Loki, once the Second Prince of Asgard, now the Crown Princess, a notorious swindler who, despite openly admitting to deceit, always manages to pull off her cons.
It's hard to imagine anyone falling for someone known as the God of Mischief, a name that's already a clear admission of deceit, and yet people still fall for her tricks.
Maybe this is Loki's way of selecting her potential victims. Those who still choose to engage with her, despite her dubious reputation, are usually rich gullible fools easy to dupe, and the Zitari are no exception.
The Zitari are a remarkable civilization. Their planetary orbit is unstable. Their home planet is always in a perpetual frozen state, yet they are extremely aggressive, known for capturing beings from other planets to fight in their gladiatorial arenas.
Once these gladiators are killed, the blood spilled instantly freeze in midair, and the Zitari would pick these red 'snowflakes' to feed their children, thus nurturing their extreme militaristic and bloodthirsty nature.
The Zitari Empire is not a civilization that developed entirely by itself. Their technology underwent a massive explosion when an advanced spaceship crashed on their home planet. After deciphering many technologies from it, they stole many spaceships from other civilizations, assembled them into their fleet, and eventually constructed their Will-class Battleships.
However, the strongest ship in the Will-class, the Leviathan, was actually modified from a miraculous creature known as a Space Shark.
Therefore, to some extent, Loki luring the Zitari to Earth to fill in this bottomless pit is essentially a case of swindlers scheme against each other, because the Zitari themselves are notorious thieves and cheaters in the cosmos.
Originally, Loki's thinking was quite sound. The Zitari's own warships are pieced together from various sources, many of the incorporated technologies could be very useful to Earth's current technological state.
They specialize in dismantling others' warships and reassembling them, often regarded as the 'tailors' of warships in the cosmos. Right now, humans have the Kree Escort Ships in their possession, and in the future, they'll likely acquire more warships from other civilizations. This kind of technology can certainly come in handy.
A chance to both train Earth's military forces and provide them with technology? Where else could you find such a good deal?
Loki had anticipated that the second objective might present many problems. Perhaps the disassembled tech might not be directly usable, or it might not align with humanity's technological path. However, she'd never imagined the first objective wouldn't be accomplished.
After realising that the human civilisation might need a tougher sharpening stone, Loki turned her attention to another gullible and moneyed fool in the cosmos.
The Dark Elves are a race living in the Nine Realms, similarly under Odin's rule just like the Frost Giants. However, they harbour a deeper hatred for Odin than the Frost Giants.
Their leader, Malekith, is an extreme racial supremacist. He has a great ideal: to kill Odin, rule the Nine Major Kingdoms, and plunge it into eternal night, transforming it into a paradise for Dark Elves.
Why is he considered a fool with money? It's because his hatred for Odin has overridden the majority of his rationality. The best way to fool him is to join him in cursing Odin.
The act of cursing Odin, is Natasha is particularly good at. By casting multiple layers of protection spells over her speaking area to ensure her voice wouldn't leak, Loki and Malekith spent over two hourscriticising Odin relentlessly.
After those two hours, Malekith was ready to consider Loki a close confidante.
In his eyes, a persecuted and fallen princess is simply the perfect candidate for a queen. If she could also pave the way for him to attack the Fairy Palace and kill Odin, that would be even better.
Being once male, Loki is all too familiar with the look in Malekith's eyes. However, no intelligent person would find a fool's admiration flattering.
Put it this way, if it had been Stark giving her that look, Loki would have acted coy on the surface but would have secretly been pleased. That's the affirmation of one intelligent person to another. But when the perpetrator of such invasive gazes is a fool among fools, Loki can only feel disgust.
Suppressing her revulsion, Loki folded her arms, raised her chin high, and said to Malekith across from her, "I know you wish to invade the Fairy Palace and behead Odin right now, but ever since my treason, my imperial brother Thor has been on high alert. Asgard's fifty-five fleets have the dimension completely surrounded."
"I acknowledge that the Dark Elves' Blackthorn Warship is mighty, but it's no match for Asgard's Rainbow Bridge. Furthermore, if we attack head-on, even if I can fend off Thor, I can't possibly contend with Thor and Odin alone. That means, you'll have to confront Odin directly..."
"No." Malekith refused bluntly, all his previous fervor in cursing Odin gone.
In the cosmos, the majority of leaders of great forces will instinctively shudder at the sound of "confronting Odin."
The formidable reputation of the Father of All Gods isn't verbally constructed. The countless severed heads that still hang above the Asgard Martial Training Field are testament enough. Nobody wants to be the next one.