Ezekiel watched the orb for a little while before he asked, “I would like to trade for that sphere of souls if possible.”

Hela lowered her hand which disappeared underneath the golden chains surrounding her body. She glanced around at the puddles of blood as she asked, “Tell me where you came from and you can have it.”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I can't do that currently… But let me think it over for a while and I might change my mind.”

Ezekiel glanced back at his clones for a moment before he said, “We are pretty much done here for now and I know sharing your mind with someone else is a major concern. So I’ll give you some time to think it over.”

Ezekiel glanced at Minato as he said, “Bring that scroll over and unseal what we brought.”

Minato walked over as he pulled a scroll out and stopped next to Ezekiel. He held the scroll out and pushed a bit of chakra into it. In front of them appeared what looked like a large box. The front of it was mostly just a large LCD display, with a large speaker bar setup underneath it.

Ezekiel walked around to the front of it which faced Hela as he said, “As a sign of goodwill, I had this made for you.”

Hela glanced at the black colored box for a moment before she asked, “And what purpose does this box fulfill?”

“Entertainment. Modern Earth entertainment to be exact.” Ezekiel said with a smile.

Ezekiel patted the side of the device as he said, “I figured it might be boring here all alone, so I built this with the help of some friends. Power on.”

The front of the device powered on to show a menu with some options. Books, movies, comics, TV shows and games was the current list displayed on the screen. Ezekiel smiled as he said, “This works through voice control and has pretty much everything you could possibly want to watch or read from Earth. You can also play some basic games with it.”

“Midgardian entertainment, I doubt it will be worthy of my time.” Hela scoffed as she looked away from the device.

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “There's also history books, movies and documentaries to watch. But it's up to you if you wanna use it. I would personally recommend watching the Star Wars movie series or Indiana Jones myself.”

Hela glanced at Ezekiel and then the device for a few moments before she said, “Fine I'll accept your tribute.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Great. We'll leave you alone for now and I'll be back in a month or so to visit.”

Hela fought back the urge to command him to stay. It had been so long since she had a conversation with another living being… She missed it… But even if she did try to command him, it wasn’t like he needed to listen to her. As long as she was trapped in these chains, she was weak and powerless to do anything.

Ezekiel pushed some universal energy into the return tracker and a few moments later a portal opened up next to him. Tao and Agatha peaked through the portal and once they saw Ezekiel, they looked relieved before they moved away from the portal entrance.

Ezekiel’s clones moved through the portal first, while Ezekiel waved before he stepped through the portal. It snapped closed after him and Hela let out a frustrated sigh, now she was alone again… Would he keep his promise and come back?

Hela let out another sigh before she looked at the large device in front of her for a few minutes. He said it contained midgardian entertainment, but would any of it be good? The last time she visited the place, they still lived in stone huts… What possible entertainment could they have made since then…

“Device, play the Star Wars movie series.”

As the intro for a new hope played and Hela saw the title she said, “Stop.”

After the movie stopped she said, “Play from the first movie in the series.”

Again a new hope started up so Hela said, “Stop and show Star Wars movie list.”

Once she saw that a new hope was the first movie she said out loud, “Who names the first movie episode four?”

vvvvv

Tao smiled slightly as she asked, “I assume your first contact went well?”

“Kinda. But we ran into an issue I didn't plan for. We recovered decently intact bodies of the Valkyries and Hela has a sphere filled with their souls.”

Tao frowned slightly as she asked, “You want to revive them?”

“We could always use a powerful group of honor bound warriors.”

Agatha shook her head as she said, “They would be bound to continue their duty for Asgard.”

Ezekiel had a wicked grin as he said, “Not if we tell them the truth of what happened. That they were sacrificed by Odin for no good reason and he knew none of them would ever make it to Valhalla if they died in Hel. He also covered up what happened to them and pretty much erased them from Asgardian history.”

Tao cast a quick glance at Agatha for a moment before she asked, “How sure are you about that?”

“About seventy percent, give or take. If we could sneak into the library of Asgard we could find out exactly what happened.”

“Let's go back to your training room. You need to start your training for the day and we need some time to think about this.” Tao said, before she moved to exit the room.

Once they made it back to the training room, everyone split off to do their own thing. Theo started training, his clones went off to the other bases to work on projects. While Tao and Agatha started to discuss the possibility of sneaking into Asgard.

Their discussion didn't go that well and ended up stalling out. The main issue was how they wouldn't be caught, since Asgard should have magic defenses in place. If they portaled anywhere into Asgard, then they should easily be caught. At least that was their assumption. They were also debating if they should bring the issue up to the council so they could vote on it.

Theo, who was seated close by practicing his casting speed, finally spoke up after about an hour and said, “Well first of all, this is a side project. So I don’t think we need to involve the council for now. It will only matter if we get the info we are seeking and can get that soul sphere.”

“You think trying to break into Asgard for information and potentially resurrecting a thousand skilled warriors is a side project?” Agatha asked with a single raised eyebrow.

Theo shrugged as he said, “I am also trying to recruit a powerful woman who could be considered a god as a side project. So I don’t really see your point.”

Tao nodded as she said, “I agree that the council doesn’t need to be aware of what we are currently doing. If we fail then it won’t matter anyways. But if we succeed, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Theo nodded as he said, “Exactly. Now as for how we get into Asgard, I say we don’t go and just cheat instead. We have the time stone after all, let's use it.”

“I was thinking of doing that, but we really shouldn't rely on it so heavily. It will make us weaker if we do.” Tao said.

Agatha let out a light chuckle before she said, “Says the woman who used the time stone to help guide their actions for the last eight hundred years.”

Theo nodded as he said, “Ya, you're kinda being a hypocrite.”

“I'm speaking from experience. I might be powerful, but if I didn't rely so heavily on the time stone. I could have improved even more and touched on Yao's level of power by now.” Tao said in a regretful tone, with a slight frown as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Theo’s concentration broke on the spell formula he was building which caused it to shatter in front of him as he glanced at Tao and asked, “Didn't you plan on dying though?”

“That was the plan, since I couldn't see past my own death. But things have changed and now I have some regrets about my past actions.”

“You sound a little upset, does your favorite student need to give you a hug, master?” Ezekiel asked as he smiled.

Tao returned a flat look as she said, “You lost concentration on your last spell. Start over from the beginning.”

Theo let out a sigh as he started his practice over and said, “How about we send in a couple of my clones to scout Asgard. No gear, just my clone. If they get caught they dispel and leave no trace behind.”

Tao glanced at a couple of Theo's clones who were currently reading books and asked, “Have you learned Asgardian runes yet? You would need that to understand the basics of their language.”

Theo nodded as he said, “I’ve already read everything you have about Asgard. I also supplemented my knowledge with history books and learned the language basics of most cultures that believed in Norse Mythology.”

Theo smiled slightly as he said, “I wanted to be ready when Thor arrived.”

“Good, then we'll use a couple of your clones to scout their library and find out their history. If it doesn't work out, we'll use the time stone to figure out a different way to gain the information.”

They talked for another hour, before Tao took Minato, Tobirama, Sakumo and Hiruzen with her back to Genosha. They also left all their gear behind and henge’d into different looking people before they left.

vvvvv

Tao glanced at the clones as she said, “This portal will appear far outside of the city of Asgard. If you aren't caught and have some things to bring back, one of you dispel to let Theo know and I will make a return portal for you to use in the same place.”

Each clone nodded in understanding before Tao opened a portal and the clones disappeared through it before it snapped closed. It all took place within a few seconds, hopefully Asgard didn't have magic wards in the outskirts of its land.

On the other side of the portal, Minato glanced at his companions and said, “From what we know, the main library of Asgard should be in the palace. I think we should scout the city first and collect any information we can before we move into the palace.”

The others nodded in agreement before Sakumo asked, “Should we split up completely or split into teams?”

“We should move alone. We’ll have a higher chance to gain information and it will give us four chances to enter the palace. We should also enter the city from different locations, I will take the North.” Tobirama said as he glanced at the others.

Minato nodded as he said, “I’ll take the opposite side since I’m the fastest.”

“I’ll take the southern side then.” Hiruzen said.

“That leaves me on this side then.”

They shared a silent nod with each other, before they disappeared from their spots and moved towards the golden city in the distance. Each person going towards the side they picked and prepared to put their skills to the test against people who considered themselves gods.