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….
"Nah," I waved it off, "then the surprise wouldn't work. But seriously, rationally you wouldn't refuse, but you could wind yourself up to the point of subconsciously placing a block, convincing yourself you're unworthy of such power.
"Besides, Mjolnir is a semi-sentient artifact, and Odin ordered it to 'find one worthy of Thor's power.' The problem with semi-sentient artifacts, unlike normal things with a neural interface, is that you never understand what's on their mind and what they consider worthy and what they don't."
"Had I told you why all this was necessary, even without problems on your side, this piece of iron could have balked, like, 'how dare they slip me candidates bypassing natural selection?!'
"Leaving it here… you see yourself, is not the best idea. It's not so much even about S.H.I.E.L.D. research, but that these guys would have enough brains to find some decent but not too bright patriot who could lift the hammer and gain the power of the God of Thunder."
"And then joyfully and without asking unnecessary questions use this power on evil commies, dirty natives, and other enemies of democracy and all progressive humanity, everything just as the big uncles pinning medals on his chest say."
"But why didn't you lift it yourself?" Charles looked askance at his own legs with disbelief and stepped cautiously, remembering how to move at all.
"Well, firstly, I have enough problems as it is," I smiled wryly, trying to convey with my facial expression the full extent of how happy this made me.
"Because as a result of Thor's screw-up, I am now a little bit… King of Asgard," I created an illusion of Gungnir in my hand, "and I already have Odin's spear." Both mutants glued their eyes to the golden shaft of the artifact.
"Secondly, Mjolnir is still a semi-sentient artifact, and it adopted a lot from my brother, in particular the holy belief that I am a loser nerd, so it won't give itself into my hands just on principle, and I could sit and hack its brains for fifty years. Oh yes, I also have a Cunning Plan!"
"And what is it?" the professor smiled, catching the change of intonation in my voice.
"I count on a certain pretty teacher bestowing a kiss and going on a couple more dates with the charming scoundrel who cured her disabled father."
"For some reason, I suspected something like that… But you say you became the King of Asgard?"
"Yes, but I can handle it! I already have a plan on how to escape from there without unleashing a pan-galactic war! I think I'll manage in two weeks," I positively assured the mutants, bending down to the ground myself to choose a suitable pebble and transform it into a decorative red flag on a stand.
For everything is in the name of Intrigue, yes! S.H.I.E.L.D. must suffer!
"But let's discuss this a little later," I rose to my feet, "fooling all the surrounding equipment and minds is quite difficult. Care to stretch your legs?"
"Why not, Loki?" without commenting on my manipulations, Charles took a cautious step. "Why not…"
….
Same time, Asgard.
My illusion with the mutants hastily left the S.H.I.E.L.D. camp, explaining to the prof along the way how to remove the armor and turn the hammer into an elegant cane that wouldn't cause surprise.
Simultaneously, I had to endure a migraine from the tension to prevent the humans and their equipment from noticing anything, but the Throne helped, and there wasn't much left to endure.
Sterile silence reigned in the throne room, in which not even the breathing of the Einherjar guards standing watch at the foot of the dais was audible.
There was no official coronation, but when I walked out of Odin's bedchamber with Gungnir in hand, the lined-up guard dropped to one knee in a single motion, acknowledging me as master.
Everything was prepared in advance by Frigga, and the entire palace awaited only my appearance to start working around the new King.
And if you think about it, she got her way, terrifying woman, talked the God of Deceit into it…
I scanned the huge empty hall. Somewhere inside, a small satisfied spark burned, whispering that this was all mine now, but the old childhood dream of the former Loki hardly touched me anymore.
He dreamed of power over Asgard as some super-prize that would supposedly prove his superiority over Thor to everyone visually and show that everyone who neglected him before had landed in a puddle.
Personally, I was much more interested to know what faces these guys posing as statues would make if I ran the internet here and set up a console.
Why not, it's way better than lounging on this regal chair and staring majestically into an empty hall.
Actually, I was working with the Throne's neural interface and could look literally through the boundaries of worlds, coordinating the actions of Asgard's troops, meeting with allied rulers, giving orders to distant corners of the power, and so on and so forth, but from the outside, it looked exactly like that.
Look, Laura already seems to regret deciding to come with me to see the "king's work" instead of staying with her mother or Yuriko in the rooms allocated to them.
Or not?
You can never tell anything with this girl; even now she wanders around the hall, stares at the guards' armor, and studies the frescoes on the ceiling, showing no signs of fatigue or boredom.
Silently following the girl with my eyes for several minutes, I waited for the moment when the X-Men's "Blackbird" took in the passengers and lifted off the ground.
Waiting a little longer, I allowed myself to relax, dispelling the illusion and mental suggestion on the S.H.I.E.L.D. object.
It immediately became easier, and the nasty screws constantly screwing into my temples were removed.
Oh, here come the little humans running around, they noticed the loss of the hammer, traces of lightning, and the small red flag.
My heart even warmed… Yes, everything according to the principle: if joy settles in the heart, it means a dirty trick has been done to someone.
And what a pity that the Soviet Union collapsed in this world too; the guys at the Lubyanka would have caught some lulz if Fury started sending them angry telegrams and photos of "proof" that the commies had gone completely insolent and it's bad to be like that.
On the other hand, now the poor ex-Master Windu has no one to even present claims to, which will clearly make him burn much stronger.
Although… maybe he'll go after the Chinese, but the Chinese are a tricky bunch; where you sit on them is where you get off, they picked up bad habits from the Vanir, you know…
While I smiled vilely observing the panic of Fury's fledglings, a stray thought quietly wandered into my head.
I would even say, a bad thought. Harmful. Inappropriate. Bad… very bad Loki! One must not think about digging a shipping canal between Mexico and Canada using the Bifrost!
This is a non-core use of high-precision spatial displacement technology; self-respecting intellectuals do not hammer nails with a microscope!
Auto-suggestion helped… little. But it pushed me to a new thought.
Thanos.
Being the King of Asgard, I could try to solve the problem of his existence at the root.
It was risky and dangerous, but… quite had chances of success. He wasn't ready for a full-scale war and gathering the Infinity Stones yet.
Almost ready, yes, but not ready. His army is surely huge already, but Asgard's army is not yet battered by the pacification of the Nine Realms after the anarchy that reigned with the destruction of the Bifrost, the attack of the Dark Elves, and the release of Hela.
Besides, jokes aside, one could really strike with the Bifrost, if not at some metropolis-world, which Thanos might not have, then at his huge ship…
A quick check showed that the Throne of Asgard did not allow me to pierce with my gaze those areas of the galaxy where, according to rumors, the fallen Titan dwelt.
The radius to which the Throne allowed sending my senses was limited to the Nine Realms and a little on top, and when trying to "zoom in" on a long distance, the "picture" blurred, almost in complete analogy with an optical movie camera, although, undoubtedly, it was perceived completely differently.
….
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
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