No More Tears

Meanwhile....

"Well?" She turned to her servant and glared. "What have you to say for yourself? YOU said they were all gone.  YOU said there would be nothing and no-one, to stop me." She reached over, grabbing his jaw in her thin bony hand, squeezing until his eyes began to water.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know until this morning. The messenger only arrived back an hour ago.  She had been hidden. In plain sight. All this time." He rubbed his jaw as it was released with a screech of disgust.

"Well, that little bitch might have been able to hide from me till now, but not any more.  When I find her, and I will, I will kill her. Slowly. Painfully. But only after I kill whoever helped her, first." She turned. "Go. Prepare my soldiers. I want them ready to act on my command. And Skurge?"

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"Don't fail me."  It wasn't a request. It wasn't an order. It was a threat.

Hela turned away with a dismissive wave of the hand. So, a Valkyrie still lived, eh? Deep down, she had a sneaking admiration for someone who could outwit her for this long. Not that it would matter, soon she would send her to join her sisters. She may yet end up in Valhalla with them,  after all, she was a fighter, but Hela would make sure the journey there was as unpleasant as possible.

She looked at the paintings surrounding her. Portraits of the family she rejected wholeheartedly.  Even the Jotun, outsider though he was, was an enemy. Nothing and no one would stop her from claiming what was hers. 

She looked out the window, the stars were out and she could see the constellations blinking at her.  They were as old as time itself. They were time itself. If only she had more of it.  Time was running out for her. If Thor - and that greasy weasely, scarily cunning, Loki - got control of the throne, she'd never wrestle it back. She had to get it and now.

Moving from the throne room, she kicked the dead body at her feet aside and walked into the hallway. More bodies littered the marble.  Pity. They might have made good allies. Oh well, she shrugged, soldiers were ten a penny. Even if they weren't as handsome as the one whose face now looked at her with glassy blue eyes.

"Oh, Fandral," she sighed, "you would have made such a good pet." She ran a finger slowly down his cold, dead cheek. With a sad shake of her head she moved on. Now, the only remaining person who could lead to her downfall, needed to be dealt with.  The Valkyrie. 

"I hope you're ready, little one." She sneered, " here I come ready or not!"

In a flash of green and black smoke, Hela walked into a vortex and disappeared.  It wouldn't take long, just a few seconds, then she would be at her destination.

Midgard was in for a shock.

Loki woke the next morning to the sound of his brother snoring in the living room.  He knew it was Thor for two reasons.  One, he'd recognise the baritone thunder anywhere, and two?  Well the large rune covered hammer currently sitting on his chest, preventing him from avoiding - escaping - what he suspected might be an uncomfortable conversation.

"THOR!" he yelled "THOR!"  No response  "THOOOOOOR!" 

The snoring stopped.  After a moment, the tall blonde figure appeared in the bedroom doorway.  He smirked at Loki's discomfort.

"Good morning to you too Brother!" he laughed.  

"Get this OFF me!" Loki snarled.

"Do you promise not to try to escape?  We need to talk." Thor took a few steps into the room and held out his hand. "Well?"

"Yes, yes, just DO it." 

Instantly Mjolnir leapt into the huge paw belonging to the God of Thunder.  Loki sat up, rubbing his chest and grimacing.

"Oh don't be such a child. It didn't hurt and you know it." Thor threw Loki's clothes at him "Get dressed.  We need to talk about Hela."

Loki stared at him, all thoughts of retribution for his little stunt forgotten. "Hela?  What the?  I thought she was still banished?" he dressed, for once his curiosity overcoming his need to show off with magic.

"Ah well, that's where you're wrong Loki.  We were ALL wrong." Thor said, suddenly sombre.  Come on through and I'll tell you.

"So, she managed to persuade the remaining Dark Elves to use the remnant of the Aethir we didn't get to free her."  Loki shook his head, half impressed by her cunning but also less than impressed by the implicated result.  Hela wanted the throne and she wanted revenge.  Not a good combination. "So how do we stop her?" 

Thor was looking out the window as Loki spoke, absentmindedly twirling Mjolnir as he did so.  Distracted for a moment, he missed her and she dropped onto the floor, leaving a large dent in the wood.

"And THAT is why we can't have nice things THOR!" Loki scolded him. 

Thor smiled and shrugged, "Sorreeee?" 

He came and sat down, placing the hammer on the coffee table carefully as Loki scowled and repaired the floor in a flash of green.  Turning to his brother, he conjured a couple of mugs of coffee. 

"You remembered I like this then?" Thor said sipping it carefully.  

"I do pay attention to you sometimes" Loki allowed himself a smile.  Annoying, oafish and all-round goody two shoes he may be, but he was still his brother and currently the only family he had left.  Apart from the hellcat they were about to discuss.  "you were going to tell me how we stop her?" he sipped his own coffee and sat back.

"Well, we need an ally.  A female ally.  A Valkyrie!" Thor looked at him steadily as Loki's eyebrows hoisted themselves to the top of his head. 

"A VALKYRIE? Where in Odin's name are we going to find one of them?  They all died painful deaths at the hands of our Hellcat sister." now he knew they were on to a loser.

"Well, not exactly." Thor, for one of the few times in his life had the upper hand against his brother. "There's one left.  One is all we need apparently, to administer the fatal blow."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Loki stood, ready to go and get this saviour so he could return to obscurity... and Hoodie Susie.  Thor shook his head.

"It's not quite that simple I'm afraid.  She's been in hiding all this time, it's going to take a lot to convince her to come out.  She's the last one, the only one. And there's another problem... " he looked rather more concerned than he had up till now.

"Go on." Loki said slowly, sitting down.  He had a very bad feeling about this.

"We have absolutely NO idea what she looks like or where she is, other than here in London."

"Really? That's great Thor, really. A FANTASTIC plan.  Let's get someone we don't know to do something we have no clue about and you don't even know where she is.  Brilliant planning as always brother!"  Loki's voice rose several octaves as he paced the room again, throwing his hands in the air in despair.

Thor looked at Loki and for once, couldn't disagree.  He could only hope, between the two of them, they could track her down in time.  He wasn't very hopeful.