POV: Baldur.
Royal Palace, Asgard.
One day after Loki's fall.
2011.
The search for Loki unfolded as expected, yielding no results. It was assumed by all that he fell from the waterfall into the void of space, lost forever. I know Loki didn't die, and this will set off a series of events leading to the Avengers movie.
Of the three objectives I had in mind for this event, I only managed to accomplish two. First, I gained control over the Destroyer. Second, I saved the Bifrost, preventing chaos in the Nine Realms and allowing Thor to return to Jane Foster whenever he wishes. In doing so, I also saved Nidavellir from destruction. I highly doubt that Thanos will invade seeking to create an Infinity Gauntlet with Asgard's army ready to defend it. The dwarves are the most skilled blacksmiths in the universe, but there are other races equal to them, it's not worth going against Asgard's entire army to build a gauntlet that can be made more easily elsewhere. Unfortunately, the last and most important objective, which was to save Loki, was not achieved. It seems that some things are destined to happen.
After the search ended, I was invited to stay in the royal palace for a while. I spent most of my time with my mother, recounting all my adventures, trying to distract her from the pain of losing a child. She pretended to be interested in my tales, but I could see the sadness in her eyes.
"Lord Baldur, the king requests your presence."
One of the guards calls me, and I bid farewell to my mother and head to the throne room. The throne room remains as majestic and golden as I remember, with the mural on the ceiling depicting the beautiful scenes of Asgard's construction and the king's benevolence. But I know what lies beneath it.
(No kingdom is built without shedding blood.)
Odin is seated on his beautiful throne with his spear, gazing at me. We stare at each other for some time without either of us yielding, until he breaks the silence.
"It is customary to kneel in my presence, or have you forgotten your manners?" He speaks, almost glaring at me.
"Kings do not kneel!" I reply calmly.
My father's serious face turns to anger, he releases his power, causing the entire throne room to tremble. This is not the weakened Odin near death, it is a healthier and stronger version, thanks to my contribution of energy to restore some of his strength. I also release my power, which clashes with Odin's energy. Cracks begin to appear all over the golden floor of the throne room, this is a confrontation of magical energies only, as if it were to become a total battle, the entire castle would be destroyed with the first blow.
"Yes, indeed. Kings do not kneel."
Suddenly, Odin halts his display of power, and I do the same. His angry face was clearly a performance, now he returns to his calm and cold demeanor.
"Baldur, you disobeyed my orders and returned to Asgard. The punishment for that is death!"
My father rises from his throne and walks calmly toward me.
"But if you had not done so, an entire realm would have been destroyed, and the Bifrost would have been destroyed as well, leaving all Nine Realms in chaos. For this reason, I, Odin Borson, revoke your banishment and return to you what is rightfully yours, the title of Prince of Asgard!"
He stands in front of me, giving me a small smile, a rare sight for the Allfather.
"You may return to Asgard now, my son. What do you say? Will you go back to your family?"
The idea of returning to them is tempting, but I cannot do it.
"You know that I cannot do that. A king has responsibilities."
"Yes, he does." I think he liked my response, as his smile grew wider.
He then returns to his throne and, after sitting down, speaks again.
"As your responsibilities prevent you from returning home, allow me to show my gratitude to your realm by making it, from now on, an ally of Asgard. When Genosha needs us, Asgard will be there."
"Thank you, Father."
There were no other displays of affection or farewells, I simply turned around and went to bid farewell to my mother. With her, I had a much more emotional parting, she made me promise that I would now return to Asgard at least once a week to talk to her, and I didn't mind making that promise.
"Prince Baldur, Prince Thor."
On the Bifrost, Heimdall addresses us without even turning to see us, he is holding his sword, Hofund, and gazing at the stars in front of him.
"Did you find him, Heimdall?"
Thor, still hopeful of finding Loki, asks.
"Space is limitless, even though I can see everything with my eyes, I can only see a little at a time. Unfortunately, I found no trace of Loki in what I have searched so far."
Heimdall's ability to see and hear anything regardless of distance is terrifying. Not even Odin comes close to this small omniscience like him, this ability makes him the best person to be the guardian of the Nine Realms. Unfortunately, Asgard's enemies know all too well how to hide from his sight using magic.
"Please continue searching, Heimdall." Thor says
"I will do as ordered, Prince."
"May I use the Bifrost, Heimdall? Or do I need to ask for permission from the Allfather?" I ask
"The king has reinstated your name and authority, Prince Baldur. The Bifrost is at your disposal."
"Thank you."
"I will also go."
Thor stands by my side as we wait for Heimdall to open the Bifrost.
"You're coming along?" I ask.
"I made a promise."
"I highly doubt that's the only reason."
The Bifrost activates, carrying us through the colorful path across the universe, and before I knew it, we were once again in the desert at night. We could see the city lights shining ahead of us, but what caught our attention was the large number of soldiers surrounding us, pointing weapons at us.
"Once again, it's S.H.I.E.L.D. I can't wait until they're destroyed," I think to myself.
"Lower your weapons!" Phil Coulson steps out from behind the soldiers, ordering them, and they obey.
"This is not how you greet allies," Thor remarks.
"Forgive us, but we weren't expecting you back so soon. We thought it was another giant robot," Coulson explains.
"My country is on Earth, where else should I be, while Thor, he's just a lovesick fool who came to visit his girlfriend," I retort.
"Miss Foster is getting ready to move to her new lab," Coulson informs.
"The new S.H.I.E.L.D. lab," I add.
"That's correct, Your Majesty."
Jane isn't just the only one who can detect the Bifrost's opening, she's also the only human with a connection to Thor, a resource that a spy organization wants on hand if needed.
"Is Jane safe with them, brother?" Thor asks.
Thor may be an idiot, but he has a sharp instinct.
"I'm just worried that a misunderstanding might occur, and you'll go mad and do something foolish again."
He laughs at my words, then crosses his arms and looks at me.
"I don't think you can say anything about going mad over a woman to me, brother."
"Why is that?"
"You invaded a hostile realm to rescue yours, and at the end of the battle, you destroyed almost half of it."
"The half that wasn't very populated," I clarify.
"Of course!"
We both continue walking calmly toward the city, leaving Coulson frozen. Now he knows I have the power to destroy half a planet.
(I wonder what his reaction would be if he found out I have the power to destroy this entire solar system.)
During the journey to the city, Thor and I caught up on things, I told him about some of the adventures I'd had and about how Genosha is now. He said he would visit the city after spending some time with Jane. Overall, it was nice to reconnect once again. But I still felt sad that Loki wasn't here by our side.
"When you visit Genosha, take Foster with you, she would surely like to see it," I suggested.
"Of course" Thor replied.
We clasped wrists in temporary farewell, and he headed towards Foster's home. From a distance, I saw her running out of the garage and embracing him.
POV: Baldur.
Queen's Laboratory, Royal Castle of Genosha.
A Few Hours After Returning from Asgard.
2011.
After returning to Genosha, I went straight to the queen's secret laboratory. Magicians are addicted to acquiring new knowledge. After obtaining the Destroyer, I didn't need to think much to know that she would be conducting experiments and trying to figure out how it works. When I entered the huge laboratory, I saw Amora facing the enormous black armor standing in the room, her excitement palpable from afar, as if she were a child with a new toy.
"Looks like you're having fun," I remarked.
She jumped in surprise when I took her out of her trance by embracing her from behind, she hated it when I did that.
"Don't startle me like that!" she scolded.
"Sorry. So, what have you been up to while I was having a huge family feud?" I asked.
She stood up and tossed a holographic screen in front of me, displaying all the information she had gathered from the Destroyer—basically ideas on how it was built and how it functioned.
"Its creation isn't a big deal, we could even build several of them if we had enough Uru," she explained.
While I examined the information, Amora informed me further, "But?"
"If it were that easy to create armors like this, Odin would have an army of them."
"The problem isn't the creation, it's the source of magical energy that powers it. The Destroyer is only as strong as its battery—in this case, it was being powered by the Odinforce."
"Can you put it under our control?"
During our fight against it in the city, we didn't gain control of the armor, instead, Amora severed its connection with Loki, causing the Destroyer to revert to its dormant state. Essentially, we exploited a weakness that no one had explored before. Amora was silent for a moment, pondering, before responding.
"I can change its control to you. But when I do that, it will also use your magical energy to function. However, since you don't yet have total control over your energy dimension, the Destroyer may explode when I do it."
The Destroyer must have a limit to how much energy it can use, and I can't control how much it will receive without having complete control over my dimension.
"Let's use the runes in the same way we did with me. I'll create another orb to go inside the Destroyer to regulate how much energy it receives."
"That might work. Let's get started then."
We spent days locked in the laboratory. Amora altered the magical runes of the armor while I built another orb—the same orb I used to transform the energy of Balthakk into mine. As I had created it once before, the second time was much easier. Nevertheless, it's not a quick process, it will take a few months for it to be ready.
"Sir, there's an event happening that you might be interested in," Alice, my AI, informed me.
"What is it, Alice?"
Instead of answering, my AI opened a screen in front of me, showing images of a city in America. The streets were in chaos, with several civilians running in fear of something. Cars were exploding and being thrown into the air, and in the background, I saw a massive being roaring with joy at the destruction it was causing.
(Abomination!)
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