Chapter 25

 

Raptor of Life: Jean Quantum’s Gate adventures

Jean Grey In the Marvel Cinematic Universe

 

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

-- Star Trek Intro --

Previously on Raptor of life…

 

Jean arrived on Asgard and just in time for the Dark Elves to try to sack the Golden City. She made many changes, earned the enmity of Sif, freed Lorelei and made her her bitch, fought with Heimdall against the Dark Elves.

Malekith and most of his forces died with a brutality that Asgardian aren't used to anymore… and there's the matter of some of the Angelus Warriors summoned by Jean’s Witchblade who decided to stay and accompany her.

# # #

(Queen Frigga)

Frigga's personal courtyard

 

Everything changed.

The eddies of time showed her a thriving Asgard, where she would be alive to see her grandchildren. But it was difficult to see any further into the future, since the prophecy of Ragnarok was just nullified when Jean Elainedottir had come to Asgard; despite being an agent of order, she brought a lot of chaos with her.

In spite of her more unsavory traits all the changes brought by her actions within Asgard were mostly beneficial. Frigga was satisfied as she no longer had to worry about her youngest son, Loki, who looked even more forlorn than before. She looked at him as he calmly read his book and tried to ignore the others around him.

Frigga was responsible for Loki now, he needed to not escape her sight at all. She has restarted his magical education with some new students learning with him; Jean Elainedottir and Jane Foster and tangentially Amora and Lorelei that Jean turned into a servant girl slash shieldmaiden. Though Jane wasn't present right now, as she was being given a tour of the realm by her paramour, Thor. The girl has made the choice to stay with Frigga's son and she needed to acclimatize herself with this new culture.

But not everything was going well, there were some big downsides to the current situation. Frigga was happy that Jean had taken Lorelei under her service, she saw that the woman was made to be useful; nevertheless, the problem was Lorelei’s sibling: Amora the Enchantress. 

Amora wasn't happy to be here. Loki was particularly amused by what was happening in their free period study. The three young women, in the small private garden, were sitting on stone benches laid around in a circle, under the blue sky, while Loki sat on his own folding arm chair with his books and a blunted dagger-wand to use as a magical focus. Learning magic while amongst nature was a must for an apprentice to feel the mystical forces flowing into the world.

Frigga watched once again as the Phoenix Avatar’s water cantrip flickered and changed element attunement and produced a small flame. The goal of their current magic lesson was to learn the basics of elementism and water the plants around them. But Jean couldn't manage it… It was as if there was no more place for any element other than fire for her; obviously, Amora had to rub it in Jean’s face for her inadequacies. 

"Can you do anything other than flames? Here look, a water aligned spell." She gestured a circle with her hand and a ball of water manifested, hovering over her palm. She made a smug grin that caused the redhead to glare at her and make the water ball start to boil and evaporate.

The Queen sighed, raising boys was easier than wrangling three women with antagonistic relationships. “Stop this, girls. You’re adults aren’t you? Or should I get a metal rod to beat your bottom for disturbing the class?”

Loki laughed at the drama while creating multiple orbs of water and making them dance in the air while sprinkling his mother’s rosebush; showing off how advanced he was compared to Jean and the other girls. Of course Jean had to be mouthy about her own situation. “Huh, technically I’m not yet an adult, Frigga.”

Frigga stared at the girl with a deadpan look. “Then I won’t treat you like one in this class, young lady.”

Jean smiled at that, Frigga guessed that she desired to be… mothered by her somehow. *What strange sexual kinks have developed in Midgard while we didn’t look at their realm?*

Of course, Amora had to reach for any advantage she could get, and dig her own grave. “Ha, so you’re still just a little girl-”

SPLASH!! Jean gathered the moisture in the air and created water by using her inherent power and threw a water ball in Amora’s face. "Is there any point in antagonizing me, Amora?"

Frigga asked herself the same thing, Amora just didn't realize who she was playing with. To Frigga, it was strange, Jean had almost full mastery of her psionic energy; but in matters of magic, somehow, Jean couldn't do anything beyond fire, healing and neutral magic. Her affinity for those three outstrips any lesser talents that she has for other branches of magic. *What a conundrum, was her nature as an avatar restricting her somehow?*

The blonde bluntly demanded, "Take off the stupid control collar and I will be more than agreeable~."

Jean's smile was disturbing to gaze upon, it looked like a smile but… didn’t feel like a smile. "I’m sorry Amora, you know I can't do that. The situation goes like this: It was collaring you or killing you. Which do you prefer?"

Amora wasn’t taking the threat seriously, it must be because she’s an hermit who doesn’t exit her magic tower since she was thrown out of the Asgardian court for trying to enchant her son, Thor. But she didn’t pay much attention to news and gossip and had her nose in her book while fomenting and scheming revenge against the royal family.

The news that Jean and her troops single handedly saved Asgard didn't make it to her yet, she got nabbed by Lorelei before that. 

Fortunately, Lorelei, the other redhead amongst this study group, was the most rational and practical of the two Asgardian sisters. “Amora, sister, you’re playing with fire, literally. Jean is the Phoenix Avatar. She can beat you in combat, or shred your immortal soul. We’re being treated well; neither of us is in prison, on rations barely fit for livestock, and being treated worse than them. Can you try and not ruin this for me, please?”

Lorelei tried to defuse her sister's ire with her impassioned speech. For a moment nothing was said. Then Amora stood up and then hugged her sister. "I forgive you sister for what she forced you to do, but I will never be happy about this situation."

Amora glared at Jean, and then the blue sapphire on her golden choker glowed and an electric shock made the Enchantress' body seize. Amora fell down on the ground, and no one tried to help her as she started to shake.

*This has been happening a lot.* Thought Frigga.

Since she came back with Lorelei yesterday, Jean had to heal the Enchantress at least three times as she ended up badly burned and her nerves damaged. It seemed that Amora was still scheming to kill Jean and escape. Frigga was made aware of the enchantment on this control collar the two asgardian women were wearing; if they had any thoughts of betrayal or wanted to harm Jean, they would be shocked. If they actually did it, Frigga judged that their punishment would be… permanent for the sisters.

Only Lorelei seemed to be on her best behaviors. Jean sighed in annoyance. "I think I will be leaving her like that this time."

Frigga saw the moment when Jean was writing off Amora for her redemption project. It seemed that Amora’s younger sister had seen it too as the older redhead put herself on her knees before Jean and begged. "Please Mistress Jean, save her, she will die!"

Jean tilted her head, then crossed her arms as she looked coldly at the burned and shaking body on the ground. "Would it be a great loss? I've given her plenty of chances, but in a day she burned through her second and third."

Lorelei’s eyes widened and she moved to hold onto Jean’s thigh. "Please, she’s all I have left of my family, I will do anything…"

Jean slowly looked down at the woman and said with a sultry voice. "Anything? Interesting. Then starting this moment you've got no freedom but what I give you."

Her hand held onto Lorelei's chin, they looked into each other's eyes. The asgardian sorceress hesitated only for a moment before sealing her fate. "I… I am yours."

Jean patted Lorelei’s left cheek. "Good girl. Now let me heal your stubborn sister. It smells like bacon here."

The queen was thinking that Jean needed to be talked to about how she acted. Or maybe she needed someone to stir her away from such an obvious morally perilous path. She had noticed how Thor’s friend and other courtiers avoided her like the plague. Maybe a visit with the mind Healers was warranted. The girl has obvious issues with control. Frigga felt that Jean needed someone she trusted in that case, not a random person; then she understood that she herself fit the bill. *Something to act on later.*

Jean manifested a ball of cosmic fire and nonchalantly threw it at Amora’s body. Then a cocoon of fire wrapped around the blonde Enchantress’ abused form. The healing wasn't fast, it took over ten minutes for the damage done to Amora to be mended; meanwhile Frigga was using some instrument in the form of a crystal with a rod attached to it to analyze what the cosmic energy was doing to the Enchantress.

The cocoon of flame then opened like a Lotus flower blossoming and there appeared Amora who appeared to not be worse for wear. Her clothes were still bloody and burned. But otherwise she looked fine. She opened her eyes instantly and sat up, looking around her. 

Jean earned another venomous glare from the woman who said honestly, "I hate you. You took everything from me."

Frigga thought about what Jean had told her before; how she had indeed stolen Amora's entire magic tower and put it into her pocket space that she created thanks to the space stone.

“The feeling is mutual, this will be your last chance, Amora. The next time you’ll stay dead. No more rez for you. Now git, I’ve had enough of your presence. Lorelei, accompany her back to our quarters.” Jean dismissed the women like washing wenches who messed up in their first job.

“Yes, Mistress Jean.” Lorelei's quick steps brought her next to her sister and produced a coat to cover Amora’s state of almost nudity.

“I’m sorry, Frigga. We might have to reconvene later.” Jean said, turning to Frigga; not giving time to the Queen to answer, she snapped her finger and opened a blue portal and disappeared into it. 

FWOOSH! The portal closed and Frigga was left with her adoptive son. The Queen sighed tiredly, and it had been going so well, Jean was learning important spells for her inevitable confrontation with Hela. Frigga decided that she would restrict those lessons to Jean only; Amora and Lorelei were disturbing elements.

"Mother." A high pitched voice called out for Frigga.

Frigga looked at her son. "Yes, Loki?"

When Loki has a smile on his current face like right now, she prepared herself for mischief to happen. But it seemed that her son was more into enjoying the drama than causing problems. "Watching the Phoenix Avatar interact with people is like seeing the really smart villains of those grimm fairy tales you read to me when I was younger. It's fascinating."

Frigga winced, even Loki thought Jean may have gone too far. “Jean has a good heart. Didn’t you see how she quickly escaped? She’s acting the villain.”

And why would she do that? Frigga wasn’t certain of the girl’s motivation. Of course, Loki snorted and turned up his nose at the notion that Jean was ‘acting’ and not being her true self. "Even if that was the case and that she may have good intentions, her methods still leave a lot to be desired, mother..."

“You’re just resentful because of your current… state, my son. Doesn’t it matter to you that she helped clear your name and set you free?” The Queen accused.

Loki averted his eyes, knowing exactly that his mother was right; he should be happy that someone for once had taken his side. However… "Mother, she turned me into a child." Loki’s eyes returned on his mother, he gave her a deadpan look and stubborn frown.

“And you’re cuter this way.” Frigga said as she walked up to him and pinched Loki’s cheeks.

“Muthhhher.” The small child complained.

Frigga giggled.

 

# # #

Back with Jean…
Space

 

I intended to keep my promise, I would reward Odin for giving me the stones. Entering my Avatar form, I flew into the orbit of Asgard and then gazed upon it; it was a beautiful realm. However something told me that it hadn’t been just a piece of land floating in space before. It had been a planet, at least ten times the size of Earth with a similar climate, but the fauna and flora was… more dangerous.

All the monsters from Norse Mythology and Legends? They had been thriving on this planet; well the Asgardians were going to have to adapt yet again. They’ve grown soft on their laurels, they need to regain their edges and having to tame their world yet again was an excellent way to make them sharp again. With a flap of my wings, I froze time in that sector of the universe, I was leaning hard on my Phoenix power for this. I don’t usually do this but I needed to let my instincts guide me. 

Then I did the equivalent of looking for the backup files of the entire star system. I placed the golden city into a protective bubble while I would be working to get Asgard back to being intact. This was training for the time I will have to disappear to do my job as a Phoenix, I let the innate memories of the past Avatars guide me.I had two methods to do this, basically recreate the planet and turn Asgard into a floating continent, or rewind time and stop Surtur from breaking the realm in time.

My instinct told me a big no no about the second, and that there were easier solutions than the first option. I opened my eyes to poke through the veil of dimension and timeline and looked for an alternative Asgard in a timeline where Asgardian were never born on it. Fucking TVA and their golden timeline bullshit, I was going to kill them all… Why was I mad right now? There weren’t a lot of branches, there should have been billions of them, but here? I found only some thousands.

It wasn’t yet time to take care of the problem, now I was going to look for uninhabited Asgard and… found it. Huh, there were tons of mythological worthy stuff on it. I put them all to sleep. Then I carved out the entire part of the continent where Asgard, the golden city, was supposed to be located on the continental shelf and put, in essence, the current Asgard onto the planet that I brought into orbit around the sun. Of course, it was more complicated than this as I had to take care of the cosmological side of what I was doing.

The continent I have carved out, I put it directly into stasis into my pocket space that I had to enlarge to contain the stuff. A planet sized one was enough I guess. Maybe I should use the pocket space more than as storage? I shrugged and decided to focus back on the task at hand. I adjusted the planet’s ellipse around the sun to allow it to have seasons; the bifrost was now going to need to be adjusted but this wasn’t my problem; I restored Asgard to what it had been.

I felt a nod of approval coming to my link to Prime; she approved at least. At the same time, I decided to go look around the star system and beyond. I flapped my wings and went FTL.

 

# # #

(Odin Borson)

 

Time resumed and Odin felt a powerful reflux of energy surge back into him; this was more power than he had felt in his lifetime flowing through his veins, his back straightened, his skin became more taut and his musculature swelled. It was like being back to his prime, when Asgard was more… complete. He stood up from his cushioned desk chair, abandoned the paperwork he was filing and grabbed Gungnir.

This sensation and change forced him to seek out the cause of such an upsurge in the Odin Force. He crossed the room toward the window giving to the balcony, Odin looked into the sky, he couldn’t miss the gigantic form of a bird of fire dwarfing his entire realm; it made him understand who was the cause of the new vigor he felt. Was this what the Avatar had hinted at by giving him his reward?

Odin projected his gaze to his entire realm, as he got worried that something may have happened to it.  He first started with the palace, then pushed himself to see beyond the Himinbjorg only to see that the ocean was still extending further and further. Odin gasped in shock when he eventually saw lands on the other side of the ocean.

“Did she restore the entire realm?!” Odin exclaimed as he realized that Asgard was back to being an intact realm.

Clack! The All-Father heard the rapid shuffling of feet, the swish of an airy dress and the gait of a woman in his bedchamber. “Odin! Something happe…ned.”

As expected, it was Frigga and she looked at him as if she was seeing a ghost. Then one second later she was all over him, touching his arms, face and even scanned him with a spell. Odin stepped back from her, a bit shocked by what she was doing.“Wife, what’s gotten into you?”

“Odin… you look younger. I was trying to ascertain that it was really you; it’s like you’re two thousand years younger.” Frigga said and she averted her eyes with flushing cheeks.

The All-Father looked down at his beard and noticed that his age was slowly disappearing and the white of his beard progressively regained its blond color. “Frigga, dear…”

“You’re more than healthy again, but it might be temporary; we need to get you to Eir.” Frigga urged as she tried to pull Odin further inside his own apartment.

Odin sighed, he hated going to see the Healer, he saw this as a weakness. “It’s Elainedottir’s fault. That girl did something to the realm, didn't she?”

Frigga stopped pulling him and turned to him. She bit her lower lips as she tried to say something not too incriminating. Her doting on the Phoenix Avatar was getting to be too much. “I.. don’t know. It’s getting hard to see further in the future, even the past; her presence in this universe is causing ripples all over the fabric of reality.”

Odin tightened his hand around the shaft of his spear; if the Phoenix Avatar was being inimical to Asgard, she would be able to tamper with causality and time to make them unable to retaliate against her. But here she was trying to be helpful, or was she? The thoughts of an abstract cosmic entity were… abstract; restoring Asgard may be a reward, as well as a test for his people.

This may be a way for Asgardian to stave off the stagnation of their society. Odin quite regretted having ostracized magic users in his realm, because he wanted to have ultimate power in Asgard. This had proven to be short-sighted on his part; Magic users and Enchanters were in demand and the way for their magitek technology to grow his Kingdom. Maybe he will succeed in turning the tide of hate and intolerance this time?

With a resigned tone, Odin finally said, “Very well. Let’s convene a council! We need to hear exactly what she did from her.”

Frigga said nothing for a moment, and it bothered the All-Father. It was like she was caught having done something, he recognized the pursing of her lips when something went wrong. “What is it, Frigga?”

“She’s not on the… realm… I mean the planet.” Frigga explained as she wrung her hands.

Odin furrowed his brow, and slammed the butt of his spear on the carpeted floorboard. “Call for Heimdall! He must find her!”

 

# # #

 

Back with Jean…

 

This was the first time that I went FTL in space, and it was so exhilarating! It wasn't just a matter of going from point A to B like I would with a ship, I could maneuver between star systems, cosmic and stellar events, there was no up or down. This was total freedom!

Space wasn't a cold, empty, and dark place; no, beyond the boundaries of our home system lies an invisible region of chaotic, frothing activity. Interstellar space is very different from the blackness we perceive with our eyes. Magnetic fields are fighting and pushing and tied up with each other. It was like taking a plunge in tumultuous water, though instead we get a cocktail of gas, dust, and cosmic rays that blows between star systems.

The entire place is composed of extremely diffuse ionized hydrogen atoms, dust, and cosmic rays interspersed with dense molecular clouds of gas thought to be the birthplace of new stars.

“WOOHOOO!”

Fuck yeah! GO FAST! GO FASTER! Stars and other objects were like shooting stars as I traveled faster than the speed of light. I feel like I could cross the void between galaxies in a matter of seconds.

"Woops!" I rolled on the right, avoiding a collision with a stellar body.

"Freaking rogue planets, they're everywhere!" The thing had been the size of Earth, but it was all cold and purple colored. 

*Hmm, it smelled like ammonia, ewww.* I glared at it and sent a disintegration wave at it. The rogue planet was completely obliterated in seconds. Yeah that will teach it to try to stand in my way.

So yeah, as I was saying, Star Trek lied to me! Space beyond our solar system wasn't cold and black! It was so colorful. I wish I had done this sooner, but I was so busy with plotting stuff or studying new technology and being hands on with my pet scientists.

You know what? When I get back I will be less hands on with my people and let EVE monitor them if they start getting uppity or don't understand their place. Hmm, I didn't even feel the time pass, it's already been a day; but I don't want to go back to Asgard yet. I want to keep pushing my limits, though without breaking this universe… 

Oh, I know! Let’s try that cosmic teleportation thing I’ve been dying to try; I stopped momentarily in a nebula, focused and willed myself to go to Mars. One moment I was in interstellar space flapping my wings to control my flight despite the magnetic fields caused by the constant stream of charged particles between star systems and the next moment I was in the familiar embrace of the sun's Heliosphere, in the solar system.

I looked down and… Huh, I directly appeared over the north pole of the red planet. It still felt dead to me, the core was still inactive. Hmm, you know… I needed a base in this fucking universe and here was free real estate for me! This time I could train with my Phoenix powers and Terraform this planet for the duration. By the way, I wasn’t just having fun flying in space, my consciousness was spread beyond the Milky Way and I was spying on what the crazy titan was doing, the guy was relentless and already killing the population of half a planet right now, with his Ebony Maw guy giving a speech to make people believe that the Black Order weren't a bunch of murderers. There was no blessing in slaughter and I was tempted to break his neck and burn him down…

I did just that, I broke his fucking Xeno neck and made him disappear by manifesting a fire claw that pierced his body and consumed him on the spot. That will teach him to annoy me with his television preacher voice. Well, now Thanos-kun doesn't have his preacher… for Stan Lee's sake the black order was weak.

Anyway, back to the construction of my base! I had so many ideas right now… I didn’t like the fact that the planet was that size at all, hmm let’s make it five times the size of Earth, the gravity should be at 1.5 G. I don’t want just anyone to put a foot on my planet. They need at least super soldier physiology to survive here; that extra .5 G makes all the difference. For this, the planet needed more mass. This was why I gathered multiple asteroids of different composition, some metallic, earth or stone and then started some Celestial engineering.

The planet then became surrounded by a lot of space rocks, but before doing anything… I took out all the rovers on the planet and turned them off for a moment. Then used technopathy to spoof a connection to NASA, making them think the rovers were still transmitting data and that something sketchy was happening on the planet, maybe a large magnetic event which took out their eyes on the planet.

I sought a template planet in the multiverse, and I focused on a certain planet populated by giant blue people which was orbiting a gas giant that was itself orbiting Alpha Centauri A. I copied the template of the planet and started modifying it; the location of the continents, the water, microbes, CO2, nitrogen and other gasses essential for the birth of life on the planet which to me went like this: 78.08 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent oxygen, and 0.93 percent argon.

At least this is the way I want it to be, and this is how half the animal species from the Pandora Template dropped, there won't be any Na'vi developing there. I made further modifications to the template for large trees to thrive there, like on Kashyyyk, this is going to be interesting.

I changed the core of the planet to become a mix of vibranium/nickel-iron/and that super conductive metal that the RDA had a boner for. My precognition showed me that the magnetosphere was going to be really powerful, enough to make floating islands be a thing.

Then I realized that I was making a Death World -notice the capital letters- and that I was okay with that. It's going to be awesome! I spent two days on this, tweaking the template and having fun with the species which would develop here. Then, once I gathered enough resources from the asteroid belt and using my power over creation I went to work.

My Phoenix form started to swell to the size of Jupiter and I went to work on the planet, and I breathed a cone of cosmic flame onto the celestial body. It was just like forging… and I was an apprentice blacksmith creating my first ever work.

 

# # #

(Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan)

 

Meanwhile, in the Andromeda Galaxy…
Heleus Cluster
Ship Sanctuary II
In orbit of Planet Neo-Archeos

 

Once again she was filled with self loathing about what she was doing. How many people needed to die for Thanos to stop? Billions? Trillions? She had stopped counting how many sapient populations were halved. For her it had started on Zen-Whoberi, her homeworld, with the massacre of her people and more accurately of her parents.

Since then, Gamora has trained hard, harder than anyone from the Black Order and made herself into a weapon. Thanos was satisfied when she became one of the best Assassins of the universe. Slowly the female Zehoberei won Thanos' trust and started to scheme against him and undermine his plans. The only person she cared about here was Nebula, but her choices of wanting to be the better warrior between them had made it so that they have become quite estranged.

In a way it was better, Nebula had become a rival bent on seeing Gamora brought low on every occasion. Since their fall out, Gamora was always ready to run away from Thanos and Black Order. As time passed, she asked herself why she was staying there as raids on 'Problem' planets were launched. Because she wanted to limit the damages Thanos could do? That’s part of it, but there was also the fact that she was afraid to take that step, to step out of her role as the dark hand of Thanos.

Why wouldn’t she? Half the space empire in the cosmos would want her dead once she stepped out of Thanos’ shadow and protection. There was a price on her head, a sizable sum which could easily buy an untouched star system.

Her ‘father’ was sitting on his throne in full regalia, with a placid expression on his face only betrayed by the huge chunk of rock missing from his throne’s left armchair. Thanos was furious, Ebony Maw’s death was a huge blow to him; Gifted with powers of telekinesis, Maw was deeply loyal to Thanos and gave warnings of his power across the galaxy. Unlike Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Cull Obsidian, Nebula and Gamora, his adopted siblings, Maw stood out by never failing the Titan. 

Thanos raised his face and stared at Nebula who was kneeling before him. He asked in a slow stilted voice, “What happened to Maw? How did he die? Who did it?”

Nebula gulped, her head bowed, she was not going to look at Thanos in the eyes when he was this furious. “We-we don’t know, Father…”

Gamora stood straighter when Thanos decided to look at her. “Gamora, you were there, escorting Maw. Did you see anyone?”

*Be a good daughter, be dutiful, show him the mask that you’ve been wearing since you were a child.* Gamora thought as she took a breath and started recounting what happened in her own words. 

“No, Father, I didn't see anyone. It was like… a powerful force had grabbed his body to restrain him and then a lance of fire descended from the sky, pierced his abdomen, and next it burned him without leaving any remains. I ordered everyone to take cover when this happened and looked for the source of the fire which had consumed Maw. I called Nebula for help at that point, and even after scanning the skies with the Sanctuary’s sensor in orbit we found nothing.”

The Luphomoid girl whipped her head toward Gamora, surprised that she decided to share the blame with Nebula. With a finger on his chin, Thanos asked idly after hearing her words, “Do you think that it is one of the natives who did it?” 

Gamora wanted to close her eyes in frustration, she knew how he thought after spending so much time being molded by him; she knew that the Archeopians, who had only been settled on this planet for one hundred years after escaping Galactus destroying their planet, were going to face extinction right now.

“I doubt it, Father. If someone with such ability was here, we… wouldn’t have taken the planet.” She tried to dissuade and convince him that those weren’t one of the native who assassinated his favorite child. 

To be honest, Gamora was glad the golden child was dead, Maw had always belittled her. Thanos didn’t seem to want to hear what Gamora said, and decided, “I think we need to be sure that it wasn’t one of the locals…. I want this planet made an example of-”

HMMMM. RUMBLE.

The flagship shook, Gamora fell on her knee to catch herself, the light of the ship’s interior dimmed before reasserting themselves.

Thanos stood up, surprise etched onto his usually grave face. “What?!”

Nebula, who was still connected to the bridge thanks to her implants, shouted, "Father, the fleet in orbit is being attacked!"

“Damage report!” Thanos demanded.

RUMBLE. The ship shook again as it was being attacked; this surprised Gamora that someone would be this bold and possessed a gun big enough to rattle the gigantic Sanctuary II.

This time the light didn’t stay on, auxiliary power kicked in and the red emergency lights lit on the throne room. Thanos looked rather demonic under the red lights. 

Nebula was holding onto her head, continued to listen to what the bridge was reporting, then finally gave an update to the situation. “Father, our troops on the planet are being slaughtered!”

Thanos asked calmly, “Who is it? Who is attacking us?!” He exploded in rage at the end of his question.

“No one, somehow the claw shaped or wing shaped energy construct attacking us has no sources, only emergence points all around the planet.” Nebula said.

The lighting inside the room returned to normal, the engineers having succeeded in reconnecting the ship’s mainpower. Meanwhile, Gamora looked at her own wrist computer, on her display she was seeing fire constructs with powerful concussive effects rip into their Chitauri Command Center and other Q-ships. 

Fire talons of all sizes started to appear after they’ve taken out all the Q-ships, it was when there were only Command Centers left that Thanos ordered, “Recall the surviving ships! We’re retreating!”

“Power the Jumpdrive! We’re leaving!” Nebula ordered into her communicator.

Whoever was attacking them, showed no mercy, even the survival pods which had ejected were targeted. Gamora was not happy, she could be dying right now? *That’s it, I’m leaving after this.*

Then as she took this decision, the Sanctuary II left Neo-Archeos’ orbit in a flash of white light.

 

# # #

 

Planet Asgard
Royal Palace of Valaskjalf
Throne room
2 weeks after the restoration of Asgard…

Odin felt fine, no, better than fine; he felt rejuvenated. His body, which had begun to deteriorate prematurely, was gradually recovering as an influx of power was now fixing his cell’s telomeres, organs and muscles. The Phoenix Avatar, when she came back, had been satisfied with the result of her restoration of Asgard, but had thrown a fireball at him and… healed him, Accelerating his recovery by years.

Thor had helped him get used to his body on the training ground through combat and drills overseen by Eir who kept dogging his steps as Odin’s situation was atypical. He feared that the woman saw him as a case study right now. He thirsted for his time in the training ground more than his dreary duty at court now, this must be a side effect of returning to his prime, he was less willing to sit around listening to his ministers.

The All-Father was more interested in training Thor in wielding his magic without using Mjölnir as a conduit. He wished to just be done with his role as a king and leave the crown to Thor and go on a retreat with his wife. Now that he has received a new lease on life, maybe it was time to take advantage of it and skedaddle into the sunset and just stay on as an advisor for his son. Yes, this was a great idea, and it was even better since the Phoenix Avatar would be handling his rebellious daughter problem.

He knew he was at fault, because he raised her as a weapon. The fact that she so easily cut down her own shield maiden and companion because she still wanted to fight and conquer and revel in her bloodthirst was on him. Despite what Odin’s first born might think, he loved all his children and it was time to bring Hela back into the fold, he didn’t care if she had to be beaten up for it. 

Odin had noticed a pattern every time he interacted with Jean Grey Elaindottir; she was a lost child, very similar to Hela at times. He thought so even more when the girl walked into the throne room accompanied by Thor, Frigga, Lorelei and Jane Foster.

Jean was clothed in a black and silver leather armor, a hooded black feathered cape billowing behind her; she possessed the same swagger and confidence as his wayward daughter. She was a predator, and knew it. Now, Odin could understand why Frigga was so set into mothering the girl despite knowing her to be an Avatar of destruction if she so wished.

Befriending a Phoenix Avatar was no easy thing. As proof of his line of thinking, Jean greeted Odin crudely. "Yo. So, have you thought about my proposal, All-Daddy?"

Odin sighed, he stopped getting mad at the girl who acted like a commoner most of the time. She's been looking at him a lot since… How did Jean put it? Since he beefed up.

At least now Odin knew that the girl liked mature muscular men and not just the fairer sex. Same-sex relationships weren't anathema in Asgard, they were prevalent in the commoner strata of the population, it was tolerated in Asgard's nobility but people had a duty to continue their bloodline. 

In the time of his father, King Bor, they weren't and it's only thanks to recent reform in the last five hundred years that this changed. Fortunately for Odin’s nerve, a corrective force interrupted the young redhead’s lese majesty.

Frigga, who was at the young woman’s side, said with reprimand, “Jean, what did we say about decorum and respect for someone’s station?”

Jean laughed nervously, waved toward the All-Father sitting on his throne. “But, Frigga he looks like a swole-”

Slap. The girl was soundly hit behind her head. The sudden boldness of Frigga was rather attractive to Odin, he will be showing her his appreciation later tonight now that he could again perform his husbandly duties. If it was any other Phoenix’ Host, Odin would be preparing for war and have his realm ravaged by the fiery cosmic force; but no, the girl just fearfully looked at Frigga and scratched behind her head like a chastised Lady by her etiquette preceptor. 

Jean looked back at Odin. “Fine, I mean… Hast thou considered my humble suggestion, All-Father?”

Thor chuckled at Jean’s terse tone, but he was dope slapped in turn by Jane. He looked hurt at the young woman; Odin didn't show it, but now that he got to know the young woman, he decided that she wasn’t so bad a choice for his son.

Then his mind switched gears and remembered Jean’s suggestion… or should he mean strategic advice?

"Peace with Jotunheim. This is what we spoke about when you returned from your jaunt into space." Odin said as he needled the girl at the same time.

She didn’t seem affected by his biting tone, Jean just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she stared upon him with a serious expression. "No, it seems that you didn't listen. I didn’t mention Peace, but an alliance. You need to give them back the Casket of Ancient Winters."

Odin’s answer was instant. "No."

Time froze in the throne room; Thor, Jane and Frigga were frozen in place. The surrounding became gray, bleached of colors. Only him and Jean could move and interact. 

Standing before Odin wasn’t the same happy-go-lucky redheaded teenager, but a being made out of flame, golden eyes focused on him. “You taking the casket broke the balance, Son of Bor. Their world is dying. Though you have the means to save them and show your repentance.”

Odin lost many friends and some of his family because of The Battle of Jotunheim. Jotunheim wasn’t to be trusted, they held a deep grudge against Asgard, and it was worsened after Laufey, the Frost Giant’s King died while attempting to kill Odin.

"The threat they represent is too much for my people…" Odin insisted stubbornly.

The Avatar seemed to change tack, she didn't seem to look at him, but through him. Like she was participating not only in this conversation,  but multiple others. “I agree with you. But you must be shown to be willing to mend fences, even if it is one already destroyed. A new one can be erected.”

Odin realized that he couldn't really stop what she was asking of him. “I don’t believe that it’s a good course of action.”

“I had hoped to convince you without doing this, Odin.” She was on him right away, her flaming hand again one of the arms of Hliðskjálf, the gold started slowly melting. “Those who threaten the balance are to be exterminated. I have my orders from on high, this entire reality is being audited. Do you want your species to be wiped out of this universe to restore said balance?”

Odin stared into the flaming eyes of the abstract. Seeing that despite the friendship she has acquired here in Asgard, she would follow through. This was unfortunately the nature of the Phoenix Force, it did what needed to be done despite its own feelings.

"No…" Odin didn’t want to be the cause of his people's extinction because of Hubris. There must be a reason why the Avatar wanted him to make the first move.

Odin leaned against the back of his throne, "Very well, I will do what you ask of me, but you are forcing my hand, Avatar."

The hand of the Avatar left a mark on the throne; then she teleported back between Frigga and Jane after returning to normal, only to turn to him and explain, "I really didn't want to do this, but I’m not in control at those times. However, don’t worry, All-Father, if anything happens I intend to help and take appropriate steps. No one will be harmed because of bellies full of anger on both sides. I know so."

So she had planned everything, Odin didn’t like being a pawn for some higher entity. Time resumed, colors returned to the world and the first thing Odin did was act decisively.

After slamming the butt of Gungnir on the dais, he intoned, "Go look for the Casket of Ancient Winters in the Vault, Thor."

"Right away, All-Father." Thor saluted the King and turned heel, his steps echoing while he walked with purpose outside of the throne room.

Odin’s eyes focused on his wife who straightened her posture. "Organize a delegation to visit Jotunheim, and send forth the most open minded ambassador we have to ratify an alliance-"

Frigga interrupted him. "Skadi is still living in this fishing village with Njord? We could send her?"

Skadi was a Frost Giantess who married Njord, a Vanir warrior of the same generation as Odin; they lived in a fishing hamlet in one of the remote regions of Asgard. "Nice idea, wife. Have a messenger sent to them."

The Queen smiled courteously at him, appreciating his praise, then she disappeared to execute Odin’s order. But as she melted into motes of golden light, he heard her voice in his mind, <Odin. There's good augurs of this endeavor being fruitful. Don’t ruin this.>

With a sigh he replied back. <Yes, Frigga.>  

The doors of the throne room reopened; in no time, Thor was back with the magical construct, the Casket of Ancient Winters. Thor looked a bit frozen, Jean helped him by conjuring some kind of container in which the prince gratefully placed the casket.

Jean clapped, attracting the attention of Jane and Thor. She looked at Odin and gave him a nod. "It is time that I hold my side of the bargain I made with you. So, are you ready, swole daddy… I mean All-Father?"  

With Frigga not here to curb her, the girl quickly returned to her bad habits. Odin shrugged, people couldn’t change that fast. <I will be undoing the seal when you bring her to Asgard, as you… wished.> Odin projected this thought at Jean.

<Don’t worry, I will win. Then I will be leaving to Midgard with her and my other two… projects.> Jean assured him.

“Yes, I will be sending you to Helheim.” With his spear, Odin focused the Odin Force and opened a gateway to Hel. it was a green and black portal with swirling mist exiting it. 

Of course Thor had to be heard and protest. “Why are you sending her there, father? This isn’t a place that a young woman like her should go to.”

Once again Thor only saw the girl in Jean, not the powerful being of creation and destruction. The redhead put a hand on his biceps in a reassuring gesture and said, “Don’t worry, Thor, I must do this to free your father from his own demons.”

This hurt to say, but she was right. He made countless mistakes with his children, despite having tried to be better. 

“Later, Thor. Everyone, I'll be back.” She said with a strange accent.

Jane snorted and laughed at Jean who was smiling at her, then she disappeared into the green colored portal. Shaking his head, Odin then stood up from his throne, spear in hand and closed the portal. He looked at his son and with heartache started to say, "Thor, my son, there's things that you must know."

 

# # #

(Thor Odinson)

These last two weeks have been full of changes for Thor, he learned that Loki had been mind controlled and that is why he was prompted to attack Earth by the Mad Titan. Throwing him in prison right after his trial was idiotic. Maybe if they had looked for anything ailing him before said trial, the tribunal might have discovered that he was innocent. 

Jean was the one to have brought forward the matter and he started to think of her as a true friend, she always encouraged him into bettering himself and not rely on what he already knew. He had thought that she had a crush on him, but the way Jean stared at Jane’s posterior some of the time told him that she preferred the fairer sex.

Fortunately, her effort at seduction seemed to have settled onto Lorelei somehow. Loki avoided Jean like the plague, just like his friends, the Warrior Three and Lady Sif; but he didn’t see why they were reacting this way. Jean was a valorous and beautiful young woman. Sure, he had to make her get Fandral to go back to his good looks, but the man had annoyed her and was thrown into a magical land to live in the forest like a troll.

He avoided women like the plague now; Thor feared that Fandral would take some time to be mentally healthy again; fortunately, the mind healers were already paid by Jean herself to work on him. She was so conscientious…

And another change that marked him, he had to give up Mjölnir for the duration. Thor felt naked without his Hammer; Jean had given him a prophecy that he was taking seriously. He needed to learn how to use his abilities without the help of Mjölnir and to learn magic from Frigga. So, he inevitably joined the lessons in his mother’s courtyard.

Then there was this entire situation happening today, Jean was sent to Hel on a mission for his father, despite not being one of his people. With a frown, Thor asked, "What do you mean, Father?"

Odin leaned on his spear. "Thor, there are a lot of things that I wished I would never have to tell you. Either out of shame and guilt or because I had wanted to forget about it all."

The God of thunder didn't like where this was going. He felt Jane’s hand holding onto his arm in support as she guessed that Thor might not like what he heard.

"You're not my first born, Thor. You have a sister." Odin revealed.

This shocked Thor, so much so that he didn't know how to react. "A-a sister?"

Odin nodded. "Yes, Hela Odinsdottir -That's your sister's name- my daughter with my first and deceased wife, the Frost Giantess, Angrboða."

Thor felt lost, he had been told that he was the first born of Odin, that Loki was his brother… Now he doubted that anything he knew was the truth. "Why tell me this now, father?"

The door reopened. This time Frigga came back and she walked toward them. She frowned as she felt the tense atmosphere. Odin gave a quick answer to his son. "Because your friend, Jean, is going to bring Hela back with her soon."

This was a disturbing pattern that Thor remembered; he had been sent away when he started a war with Jotunheim by invading it. "Was she… was she banished like I was?"

Frigga arrived at Jane’s side who listened raptly to the family drama. Odin stared at his son and informed him gravely, "She did far worse than you, Thor. She tried to usurp the throne from me when I decided that we should stop conquering the other Realms. She was drunk on her power, death and slaughter."

Thor’s hand reached for the hand of his Uru forged ax given to him by a certain redhead. "How strong was she?"

Odin smiled at that moment. "Don't worry for Jean, she is, quite literally, one of the strongest beings in the universe."

 

# # #

 

Back with Jean…
Niflheim
Hel region

 

In Norse Mythology, Niflheim is the primordial realm of mist, ice, and cold. Well, I was lucky that my aura protected me from any kind of environment… because the place gave me serious chills. But there was also beauty in the stalagmites all over the landscape. The dark sky was gloomy though, did this place have a day and night cycle?

How did Hela survive in this desolate place? "The place leaves a lot to be desired."

I noticed the entrance of a large cave in the cliff's face behind me; spreading my spatial sense, I looked for anyone who might be there… Huh, there were plants here and running water. No, it's better to say that someone has a farming operation inside this cave. I decided to walk inside, hood on and mask to conceal my lower face. I noticed how well cared for the path was, the light inside came from bioluminescent plants. 

I ended up in a gigantic cavern, which had a magical artificial sun turning on itself in the ceiling. And like I detected earlier with my scouting, there was a huge vegetable garden of some kind of tubular plant being cultivated. The room was divided by a stream of water that started from a waterfall in one of the walls and then disappeared underground.

That wasn't all, the walls were covered in Asgardian text and drawings carved into them. Well, I guess I know how Hela survived now; the woman was smart and- 

"Well, well, well. This is the first time that I’ve had a visitor to my humble abode." Hela appeared in her full glory, she had tools in her hands, a hammer and chisel that she let fall on the moss covered ground.

She looked a bit under the weather, not emaciated but still unhealthy; still, her hair was an attractive black. I guessed she used magic to keep clean, but her tattered outfit showed me that it was at its limit. Why didn’t she look like the actress who played Hela? She was way sexier, she reminded me of the Hela from the comics. Fuck why did she have to be a hot Goth? This is my second weakness after Asian girls.

Hela walked up toward me, avoiding walking on any of the stretches of soil and plants between us. She could walk on the air. "Who might you be, stranger? Hmm, you're not Asgardian. A mortal, in this realm?"

I smiled. "I have all the luck, I found you on my first try. And for your information, no I am indeed not one of your people. I’m Midgardian."

She still had a smile on her face when she said, "Were you looking for me? Did you come to seek your death?"

Asgardians were all full of themselves, you had to show them who’s boss or they walk all over you because you're human. This case reminded me of Jane and Odin. The guy didn’t acknowledge her at all until I turned her into a Valkyrie.

"You? Kill me? Please, I'd like to see you try."

I had the impression of facing a particularly big shark when she looked at me. "It can be arranged."

Twin swords appeared into her hands and she threw one at me at inhuman speed; of course, I sidestepped by moving to the right, evading the thrown weapon. I rolled my eyes at her, "So now that we got the pre-battle banter out of the way, I need to introduce myself. Jean Elainedottir, Sorceress Apprentice. I was sent here to bring you back to Asgard." 

She frowned at the content of my sentence, her smile was then replaced by an expression of anger. "They sent an apprentice after me? Me, Hela Odinsdottir? They dare underestimate me? Has the old man become senile in his old age? Ah, I know what it is all about. You displeased my dear father and he sent you here on a suicide mission, how typical."

She really had a low opinion of Odin, I can get where she’s coming from. She was raised like a child soldier to be her daddy’s weapon and when he had his fill of the killing and the blood he told her to back down and she didn’t take it well. Hela was lost without a purpose, without wars and slaughter.

But I understood Odin’s side as well; Hela was a warlord, but not ruler material. But he badly handled her case in my opinion. "I don't work for your father you know? I am just trying to fulfill a transaction here."

Pffft. "What would a slip of a girl like you-"

The Witchblade manifested at my wrist and spread all over my arm. Hela stood there transfixed by how the Uru and Vibranium artifact flowed over my limb. "Okay… You're more interesting than expected, girl."

You can’t imagine how many hours of training it took me to be able to manifest the Witchblade Armor in its different states. I may have cheated and placed myself under a time dilation field when I went to the moon sized earth-like planet orbiting Asgard itself. It took me over six months to be able to control my new baby.

The monsters on that moon helped me master the Witchblade quite a lot as I massacred them. Maybe I should have brought Thor with me for a bit of training… But this wasn’t important, so I walked closer to Hela. "I've come to bring you to Asgard and convince you to give up on your aspirations of being Queen and try to conquer the universe."

I doubt she could, she wasn’t strong enough for that, unless she cheated with the Infinity Stones.

Hela threw her head up and started laughing throatily. “How foolish but… I really like your style… and you look like a smart girl. How would you like a job?"

“I will have to decline, I’m not into the business of conquering planets, Princess. It has become too easy for me… and unsportsmanlike.” If I wanted planets, I could just terraform them; invading and killing people wasn’t interesting.

She was looking at me with a strange gaze, it was hard to read her, her mental defenses were stronger than Odin’s. “I really want to see if you’re just shooting words out of your mouth. I’ve been dying for a fight for ages.”

“There’s only one way to find out.” I said then I sent a telepathic message to Odin who was still in Asgard. <All-Father, break the seal, please.>

I felt a feeling of acknowledgment on the other end of the mental link I had with the All-Father. My eyes fell inside the bottle green ones of Hela. “You’re about to be freed Hela.”

“What?” She exclaimed.

Golden shackles and chains manifested all over Hela’s body, even covering her head. Then cracks appeared all over them and soon enough… they shattered in a shower of light. Hela’s shoulder showed me how relieved she was, as if nothing was weighing her down, she breathed in and out. Her form shimmered with a green glow as her regenerative ability was healing a millennia of damage.

She reopened her eyes and looked at me. “Why?”

The woman was uncertain about how to proceed right now, and she wanted to know why I was freeing her. I shrugged, “Like I said, it would be unsportsmanlike to fight you while you’re bound and weak.”

Using the space stone, a blue portal opened behind me with a ‘Whoooosh!’ Then I looked around in the cavern. The carvings and knowledge here was still precious. “Before we leave, do you have anything you’d like to take from this place?”

She ignored my question. “Where does this portal lead to?”

“Asgard.”

She was surprised by my admission. “Do you know what this means, Elainedottir?”

I smiled. “Yes, I know that you’ll get stronger once you put a foot on Asgard.”

There was fascination exuding from her, my empathy could still catch what she felt. “You want to fight me at my strongest. I don’t know if you’re insane or an idiot… but I really like you. Are you sure that you don’t want to serve under me?”

“This is tempting, but I can’t agree, I always want to be on top.” I quipped as my eyes roamed at her curves. She definitely looked more healthy now that Odin wasn’t using his lifeforce to suppress her.

She tilted her head. “Are you… flirting with me?”

I didn’t answer that. “I guess we will come back for your things, after I’ve beat you.”

Her emotions shifted again from annoyance, to anger and they settled on fury. “Presumptuous Mortal!”

She threw herself at me, weapon first. I vaporized them and caught her wrist with my gauntleted hand. Looking deep into her eyes, I said, “Darling, you have no idea who I am, do you?”

Hela tried to punch with her free arm that I caught as well. She was shocked that I could keep up with her strength. But the Goddess of death wasn’t worried. “You as well, you’ve been- aaaaah!”

She should have been… I shifted and judo-threw her into the portal. I followed her inside and quickly went through the portal to find myself in the target place I’d chosen for our fight. When I arrived on Asgard, I looked around; this was a continent the size of Australia and we were inside plains, there was short grass everywhere I could see. But in the horizon stood tall mountains and some hills; there was even a primeval forest where I could feel some major monsters living.

Hela had landed in a thicket of bushes and dusted herself and glared at me. “Sorry, like I said, we finished the pre-battle banter long ago.”

“Impudent girl! I will kill you!” Oh she got the bladed helmet on her head and covered the sky with Necroswords, daggers, spears, and axes. I noticed that the damage to her clothing seemed to be repaired, then an armor snapped into existence over her whole body.

It was at this moment that my body filled with excitement, my nightingale armor was swiftly replaced by Witchblade’s metal armor and blades covered my entire form as it judged Hela to be dangerous enough to harm my squishy human body. My hair turned from a scarlet red color to a deep black one as I began channeling the Darkness side of the Witchblade.

Snakes like blades spread from my back and slithered to the ground. Hela raised an eyebrow as she looked at me. 

I stayed where I was. “You’re my first big fight, let’s see how you rate. Come at me, Princess.” Raising a hand, I made a ‘come on’ gesture.

This infuriated the so-called goddess of death and she ranted, “I’ll break you, Elainedottir! Then… then I will make you my slave. I’ll make you my thing, and you’ll serve me for all eternity.”

I blushed and started to chuckle. “Darling, don’t worry. I find you hot too. We can get to know each other after we fight.”

Her only answer was a rain of weapons shooting at me from the sky. I channeled cosmic flames into Witchblade and it gulped them down and enhanced my partner; the metal snakes covered themselves in cosmic fire and started intercepting the rain of weapons by manifesting more and more of themselves, deflecting, blocking and sending back the weapons in Hela’s general direction.

Hela didn’t have to deflect anything, her weapons just stopped before they reached her. When the rain subsided, I teleported at her side and with a Sai that I manifested with the Witchblade, stabbed her in the lower back.

Her armor stopped me from wounding her as deep as I could, sparks flew as a deep gouge marred this part of the scale mail she wore. CRACK! I felt myself being hit on the face, and thrown out against a short tree and broke my neck.

 

# # #

(Hela Odinsdottir)

 

She was back!

Power flowed into her being; and it took her a while to get used to channeling this much energy again. The girl, Jean Elainedottir; she freed Hela and she will thank her for it and give her a good burial. As Hela looked at the unmoving form of the one who freed her, she turned her back to the dead apprentice sorceress. She was sure that she had killed her with that hit.

She had been fighting like an assassin, and was able to last some scant minutes against her. Hela lamented her loss, such a skilled woman couldn’t be found anywhere and was rare.

Scratch! Crrrrkk! Hela frowned and then looked behind her and then the girl sat up. “Wow! I felt that one!”

With eyes wide, she gripped on the blade in her sword hand. “You’re not dead?”

The girl laughed. “Hela, Hela, Hela. You need way more power than this to kill me. Then again…”

Crack. The girl’s neck healed in the correct position, and she stood up. “...Death never bothered me anyway.”

Elainedottir held onto her neck and massaged it. “Phew, this was quite uncomfortable.”

How did she survive? Was it this gauntlet that she manifested earlier? Or that special fire which could destroy her weapons at contact? Jean was full of mystery and for someone as long lived and curious as Hela it was… intriguing.

Jean’s eyes fell on Hela and she said, “Ready for Round 2?”

Hela snorted at the question, the girl wanted more?! “You’re-”

STAB!! Hela felt something pierce her armor and her body. “Arghhhhhh!”

She looked down, it was one of those tentacles made of that singing metal; it was vibrating and cutting into her mail! Hela followed from where it came and saw that it was jutting from the ground. *How did she pierce my armor?!*

“So the vibro-sword trick with my magic does work!” Jean then lunged at Hela, brandishing her long curved blade directing it at the Princess’ arm still holding onto her sword.

Hela moved, running toward Jean not caring about her wound, leaving it to her regeneration to take care of. The two women started to exchange blows, blade against blade. Hela was surprised how the girl could anticipate her strikes or punches well in advance. What’s more? She could keep up with her speed and reflexes and progressively became less affected by Hela’s powerful blows when she did hit.

The more they fought, the more the girl’s technique was refining itself as she adopted the same techniques as the Goddess of death. The landscape around them was ravaged as they exerted strength powerful enough that each of their hits created shockwaves and the magic that Jean used started a wildfire that consumed the plains.

Hela learned the hard way to not let herself be touched by the fire as it spread and devoured what it hit. She had to cut bits of her flesh to not be turned into cinders. The fight moved toward the mountains, the two women moving at high speed, Hela learned that the girl could fly by manifesting bladed dragon wings; so she had to brush up on her air magic to follow her in the sky to not be picked up by the pyrokinetic from afar.

It was infuriating, despite Hela being able to draw on Asgard’s energy it became harder and harder to put down Elainedottir! But there was also the fact that Hela was having fun, someone was finally matching her. However, the girl was exasperating to talk to as she kept flirting with her.

Hela attempted to stab Jean again in her sides, but the redhead’s armor simply deflected her Necrosword while Jean’s own blade somehow could pierce her own armor and taxed Hela’s regenerative healing factor. They were finally at the foot of the mountain they’d been flying toward while throwing weapons and fire lances at each other.

Jean and Hela looked in each other’s eyes, Hela now guessing at the time, it had been a full day since they’d been battling. And it was the most fun she had had in her entire life.

“Come on, show me what you got. You can do better right? Aren’t you tired of letting me penetrate you?” The smug grin of the redhead’s enraged the Goddess of death.

“That is definitely an innuendo!” Hela blushed and conjured a gigantic sword that she threw at Jean who evaded it at the last moment.

The big Necrosword embedded itself into the cliff face. Hela chose that moment to throw herself at Jean blade first. The girl caught it, used her superstrength to break it and she threw Hela on the ground, grappling with her. Hela pulled more power from Asgard to boost her strength but it was for naught, Jean didn’t move an inch away from her.

“Hehe.” Jean chuckled.

Before launching another attack, Hela decided to ask Jean something. “I have a question… are you immortal?”

The girl nodded. “Well yeah, did you think they would send some no name after you, the Goddess of death, the Commander of the Legions of Asgard?”

This was strangely flattering, to be recognized by her foe who was almost as good as her. Hela laughed, a smug smile etched on her face. “Yeah, that’s more like it. Odin may be a knife-ear tree-hugger biatch now, but he isn’t stupid.”

Hela headbutted Jean and punched Jean in the left boob, sending her crashing into the mountain. “Hack!”

“We can continue like this for years!” Hela said with giddiness. She was starting to enter into the zone, after so long without having to fight, she was shaking the rust out of her skills and slowly regaining her battle instincts.

Crumble. Crumble. Jean extricated herself from the mountain's rocks covering her, dusted herself and then said out loud to Hela, “Yeah, no.”

An orange and gold aura started wrapping around Elainedottir, the configuration of her armor changed to become less demonic and more fairylike.

Jean walked toward Hela, with even more purpose than before. “So, it’s not that you’re annoying to fight or anything like that. But I’ve got a mission to do and I need you.”

Hela began thinking, the girl had steadily started ramping up in ability as they fought, Hela hadn’t shown all of her cards yet, then she realized something that she’d been missing… “Huh, this entire fight was an interview? You wish to recruit me for something.”

Jean smiled, “Well, yes. Wasn’t it obvious? I’ve been refraining from killing you all this time to test you.”

“Test me? ME?!” Hela was furious, never before she had been this underestimated. “The only way for me to submit to someone else would be to win against me, Elainedottir.”

Jean pushed a relieved sigh. “Oh! Excellent, let’s do that. I can’t wait to see you writhing under me.”

Hela was used by Jean’s bravado at this point, but what she just said bothered her. “You meant serving, right?”

She only received a smile in answer, Hela rolled her eyes  and threw another rain of weapons at the girl. But something different happened this time, instead of blocking it, the girl just raised her hand. All the weapons stopped moving, shaking as some other force was prying their control from Hela bit by bit. “IMPOSSIBLE!!!”

The weapons changed allegiance and turned toward Hela, they were all wrapped in flames and Jean said smugly, “I can do the rain of weapons trick too. Let’s see how you like it…”

Hela cursed herself for giving her foe motivation and ran for cover for once.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Not in time, she didn’t find any cover. Like meteors the flaming weapons struck the ground mercilessly, creating explosions. But Hela did manage to create an egg shaped construct to weather the onslaught. The Nekroconstruct burned, the flame produced by Jean Elaindottir eating through it, but Hela continued to reinforce the construct with her powers.

Hela remembered having heard of similar flames before, they were more powerful than even the Eternal Flame; this was… Cosmic Fire!

SMASH!!! A fist covered gauntlet struck the egg shield and it shattered into a million pieces; something that should clearly be impossible. Jean’s hair was once again red and fire covered her entire body, the redhead’s hand caught Hela by the neck.

Hela could literally feel the vast power that simply dwarfed Asgard’s and understood that she never had any chance of winning. This wasn’t  someone that an Asgardian or even a Goddess of death could hope to fight. 

Jean Elainedottir is a Phoenix Avatar.

Hela's face was really close to the girl’s, and she began to say, “I want you to remember, Hela. In all the years to come, in your most private moments, I want you to remember, my hand, at your throat, I want you to remember, the one woman who beat you.”

Right at this moment, for the first time in her life, Hela went weak at the knees, and… she climaxed and blushed as she was bested. Jean further added, “Do you yield, Princess?”

“Yes, I will.” Hela gave up, this fight was meaningless, but it had been really entertaining.

“Good.” The girl let go of her.

Hela didn’t want to stop there, the girl had expressed interest in her. And she was a Princess of Asgard, her paramour should be as strong or stronger than her. She threw caution to the winds and did something bold, she caught Jean’s face between her hands and kissed her.

Jean didn’t seem to struggle too much, Hela felt a hand behind her back and her head and the redhead kissed her back.

---

A/N: Sorry, couldn't resist... had to add Hela to the harem >.>

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