Stronger Together chapter 232

I'd had so many preconceptions of Loki at different points of my  life. The Marvel movies made him seem suave and misunderstood, the old  stories made him seem wicked but competent, some books I'd read  portrayed him as a broken psychopath, and I'd even watched an anime that  showed him as the good guy and Odin as a tyrant. Loki had been  considered so many things to so many people over the years, that, like  most legends it was hard to see where the truth lay from the outside, so  I was at least academically looking forward to learning who he really  was.

It was  interesting, because Odin was known for being so mulitfaceted, and in  this universe he was always changing, always different. Odin had a  thousand faces and all of them were him, but Loki, well Loki wasn't like  that at all. Like was one thing and one thing only all the time.  Different shades of it and different expressions sure but just seeing  him for a minute or two I could see that one singular aspect that made  up all of what he was. It was like looking at painting of a complex room  all done in shades of one color. Technically it's all different things,  but mostly its all just red paint.

Loki  was like that, except Loki wasn't red paint obviously. Loki was HATE.  Everything Loki did and was came from a different kind of hate. He took a  step because he hated the ground and wanted to step on it, he drew  breath because he hated the air and wanted to tear it from the sky.  Every expression was done with hatred of the passive expression that  came before it and his smile was one of absolute loathing for everything  he could see. In short, Loki was a pretty fucked up guy.

I  realized this about him about ten seconds after seeing him, because he  just STANK of it. That malice and disgust was like a sickness that  infected the world around him with its mere presence, and it made me  almost physically ill just to look at the evil bastard because of it.  What did it say about him that I had met the motherfucking Devil and  Loki of Asgard was the single most despicably evil motherfucker I'd ever  even seen. Seriously Shagnasty had been an abomination against nature  and he hadn't had anything on this asshole.

The  worst part was, he knew it too. He knew how much we all hated being  around him, and he fucking cherished it. He got, based on the glee in  his eyes, a nearly sexual enjoyment from the hate that his hate dragged  out of us in turn. He turned to regard me, his face smiling on both  sides, though one was mostly exposed bone and muscle from the burned off  remains of what the venom dripped on him in captivity had done. The  wheezing laughter that issued forth from the depths of him was  despicable as he took in my discomfort.

He  shook his head, his smile not changing but his eyes narrowing  caustically, and he spoke. His voice was like the dying screams of an  innocent man, desperate and insistent and nauseating because you  couldn't do anything to stop it. "Cameron Beddows. How...interesting. To  think we would meet so soon. It almost makes me sad really, knowing  that this little game will end so soon. I was looking forward to making  you suffer." From anyone else that would have been malicious, but I was  pretty sure Loki just liked suffering in a general sense, and him  wanting to inflict it on me was just his version of a nice day.

In  fact, I didn't think he cared about Fenrir dying at all. Not like his  daughter did. For Loki this wasn't personal, it was just an excuse, a  reason to punish and harm because it made him happy. That made it almost  worse. Loki was a true blue sadist, but in an almost sociopathically  disconnected way. To him, we were all just funny noise making meat,  victims irrelevant of our minds. He would hurt us because he loved it,  and there was no reasons for us to get upset about it, because who were  we to object to his fun. All of which was to say Loki was fucking nuts  in an almost comically obvious way.

I  stared at him grimly and tried my best to figure out what the hell to  do. I wanted to punch him. Granted I wanted to punch most everything  that I didn't like, but I REALLY wanted to punch Loki, but some small  part of my brain was sitting behind my eyes basically just yelling NOPE  so loud I knew it would be a mistake. Mostly because somehow, insanely,  we were already in Loki's Authority. Which was probably why he was so  feared. Where other gods had to impose their will on the world, Loki  just sort of leaked madness and hate that blended together into a slurry  of universal mush. Just being near him put us at his mercy without even  making an active effort from what I could tell.

I  was about halfway to having a heart attack when Michael's calm voice  cut through the madness and hate like a hot knife through room  temperature butter. "You are unwelcome in this place creature. Your  presence is fouled with the life blood of innocents, and you will remove  it from these hallowed grounds immediately, or we will remove it for  you." We all turned to look at Michael in shock, but instead of looking  angry or upset Michael just looked calm and resolute. He wasn't talking  shit, he was laying down the law, Loki's ass was getting gone, and the  only difference between now and in a minute was that we'd be leaving a  boot print on it in the latter scenario.

It  was metal as fuck, but not nearly as metal as the next part, where he  drew his sword and slashed at the air, and Loki's weird pervasive  Authority was severed in two, melting away like ice on a hot summer day.  I realized as it happened how much it had been effecting me. All those  realizations about the nature of Loki had been at least partly some kind  of terrifying aura the permeated his Authority. I mean it had all been a  hundred percent true, but his powers had shown me that the quick way so  I wouldn't have any doubt. Now I was freed from that aura, and it was a  relief.

Loki  glared at Michael hatefully (shocker I know) "Mongrel of the white god.  It's been some time since one of your ilk showed himself to me. Do you  think your little sword can save you?" He stepped back, spreading his  arms. "By all means, strike me down. It's a pathetic god who fears a  mewling mortal child with a shiny toy." He stood smugly, waiting for  Michael to attack. He cocked his head. "Did you not say you would eject  me from this place. By all means, strike me down. Smite me. Punish this  abysmal sinner."

Michael  just glared at him, and I realized why. He couldn't attack. Loki knew  as well as I did that the swords were weapons of protection. If he came  for us Michael would smack him down without mercy or hesitation, but he  couldn't just walk up and shiv the motherfucker. The swords of the cross  couldn't be used like that. Which meant that Michael's presence had  changed the dynamic here. Loki wasn't on the attack anymore, he was  bluffing to try to bait Michael into hitting him first but it wouldn't  work, which meant Loki had nothing.

I  smiled unpleasantly. "How does it feel to be impotent?" The gods manic  eyes snapped to me, shimmering gold blazing in anger. "That's what's  going on right? You realized Michael being here made this too risky so  you decided to pull back, but you figured you might try to trick him  with the old standby before you left? Except we aren't falling for it.  I'm curious about what exit line you were going to use for this. I'd say  you look like the type to claim you were letting us simmer in fear. Or  maybe the old 'you're so pathetic I could kill you anytime so I'll let  you run because it amuses me' line is more your wheelhouse.

Loki  was staring at me, still looking just as hatefully smug, but I saw the  air around his hands warping. Finally though he relaxed and stepped  back, his smile becoming more genuine. "Well reasoned. No need to deny  it then, yes, I have no intention of attacking under the aegis of the  white gods protection. He is pathetically limited true, but within his  niche he can be...irritating. Besides. While I might not be able to kill  you directly right now, I do still have other plans. More fun plans.  Isn't that right boy?" He turned back to the column of fire and the  flames parted to show a new figure. A figure I recognized based on his  description but who no one here actually knew. A tall man in a hooded  black robe. Cowl.

Ok,  now I was confused. Loki was a fucking badass. Cowl was...not. He was a  heavy by Harry's standards maybe, but I could splatter him like an egg  on a windshield. Threatening us with a random mortal seemed a bit weird.  I mean it's not like he was something scary. He wasn't even a fae, much  less a god or demon or...outsider. Shit. Cowl was mortal, which meant  he could summon things from outside. Gods couldn't as far as I knew, the  only beings that could call outsiders were humans.

Loki  seemed to be watching me in real time as I figured it out, clapping in  delight as he watched me pale. "You understand! I have to thank you, I  was far too arrogant to engage with some petty mortal cabal, complacent  in my power. But you killed my son. Fenrir was mighty, and he was meant  to kill Odin in Ragnarok." For the first time since he showed up the non  burned half of his face uncurled from his deaths head grin as he spat  at me in rage. "You think you can save him? That I would suffer as I  have suffered and allow him to live? I was lost, alone and in despair.  Until this boy and his little organization found me. Offered me their  resources for my vengeance."

Shit.  I hadn't considered that angle. Loki fucking hated Odin. Killing Fenrir  hadn't made him sad because he was a fucking sociopath, it had made him  insanely mindnumbingly shitkickingly pissed off. I'd given his worst  enemy a pass on his destined execution. Loki relished my look of fear as  his face twisted back into it's smile. "So please. By all means.  Rejoice in your victory. Celebrate your triumph over the great god Loki.  You did it, you banded together and you and your friends drove me off."  He snickered mockingly. "But I have friends now too, and I think I'm  going to invite them here for a party."

He  turned and walked back into the still roaring column of flame, with  Cowl following him back in having never said a word. Hel glared  hatefully at all of us, clearly enraged to have to "let us go" from her  point of view, and spun on her heel, marching into the flames after her  father and his lackey. Then, from one blink to the next, the flames went  out. I turned to Harry, eyes wide with fear. "Boss, you need to get in  touch with Ebenezar now. I'll fill you in after you talk to him but tell  him that shit is going to get very bad here very soon. Loki showed up  with a warlock and he's going to use him to start summoning outsiders!"  Something told me Cowl wasn't going to half ass this either. This was  going to get bad.