CHAPTER 171

"Am I to believe that your reactions mean that there is indeed something that I am not aware of?" Loki asked.

"That is not your concern, Loki."

"Oh, I beg your ignorance, of course it's my business. Ignorance is the downfall of the mighty, and I pride myself in not being ignorant."

Was it too much to ask for a moment of respite? I still had to deal with the huge info dump that Ororo gave me yesterday and now Loki was here telling me that the Gods were apparently holding a meeting because I just so happened to fuse with the stones. 

"What I do find amusing and curious is how the Gods are suddenly acting like this is some unprecedented crisis that would fall on them if they do not stop you, or try to. Not even the Mad Titan who left many a world in ruins could elicit this sort of panic. How disgraceful." And Loki went on one of his power rants about how puny the Gods were and how the lot of them have grown senile. To be honest I was still out of the loop on how all of a sudden I had Loki in my house, even joining me for breakfast. The times sure were getting weird. 

"So what? Are we suddenly facing an army of insecure Gods? 'Cause even though we make quite the team, I don't think we'll stand any chance against an army of prideful and stupidly powerful Gods." Bucky said. 

"True, but I don't think we would have to. If we have enough power to directly oppose them, then they would rather not fight us since destruction is ensured on both sides. If there is anything a God values more than pride, then it's their life." At least that was from my understanding of Gods. It was also proven with the fact that I had personally met and fought against two main Gods and one was currently in my house. 

"I see, no wonder Loki and his brother kept coming back." Yelena said innocently but it somehow worked wonders at pissing Loki off. 

"Listen you mewling quim, be grateful that I bask your impudent self with the grace of my presence. I will not be slighted by a little child that has the mind capacity of an ape." Loki snarled. 

"*Sigh* Okay, let's put this out there to avoid future problems and complications: 1, you'll have to tone down on your arrogance and pride when you're in my house and 2, that will be the last time you raise your voice against Yelena."  I said boredly. Yelena had the quirk of being able to piss people off and Loki had a short fuse so it was better that they knew when to draw the line, especially with Loki. 

"That aside, thanks for the heads up, Loki. I don't think we have to worry about what the Gods want, if they do come for us we only have two options: 1, they die or 2, we kill them. I don't think diplomacy will work the moment they take up their arms."

"And why do you think diplomacy wouldn't work?" Loki started, "Don't get me wrong, I would very much like for you to slaughter your way through the Gods, not all of them, just a few, as that would make it easier for me to take over their realms and put them under my rule, but I'm also curious as to why you think diplomacy wouldn't work."

Not that I'm surprised that Loki was still on his delusions to rule the realms, which might no longer be limited to the nine realms under Asgard but also the different realms and empires in the universe which may or may not have been due to my influence. 

"Diplomacy on my end wouldn't work if they kill one of us and it also wouldn't work unless they have been trampled upon if we managed to kill a lot of them, which I don't think we can. I might be able to, but not the others." I shrugged and then poured a glass of wine for myself. 

"Hmm, an interesting and apt deduction which begs my other question: how many of the Infinity Stones are in your possession? It's just a curious question, nothing else." Loki stared at me while twirling the wine in his glass. 

"The Power and Space Stone. It's already a lucky find that I was able to obtain not just one but two of the Infinity Stones. It's like trying to find six gems in the depths of a universe wide ocean. And are you sure we should be having this kind of conversation? What if your father or Heimdall was listening in?" I was not stupid enough to think that I could directly lie to the God of Lies so I made my answer as obscure as possible. He most likely knewl I was evading and there was nothing he could do as I already made it clear from the start that I didn't trust him. 

Loki smirked at my question, "Oh you don't have to worry about that. I've long found a way to escape both the Allfather and the Gatekeeper's gaze." He boasted. 

"Can you perchance teach it to me? We are allies after all, right?" Loki brows twitched at my request but the short smirk on his face elongated. 

"I wouldn't mind enlightening on your ignorance but you'll have to owe me a favor. I take it you are a man who doesn't go back on his words, am I right?"

I stretched forth my hands to him for a shake across the table which he took. "Deal."

"While this visit has borne positive fruits, I should return back to Asgard before father or Heimdall notices my absence. I however will endeavor to visit in a few days time. Until next time Draul, his fierce warriors, my lady… and the child." And before Yelena could throw a plate at his mug, his visage turned hazy and he disappeared. 

I frowned a little at the way he left, I didn't feel anything like a spell being cast. One second he was here and the other was like he didn't even exist. It was also how I didn't sense him until he was at my front door. 

"He really grows on you. At least we could get a heads up from whatever joke of an alliance both of you have." Steve said as he got up and started picking up the plates with Nat helping him out, his words making me groan. 

"Well, it was the best way to get him off my case and I have to say that I no longer know if it was brilliance on my part or stupidity."

"Probably the latter."

"So you guys are going to act as if everything is normal and a mythic God didn't just say Pantheons we're discussing on how to, most likely, kill you?" Ororo's stupefied voice halted all of our actions. 

The redhead was quick to placate the whitehead before she flipped out. "Don't stress your pretty little head about it, girl. The more you live with this guy, the more you become desensitized to these things."

Cue another groan from me. I bid the others farewell and rolled my eyes as Yelena practically dragged Ororo away from the dining room and to God knows where, probably to show her around the house that was slowly becoming its own dimension, and made my way back to my study. 

…. 

I was back in the mirror dimension, testing out spells, the lethal kind that you wouldn't want to test out with an opponent unless you wanted them dead. 

If I wasn't that in tune with my energy, then I would say that it was likely alive. 

It felt as if my spells were slowly gaining some sort of basic intelligence, as they could cause some effects that I didn't think that they could. And it wasn't just my spells, but every type of energy emitted from my body as a whole. 

Take for example if I were to shoot a gust of flame at someone, normally I would just douse the person in flames if I wanted them dead but that was no longer what would happen. 

The flames would form some type of barrier and will try to keep my target inside them to prevent them from escaping without me even needing it to. 

The effects were subtle in all my other abilities but more prominent in my magic. Take for example the Hellfire currently behind me. 

I had summoned the flames of hell in one of my tests and the only thing I thought of was that the flames should just chill on one side until I was ready for it and that was what it had been doing since. 

Sometimes all I would need was for it to move and it would do exactly that without me actively needing to manipulate it. 

It might be due to me fusing with a higher form of energy which resulted in my ability to manipulate the lesser forms all having a boost. That was the most reasonable explanation I could think of as almost all of my abilities seem to work on intent now rather than purpose. Though I was already at what would be considered a master level of proficiency with my abilities, now I was beyond that. Manipulating basic elements was like breathing to me. 

The only ability I had that had this sort of sentience before my evolution was my destructive ability. 

With a wave of my hand, everything in the mirror dimension started repairing itself until it went back to what looked identical to the training room before the spell dispelled itself, bringing me back to the material world. 

I went to take a bath before going downstairs, intent on taking a stroll. 

"Where's Ororo?" I asked Nat who looked bored watching TV. 

"She said she had to run by Emma Frost and Mystique since she's been out of town for a while. Where are you off to?"

"Taking a stroll." I said. 

"Oh wait for me. That sounds better than sitting here and watching all these lame ass TV shows."

Nat went and changed into some comfortable clothes since the weather was getting chilly lately and we both went out. Since I had no particular direction or aim in mind, we just kept walking through any path our feet took us. 

"So you finally stopped holding back, huh? With Ororo I mean." Nat suddenly asked out of the blue. 

"Am I supposed to know what that means, because I don't."

"I kinda overheard some of your conversations yesterday without meaning to. I was wondering when you will just stop holding back and tell her everything and I'm glad you did because God knows how you love her." She said. 

I rolled my eyes as the conversation turned mushy. "It wasn't about me holding back, it's just that there had been no right time to tell her. I've known Ororo for years now, Nat, before I even met Bucky. She was the second friend I made in this world, Clint was the first. But the problem was that we were on different sides and we weren't as close as we are now. Even when we started dating, we still had different goals. Ororo dedicated her time to helping humans while I dedicated mine to surviving. I can't just dump my garbage on her when I don't care about hers, still don't by the way."

"Then why now? I know thing's been changing too fast recently but what really changed?" She asked, way too much invested in this topic than she ought to be. 

"I felt it was time to take our relationship forward. I used to think that the only time I would want a relationship was if I somehow was able to stabilize everything around me but looking back at it now, it was nothing but spiteful optimism. If she decided that the troubles were too much for her then that was it…"

"But she didn't."

"She didn't."

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