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….
"Um, I can't quite follow the logic…" the woman scientist admitted.
"Neither can I, but that is Thor; he's been doing this his whole life! And yes, that's not the end of the story. Basically, as you guessed, something suddenly and unexpectedly went wrong, and a whole four, or five, if they dragged Sif into their adventure, young and not-very-smart Aesir 'for some reason' failed to purge all of Jotunheim of giants."
"As a result, the outcome was predictable, they were pinned down and presented with a bill for all the killed kin, plus old debts called in. But at the last moment, Odin heroically saves them. Result: we get enraged giants whom we attacked 'treacherously and without declaration of war.'"
"But that's not all. Literally immediately, Odin proved two things: first, Thor is one hundred percent his son, and second, idiocy in this family is hereditary along the male line. Because he came up with nothing smarter than to strip the powers of and exile one of Asgard's best warriors to Earth, and then just went to sleep himself."
"Result: Asgard's two strongest combat units are out of the game before hostilities even begin, and one of these units is also the commander-in-chief. And if the news of this hasn't spread through the Nine Realms yet, it will soon. The Nine Realms are the key planets of Asgard's sphere of influence; each has a bunch of satellites, and they play a major role in the galactic political arena."
"And now Momma Frigga comes to me and asks me to clean up Thor's shit, as I've usually done all my life. Only the scale this time is much larger, plus Odin helped with the 'pile'! And yes, one more teensy-weensy nuance. The King of the Frost Giants, whom I now have to fight on the side of Asgard, is my biological father."
"But if I don't do this, the universe is screwed. If not all of it, then many planets, because an inter-world war within the Nine Realms will very quickly turn into a general galactic war. It's as if the Southern states in the US started a second civil war right now, simultaneous with the death of the President, Congress, Senate, and the entire NATO command combined, only transfer the consequences from one planet to the entire galaxy."
"I hope you now understand why Thor and Odin are morons?! Whew, ahem," I cleared my throat, "I beg your pardon, I got a little carried away, but even I can't take all this calmly."
"I-it's fine," Sarah responded, digesting what she heard. "In such a situation, you were amazingly correct and restrained. But what should we do?" The scientist glanced at the girl, who was listening spellbound to my brief but very expressive story.
"I am not going to leave two women and a child alone in the middle of the desert," massaging my face once more, I waved off the woman's worry. "You're coming with me."
"Where?"
"To Asgard. You can be proud of yourselves; not a single human has been granted the honor of visiting there," I tried to portray all the arrogance of the Guardian of the Bridge I was capable of.
"Well, at least for the last thousand years," I shrugged, softening the moment.
"But is that appropriate?"
"I will order that you be given the best rooms in the palace," I was adamant. "And if those wise guys don't like something, they shouldn't have called me to solve their problems. Involved with Loki? Endure the pain and humiliation!" after thinking a bit, I finished: "That doesn't apply to you. But the Aesir are in for a bad time!"
"What about the trailer?" Yuriko clarified.
"To Surtur with it. If we need to, we'll buy a new one."
"A-alright, as you wish," the former prisoner of her own body agreed, clearly trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was heading to "Valhalla" right now.
"Okay then," I sighed, "you can't breathe enough before death. Come closer."
All three ladies stepped toward me, not very confidently but obediently. As soon as we were in a circle with a radius of a couple of meters, I removed my disguise and raised my face to the sky.
"Heimdall, the bridge!… please."
The phrase didn't even have time to finish sounding before a column of rainbow radiance struck from the heavens, building an inter-world transition around us.
The speed of providing "transport" testified that the Guardian had been properly motivated.
Frigga could be terrifying if she wanted to, and something told me that this time Asgard's permanent sentry had definitely gotten an earful.
The short flight up the shining tunnel was interrupted as abruptly as always, pushing us out right in front of the round arch of the active transition in the Bifrost control hall.
Ahead stood Heimdall in all his brutally buff splendor of a black man in gold.
The sword, pretentiously lowered into the control slot of the Bridge mechanism, through which "lightning" struck the ceiling, was included, as was the piercing gaze of eyes burning with mystical power, the God and progenitor of all gatekeepers looked at me like an exposed enemy of the state.
"Loki," he stated grimly, extracting the sword with a sharp movement and thereby closing the transition.
Probably he wanted to say something else, in particular about inviting mortals to Asgard, but I didn't give him that opportunity:
"For a thousand years already!" I headed forward through the hall.
"I am also glad to see you, oh selectively incorruptible friend of my prodigal brother!" I changed my Earth clothes to Asgardian armor and helmet.
"Won't you tell me how it happened that you allowed Thor to go to Jotunheim? And why Thor is exiled and stripped of powers, but you are still in this position?!"
"The Queen awaits you in Odin's chambers. A flying skiff will arrive shortly," turning his face to stone, the Guardian of the Bridge evaded the answer.
"Well, of course! How could I forget?!" portraying a bucket of bile in scale with my voice, I stopped in front of him, looking into his face. "There is no one to replace you with those magic eyes of yours; it's not like Odin can stand here all day long?"
"I had no right to obstruct the heir of Asgard without the King's order," Heimdall condescended to give explanations after all. "But it was I who informed the Allfather where your brother went."
"And thereby saved him," I continued, not holding back the irony. "Only Thor is now in exile, and you are here."
I looked demandingly into the face of the black warrior. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't a cold-blooded statue, being quite an adventurer at heart, on which grounds he sympathized with Thor.
And also, although he tried not to show it, Heimdall was very sensitive to others' reproaches regarding his professionalism.
And even now, the big guy couldn't stand it, looking away.
"Yes…" slipped reluctantly from his lips.
"Glad you understand that."
I turned sharply, so that my green cape flared slightly, and headed for the exit, beckoning my companions to follow with a wave of my hand.
….
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
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