Chapter 1
“Ah!” Loki screamed, as he was flung out of the bifrost. The colors of the bifrost faded as he was flung further and further from it, into the darkness of space. Until suddenly--light.
Loki thought he was dead, for certain. He had to be. He had gotten extremely lucky the first time he survived falling from the bifrost, there was no way that he’d be able to do it again. He barely had time to process the light until he crashed into an enormous pile of...garbage. He lay there, aching, until he realized what had happened. He wasn’t dead, he had somehow gone through a wormhole, and was now on what appeared to be one of the galaxys...garbage dumps. Just his luck.
Suddenly, Loki felt a rush of pain. He looked down at his abdomen and saw that his own dagger, which Hela had thrown at him, was sticking out of his side. Ah, so that’s where all the pain was coming from. He winced, flicked his hand and the dagger disappeared from his wound. He of course knew that pulling a dagger from a stab wound only made it worse, but he wasn’t sure if he was going to need his dagger to defend himself, on whatever strange unknown land he found himself in. Besides, the dagger didn’t seem to have hit anything vital, so he would probably be fine after some rest.
But for now, Loki had to stop the bleeding, so he tore off some fabric from his jacket and pressed it on the wound, which was gushing blood. Ugh, this outfit was ruined. He could always conjure another one, but he preferred to be wearing nice clean clothes under all his illusions.
Loki sighed sharply as he continued pressing the fabric to his wound. Everything was just fine, on Asgard. He was ruling as the king he should have been. Everything was going great, as usual, until Thor showed up. Loki had been a great king. A better king than Thor would’ve ever been. Thor even said it himself, once, back when he was still mourning Loki’s “death”. That oaf, he would have led Asgard into the ground had he--wait a moment, where had his oaf gone?
Loki looked around, but no sign of Thor. Nothing but garbage, and the only things that appeared to be falling out of the wormholes that littered the sky were...more garbage.
Loki sat up, gazing at the mountains of trash for who knows how long. He hoped, pleaded to whoever was listening, that he would see Thor fall somewhere in this trash heap. Thor would find him, yell at him for summoning the bifrost, see his wound, and start fawning over him. Then Loki would all too dramatically insist he was fine, that it was just a flesh wound, and they would be on their way. They’d find a way back to Asgard again, and figure out a way to stop Hela. That’s how things would go. That’s how things always went with Thor.
Loki waited for a while, but Thor never came.
That must mean that Hela had...probably killed him. Loki began to realize the severity of his situation. Hela was probably on Asgard, and Thor was either dead or would be soon. Hela would destroy the entire kingdom, run amuk amongst the nine realms, and Loki could do nothing about it. Even if he was stupid enough to try and face Hela himself, he had no way of getting to Asgard, or even knowing where he was right now. He just laid there, bleeding, in the garbage.
Pathetic.
But, Loki was a god, he couldn’t just lay among the scrap like this. He willed himself to stand up. Ugh, he felt terrible. But alas, he had no one to tell. No one to complain to, no one to manipulate. This was an awful change of pace for him. He didn’t like being alone. He trudged forward, through the garbage.
Before long, he noticed a city, out on the horizon. Hopefully he could find some answers there. He began limping over in that direction, before realizing that he would sooner bleed out than make it there on foot. He looked around, and noticed some ships, scrap harvesting vessels no doubt, looming overhead.
One landed nearby, and out of it exited some...creatures. Loki observed them from afar before engaging. They seemed to be a type of hunter-gatherer species, and didn’t seem very intelligent. But--whatever they were, they had a mode of transportation, which was what Loki was interested in.
Loki conjured his dagger once again. Nothing more could be done from his current position. He could have attempted to steathility sneak onto their ship, but Loki was impatient, and who knows how long it would take for them to return to the city on their own. Loki stood up straight, attempting to ignore the splitting pain in his side. He conjured up a non-ruined outfit over his current one, and stepped down to meet the creatures.
“Excuse me.” He said, “May I request a lift on your ship?”
“Are you a fighter?” One of them, who Loki presumed to be the leader, said, “Or are you food?”
“I beg your pardon?” Loki said, bewildered.
“I smell blood on it!” One of them growled, “It will die soon.”
“It is food, then!” The leader said. The creatures pointed their weapons at Loki, who sighed, summoning both his daggers. He had really not wanted this to end in a fight. Loki got into a fighting stance, but winced. He would normally make quick work of these savages, but his wound seemed to be worse than he thought. These creatures didn’t look hard to trick, so time for a little smoke and mirrors.
The creatures closed in on Loki, who raised his hands. The objects around him began to levitate, and swirl around him.
“What’s going on?” The creatures yelled, before attacking Loki. Loki waved his hands at them, and the creatures stopped dead in their tracks.
“I can’t move!” One yelled.
“Me neither!” Yelled another.
Loki smiled, this was too easy. He lifted the ever-present spell upon him, turning his skin blue, and his eyes blood red. He hissed at the creatures, and began throwing levitating garbage at them.
“Demon! Run!” The creatures quickly fled, allowing Loki to take their ship.
Loki sighed, returning to his normal complexion. He hated resorting to that, it was humiliating.
Once on the ship he realized that the ship could not be controlled, and was flying on some sort of autopilot system. It soon levitated from the ground, connected with it’s other segments, and flew off toward the city.
Loki sat back and enjoyed the ride, trying to think of a course of action once he landed. His head was clouded from the pain, but he still needed a plan. He needed to find out where he was, first. and then, try and find a way off this planet. Stealing a ship wouldn’t be hard, he’d done it before. And he couldn’t be anywhere that far away from either Earth or Asgard, space which he knew fairly well.
But where would he go after that? Asgard? Of course not, Hela would kill him. He would be surprised if Asgard wasn’t in ruins already. His home, burned to the ground. His friends, Thor, all dead at Hela’s feet. Loki swallowed, he tried not to think about it. Somewhere else, then. Earth? Loki had familiarized himself with the planet during his rule over Asgard, for tactical purposes. Of course, he would always go under a cloaking spell. But what then? He remembered the Avengers, and that green beast. No, Loki would rather take his chances with Hela.
Perhaps, Jotunheim? Ha--Loki chuckled to himself. He could only wonder what had become of that realm after he nearly destroyed it. Or what his reputation must be. Still--the Jotuns were nothing if not creatures of loyalty, and Loki was technically the heir to the throne. Perhaps, if he ever wanted to stir up political drama, he would pay his people a visit.
Before he could continue his thoughts, the ship came to a halt. The doors opened, and Loki cast a spell over himself, disguising himself as one of those creatures. He emerged from the ship, blending in with other creatures nearby, who were all depositing scrap they had salvaged from the garbage piles. Loki quickly slipped away, and into the city.
Upon returning to his usual form, Loki looked around the city. It didn’t seem to be too terribly advanced of a civilization, but they should be at least capable of space travel, Loki would just have to find a big enough ship to get away from the pull of those worm holes. Loki groaned, gripping his side. He would have to find one quickly, if he didn’t want to bleed out here on the streets.
He looked for the tallest building he could find. That usually meant the most important people lived there. And the most important people usually had the best ships.
He looked around, until he saw a large tower, appearing to be in the center of the city. It had faces carved into the side, one of which was still being built. Perfect, now all he had to do was get inside.
He walked over to the base of the tower. Who he only assumed could be scrappers walked in and out, delivering something to whatever beings could live inside.
Loki put an invisibility spell on himself, and followed one of them inside.
The interior of the building was quite strange. Brightly colored, with unique markings and symbols. It reminded Loki of pictures he had seen, in his youth. He tried to place the imagery. It reminded him of...the Celestials? Hm, Loki hadn’t thought of those beings in a while. He had read about them in his schoolbooks, many hundreds of years ago. Apparently, they were the founders of the universe, but had all died out over the eons. Interesting, Loki thought. He wondered what it could all mean.
The scrapper he had been following was a woman, with long dark hair, with blue markings under her eyes. She was dragging another unconscious creature at her feet. A large, beefy guy, that was a species that Loki was unfamiliar with. She seemed to be having no trouble dragging him, which Loki found impressive. She wore a blue cape, which seemed...also familiar somehow, yet Loki couldn’t place it. Odd. He kept following her, wanting to figure out what about her and her outfit was so familiar. His mind began to wander, and he followed her up the elevator, and into a large, ornately decorated room.
The bright colors snapped Loki out of thoughts, and he realized he had gotten distracted and probably walked right past that ships. Loki rolled his eyes. This was just great. He began to turn around, but really wanted to place how he knew the cape. He just knew it would bother him forever if he couldn’t. He peered at it again, curiously. Perhaps, if he could just reach out and touch it--
The scrapper whirled around, looking Loki dead on. Loki was surprised, and a bit nervous, until realizing that she still couldn’t see him. She looked around, staring daggers at the whole room, until deciding it was nothing. She took a sip from a flask, and went back to her work, strapping the man she was dragging into a chair.
Strange...this woman couldn’t see through his illusions, but she could detect them, at least a little bit. She fascinated him, and he began to wonder who exactly she was. After strapping the man into the chair, she looked around the room again.
“Grandmaster!” She yelled, “Grandmaster, where are you? I’ve got another haul for you!”
The chair followed her as she walked, and Loki followed close by as well, not knowing what else to do.
Loki noticed the man in the chair began to wake up, and the chair began speaking to him.
“Fear not for you are found. You are home and there is no going back. No one leaves this place. But what is this place? The answer is; Sakaar.”
Hm, Loki thought. Sakaar? He had never heard of this place before. It was certainly nowhere near Asgard or Earth. Maybe getting to someplace he knew would be a bit more difficult than he anticipated.
“...here on Sakaar, you are significant, you are valuable. Here you are loved. and no one loves you more than The Grandmaster.”
Loki began to wonder about this Grandmaster fellow. He supposed he was in charge around here. Good to know, Loki thought. It was always good to take note of who you had to overthrow.
“Grandmast--oh, there you are.” The scrapper with the cape tapped the shoulder of an old man, who had his headphones in, dancing, and turned toward a window.
Beside her stood a shorter woman, with a large staff. She scowled at the scrapper. Loki assumed that she must be the Grandmaster’s bodyguard.
The Grandmaster turned off his music, and smiled at the scrapper, obviously happy to see her for some reason.
“Grandmaster, I’ve got another one for you.” She hurried him along to the man in the chair, “and his video is almost over, so hurry up.”
“Oh, goodie goodie!” He excitedly ran over to the man in the chair, who had snapped out of his trance, and was looking straight at the Grandmaster.
Loki looked at the Grandmaster. He seemed...strange, which he noticed he was saying about a lot of things on this planet. But the Grandmaster was the strangest of all. He wore elegant robes, and gave off strong, powerful vibes. But the way he moved, he seemed to act the way an excited child with a new toy might. Loki watched on as he attempted to intimidate the man in the chair. It...wasn’t exactly working, but also, it was? The Grandmaster wasn’t so much “intimidating” the man, but he treated him like an object, a plaything, which itself gave off a vibe of belittlement, and subtle hints of dread. The man seemed to want to crush the Grandmaster between his fists, but the Grandmaster felt no fear. He was entirely calm. It was chilling, yet Loki found himself intrigued. He was always attracted to power, and this was certainly no exception.
“Hm, take him away.” The Grandmaster said, and suddenly the man he was talking to was whisked away by the chair. “Anyway, thank you Scrapper 142. I’ll have Topaz here transfer the units.”
“No problem,” The one called Scrapper 142 said with a smile, as she patted the Grandmaster on the shoulder. The Grandmaster seemed just delighted by her, and Loki found this very confusing. He was powerful, and yet... totally at ease. Loki wished to know more, to observe him longer, but he found that Scrapper 142 was walking away, and he needed to choose who to follow.
Both of them intrigued Loki, but he could only pick one. But this “Scrapper 142” would probably be headed to her ship, and with any luck Loki could steal that or another one. So, sadly, he found himself turning away from the Grandmaster, and following her.
Loki walked away, pondering. The Grandmaster seemed powerful, but how powerful? And how did he get this way? He seemed ancient, and Loki wondered how he had never heard of him before. However, on the other hand, Loki wasn’t sure what corner of the galaxy he was in, so he supposed that everything he might see here would be foreign to him.
Loki had almost made it to the elevator, when he felt….a hand, on his back. Loki whirled around. It was… The Grandmaster? How did--how could--could he see him? Could he see him this entire time?
“Hey!” The Grandmaster said, almost surprised, lightly patting his back, “I knew there was something here.”
Loki studied the Grandmaster’s face. No, no he couldn’t see him. But he noticed something.
Loki scolded himself. His magic was weak, he was getting sloppy. And the Grandmaster seemed to be a powerful sorcerer in his own right.
Loki stood up straight, trying not to show any weakness. No smoke and mirrors here, he would have to rely on his silver tongue to get out of this one. He lowered his cloaking spell.
“Hello.” Loki said, trying not to panic.
“Well would you look at that!” The Grandmaster smiled, absolutely thrilled, “You don’t see that every day! A little, um--man?--appearing out of nowhere!”
“Yes, well, it’s not every day someone sees someone like you, Grandmaster.” He smiled, trying to hide how nervous he was.
The Grandmaster beamed at him. Ah, Loki thought, so he was a sucker for compliments. He could use that. With any luck, he would make it out of this alive.
“Well, ah, who are you?” The Grandmaster said, with the utmost curiosity. There was absolutely no malicious intent in his voice at all, but Loki still found himself terrified.
“Yes, well, my name is Loki, and I seem to be lost. I was simply trying not to attract attention, but I’ll be leaving now.”
The Grandmaster grabbed his shoulder, “Hey, what’s the rush? Stay a while.”
Loki could tell that that was a command, not a suggestion. “I’m sorry, but I really must be getting home--”
“Oh, I’m afraid not!” The Grandmaster smiled charismatically, “Nobody leaves Sakaar. Nobody can. Except me, of course. But why would I ever want to? I made this place after all.” He chuckled.
This worried Loki. Nobody could leave Sakaar? What did that mean? He needed more answers, and The Grandmaster seemed to be the best place to get them at the moment.
“Oh, well that is unfortunate.” Loki said, showing no weakness, “Well--how about you tell me that story, over a drink?”
“Ha!” The Grandmaster laughed, “You’re trying to get me to forget that I just caught you spying on me!”
“What?” Loki panicked, the jig was up, “No, I wasn’t--”
“But, I do like the idea of discussing this over a drink. Topaz!” he called over to his bodyguard, “Bring us a drink!” He looked down at Loki, “Make it something good--he’s cute!”
The Grandmaster froze, looking down at Loki, “Hold on, it is ‘he’ right? Sorry--I get a little confused. And I try not to assume with you mortals.”
The term “mortals” grinded Loki’s gears more than he thought it would. But, he was in no position to correct him. “Yes, it’s ‘him’, right now. But it varies.”
“Excellent!” The Grandmaster put his arm around Loki, “Topaz, get him a drink!”
The Grandmaster whisked Loki away, to the bar, and sat him down next to him. The Grandmaster sat, rather flamboyantly, with his legs crossed and his head resting on his hand.
“So.” he began. “Why were you spying on me? Trying to steal something, maybe?”
“No!” Loki lied, “It’s like I said, I was lost, and trying not to attract attention.”
“Hmm…..” The Grandmaster mulled over this, and lowered his voice to a whisper, “Well it seems to me, Loki, like you don’t belong up here. In my tower.”
Loki’s eyes widened. Shit. This would require some quick thinking, which was a skill Loki was not overly known for.
The Grandmaster continued, as he sipped his bright blue drink through a bendy straw, “But, I won’t tell anyone. So long as you tell me something.”
Loki swallowed, taking a sip of his drink, to seem polite, “A-And what’s that?”
“Who are you? Where did you come from?” He pointed at Loki, “Because I know my Sakaarians, and I know that you are not from around here. So, what’s the deal? Fall from one of the portals? That happens a lot.”
Loki knew his life depended on his next few words. But, he was the god of stories after all. He may be dreadful at thinking on his feet, but he could spin a tale if he needed to. “I...am the King of my home planet--Jotunheim. But, my ship...it crashed landed here. And I desperately need a way back home.”
“Ohhh, a king!” The Grandmaster seemed fascinated, yet not overly impressed. “Well your highness, if you’re a king where is your kingly entourage? How come you were snooping around my palace like a thief?”
“Killed!” He blurted out, “In the crash. I was lucky to survive. I wasn’t sure if this planet was hostile, so I thought it would be best to stay hidden.”
The Grandmaster smiled his cat-like smile again. “So you can steal a ship from me, hm?”
Shit. Shit shit shit. “Um--well--”
The Grandmaster laughed, “Oh it’s alright! No harm done, yet, and I believe you can provide me with a great deal of entertainment.”
Loki was getting nervous, “Entertainment?”
“Mhmmmmm” The Grandmaster smiled again, rocking in his chair, “So, King Loki, answer me this, can all of your people turn invisible?”
“N-No, only some can practice the great magics. I just so happen to be most powerful sorcerer of them all.”
“Ahh!” That seemed to impress The Grandmaster. “A magician! Go on, show me a magic trick!”
Loki sat there, shaking, wondering what to do. The Grandmaster rolled his eyes.
“Sh!” The Grandmaster grabbed Loki’s face, and Loki nearly had a heart attack, “You’re so nervous! Calm down! I’m not going to kill you. Well, unless you upset me, but what are the odds of that?”
Loki gulped, but maybe The Grandmaster was telling the truth. Loki calmed his nerves. Maybe the danger was all in his head. The Grandmaster hadn't yet given him any REAL reason to be nervous. He thought for a moment more, before waving his hand. The Grandmaster looked down to see that his drink had been refilled, right before his eyes.
The Grandmaster gasped with delight, and clapped his hands. “Wonderful! Wonderful! I love it!”
Loki smiled, maybe this was going better than he thought. “So, may I borrow a ship capable of leaving this planet?”
The Grandmaster waved his hand carelessly, “Oh, maybe, we’ll see--oh, oh!” behind them, party music began playing, and people around them started dancing. “Dance with me!”
The Grandmaster stood up, grabbed Loki’s hand, and whisked him to the dance floor. The Grandmaster began mingling with the crowd, and dancing.
“I don’t dance--” Loki began, before being hushed by The Grandmaster.
“Nonsense!” The Grandmaster said, “You’re the sorcerer, just put a spell on yourself or something.”
Loki sighed, before...attempting, to dance. He had been taught to dance, formally, on Asgard, but that was a much different type of dancing than this. Mostly ballroom dancing, for big events. This was...more freeform. Less rules. People were just...moving. Loki couldn’t have possibly dreamed that this is how this day would go when he woke up this morning. He began looking around, observing what everybody else was doing. He tried to mimic it as best he could. Soon he was doing it--dancing.The Grandmaster smiled at him, and the two danced to this rather catchy synthetic music. It was odd--but Loki almost found himself having fun.
“I think this is going well!” The Grandmaster said to him, over the music.
Loki raised an eyebrow, but was still dancing, “What is?”
The Grandmaster gestured to both of them, “Our date.”
“Our wh--” Before Loki could answer, he began to feel very lightheaded. He looked at the floor. There were drops of blood around where he was dancing. Shit--his stupid stab wound. His dancing was making it worse. His stupid daggers, they were made to cut flesh like butter. Now he knew how it felt to be on their business end. He couldn’t let The Grandmaster see, not now, when things were going so well. But he needed help, and fast. Maybe he could tell The Grandmaster he got his wound in the crash. Yes, that would work--
Loki passed out on the dance floor.
“Oh dear.” The Grandmaster said, amidst the gasps of the crowd, “Topaz, what do make of this?”
Topaz walked over to Loki and kicked him. “Looks like your date just died.”