Nylah hadn't talked to her blonde-haired brother for a few days, and nor as she talked to her darker-haired brother. Thor was still stuck with the other fighters; and as for Loki, well, it was clear that he was loving his life on this planet. He lived in wealth, with unlimited resources, and there was no way that he was going to even put that at risk. He was just being selfish, which was nothing new, but it hurt her, nonetheless. All the young Asgardian wanted was to be reunited with Thor, and to live with both of her brothers in peace – one they defeat Hela.
They were all she had left, and she wasn't ready to let that go just yet.
Nylah was left home by herself this afternoon, which was no surprise. Loki needed to maintain his appearances on Sakaar in order to keep his new life; and to do that, he had to who knows what for the Grandmaster. He often disappeared many hours out of the day to complete tasks or to attend parties for the Grandmaster, and Nylah had enough of waiting around all day for him to come home. Besides, when he did come home, she would only give him the silent treatment – so she was alone, every single day.
Today she decided to end that same old routine and try something new. She ventured out to the city, away from the apartment and into the craziness of the festival. Although, now that she was in the middle of the said festival with green powder all over her dress, a part of her wished she had just stayed in that damn apartment. The festival was all about the Hulk; everyone was dressed in the colour green and some had even carried masks that resembled his face, while others carried around bombs filled with green powder.
It was a real pity that this dress was ruined. Perhaps the green powder would come off when it is washed, but she was sure that the powder was going to stain the skirt of her dress. The fabric was different than the others, which is why she had the initial thought that the strange powder would stain the dress; but then, she had remembered that her brother had a unique taste in clothing for his sister. The skirt was detachable; but before she could tear the skirt of the dress off, she needed to find somewhere away from the crowd to awkwardly take it off.
Her eyes searched for a free corner away from everybody; or even a walkway that would lead her to an area away from the crowd. She pushed her way through the crowd as politely as she could, until her eyes found an alleyway with no one in it. She knew alleyways were never the safest place to take refuge in; she had learned that from Midgardian movies, even on their news programs that shared terrible stories relating to alleyway murders. But whether she was fond of the idea or not, she needed space without sweaty bodies pushing her in all sorts of directions.
Although as soon as she entered the alleyway, she found herself stopping in her tracks suddenly. Her eyes found a tall and muscular man, which was undoubtably her brother by the way he wore a strange light green towel over his head, standing almost directly in front of her. Beside him was a much smaller man, and Nylah recognised him easily. Bruce Banner. He was dressed in a fashion that Nylah didn't associate him with, as his clothing style reminded her of Tony Stark rather than Bruce Banner.
"Thor?" A wide smile curved onto Nylah's lips as her eyes flickered between Thor and Bruce. "Bruce?"
"Sister!" Thor exclaimed happily as his strong arms quickly engulfed his sister into a hug, almost squeezing her to death. "Just in time! We're getting out of here!"
"That's great!" Nylah clasped her hands together when she pulled apart from Thor, her eyes still flickering between her brother and Banner. "We should go get Loki. We cannot leave without him, of course!"
"Well..." Thor sheepishly rose his hand to scratch the back of his neck. "We don't have a ship."
Nylah furrowed her eyebrows as, for only a minute, she found herself lost in thought. "Loki has a strange bond with the Grandmaster. I'm sure he'll be able to get us a ship."
"Uh, sorry, um, last time I saw Loki, he was trying to kill everyone..." Banner chuckled lightly in confusion, looking down at Nylah. "Is he... well, is he like a good guy now? Or something...?"
Nylah furrowed her eyebrows. "He's always been good."
"Right, of course, sister..." Thor hit Banner's back, which had almost sent the human flying into Nylah. "So, where is—"
Another green-powder bomb exploded, spreading the disgusting powder all over the three of them – and they all had closed their eyes instinctively. Yet, when Nylah and Thor opened their eyes again, they could find each other, because Bruce Banner was suddenly nowhere to be seen. Nylah stared at her older brother wide-eyed, and her brother stared back at her it – it was as if the two siblings could speak to each other telepathically, simply by the way they looked at one another before forcing themselves out into the large crowd.
Nylah held onto her brother's hand as they walked through the crowd, eyes searching for their Midgardian friend among all sorts of creatures. The crowd was larger than she had originally thought, they had to squeeze their way through which had only made Nylah feel claustrophobic. She tried to swallow her fear and uncomfortableness so she could keep walking, but it was nearly impossible to do. All she could do was grip onto her brother's hand tighter than ever and try her hardest to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach.
It was at this moment, Nylah's eyes had caught Bruce Banner on a lower level, down the stairs. She watched as his body accidentally collided with a body that belonged to an unusually large, and very angry, creature. Nylah felt her heart and stomach drop as she rushed down the stairs, dragging Thor along behind her. Nylah picked up the front of her skirt with one hand to help her run faster, and before she knew it, she was pushing Bruce behind her as Thor pushed her behind him.
But just as Thor prepared himself to fight the angry creature, it fell limp to the ground after it was zapped by some sort of device on its neck. As the creature dropped to the ground in agony, a girl in similar armour stood in his place, with a remote in her hand and white paint stained on her face. She looked badass, and that was for a reason – she was a Valkyrie. She had read about them in books on Asgard, and her mother used to tell her stories about their bravery. Nylah always wanted to grow up to be one, assuming that she would inherit powers like Thor or Loki... but here she was, stuck with healing powers.
"Hi." Thor stammered awkwardly.
The Valkyrie raised her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly. "Hi."
"What are you doing here?" Thor tried to start conversation, and Nylah assumed he was attempting at trying not to be suspicious. However, Thor being himself, was failing at this. He was never good at lying.
"What are you doing here?" She repeated as she lowered her hand with the remote. "I thought you were leaving."
"I got..." Thor searched for an excuse. "Side-tracked."
Valkyrie nodded her head slightly, still suspicious, before she pointed to Thor's towel. "What's with the..."
Thor touched his towel gently. "It's my disguise?"
"That's what it is?" Nylah accidentally blurted it out – because much to Thor's unique way of thinking, it certainly was not a disguise.
"What she said – it's not a disguise if I can see your face." Valkyrie pointed at Nylah. "By the way... who are you?"
"His sister." Nylah shrugged her shoulders as Thor looked down at his sister, shocked that she did not understand that he was wearing a disguise.
"Okay, but when I do this—" Thor grabbed the edge of the towel before moving it over his face. "You can't..."
Amused, the Valkyrie turned around and began to walk away, in which Thor proceeds to smile proudly – like he convinced her that his disguise was great. Silently, they all began to follow her into a much quieter area that lead them into a building similar to Loki's apartment building. However, the calm and peacefulness of the building they were walking into did not calm Banner's nerves. He constantly whispered in Nylah's ears if Valkyrie was going to kill them, or if she wanted, and what was up with the paint around her eyes. Nylah, frustrated but hiding it, left all his questions unanswered, but ensured that she gave him some reassurance to go off by.
Because honestly, she was unsure of what Thor's friend's intentions were, and what that woman was planning.
"Look, I've spent years in a haze, trying to forget my past." Valkyrie suddenly stopped once they reached a door, and she turned around to face them. "Sakaar seemed like that best place to drink and forget, and to die one day."
Thor nodded his head understandably. "I was thinking you drink too much—"
"Thor!" Nylah scolded as she slightly hit his upper arm, the same way their mother would when Thor or Loki would say something inappropriate.
"I don't plan to quit drinking – but I don't want to forget. I can't turn away anymore." Valkyrie hesitated with eye contact as she spoke. "So... if I'm going to die, well, may as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag."
Thor and Bruce nodded their heads and looked at one another; but they had not reacted much considering that Valkyrie had made it clear that she wanted to help them. Nylah expected at least Thor would be excited and blurt something out of his mouth – but even he said nothing. Nylah looked back at Valkyrie, who had raised her eyebrows at the boys.
"So..." Valkyrie sighed in slight annoyance. "I'm saying that I want to be on the team. Has it got a name?"
"Yeah..." In other words, Thor had not thought of a name yet. "It's called the Revengers."
Nylah's eyes lit up in excitement of the similarity between their team name and the team name on Midgard. "Oh! Like the Avengers? On Mid—"
"No, silly..." Thor chuckled nervously. "Because... well, I'm getting revenge, you're getting revenger, and... are you guys getting revenge? I mean, obviously you want revenge too, right, Nylah?"
Nylah furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Well, mother told me that revenge is not the answer to your problems."
"Oh, little sister..." Nylah's eyes grew wide with confusion when she heard the muffled voice of Loki behind the white and green door. "Mother wasn't always right, you know..."
"Yeah..." Valkyrie smirked as Nylah eyes snapped toward her. "I've also got a peace offering."