"THE BROTHERS THOR  LOKI, PART 1 kneel, God of thunder!" "kneel before your conqueror!" "Kneel as is you're deserted and destined before Loki Laufeyson!" "Kneel as all asgard must before the new and rightful lord!" "Enough." "The sovereign of Asgard has greater tasks to attend to than the subjugation of one already broght so low." "Take him to the dungeons and let Asgard's new age begin forthwith!" "what then?" "All eyes averted." "No one dares to look at Loki's divine majesty." "It was not so long hence when all here freely looked upon us with disdain and derision." "surely there remains in Asgard one bold enough to make no pretence of so sudden fealty." "who dares?" "!" "Forgive him, my lord." "He is but a child." ""but a child", you say." "and as such deserving of Loki's mercy?" "who did ever speak of Loki and mercy in one breath, woman?" "you stake your hopes on what your lord possesses not!" "you are not my lord!" "you can never be my lord!" "and i will never say so!" "do what you will to me!" "You're not my father!" "I'm not Loki Odinson!" "You are my father's murderer!" "And I am your prisoner!" "And I will not do your will though you call down all the host of Asgard upon me!" "little one, you must not despise you new lord because of what others say of him under their breath." "Consider that i was once like you." "Young." "Angry." "Alone." "yet behold what i have achieved." "be thus inspired to dream of what you with your spirit might one day accomplish..." "As you will." "Wallow in the common herd, then." "Attend me!" "For the first time," "I enter this palace as its master." "can you imagine the exquisite satisfaction, the sure, sweet knowledge that i have gained what so long I sought?" "no." "None of you, I assure you, can know in the smallest degree what i feel!" "Behold him who'd be lord of all." "Are not all struck by his grandness, Sif?" "Indeed, beloved, I trembled." "mock me while you can, brother." "my day will come." "My lord." "i beg you attend the realm's security." "With Heimdall in chains, there is none" " to safeguard the Rainbow Bridge." " i... i will turn my mind to it." " my lord." " who now?" "Your own Lorelei, my lord." "surely you have not forgotten me," "Nor the promises you made when you enlisted my aid in your quest." "for that, which even now bears your weight." "I have not forgotten you. and it is true" "I owe you thanks and more than thanks." "thus you come in all haste to claim your reward, hey?" "I, my lord, nor am i alone." "as you must nedd recall, lord, in exchange for my siege of Odin's post on the Gopul river, you promised me the kingdom of Harokin." "I tire of these incesant demands." "let them resume on the morrow." "My lord, I must protest i have waited the better part of a day." "then a dozen hours more should be as nothing to you." "my lord, i will not stand for this!" "no, indeed!" "you will kneel!" "Peace at last." "My lord?" "by Surtur's breath, even here!" "who dares trespass Loki's private chambers?" "!" "My name is Daia, my lord." "a concubine by trade." "i sent for none such as you." "I am a gift of the Norn Queen, my lord, in congratulation of your victory." "From Karnilla?" "Hey." "I need not guess what she desires in return." "what may i do to please you, my lord?" "run this tiresome kingdom for me." "my lord?" "go, woman. leave me to my thoughts." "And let none who values his life dare disturb my solitude!" "what of one who values not life, but death, lord of Asgard." "might she be granted audience?" "i bid you welcome, Hela." "You are wise to show me courtesy, Loki Laufeyson." "We may be monarchs both, but with a touch of my hand," "I can yet render you my subject." "may i offer you some refreshment?" "I neither eat nor drink, Lord of Asgard." "Though you can provide me with what other nourishment I crave." "Alas, the conqueror becomes indeed a petty paymaster." "but never mind." "what token can i provide you?" "the immortal soul of Thor." "you..." "you desire... what i have named, lord of Asgard, ask not Hela to say again, like some pleading beggar." "why look you so alarmed, Laufeyson?" "it can be no secret to you that i have long sought your brother for my legions in Nifelheim." "I ask only that you name the day that I shall will have him." "I do not understand." "Of what day do you speak, lady?" "Why that of Thor's execution." "I..." "I have never said that Thor will die." "come, come, lord of Asgard!" "what other fate can you afford him?" "leave him in chains and he will break them." "Close him in a cell, he will batter down the walls." "Your throne sits on but sand and mile where the thunder God yet lives." "But I do not desire his death." "only his continued humiliation." "That's when you were the trickster God." "now you have played your final trick, and in so doing become other than that you were." "Loki is lord, and must consider his reign and his realm of greater account than boyhood feuds." "there is some wisdom in what you say." "then act on my words, Loki Laufeyson." "and do so with speed." "Oh, I've waited to take Thor's soul into my keeping." "and i will look kindly on neither man nor king who hold it from me." "Trickster no longer." "and what is Loki without Thor?" "for there is no thing in all creation that can exist without its opposite." "It is the dark that defines light." "Pain that gives meaning to pleasure." "Absence that makes presence knowable." "then so too must the opposite be true, master." "If dark truly defines light light must needs define dark." "Excellently argued, young Odinson." "Loki, give your mind to the lesson, please." "And turn not that snealing continents (?" ") on your master." "it is true i'm fixed by him i hate and he by me." "and only His death or mine will end the cycle." "News!" "News from Asgard!" "Loki Laufeyson has deposed the old Father." "Loki reigns!" "News from Asgard!" "Loki." " My lord, i was not expecting..." " My apologies, warden." "it is my whim to pay a call on my brother." "as you wish, my lord." "But I fear he'll afford you no great entertainment." "Not a word has passed those blood kind lips in the hour since he was brought here." "I hope he may gather some spirit here alone, or his execution will a dull very dee." "Execution?" "Why do all about me prepose his end?" "I beg my Lord's pardon." "It's not for me to infer my sovereign's will." "behold, the Odinson's cell, My lord." "do you wish ingress?" "I assure you there remains of him nothing which might peril you." "nor would i falter if there were." "you forget, warden," "I dis best my brother in battle not him me." "Again, I beg my lord's pardon." "Granted, now leave me." "for the present, i wish but to observe." "Loki." "I did ask you a question." "why do you gaze upon me so intently?" "what?" "i... i do not know." " i did not... did not realize." " leave off then, brother." "for in truth, such scrute me is sufficient to unman a stone giant." "my lord, is all well?" "well?" "what think you, miscreant?" "For millennia have i plotted my conquest of Asgard my assumption of supreme power the destruction of my hated step-brother." "my lord, i... now i have achieved all this, and you ask if all is well?" "Mayhap you doubt my will to take my brother's life?" "Or mayhap you doubt the justice of his death?" "Know this then." "My brother does merit execution a hundred times over." "And a hundred times that!" "And I can prove as much, yay, even with testimony from those who hold him in the highest regard." "You will see, faithless one, your lord will open your wretched eyes." "warden!" "Attend me." "At your service, my lord." "Have you your keys about you, warden?" " Yes, my lord." " then lead me where I will." "i see no one." "give your eyes a moment to adjust, my lord." "Aaah, yes." "behold, scurrilous one." "know you the traitor you see before you?" "no, my lord." "i do not wonder" "Who would mistake this pale, wretched husk for the bewitching creature who stole Thor's heart." "The Lady Sif."