Chapter 141: Chapter 141: The Winter Tarot.
Author : I'm missing She-Hulk although it only been a day. To ease my sadness, give me powerstone please.
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"Hey, you're finally awake," A man dressed in a purple suit walked towards the imprisoned Bucky. The Winter Soldier was sitting lifelessly on the floor, wallowing in self-hate for a few hours before the man responsible even came.
The Winter Soldier stared at the man in front of him, studying him out coldly.
"Oh my~! Don't glare at me like that~ I will fall in loooove~" Tarot said sarcastically. He playfully tried to cover Bucky's glare with his hand while giggling like a highschool girl, making the old fossil annoyed.
"By now, your memories had come back, right?"
Bucky jolted up from the floor he was sitting on with his back resting on the bed frame, walked towards Tarot, and slammed the energy mask in front of Tarot with his metal arm.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Bucky yelled with extreme agitation. He punched the energy shield several times, trying to break out of his imprisonment.
He was afraid. Afraid that he will lose himself again.
Ryan didn't budge an inch even when Bucky tried to attack him as he had absolute confidence in his energy shield. Not that Bucky can do anything to him even if he managed to break out, but it was nice to see him so active like this.
"Me? Why are you talking like it was my fault that you got brainwashed by Hydra? Do you even know how long I needed to string your mind back together after it was placed on a blender?"
Bucky went silent again after hearing what Tarot had said. His hand was still on the energy shield, glaring daggers at the man in the suit.
Ryan already predicted that this would happen. There was no way Bucky could trust him – someone whose identity was unknown – without thinking that any help given had ulterior motives behind it.
"Also, I couldn't completely save you at the moment," Ryan said truthfully.
"...What?"
"Your memories had scattered all over the place. Some were even destroyed by the brainwashing machine. I had strung whatever was left back together, but there was still some deep brainwashing I haven't had a good chance to clean up."
"You said it like my mind was a garbage place."
"Isn't it?"
Bucky smiled softly for the first time and lowered his hand from the energy shield. He was grateful for the action, but it was hard to trust someone after what he had gone through.
"I remember my last order. I was supposed to kill you," Bucky said with a pang of immense guilt in his heart. The faces of the people he had killed kept replaying inside his mind.
"Would you rather not remember about it?"
Bucky was silent, understanding perfectly what Tarot insinuated. If he wanted, Tarot could remove all of his traumatic experiences, and lead him to live an ordinary life instead of being a fugitive.
"No. I'd… rather remember them."
Ryan nodded inwardly after hearing the answer. "Okay then, you must be hungry."
"Is there a food slot cut in somewhere?"
To Bucky's surprise, Ryan lowered the energy shield that was containing him.
"Come on, there are a lot of things for you to catch up on. Also, we're going to plan your revenge after this."
Tarot was already moving away from the prison, turning his back on Bucky. The Winter Soldier was stunned, as he thought he was going to be in prison for the rest of his lowly life.
He thought that he deserved the punishment for what he had done, but a budding thought was spreading inside of his mind, to meet the victims' families that were grieving because of his actions.
"You coming?" Tarot turned back to see Bucky hesitating to come out of the prison cell.
"I…What kind of revenge?"
"Of course, the Hydra destroying kind."
Bucky stepped outside the prison after hearing the reply. Although he wanted to atone for his mistakes, he wanted to destroy Hydra even more then that.
He walked next to Ryan in the suit and just sat down and talked.
Ryan needed time to completely remove the deep-rooted brainwashing inside of Bucky. He wasn't sure how his actions could influence the future, however, he was in too deep to care about that anymore.
"Aliens invaded New York?" Bucky was bewildered after hearing the world news.
"Steve was frozen in ice for 70 years…and he is still alive?"
"There was a big marshmallow robot and a huge green man?"
Bucky almost couldn't believe what Tarot was saying. The stories almost seem fake to him. Nonetheless his experience in the war was even weirder and had eased his journey into the future.
"When you finish eating, let's go attack the base that will hurt Hydra the most."
Bucky nodded after hearing the suggestions. The most important base's for Hydra that he knew of were a few in numbers. He smirked as he imagined the destruction of the base.
Bucky already hypothesized that Ryan had some kind of superpower in his mind . Otherwise, he won't be able to help him fix his mind.
"Let's go then…to Siberia," Bucky said with determination. He did manage to remember the base in which he was kept for 70 years.
"Sure. Let's go," Tarot replied as he took out a card. The card was inscribed with the rune for the door, written in draconic runes.
Throwing the card in front of him, it floated and turned into a rectangular portal, in which the Siberian base was on the other side of the portal.
Bucky was agape when he saw the world-shattering sight. Snow storm started to flow into Tarot's base and fall around the floor. The temperature of the base dropped drastically the moment the portal opened.
"What kind of thing are you?"
"Me? I am Tarot. Nice to meet you James Barnes."
"Bucky. You can call me Bucky."
Ryan went through the portal together with the armed Supersoldier. The snow storm caused the figure of the two people to disappear from naked eyes and with it, no Hydra member stationed there had figured out their upcoming demise.
…
Underworld.
Shrinking the spaceship and putting it in his pocket, Dawn arrived at the entrance of Odin's seal, and broke through the absolute barrier using a quantum discombobulator that allowed him to mimic Ava's condition that exists in both the quantum realm and reality.
"Ugh," Dawn spat out a mouthful of blood into the underworld's soil as his body had received tremendous pressure from the device.
"Damn you Odin," Dawn cursed as he ventured maskless into the underworld dimension.
The longer the time he spent with Hela, the more he didn't understand Odin's decision to chuck Hela into the underworld. A personal bias had grown inside him, causing him to take Hela's side no matter what.
Dawn walked alone amidst the deserted land. He walked until he arrived at the cave of the Ancient, the place where he met Hela for the first time.
After a few hours, he finally saw the stone throne where he had seen her figure before.
"Who... was that?" Dawn's eyes sharpened as he saw that Hela was no longer alone there.
A 3 meter tall Troll by the name of Ulik had fallen onto a deep space crack during his battle with Thor on Vanaheim. The Troll lived inside the extra dimensional dimension under Asgard. This particular troll has a mane like a lion, and his gray-bronze skin was covered in bronze fur.
Ulik was a 1000 years old troll who was the oldest Troll in his species, and had the strongest prowess among his race.
He was smitten with Thor's hammer, and was searching for a hammer of his own after he failed to lift Mjolnir.
During the nine-realm resurrection in Vanaheim that started when the Bifrost was destroyed, Ulik had commanded an army of allied races to wage war against Asgard.
The army had grown after the universe mercenaries had joined the battle such as the Kronan and the Sakaarans.
However, Ulik had found himself inside an unfamiliar cavern when he separated from the crowd to count his war spoils from the Vanaheim inhabitants. He seemed to have crossed onto a unique space tunnel that led him directly toward the Underworld.
"Goddess of Death, Hela Odinsdottir. Me, ULIK, the strongest Troll. Swore loyalty to you and will serve you in your path…to destroy…Asgard…"
Ulik kneeled in front of Hela to swear his loyalty. The trolls had never forgotten the enemy of Odin who had banished them into the depth of Asgard, never to show their face onto the nine-realms again.
The banishment during the warring state of the nine realms had continued until tens of thousands of years. The only reason why Odin didn't take back his order was because he didn't remember where he had placed the trolls.
The Trolls have reproduced in the dark until they have developed an adaptability towards it.
Hela looked at Ulik lazily from the stone throne. Her left hand was supporting her head as she sat there. Ulik couldn't gather Hela's interest, even a miniscule fraction of it.
However, Ulik's undying hate toward Asgard had allowed Hela to conjure a weapon using her divinity for Ulik. It was made from a replica of Mjolnir, and was named by Hela as... Stormbreaker.
Unlike Odin's design of the Stormbreaker, Hela's version was a short handled axe, the same size as Mjolnir. It had a bladed edge on one end, and a hammer on another. It has hardness strength comparable to Mjolnir but none of its specialty. However, it carried Hela's power inside it and would have caused great destruction for Asgard and Earth at the hand of Ulik the Troll.
Hela flinched when she sensed a familiar feeling entering the cave of the ancient. Her first person that swore undying loyalty to her since she got sealed was heading directly for her.
"Goddess of De-"
"Shut up."
Hela dangled the hammer from falling onto the palm of the kneeling Ulik, and turned her attention toward the elf with green hair glaring daggers at her. The troll couldn't wait to get his new weapon and keep holding his head down to the level of Hela's feet, but the moment was denied from him.
"So, have you thrown me away and selected a new champion? HEEEELA ODINSDOTTIR?!" Dawn said from afar, with clear jealousy in his voice.
"Why have you come here for Dawn?" Hela said in a stern voice, hiding her shaking heart. She didn't understand why he came here even when Odin was still awake. She didn't care if Odin hunted anyone else, but not Dawn. Never him.
"What about you Hela? Why haven't you come home?" Dawn said in an angry tone as he opened a big stride to get near her.
'Home?' Hela was shocked to hear the word. She no longer had a home when she was banished from Asgard and was sealed in the Underworld. Her mind couldn't accept it.
"Don't spew nonsense Dawn. My only home is Asgard!" Hela said with pride, and stepped down from the throne to confront Dawn.
"Did you really think that I consider that puny island my home?" Hela said with a mocking tone, as she was 2 meters away from the elf.
"Yes. I do," Dawn said without hesitation as he saw Hela's scary face up close.
"Then you're out of your mind. Did you forget who is standing in front of you Dawn?" Hela said instigatively as she created her Necrosword using her divinity that can kill even Gods.
"I am your King. You dare to disrespect me?" Hela held her sword on Dawn's neck.
She wanted him to break his vow and leave her. That's why she was being difficult to talk to at the moment. She wanted Dawn to leave her by her choice, not when he realized her true self.
Everyone had abandoned her. She didn't want Dawn to do that to her, therefore she would do it before he could.
"Renounce your vow Dawn. From today onward, you're no longer my champion."
Dawn glanced at the sword's edge pressing onto his neck and then he changed his sight to Hela's face. She wasn't kidding at all when she insinuated that she would cut his neck.
However, Dawn became madder for her instead.
"Do it. Behead me."
"What?"
Hela widened her eyes as she heard what Dawn was saying. She gripped her sword tightly and pressed the sword even harder, but she didn't actually cut him.
She didn't want him to come.
She didn't want him to find out what she had done.
She missed him.
She wanted to break out from the underworld and be with him after she laid waste to everything Odin holds dear. .
"Dawn. Stop!"
Hela yelled as Dawn continued approaching her even though the sword was on his neck.
"I am serious!"
Dawn ignored her and stood directly in front of her, their faces nearly touching each other.
"Stop running away from me," Dawn scolded her in a calm tone.
He inched closer to the frozen goddess, wanting to kiss her lips. Hela's heart was beating rapidly as she prepared herself to do the same thing.
However, one big furry oaf destroyed the atmosphere.
"Get away from the DEATH!" Ulik yelled and body slammed Dawn, causing him to slide on the ground until 100 meters away. His undeveloped voice box couldn't even finish his whole sentence.
Dawn didn't fall from the impact, but his head was slammed, causing his nose to get hurt.
Ulik looked at Hela proudly as he was useful to the death goddess. 'After this, she will accept his loyalty…right?'
"My Hammer?" Ulik asked in anticipation as he saw Hela was blanking out. Hela gave him his hammer without thinking in which Ulik thought he had done a good thing.
Hela finally snapped out from her state and rationalized her thoughts again. She almost gave up trying to abandon Dawn from his actions. If Dawn landed the kiss, then her mind would have changed without a doubt.
"Urgh. That hurt you furry beast," Dawn said as he wiped the blood coming from his nose.
"Ulik. Throw him out of the underworld," Hela ordered the Troll.
"Understood my Queen," Ulik replied excitedly as he got a chance to prove himself. The enemy was a small elf – even smaller than the Death Goddess. He didn't have anything to fear as he faced the opponent.
"So, do you really think I will play along with your schemes?" Dawn said as he took out his staff. His sentence was directed to Hela, not the beast.
"I don't have any…schemes," Ulik replied to Dawn instead of Hela.
Dawn almost rolled his eyes at the beast, and cast instantaneous magic missile barrage to attack the troll.
Blast upon blast of magic missiles explode on Ulik's body, however…
"HAHAHAHA, Magic is USELESS…against TROLL."
Ulik excitedly jumped to the sky and held the hammer with two hands. He brought down the hammer directly on top of Dawn, wanting to smash his skull.
Hela was silent and didn't even watch the battle. For the first time in her life, she didn't have any interest in seeing people in combat with each other. All she wanted was for Dawn to leave the underworld, and stay in the lightless dimension alone like she used to.
*BANG*
A loud sound was heard inside the underworld, scaring the giant serpents around Niflheim and causing them to slither away.
"One way or another…" An ethereal voice sounded amidst the dust cloud that stirred up because of Ulik.
The Troll was tied up inside a cocoon of roots coming out from the ground, strangling his neck and restraining every part of the troll. If magic didn't work, then Dawn instantly used his divinity instead.
"I will make sure to reach you…" Dawn looked towards Hela who was turning her head away, and vowed out loud. The resonance of the Death and Life power appeared again, this time stronger than before.
In Asgard.
Odin was sitting on the magnificent throne with Frigga by his side. Suddenly, his calm temperament shattered as he sensed powerful strength coming from his seal in the underworld.
The resonance corroded Odin's seal, almost shattering it.
"Haaah…" Odin let out an anxious breath, and stood up from the throne. In his twilight years, Odin could barely control the seal like he used to.
He headed to his chamber in which he promptly fell into his Odin sleep, a condition that he won't have to wait until a year later to do. Only when he was sleeping did managed to handle the seal.
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