Lou cleaned up all the mess. First she changed to some comfortable tank-top and trackpants. Using wet washcloth she cleaned Debbie, changed her into one of her oversized tshirt and shorts. With a little help from Tammy, she took Debbie to her own room and made her sleep there. Later she cleaned Debbie's room. I need another shower. Debbie, I'm gonna kick your ass once you wake up. She showered and wore her green velvet suit.
She walked downstairs. Hela was waiting there. Tammy was checking some documents. Rose and Amita are designing something. And Constance and Nine playing video games. Kids are in their room with Daphne making them wear fancy clothes and do ramp walks.
Green suit, Hela looked admiringly.
"How's she?"
"The alcohol knocked her out. She'll wake up in some hours .. like 12-15 hours. Now you're here, note this down. Never allow Debbie to drink more than she can hold it"
Hela nodded. This was the first conversation they had without any hesitation or reluctance. Whenever Debbie's not in her sense, Lou takes charge and while doing so she's highly focused, she'll let go personal differences or thoughts.
"I'm sorry you had to see that on your first day"
"I guess it might have been my fault"
"No. You didn't do anything. I instigated her, getting that bottle. She doesn't like drinking during the day"
"Actually I might have initiated that. I pissed her off by drinking in front of her today morning. I apologise to you too for that", I can apologise to my daughter. It's not a big deal.
"You too drank? She allowed you?"
"Yeah she was angry and also worried that you would yell at her"
"Why?"
"I drank your good stash"
Lou suddenly pulled her aside. She didn't want others to hear about the personal stash. That first contact without any hesitation, though wasn't any loving one. Still Hela felt happy in her heart.
"You drank from my personal stash? And she allowed it? What all you drank?"
Lou opened the cabinet, making sure none are looking at her. Starward and Vodkas missing.
"How's this possible. 6 bottles missing"
"I drank"
"No ways. How can you... How did Debbie allow this? And how are you alright?"
Don't tell me you're just like me when it comes to alcohol.
"It's weak. Didn't even feel a tinge"
NOOO... Why is she like me? Who's she? Oh no... My brain's gonna blast into million pieces now. Better to ignore... Ignore for now.
"You angry? I just... I couldn't drink the coffee. It..."
"Leave it. I'm not going to speak about this. But just don't open your mouth about this secret stash in front of others"
"Done", Hela said with a smile.
Lou just shook her head. She really need Debbie to wake up.
"Now that Debbie's knocked out, I guess I'm supposed to make you comfortable here. So hmm... Follow me"
Hela followed Lou back to the living room
"So, Helly... You'll be taking Constance's room till I clean the other spare room"
"And what about me mom?"
"You always spend your time with Nine in her room playing video games. You hardly sleep in your room. So... I don't think there's any problem. Just for a week"
"Fine... But I need my room back after a week"
"There's kitchen. Do whatever you feel like and eat it. We prefer sharing so... Keep that in mind when you prepare something. And washroom's there on that side. Also there's one upstairs. She need not know about mine and Debbie's shared bathroom in our room. The last room there... is my gym. Since you're a gymnast, I guess you'll find it useful. I don't have fancy machines and equipments. Only one treadmill, cycle ergometer, a punching bag and some dumbles. So..hmm.. that's it. Enjoy your stay here", Lou finished with a straight face.
"That's great. I think you can practice with Lou", Tammy spoke holding the documents firmly in her hand.
Shut up Tammy
"Lou, see you got someone with whom you can practice", Stop it Tammy, "you need not drag us to be on your recieving side", Tammy said smilingly, also relief could be seen on her face.
"I... I don't train on regular hours. I go by my convenience. She's a gymnast. She has her own regulations. Also I don't do acrobatics. Only combats"
"Nope. We can do together", Hela just wants to be with her daughter. Also training with her daughter might stimulate Lou's powers and so she can begin to realise her identity.
"I don't think..."
"Lou.. You got some equivalent opponent here. So you should consider. You won't learn more if you only train using us as your opponent"
"I..." I want to refuse. But my stupid brain isn't listening.
"Fine. But don't expect me to be present always"
"Sure, thank you"
"No mention it"
"Thanks for the coffee too"
Lou nodded. Hela did enjoy the coffee. Though she didn't like the first time which Debbie had prepared, when Lou prepared she drank it. She loved it. It had more to do with her daughter preparing it than the taste of the liquid itself.
"I'll give you clothes for tonight. I still don't understand why you aren't having any of your luggage"
"Lou, she lost all of it. Some guys robbed her"
"You're a gymnast. I believe Debbie also said you are familiar with combat sports. Couldn't you defend?"
"There were too many guys"
"And they stole your clothes and few pennies?", Lou couldn't believe this.
"Happens Lou. There are people who steal clothes. Be happy that only clothes and money are gone. What if she was you know..."
"Hmmm yeah. Right. So where are you from exactly", Lou's fully professional when it comes to her con job. Her main work is to have A-Z details about the person. She began her interrogation. She's already made her mind to not interfere with personal discomfort.
"I...ahh.. England... Later moved to Australia... I'm in States for past 10 years now. Was a cashier in a diner. Slapped a guy who misbehaved and so got fired. Couldn't pay my bills and rent so got kicked out of my room."
Debbie had warned her to practice and be natural as much as possible, for Lou's like a hawk and can detect smallest change in body language when she is interrogating.
"Good you slapped him. These mother******* need to be killed infact", Tammy spoke.
"Mommy language. My babies might hear"
"They're upstairs"
"I meant my grown up babies. Constance and Nine"
"Hey fuck you... We aren't babies. Infact we're the only adults present here", Constance spoke and shared high five with Nine.
"Okay okay... Back to business. So you're a gymnast. I expect you to perform something here. But you're hurt now. Will you be able to? Should we postpone this to next week?"
"No need. I can do now if you want"
"Hmm you see our work isn't something you do in your tournaments and competitions. We won't be having any convenient bars and supporting structures. You might think before you decide to join us. You can just be a member and not the gymnast of our team. Will accept you to assist one of our teammate here now that Debbie's backing you"
"Nope. I need not have any support. I can do anything you ask me to do"
"Is that so?"
Confidence, let me see what she can do.
Lou and Tammy discussed among themselves for a minute and then nodded.
"So Helly, your first test will commence right now. Hmm... Wait a second. Daphne can you please do a favour and come here? Leave my babies alone. They need not walk the ramp so soon. Me and my husband aren't planning to send them to Hollywood"
"In a minute. Also I'll have a therapeutic session for you and your husband. You guys are having too much negative impression on Hollywood"
"Just come here diva. Also get your fake tiara"
Daphne came out of her room and stood near the railing upstairs. Lou told her to wear the tiara and stand a feet away from the railing. She did so.
"So assume Daphne as a mannequin. You need to go and remove that tiara from her head. Not to use staircase to climb there and not to touch Daphne", Tammy explained.
"What'll you do is your choice. You can use the chair here for initial jump or try..."
Before Lou could even complete her statement, Hela did the summersault (similar to the one she did in Thor: Ragnarok) without even taking support of her hands on the floor initially, she was perfectly tracing the imaginary trajectory path, now, still in air right above Daphne, she easily plucked the tiara without touching a single hair and landed two feet away from Daphne. Everyone shocked, stunned, their jaws hanging. Lou couldn't believe her eyes. This is impossible to do.
All except Lou started clapping, howling and screaming downstairs.
"That was spectacular. You... How did you do that? Even Yen can't do that with so much ease", Tammy complimented.
"It's easy. Not a big deal"
"It definitely is a big deal. You're so flexible. In movies we use harness and so many other supports to do a small stunt. But you.. you just... Are you really a human?", Daphne asked jokingly.
Hela raised her eyebrows.
"You were amazing", Daphne said and hugged her.
Why do humans hug?
They both were about to walk down when Lou spoke.
"Not bad",
Only Hela's daughter can say something spectacular as not bad.
"Now Daph, you get down here. Helly you stay there"
"What do I do with this?", Helly asked showing them the tiara.
"Place it on your head"
All laughed. Hela was... embarrassed?
"Not a joke. I mean it. Place it on your head, do not tuck it into your hair. It should be free. Then walk on the railing there. Balance yourself, get down walking on it. Your walk down on slope will show us your stability. The tiara should not move from its place"
"Lou no.. that's dangerous. We don't have any mats covered here down. She might fall. Also the railing isn't wide enough. Balancing a foot is too difficult. We aren't gonna do circus show here"
"She can do it Tam. Isn't it Helly?", Lou asked challenging her.
Hela smirked. She's enjoying this. Her daughter testing her without knowing who she is and what she is able to. Well I can play too. She'll walk till the end of straight rail and when walking on the slope, will make the tiara fall. She won't allow them to suspect her so soon.
"Yup. I can"
Hela wore the tiara, about to climb the rails.
"You might need to remove your boots"
"No need"
Hela climbed the rails, started walking on that narrow metal rod with ease. All are stunned. She stood for a second once she reached the straight end and started walking on the slope. That moment she decided to let go the tiara. She slightly shook her head, none could make out that, and the tiara fell. She acted shocked and decided to loose the balance and jumped off the slope railing, caught the tiara before it reached the ground and landed safely with a regained balance. A shriek from Rose and Amita followed by the applause by others after Hela landed safely. Lou still silent and indifferent to the act.
"You... I thought you would hurt yourself. You balanced well when you fell down. Also you didn't let the tiara go. Doesn't matter if you failed this. You are amazing. You are like 1000 times better than all the gymnasts and stuntman we had earlier. You're amazing", Tammy said, hugging her.
Humans and hugs. Uurrggh
"You are dope. You're amazing dude. You're awesome. Fantabulous. You rocked it. You gonna make videos for my channel. You will gimme billion views"
"I never saw these kind of tricks and stunts. You... You are amazing... Are you this flexible in everything?", Daphne asked with a wink.
Hela gave her a confused look. She really didn't understand what Daphne meant. Rose shut Daphne's mouth.
"I was scared. I thought you fell and hurt yourself. I closed my eyes. I couldn't see it", Rose spoke honestly.
"Ahh it's fine. I won't get hurt"
"You're fine but you failed the test", finally Lou spoke. "You think you can get away when you fail during our heists?", Lou asked.
You purposely failed. I saw that. For someone who can do summersault from lower to upper level, with greater trajectory, this balancing art should be easy. Also with this talent you could easily fight the guys who robbed you. You are lying and you've included Debbie in your side. Whoever you are, you have come here with some motive. I will find out for sure.
"Lou, you gave her the next to impossible task. She tried at least. Walking over that railing without any safety, that too with all wounds in her legs and arms... Not a child's play", Tammy showed her displeasure towards Lou.
"Join me regularly for training? You can tell me what stunts you want me to perform that'll help in heists and also with what gravitas I'm supposed to do. Then I can be better that way", Hela spoke with a spark in her eyes.
You really don't know what I can do my child. Once you are aware of who you are, I'll show you and train you all that I can do. Right now I want you to be closer to me. For that I'm ready to pretend failures in my fortes too.
"I won't guarantee it. Let's see"
Fuck I should've appreciated instead. Now I'm stuck with her during the training. Or probably I can find out more about her during that time. Let me figure out her motives that way.
"So Helly you're done with your test. You are our official gymnast. Let's celebrate this with some beer", Amita said.
"No drinking. Already our grumpy boss is knocked out there"
"Stop calling her grumpy in front of Lou. Lou doesn't like anyone name calling Debbie", Amita said winking at Daphne.
"Oh yeah... Sorry for making fun of your wife Lou"
"Wife? You and Debbie are...", My daughter married Debbie? Why didn't Debbie say that? Also she's a woman... Hmmm Valkyries used to have female relationships. So my daughter is interested in women? But my daughter isn't a Valkyrie. How did this happen?
"Nope. We are friends. These guys are jobless, so they unnecessarily ship us", Lou spoke, clearly disinterested.
"Ship?", Ships are used for sailing.
"Yup... You know their ship name... Loubbie.. it's cool. They're pretty good together"
So they are friends who own a ship called Loubbie. I need to see that ship. It's been ages I haven't sailed. Let me ask once Debbie's awake.
"But they do behave like old bickering couple with sexless marriage"
Hela immediately closed her eyes and ears. She's not going to here about her daughter's sex life.
"If you wanna stay here in peace then learn to ignore their stupid talks. Okay?", Lou told Hela.
Hela nodded. She was a little amused.
"Tams I won't be helping you preparing lunch. I wanna sleep a bit. I'll cover the dinner. Will you be okay all by yourself?"
"It's fine dear. You go sleep"
"Yup go sleep next to your unconscious wife. Cuddle and feel her", Daphne and others started their leg pulling session again.
Lou sighed and walked upstairs. Hela didn't know what exactly to do now so she started looking around the loft. Amita assisted her and started showing her the rooms.
Lou went inside her room, looked at Debbie.
What have you got us into Debbie Ocean. I hope you know what you're doing. I don't want you to be in any trouble.
Lou removed her jacket and then slept next to Debbie, her right arm around Debbie's sleepy figure.
-----
"Helly can you please help me set up the table?"
"Hmm sure"
Hela got all the silverware and placed on the table. She arranged it in a royal way, like the one in Asgard royal dinner.
"Wow, that's... Amazing"
Hela smiled genuinely. No one had ever praised her for these simple works. None had seen her in artistic way. All they saw was a war machine.
"You can be my model along with Lou for my next suit collections. You... You both will make it look hot"
"Keri... Baby go wake up your aunt Lou"
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