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Doctor Stephen Strange had learned a lot about villains in his time in the Dark Dimension. And so, he could say with absolute certainty that Loki, who had wrecked New York in 2012, so he could rule the world, was a villain. There was no doubt about it.
Which is why, on one fine afternoon, when he sensed Loki’s presence on Earth, his immediate response was to summon a portal under Loki’s feet and throw him into a vacuum. Crisis averted for the second, he left a note at Thor’s feet about the entrance to the Secret Sanctum. Surely, the golden hero wouldn’t cause too many problems.
That’s probably where his problems started. He should have never underestimated Thor.
Allowing, no, inviting Thor into the sanctum was one of the worst ideas he had ever had, and he had a lot of bad ideas. Maybe others wouldn’t consider it a mistake, but Stephen Strange knew that if not for Thor, everything could have gone so much better.
As it stood, Thor walked into the Sanctum, bewildered and confused and looking exactly like a lost puppy. Stephen almost felt sorry for the Asgardian.
“Who are you?” Thor asked, eyes flashing with barely restrained power. Stephen hadn’t expected the weaker magician of the two brothers to be so powerful, but he supposed that’s what he got for assuming.
“I’m Doctor Strange.” He turned his back to the Asgardian, walking into the Sanctum and expecting Thor to follow him. God or not, the Sanctum was his home and Stephen wasn’t going to defer to Thor.
When they were settled in their seats, comfortably and with an alcoholic drink in Thor’s hand, Stephen asked the question that had been burning. “What are you doing here, Thor?”
Thor looked at him with a pout. “I am searching for my father. He’s been here for a while now, and we need him back in Asgard.”
Stephen noted how Thor phrased the statement, how easily he avoided mentioning why Odin, the All-Father would be on Earth. Stephen had the burning suspicion that Loki was the one to leave Odin on Earth, although he definitely couldn’t prove it. Either way, Thor made it sound like Odin was on Earth for a vacation, and anyone else would have fallen for that.
But Stephen had seen a lot of ancient beings – evil and not as evil – and the All-Father was not someone who would take a vacation just like that. And from the way Thor had reacted to humans and the way he still frowned at them as if he was way better than them, Stephen knew that even if Odin took a vacation, it wouldn’t be to Earth of all places.
“I’ve heard that father is somewhere on Midgard, so I decided that it would be a nice time to visit my friends while I search for him.” Thor continued to speak, smiling slightly. He took a big sip of his drink, nearly draining the whole cup and watched as it refilled with barely contained amusement.
Stephen resisted the urge to sigh. “And you came to Earth with your murderous brother because…”
“Murderous brother?” Thor asked, confusion over his entire face.
Stephen could see the burning anticipation in Thor’s eyes and he didn’t know what to do about that. “Yes. Why did you bring Loki here?”
“Ah,” Thor looked slightly less confused, but now he was glancing at his refilled cup, so Stephen wasn’t sure what he was confused about. “My sister wanted to help me, so I brought her along.”
Sister? Stephen didn’t pinch the bridge of his nose. It would be terrible for his reputation if a little annoyance like Loki’s gender or Thor’s continuing confusion got him throwing his arms up in frustration.
The back of his neck prickled, and Stephen just managed to raise his hands to defend himself, when another voice joined the conversation.
“I don’t understand why I was so unceremoniously dumped into a portal,” Loki said, smiling brightly.
Stephen could understand what Thor meant by sister, because this was not the Loki who had invaded New York all those years ago. This Loki had the same green eyes and black hair, but that’s all the similarities they shared. She was tall and her face might as well have been made from glass for how angular all her features were. She was wearing armor that was practically molded to her body, and there was a wicked looking sword strapped to her back. For a moment, the danger that her presence was causing spiked and then it dropped.
“Hello!” Loki said, waving her fingers at him. “I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“We haven’t,” Stephen agreed, not sure whether he should drop his hands or not. Loki was still dangerous, but she didn’t seem likely to attack him yet.
“So why did you dump me in a portal?”
Stephen shrugged. What was he supposed to say? ‘Hey, Loki, sorry for dropping you in a vacuum portal but you’re a global threat’? He was not an idiot, and he refused to get himself killed for taunting a powerful enemy. Stephen wanted to ask how she managed to get out of the portal though. As far as he knew, it was impossible.
“It would be impossible for any of you second rates,” Loki said, taking his newly vacated seat at the table and picking up the tome sitting on it. “But since I’m a goddess, and therefore better than all of you, it was child’s play.”
Thor peered at her, completely unsurprised. “Would I be able to get out?”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Loki responded, not looking up from the tome.
Thor slumped down, dejected. Stephen felt for him slightly, if that was what he had to deal with on a daily basis, maybe there was a reason he wasn’t entirely there in the mind. Although it could also be an effect of Asgard, considering none of the Asgardians seemed entirely normal from what he had seen of their files.
“Anyways,” Thor said, turning to Stephen, “do you know where we can find father?”
“Wasn’t this supposed to be our little competition?” Loki interrupted as Stephen opened his mouth. “Are you trying to cheat?”
Stephen wanted to step in for Thor. How could Thor be cheating if Loki was sitting right there? Both of them would end up hearing whatever information he gave out.
Before he can say anything though, static electricity crackles through the room. Stephen can feel the air getting charged, the particles slowly getting ionized, and it settled over him like a smothering blanket. He looked at Thor, seeing the way his eyes glowed with power and his fingers were covered in sparks as he placed his hands on the table and stood up.
"How dare you accuse me of cheating, sister? When you are the worst of us all by far!" Thor growled.
Stephen wanted to take a few steps back, away from the fight, but he couldn’t get his limbs to move. They were stuck in place. It felt like he had been stuck in time, unable to move or do anything other than watch. He didn’t understand why he was allowed to watch, until the pulsing of the time stone caught his attention. It wasn’t anything overt, but Stephen had been using the time stone for a while now and he was attuned to its frequency.
The time stone is protecting my mind from the time lapse others would suffer through.
The thought came unbidden to his mind. The time stone pulsed again, and Loki’s eyes cut to him, sharp and assessing as she ignored Thor’s rambling in the background.
“Look at this, brother,” Loki said, voice filled with glee. “We’ve found ourselves a stone holder. On Midgard of all places!”
Stephen froze.
How did Loki know about the stones, let alone the time stone? What was he missing out on here?
Loki moved close enough to loom over him, even though he was taller than her. She examined the stone’s container without touching it first, just tilting her head to the side and watching it from different angles. Then, she picked it up and simply looked it over.
Stephen was confused. She didn’t try to pull it from him or take it away or use it. She was just looking at it, and she wasn’t even looking at the stone, just the container.
Behind her, Thor was slouching on his seat, arms crossed and expression bored. He seemed to be pouting like a child, who had lost the attention of their best friend. Stephen certainly didn’t understand their relationship.
Loki hummed and turned around. “Now, Thor, are you done with your little temper tantrum?” Without allowing him to speak, she continued, “because as easy as riling you up around your little mortals is, we should probably get to father,” and the sneer in her voice there was impressive, “and away from this place.”
Thor sighed and nodded. “Are we calling off the competition?”
Loki waved dismissively and turned back to Stephen with a considering look. “I’ll allow you to keep that little trinket of yours, but if I even catch a single rumor of the stone being lost because of you, well…”
The temperature of the room dropped significantly; Loki’s smirk prominent as she surveyed him. Stephen wanted to protest, ask who she was to allow him to keep the stone, throw her into a portal and leave her there for as long as he viably could. But Loki had proven that she could get out of the portals, and he was still stuck in time despite what the stone was doing.
Thor sighed. “Do you have to threaten every mortal you meet?” He whined, like a child. Stephen wanted to bury himself for the next decade, but he was also concerned by the lack of care Thor showed.
Loki didn’t answer him, smiling at Stephen instead. “I’m going to drop the time spell, and you’ll tell us where Thor’s esteemed father is. Then, you won’t bother us. Yes?”
Her tone implied that he didn’t have a choice and the way the air around him seemed to move again showed that. He almost slumped to the floor as he body caught up to his mind, getting freed from a time spell was always disorienting to the mind, but it was horrible when the body had to catch up.
Now that he was free, he could try some of the mystical arts on Loki, but he had the sinking suspicion that it wouldn’t work. Loki seemed to know as much if her smug expression was anything to go by. Stephen cast a glance at Thor, who couldn’t seem to care less as he peered at one of the displays.
Standing up with the help of his cloak, Stephen eyed Loki warily. Just because she was in a good mood didn’t mean it would last. She was still a danger after all.
“Please,” Loki said, rolling her eyes and making that seem elegant, “if I wanted to cause problems for you, I would have. I just want to find Thor’s poor, old dad.”
Thor scowled and rumbled, “who are you calling poor and old, Loki?”
Loki ignored him deftly and peered at Stephen expectantly, as if to say, ‘keep up your end of this bargain’, and Stephen wanted to protest because he hadn’t accepted this bargain. But he had seen what Loki could do and he was vastly outclassed. As much as he loathed to admit it, he couldn’t do anything against her.
Lifting his hand in resignation, he said, “I need a strand of your hair.”
“Hmm.”
Loki walked up to Thor and plucked off strands of his hair, without asking him. Promptly, she dumped them in his hand and walked to the chairs, where she sprawled casually. Thor glared at her for a few seconds before sending Stephen a pitiful look.
Stephen didn’t pay attention to their glaring fest as he performed a tracking spell to find the All-Father. He was sure that Loki could have done this, but the discrepancies in the two gods’ behaviors were something that he wouldn’t deal with. If anything, he wanted to stay away from the two of them forever. Forget international threats. There was nothing he could do against the gods, and if he couldn't do anything, then no one else on Earth could deal with them. So, unless they were actively causing mayhem and mass destruction, he would just let them be.
“Your father is in Norway,” he said to Thor, hoping that ignoring Loki would get this encounter done with sooner. “Do you need me to create a portal for you?”
“Absolutely,” Loki said, wicked grin on her face. “I want to see how you second rates do this!”
Thor looked like he wanted to admonish her, but he also peered curiously as Stephen raised his hands to open the portal. Loki scoffed at the orange ring, lightly passing her hand over it and shaking her head. But she walked through anyways, leaving Thor behind without a second’s pause.
Thor turned to him and shrugged, the power that Stephen had seen in his eyes almost non-existent. “Thank you for your help… magician.”
He walked through the portal as well, and as it was closing Stephen thought he could hear Thor’s booming laugh and Loki’s voice saying, “You’ve improved in your acting brother.”
Stephen shook his head. He was imagining things. Thor was a good guy, and Loki was out of his hair for now. He didn’t have to think about the two Asgardians, and they would leave with their equally Asgardian and crazy powerful father and Earth would be safe once again.
He dropped his head into his hands, mind replaying the encounter clearly and he groaned. This was going to end up in a disaster, he could feel it.
(It didn’t help that the feeling of danger that Loki brought hadn’t dissipated yet.)