This is a short, but very important chapter... I hope you like it! ;) 

Please VOTE and COMMENT! 

Chapter Twelve

~Nobody's POV~

Neidra sits on her high-backed chair, holding two sparkling round stones in her hands. One is ruby, like crystallized blood, and the other is a deep jade color, swirls of green etched inside the hard stone. One, the rondayven of Canada and the other, the rondayven of Mexico.

The stones glitter as Neidra holds them up to the light, sending beams of dazzling color around the ordinarily bare room.

She looks up as Caomh walks inside the room, and while Neidra is wearing a deep purple gown, her son is dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt.

"Thea's with her group of superhero friends," he says, fiddling with the cotton of the shirt and looking down it with the deepest of imperial disgust. "Now is not the best time to take action against her. She is well protected."

"She is well protected at school as well," says Neidra, bitterness etched over her face. She sets the two glistening rondayven on the mahogany table in front of her and leans heavily against the back of her chair.

Caomh peels off the t-shirt and throws it to the ground, picking up a leather jacket that's laid across a nearby couch. "Should our focus not be on the rondayven?"

"Of course," says Neidra, "But we need Thea and Loki as well."

"Why?" asks Caomh, running his fingers through his hair and inspecting his teeth through the reflective surface of a glossy cabinet. "If we take all three realms, then they'll have no choice but to surrender. And what about Thor, he's the actual king right now."

"And he's making matters very difficult for us," acquiesces Neidra, looking around the room and sharing her son's earlier expression of disgust, "We are forced to stay in this place in the mountains, hidden under Fjodr's wing like baby birds."

"It could be worse," says Caomh, "We could be lying in a hole in the ground. Permanently."

Neidra smirks, "Regardless, Thor will soon be taken care of. He has angst within him just like his brother, but it can be unearthed much quicker and without him knowing it is being done. Fjodr will see to that, I'm sure. And when Loki is forced to take to the throne from his cell, all of Asgard will turn away from its murderous monarch and his fiery daugher."

"And in the meanwhile?" asks Caomh.

"In the meanwhile, I will show Thea that fire can turn against her just as she tries to use it against us. How fares the work with the ironsmiths and the rocksmiths?"

"Smoothly," says Caomh, finally turning away from his makeshift mirror.

"Good," says Neidra, "When I give the word, Ardhigiza will do more than succumb. It shall burn."

*

The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has had difficulty for the last several years.

Not only has Brazil entered a state of inflation and economic disparity, but during the spring, many citizens protested for the removal of President Rousseff due to an oil scandal.

It hadn't helped matters that almost two years ago, almost half of President Rousseff's most trusted government advisors had been put under the influence of an alien army from a parallel world. She'd gone along with the whole rondayven thing, even building an entire building around it for protection, but this had been something entirely else. She'd been forced to keep this to herself and her nonaffected government advisors, which gave her many hours of discomfort. The American organization of SHIELD had helped reinstate the government, but her approval ratings were still lowering and her country still in shambles.

When she reads an encrypted message from President Nieto of Mexico one morning, she is so disturbed, she has to sit down and have a steward fetch her a cup of tea.

She is already dealing with economic disaster, and if President Nieto's warning is true, then one of the most magical secrets of Brazilian history are under pressure. She is at her wits end; she almost wishes she could just toss the amber gem into the Atlantic Ocean and be done with it.

President Rousseff does not have many options. That is why, after a half hour of severe concentrated thought, she asks her steward to bring her Mauro Viera, her current foreign minister. "Necessito los Estados Unidos y el resto de la viente-cinco," she says. I need the

United States and the rest of the twenty-five.

It is time to take drastic action.

*

"You," says Loki, "Are being a complete idiot."

"Thanks," says Max.

"For a man who is trying to expand his life," says Loki as he waves his hand over a small pewter pot that seems to be boiling in thin air, "You are doing a pathetic job at it."

"Thanks again," says Max.

"Kyle was supposed to be in Asgard, not you," says Loki.

"Kyle is heading to Washington DC with Steve and Bruce, and is taking Thea back to school with him," replies Max, who is shirtless and leaning heavily against the wall of the cell. The rivers of gelled black and silver are strengthening, thickening, and lengthening, and his face is drawn with pain, "It didn't make sense."

"And you've still managed to keep this from Thea," says Loki, peering at him through narrowed eyes, "First you lie to her about torturing me, and then you keep this secret from her? Well done, Max."

"Well what would you want me to do?" asks Max, raising his hands, "She's had it bad enough already. She doesn't need to know right now."
"If you keep up your moronic habits," says Loki, "She'll know very soon, and she'll know it at your funeral."

"You're a very blunt nurse."

"I'm not a nurse," says Loki, "I'm a father who is very concerned about his daughter's welfare. She's miserable, and neither you nor your brother are doing much about it."

"And if you hadn't killed your father, then you might be out of here and able to wow us all with your ability to make Thea happy," says Max shortly.

"There's no need to be bitter," says Loki, filling a clear bottle with the contents of the pewter bowl.

"I'm bitter, you're bitter. Thea's bitter. We're all bitter, Loki, get used to it."

"And if you wish to live and get past that bitterness, I suggest you cooperate with me and yourself," replies Loki, tossing Max the bottle, which is now warm to the touch. Max catches it clumsily, nearly dropping it, and Loki raises his eyebrows, "Well done."

"Shut up man," says Max, uncorking the bottle and downing the drink in a couple gulps. Wiping his mouth, he looks back at Loki, "Thanks."

"Was that sincerity speaking?" asks Loki conversationally. "Or your bitter sarcasm?"

"Well now," says Max, "It's my bitter sarcasm."

Lotsa stuff happening. 

What do you think?