"Thor is here?" Nylah's face lit up instantly at the thought of her blond brother, her eyes darting around the room as if he had been magically hiding. "Where is he?"
"Well..."
Nylah's eyes snapped back at Loki quite sharply, only when she had realised that her brother was hesitating with his words. Which wasn't exactly anything new; but this was not the time for Loki to anger his younger sister. Her brothers are the only family she has left, and Loki was keeping them all apart, and she could understand why. Her eyes narrowed at Loki as she tried to use every single braincell in her head to figure out what he was up to; but she couldn't find anything. All she knew that he was hesitant.
On the other hand, Loki hadn't meant to worry or even anger Nylah. If anything, he was beginning to fear his sister. What he had witnessed back on Earth – Nylah's powers – was truly astonishing. He knew his sister was powerful, the girl had the ability to heal, so of course she was going to be a powerful woman. However, perhaps the raven-haired Asgardian had underestimated his sister's abilities. The last thing he wanted right now was to make her as mad as Hela did.
"Loki..." Nylah warned, her eyes narrowing further. "Where. Is. Thor?"
"We're on a planet where they like to send lost people in to fight, it's really fun actually—" Nylah cocked an eyebrow at her brother, who was attempting to stall her. "Right. Anyway... Thor is one of those people competing."
"Well, then, he'll win whoever they put him up against." Nylah shrugged her shoulders, assuming that this was not such a bad situation after all. She really couldn't understand why Loki had seemed to be so worried to tell her such a thing; Thor was one of the strongest people in potentially the entire universe, he'd be fine fighting some random on this planet.
"He's going against the champion..." Loki awkwardly scratched his forehead, but still, it wasn't enough to convince Nylah that this was a bad situation.
"And?" She prompted.
"The champion is the Hulk."
Nylah's eyes widened as soon as those words fell from Loki's mouth. "Bruce Banner is here too?"
Nylah and Banner had never really talked much during her time on Earth, her first time on Earth, to be specific. She liked him and she knew he was quite smart, but he was a very shy and timid man. Nylah could be quite shy at times too, which had not helped in strengthening their bond. Besides, back then, Nylah hadn't found much interest in bonding with humans after she had failed saving a life. Peter, of course, really changed that for her.
"Just... get dressed, okay? Something impressive." Loki was practically begging, his eyes full of hope. "You'll be meeting the Grandmaster. We've figure everything else out afterwards."
"Thor is priority..." Nylah furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "But I suppose I will need to make a good impression on the Grandmaster, so it is easier to get back Thor... yes?"
Loki sighed. "Yes... I suppose so."
.
Loki had provided his sister with a new dress; something that would somewhat impress the Grandmaster, but Nylah hadn't thought of the dress as anything special. She would have thought that her brother would have whipped out a sparkly, long, beautiful dress that would captivate everyone, including herself. But the dress that was neatly laid out upon a bed, was not something that would captivate anyone's eyes. It was... leather?
It was a dark blue dress with hints of brown shown in the leather bodice, but the blue skirt of the dress has a softer material, but she was unsure of what material it was. It wasn't like her other dresses at home; but that was beside the point. The skirt was detachable, which was rather strange but useful in a way, and there was a pair of tight pants that matched the bodice of the dress, in which Nylah had been secretly wearing underneath the skirt. She slipped her feet into silver flats and she tied the sides of her hair to the back; leaving a diamond flower clip to keep the strands of hair together.
The faint bruises and healing cuts hadn't completed the look well, and she had more or less just looked like a dressed-up warrior. This wasn't bad at all – if it weren't the fact that she was supposed to be meeting the leader of the planet. She assumed Loki wanted her to look like a princess... and right now, she didn't believe she did.
"Now, just follow my lead." Loki instructed as they waited outside a room, her nervous brother gently holding onto his sister's hand.
She turned her head slightly to face him, her eyebrows furrowed together. "Of course, Loki."
A sigh of relief escaped Loki's lips as his hand wrapped around the door knob of the door, twisting it ever so slightly before opening it. Warm air and the sweet smell of fruit and sweets had hit her like a truck as soon as the door opened; and now she understood why Loki was desperate to ease into the plan of saving Thor. It seems as if Loki is apart of the elite on this planet, and he would not want to put that at risk.
The room she was in, and the people, greatly reminded her of home. While their fashion was rather different and even the way they stood was strange... they reminded her of home. The women were dressed in long (but strange) dresses, all drinking out of a martini glass with a golden liquid – and that alone made her curious. Perhaps it was apple juice. Apple juice is Nylah's favourite juice, so, she really hoped she would be offered a glass quite soon.
But the thought of apple juice had instantly left her mind the moment her eyes stumbled across the large window. The large window was much like the one in Loki's apartment – but this window was different. Instead of looking out at the city, she was able to look into an arena. The arena that Thor would be fighting in! So, naturally, the young Asgardian pushed past several people to get to the window, where she placed her hands on either side of her face as she stared out, finding a hologram of man in a golden robe. Strange.
"I'll say no more, see what you think. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you..." The man's voice sent chills down her spine as her eyes darted to the floor, where a door began to open. "The Lord of Thunder!"
The Lord of Thunder was a strange name; but it was enough for Nylah to recognise who it would be. Although it had taken her a second to realise (thanks to the haircut Thor received), she eventually recognised her older brother standing tall, with a fierce look in his eyes. The weirdest part of it all was that the crowd was booing him – why would they boo Thor? No one ever boos Thor. Loki, yes, but not Thor.
"Okay – let's get ready to welcome this guy... here he comes..." The man in the hologram announced, clasping his hands together as green fireworks begin to appear from high above Nylah. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... your Incredible Hulk!"
Nylah's eyes widen as Hulk breaks through his much larger door, dressed in an unusual armour similar to Thor – but he was full of rage, screaming on the top of his lungs as Thor stood there hopelessly. She loved her brother and she knew he was strong; but she couldn't help but begin to doubt whether her brother could win this fight against a very angry Hulk. A part of her hoped that somewhere in that big green guy that Bruce would be there, anywhere, somewhere, just to put an end to this fight. She didn't want Thor getting hurt... or worse... killed.
While Nylah feared for her brother's life, her brother seemed rather excited. "Yes!"
Nylah instantly turned around to Loki, and he was already in a panic. His wide green eyes stared at her with fear as he begins to grab at her wrists, trying to drag her away from the window. Nylah was unsure of why her brother had been so scared – or maybe he was scared because Thor was going to get hurt, which meant that he was going to go down to save Thor! So, excited to save her brother (and potentially Bruce), she followed Loki and did not attempt at putting up a fight.
Yet, their plans failed with their bodies quickly crashed into a familiar man. Once Nylah had looked up to apologise profusely to the man in front of her, she realised that it was the same man in the hologram in the arena. He wore the same golden robe, and the same strange paint across his face. He was much smaller in person, though.
"Hey, where are you going?" The man, who Nylah began to realise was the Grandmaster, got unusually close to Loki. A strange smile – a smirk – curved its way on his lips as he gently began to push both Loki and Nylah to a long, white couch. It looked rather comfortable if Nylah were being honest, but she had no interest in sitting down and watching the fight. She'd much rather get Thor out of there than watch him get severely hurt.
"You're the beautiful, uh..." As the Grandmaster sat down beside Nylah, he stared at her and tilted his head slightly. "Loki's sister, um... what's your name again?"
"Nylah."
"Ah, of course, Nylah!" He smiled a wide smile and slapped his knee in glee. "God, I love Asgardians."
Nylah furrowed her eyebrows at him in confusion before she returned her attention back at the arena, quite confused with the Grandmaster's words and behaviour. Nonetheless, Thor had quickly drawn Nylah's attention away from the Grandmaster when his body had completely turned to the glass box she was in, a proud smile on his lips.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, waving his hands all about. "We know each other – he's a friend from work!"
The Grandmaster shared the same look Nylah had just given him thirty seconds ago; confusion, eyebrows furrowed together. Nylah hadn't bothered to look his way, and neither did Loki. Instead, the Asgardian siblings continued to stare through the window in an awkward manner, doing whatever they could do to avoid looking at the Grandmaster. She began to stare at the crowd that cheered for the Hulk; while Thor began to talk to him, but she couldn't work out what her brother had been saying to him.
However, when Hulk began to charge angrily at Thor, she figured that perhaps her brother had said something either stupid or offensive. She had to hold back the urge of standing up suddenly as the Hulk jumped so high he was at eye-level with Nylah, preparing to crush Thor with either his body or weapon. Or perhaps both. Luckily, her brother had managed to quickly dodge. Nylah couldn't help but wonder if Bruce Banner was really still inside of the Hulk, after all. Bruce would never intentionally try to hurt Thor.
"We have to do something." Nylah practically begged in a whisper to Loki, ensuring that Grandmaster could not hear her. Loki had only barely looked at her in response; no words coming out of that mouth of his. For once in his life, he was speechless.
But it was when everyone had suddenly become quiet, that Nylah returned her attention back to the window again. She found Thor standing on one end of the arena, with all the sides of the arena smashed and severely damaged. And at the end of the damage line of the walls, an angry hulk was laying on the ground, breathing heavily as he glared harshly at Thor. Now, if Hulk hadn't looked like he was about to quite literally kill her brother, Nylah might have been proud at her brother's achievements.
That was when she decided that she was not going to watch this any longer. She was not going to just sit her hopelessly as she watches her brother get hurt. She was not going to stand by and watch something like that ever again. So, she wasted no time in getting up and ignoring the Grandmaster's exclaims as she stormed out of the room. She could hear groans and thuds coming from outside of the room, and the moment she could hear them, she begun to run. Simply hearing her brother in pain was too much for her.
When could this girl just get a break?