. But he knew more than the Loki of this universe. Odin never told this universe's Loki that he was actually abandoned by the Frost Giants. Otherwise, he would not have taken him in.
Given this, Loki had no feelings for Laufey. The long speech Laufey had prepared to sow discord between Loki and Odin wasn't used, Loki simply knocked him unconscious with a tapping of his staff.
Upon inspecting the surroundings, Loki indeed found something unusual - there was a trace of strange, non-Frost Giant power swirling around the palace, seemingly someone else had arrived before him, possibly even before Thor.
Loki suspected Laufey had been influenced, and thus didn't trust him at all. But there was no one left to interrogate for information, so he woke Laufey anyway.
Loki didn't take to heart any of Laufey's so-called talk of family grudges, but he keenly caught the key information within. Laufey repeatedly mentioned the Frost Giants' treasured "Casket of Ancient Winters" being stolen by Odin, and suggested that Loki should steal it back.
Loki knew that the Casket of Ancient Winters Laufey spoke of was kept in Odin's treasure vault, but when he sneaked into the vault and retrieved the Casket, he found that the power within the artifact had disappeared without a trace.
Loki instantly made a guess: someone had affected Laufey's mind and obtained information about the Casket of Ancient Winters, infiltrated Odin's treasure vault, and stole the energy.
Considering the abnormal behavior of this universe's Thor, it's not hard to guess that the thief's next target could be Mjölnir.
Loki's first instinct was to find The Ancient One. In any universe, the Supreme Sorcerer is always the Supreme Sorcerer. If there's a strange intruder on Earth, The Ancient One obviously has an undeniable responsibility.
But when Loki arrived at Kamar-Taj, he found out that The Ancient One was investigating the perpetrator who murdered her senior disciple and was currently not on Earth.
After extensive questioning by Loki, he learned that the next Supreme Sorcerer, Stephen Strange, had died mysteriously a few months before - his body had become a shriveled husk, all its energy and life drained away.
Loki immediately thought of the serial murder case involving the Stephen Strange of the multiverse. It appeared that this universe was also one of the victims.
This made it easy to figure out who the troublemaker was. Even the energy within the divine artifacts was not spared; Dark Strange must be on the run from an army of Ancient Ones.
So, Loki certainly couldn't let him succeed. Thus, on a dark and windy night, he came to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director's office and met Nick Fury.
He didn't give away his origin but claimed that he came here following Mjölnir and planned to make a deal with the human race.
Nick called Natasha here, but Natasha was actually on Loki's side. The two visitors from other universes cooperated to devise a trap for the mastermind behind the scenes.
Loki guessed that the mastermind probably wasn't powerful enough to directly absorb the power from all the divine artifacts, otherwise, all the artifacts in Odin's vault couldn't possibly remain intact.
In his own interactions with the divine artifacts, Loki knew that most of them have a fixed master. The owners of those artifacts would impose a seal on them, and only when the seal is lifted can their power be freely used.
The fact that the mastermind managed to obtain the power of the Casket of Ancient Winters likely suggested he had gotten permission from a mentally impaired Laufey. And his fixation on Thor might be because he wanted to steal the power of Mjölnir the moment Thor obtained Mjölnir's approval and the seal was lifted.
Loki and Nick reached an agreement - Loki would fully lift the seal on the Mjölnir, making it possible for anyone to pick it up. Humanity could use this power to solve their problems, but they must cooperate with Loki to create a ruse, pretending to let Thor gain approval and thus lure the thief out.
Loki, who knew Thor well, contemplated that this universe's Thor might propose to try lifting Mjölnir to S.H.I.E.L.D. But what they didn't expect was that Thor would choose to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. to cause trouble for Natasha.
This was completely out of character for the straightforward Thor, which made Loki even more alert to the mastermind who seemed very adept at manipulating people's minds.
When they found out that Thor and his party had arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick had to make emergency arrangements. The Warriors Three and Thor really weren't cut out for infiltration. Their stealth skills wouldn't get them to the bottom of the S.H.I.E.L.D agent's apartment building undetected. It was just Nick giving a heads up, ordering the agents not to interfere.
Nick didn't have time to inform Natasha, but fortunately, Natasha was quick on her feet. She and Loki put on a two-man show.
The moment a purple glow appeared on Thor's arm, Loki immediately raised his staff, and a beam of light hit Thor's arm.
Thor was directly knocked off his feet, but this power was sly. Instead of sprawling out externally, it hit Thor's heart again, causing him to once again painfully roll around on the ground.
"...That's what happened." Loki stated with a lowered gaze: "It might be a tangible curse, but he took Thor as a hostage, and Thor, now powerless, couldn't resist. I hesitated for two seconds, acted a step too late, and he escaped."
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