Corrupted - The Tigris Series Book 1

Chapter Thirteen

July 23, 2012

I watched Loki intently through the cameras at the table after the others had walked away. I studied everything from the way he paced the room, to the focused look on his face as he dove deep into his own thoughts. He seemed to be waiting for something as he paced around the cell, restlessly. I've concluded, judging by what I had seen from his brother, Thor, that his greatest strength was his mind. His true power rested within his knowledge and tricks. It helped that he could fight, but it was not his best quality. Though, with an army, it didn't have to be.

I wondered how long it would take Selvig to build a machine strong enough to withstand the power of the tesseract. A few weeks? A few days? If Loki already knows how to use the cube at it's energy, he would've shown them what they needed to do to focus it's power to create the portal. Therefore, it would take the approximately two to three days for Selvig to complete, assuming he wouldn't take any breaks while being controlled by Loki's magic.

The only question that was left to ask for the mission to be complete, was the tesseract's whereabouts. I wouldn't trust any of what Loki said if I were to ask him, assuming that he had never taken the time to memorize the planet. He wouldn't even know the name of the country that we had taken him from. So asking him would be a dead end; which leads to another question: why was he willing to come here?

The only reason that would make sense for me, is it would give him an opportunity to view how we function from the inside, giving him the proper insight that he would need to formulate a plan to take us down before the battle has even begun; but how could he do that when he is locked up in the cage? He would need an outside man. I remembered his choice of words that he used with Fury, making it clear that he knew we were listening. He wants to get into our heads to put us on edge, possibly leading us to turn against one another. He took the largest hit on Banner, who would logically be the easiest target. The only flaw to this plan, is that the results are not guaranteed. There is plenty of room for it to go wrong, and therefore be proven fruitless. He just have more up his sleeve than a simple drama-starter. All he would be doing is piss us off, which would not be in his favor if any of us got the upper hand on him.

I decided to go and have a little chat with him. He seems to have a selective interest in me as well, besides Banner. The conversation could go quite well in gaining information. Though, if I wanted to ensure that it goes well, I want to learn more about him; and I had the perfect source to go to.

Thor.

I stood from the chair, making my way towards the direction that I had seen him walk. I turned a corner, following his strange scent until I saw him near a window, staring out into the clouds as they passed. I quickly approached him, lowering my hood so that I would seem more approachable. He glanced at me as I stood next to him, looking at the same clouds that he had been watching, then looked away again.

"Have you come to question me about Loki?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the clouds.

"I have." I answered, simply.

He nodded, shifting his eyes ever so slightly in thought. "Before I heard of Loki causing trouble here on Earth, I thought he was dead. He tried to gain our father's favor by proving that he is worthy of the throne, but his schemes did more harm than good. He lead the Frost Giants into Asgard, planning to end their entire race to rid the universe of their rampageous ways. Father disapproved of his plan when he awoke from his long sleep of which we feared he would never awaken. He let himself fall from the Bifrost bridge, down into the depths of space that not even I had traveled. He must have fallen into another realm, where someone gave him knowledge of the tesseract and the Chitauri."

I wasn't expecting him to vent, though a good chunk of the information was helpful. "So you think he is here to prove he is worthy of a throne, by ruling the people of this world?" I clarified.