Chapter 4

Loki looked up from his battered copy of Dominating the World: For Dummies, when he heard the electric whirling of his cage door opening. He slowly spun on his heels to face the exit, apprehensive, not knowing whether to expect a friend or foe. Surprisingly, there was no one there. He smirked at his luck, adjusted his cuff on his arm, and strode out of the glass imprisonment he had been spending the last 6 weeks in.

He looked back at his old confinement and smirked, before striding off, deeper into the helicarrier.

He was free.

Loki walked with a considerable amount of swagger towards the armoury. On the way he passed Captain America and the Incredible Anger Management Hulk, but, of course, they couldn't see him, no one could see him.

Dodging around the S.H.I.E.L.D agent guarding the wall to the armoury, he softly opened the thick metal door and entered the room. Once inside, Loki took a moment to appreciate the vast array of lethal weapons, spread across all four walls of the large room. Loki noticed that the further into the room he walked, the more sophisticated and magical the weapons became. Closest to the door hung an abundance of machine rifles, pistols, grenade launchers and anti tank rifles. Further down the room, swords with names like Excalibur, The Sword of Gryffindor and Riptide lay next to weirder weapons like bullwhips, a dagger with sand inside the hilt...and an unseemly hat titled "Oddjob's Hat".

All of these items interested Loki, but he was after something more personal.

At the back of the room hung two sceptres. One was familiar to him, with its dark gold exterior and curvature carefully balancing a pulsating blue gem. Yet the other one was alien to him. While it was brilliantly gold, thinner and taller than his, it also contained a gemstone, instead this one was black.

Loki reached out to touch the crystal, curious, when suddenly, his phone rang.

With a slight jump he snatched the iPhone 5c out of his pocket.

"If you want the most dangerous, handsome, badass, twisted god in the galaxy, press 1," he droned into the mouth piece.

"This is no time for your games Loki," rasped the voice on the other end.

"Ah, so it was you who was responsible for my release, hm? Much appreciated." Loki spoke as though they were discussing the weather.

The gravely voice "You have a new target, confirming her fatality will serve you well."

Loki smiled as he casually picked up his staff. He had grown very bored in confinement and decided that killing this target would be an excellent chance to stretch his muscles again. "Excellent."

"Dont be too cocky Loki. The one could be trouble. This girl has been know to destroy entire cities." warned the mysterious voice.

"Do I seriously get no credit for New York?" Loki rolled his eyes."Nevermind...and who exactly has the wonderful pleasure of being killed by me?"

"Darquesse." The person at the other end of the call cancelled it with a bleep.

Loki scowled. He may not have a problem with genocide and mass destruction, but he was a stickler for manners. He considered calling back to get a proper goodbye, but then decided to not let it ruin his day. He tossed the phone in the bin instead.

Loki did a twirl as he exited the room. Whoever this Darquesse may be, he would be sure to eliminate her. He wanted the throne and he was going to get it, no matter the consequences. Loki continued to walk down the tiled corridor before vanishing in thin air.

He then suddenly reappeared and clumsily ran back down the hallway, continually fell over his own feet, a look of absolute confusion of his face. He was panting by the time he reached the bin and dug out the phone. Pressing redial, he panted into the mouthpiece, "Who…. the hell is Darquesse?"