章 45: Chapter 45) – We'll Be Coming Back

Training, touring and tutoring was predominantly what the remainder of our time in Asgard consisted of.

The training aspect varied depending on who exactly we were training with.

For the first day, after the public ceremony, father formally introduced us to Tyr - who we had previously only met in passing during the mingling on the second day of Thor's revelries.

Odin stated that the man was touted to be the Einherjar's next Commander and, as such, would be one of the best people to evaluate our combat capabilities which would include where the biggest improvements could be made.

That day and the one after that, we sparred with various Einherjar's that Tyr selected – all with varying degrees of skill, technique and weaponry – to further reinforce the advice and suggestions he had made on the first day.

Our last training session in Asgard was spent with Sif and the warrior's three, which also linked into the tutoring part of our remaining time in Asgard.

Even during the prior training with Tyr supervising, Sif had tagged along to both train herself and also assist us if needed.

Sure, Tyr was good at his job, but having a second opinion on things from Asgard's best warrior wasn't something either of us would turn down.

The warrior's three came into the picture when Sif explained to them how she had been learning about the hidden weaknesses of the body from me.

They too wanted to learn what I was teaching, but after the initial explanation they all decided that it was too difficult to remember and just helped with our training instead.

Speaking of the tutoring, Sif absorbed all of the knowledge I provided her like a sponge.

Within only the few days since she had begun learning about how many internal weakness both human and Asgardian bodies had, she was already altering her fighting style to aim for them at any opportunity.

Mother was in charge of the touring after daily training, and she had great pride whenever we would stare in wonderment at the Asgardian scenery.

Since she had been queen for a long time, our mother knew basically everything there was to know about her world and was more than happy to explain it all to us.

We learned about how the architecture had evolved over time.

How the Asgardians influenced the worlds they visited and how said worlds subsequently influenced Asgard - as well as a multitude of titbits and trivia about the people, and the world, of Asgard.

Enlightened by the experience we had, it all unfortunately had to come to an end as the week time limit Mara had set for ourselves eventually closed out.

------

"Well, this is goodbye for now. We'll make sure to visit whenever we get some free time considering how spectacular our time here has been and the fact that we actually have a family now."

Standing inside of the Himinbjorg, where we had arrived on the planet, Mara and I were on the verge of leaving the alien world we found ourselves a family on.

Since the only people present to send us off was family and friends, I created a head so that I too could say my farewells, "Mar is right. Discounting the incident with our new brother, our time here has been nothing short of incredible. Thank you for everything, truly."

Stepping forward from the small gathering, mother wrapped us in a hug, "It was our pleasure you two. It was a combination of your revenge on your brother and my spur of the moment decision to adopt the pair of you, but I can say that so far I do not regret it for even a second. I know it will take time; however, I hope that you both eventually come to think of us as your home."

Not joining in on the hug, Thor stepped towards us and our mother to say his piece, "Do not feel obliged to visit every time you are free. As much as we appreciate your presence, you also have relationships on Earth to maintain. Balance it however works best for yourselves."

Also not partaking in the hug, and showing who Thor had learnt his mannerisms from, father stepped close and laid a hand on Mara's shoulder, "Your brother is correct. Do not feel like you always need to be here. Asgardians are a long-lived race. We are not going anywhere. Move at your own pace and we will do our utmost to match you."

Smiling gratefully at Odin, Mara replied, "Thanks, father. We'll make sure that we enjoy the best of both worlds – literally. If you need us at any point, though, don't hesitate to contact us."

With Odin simply nodding his head in response, mother separated from the intimate moment and the men reverted their prior steps.

As opposed to immediately leaving, Mara waved at the gathered warrior's three, and gave some quick parting words to Sif, "Remember what we talked about Sif. Think about what you want, and don't rush into things."

Copying the ruler before her, Sif simply nodded in acknowledgement.

Goodbye's over with, I absorbed my head back into Mara's body as she turned to face Heimdall, "Ready whenever you are Heimdall."

Another who didn't verbally reply, the gatekeeper simply raised his sword and plunged it - tip down - into the slot situated at the exact centre of the Himinbjorg's circular floor plan.

Bursting into life, a rainbow coloured Bifrost portal to Earth was almost instantly created in the circular frame set into the dome wall of the Himinbjorg.

Giving one last parting wave to everyone present, Mara walked backwards into the portal to take us back to Earth after a week of being away.

------

Just like the last time we used the Bifrost Bridge, our eyes were treated to the impossibly fast scenery of the ever-expansive universe we found ourselves in.

Also identical was the fact that our view was extremely short.

Within 10 seconds, our sight transitioned from the Himinbjorg, to the universe, to dust and smoke rising around us as the Bifrost blasted the Earth's ground - dropping us off exactly where we had left the planet.

Once Mara's feet were firmly planted on the Earth's surface, the Bifrost Bridge dispersed leaving the dust to settle.

When said dust did settle, shortly after, we were both surprised to find May was waiting for us… Well, if being held at gunpoint could be classed as waiting.

Around 20 metres away from where we had landed, our handler was kneeling down on the sand and dirt with her hands linked on the back of her head.

Surrounding her were 10 people of varying sizes and genders, but the constant factor with all of them was the black combat gear they wore, and a strange circular symbol sewn onto their attire.

Said symbol consisted of a human skull with 6 tentacles linked to it, similar to an octopus but with fewer legs – a hexapus if you will.

Some of the all-black combatants were stood behind May and had their guns aimed at the back of her head, while others were surrounding the Bifrost impact point where we had landed.

Taking a quick scan over all of the weapon wielding individuals, Mara's surprise turned into confusion, [That's odd. Hydra shouldn't make themselves known yet. Do they think they can recruit us to their side, or have our actions changed things more than I thought? Hmm, it might actually be kinda intriguing to join them now that I think about it.]

Before my host could get caught up in her musings, as she was known to do, I needed to satiate my curiosity, <What's a Hydra? Going off how you think about them, are they a future ally or enemy?>

Not hiding anything from me, Mara elaborated, [Hydra is a really old cult, like thousands of years old. There have been multiple iterations of it, but the most recent one came from the Nazi SS during the second world war. It was presumed dead after said world war, but the scientists that were involved in it were recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. so it slowly and silently built itself back up within them. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Hydra probably make up around half of S.H.I.E.L.D. at this point, but I'm not sure how infiltrated it is at this time since they stepped into the limelight in 2014, 4 years from now.]

Preventing me from asking any further questions, one of the combatants took a step towards us, gun raised, and demanded, "Get on your knees and identify yourself!"

Either not wanting our handler to possibly take a bullet to the brain, or just thinking it could be fun to play along, Mara did exactly as instructed.

Going down on both knees, my host held up her arms in surrender and stated, "Erm, my name is Loki. I'm an alien, and I come in peace I guess… if you guys still do that?"

Evidently, Mara was thinking the latter when she was following the instructions given to her and had decided it would be more fun to play along rather than just immediately resolve the situation.

Everyone appeared equally confused at my host's introduction going off the slight lowering of their weapons. A different Hydra agent from the previous one couldn't help but inadvertently ask, "Isn't Loki a guy?"

Using one of her hands to point at the questioning agent, Mara quipped, "That's sexist."

Not taking the accusation lying down, the same agent bit back, "How is it sexist?! Everyone knows Loki is a guy, so you're clearly just lying!"

Looking towards our handler, Mara enquired, "Do you want to tell him, or should I?"

Still kneeling down with her hands behind her head, May answered, "You tell him. I'd rather not say anything to the people pointing the barrel of a gun to my head."

Nodding once, my host explained what she meant to the Hydra agent, "You just assumed that I meant Loki from Norse mythology. If I had said I was called Michael or Ariel, would you have assumed I meant the angels from the bible? Hmm, actually now that I say it out loud it's probably more xenophobic than sexist. Let's just settle on both. Damn, you're really a piece of shit human, huh."

Even without being able to see the agent's face due to the balaclava he was wearing, it was evident that he was angry at Mara's comments as he took steps towards her and raised his voice when he responded, "Who the fuck are you to label me as whatever you want, just shut up bitch and answer our questions!!"

Tilting her head to the side, my host asked, "But that's what I'm doing, no? It's not my fault you're xenophobic and sexist. Got any more questions, or can I go or something?"

Holding out an arm, the Hydra agent that initially told my host to identify herself interrupted the angry agent and took control of the situation, "Wonsik, that's enough! And you, that's enough games. We know who you are, so you can stop lying."

Clicking her tongue, Mara queried, "Tsk. Was it my stunning figure or the impeccable hair that gave me away?"

Giving a quick answer before turning to his fellow agents, the assumed leader commented, "The mouth. Smith, Wonsik, bring this one along as well, but be careful – we don't know the specifics behind her powers. We need to clear out before S.H.I.E.L.D. realize something is wrong."

With the two men following their leader's orders, they walked up to my host and aimed their guns at her.

Since Wonsik was still angry at my host, he held his tongue as Smith was the one to instruct, "Put your hands behind your head and stand up, slowly."

Following the instructions to a T, Mara stood up and linked her fingers behind her head.

Both of the men shook their guns at my host, implying that she was to walk forward towards May.

Still complying, but getting increasingly bored, she walked up to May and asked, "May, I'm getting bored now. Have you got a plan, or can we end this?"

Rolling her eyes, May answered, "Finally had enough playing around? I've been waiting for you to do that this entire time."

Shrugging her shoulders, my host replied, "Well I needed some way to get close to you and as fast as we are, I didn't want to risk sprinting over to you when there were 3 guns aimed at your head."

Jabbing the muzzle of his gun into my host's back, the Hydra agent identified as Wonsik demanded, "Keep your mouth shut bitch."

As I began the transition into our suit form and extended tendrils to cover May so that she couldn't be targeted or used as a hostage, our handler informed us, "Don't kill or maim them, either of you. We need to know everything about them, and we have interrogation experts that will get more out of them than you."

With the suit form donned, and the Hydra agents pelting us with bullets, which were ineffective, we affirmed, "Understood. We'll make the damage minimal."

Learning from my previous loss of control, I took special care when we attacked the Hydra agents with our tendrils.

I was going to make sure that this time, the same mistake of losing control wouldn't happen again.

Instantly despatching Smith and Wonsik, we made sure to pretzel their weapons before moving onto the others around.

Fighting against regular humans was boring, so within seconds they were all disarmed and incapacitated on the floor.

With the disappointing combat over, if it could even be referred to as such, I reverted our suit form into some casual shorts and a t-shirt rather than the Asgardian attire my host wore on our arrival.

Turning to address May, Mara commented, "See, we can be non-lethal when we try. Do you have something to tie them up with and have you already made the call for back-up?"

Shocking both of us, our handler actually broke out into a slight smile, "That's unnecessary, good work you two - especially you Elysium. Wonsik tried to rile you up, but you didn't lose control at all."

As I created a head to ask exactly what was going on, Mara beat me to it, "You motherfucker. How long have you been planning this for?"

Just shaking her head, May didn't answer and instead a different voice did... A voice we easily recognised and had heard before, "Don't blame her, Mara. I was the one that planned it all, ever since that day at the museum. Glad to know El has made some solid progress in the self-control department, that's the kind of development that we like to see."

Doing a 180-degree spin to look behind us, we confirmed that the person speaking was indeed who we assumed it to be.

Within half a second of laying eyes on the new arrival, Mara was already stomping towards her and pointing, "Of course it was the Black Vixen pulling a stunt like this! So, was it all a test? Are those guys part of S.H.I.E.L.D. or are they actually a part of this Hexapus organisation – whatever it is?"

Holding up her hands in mock surrender, Nat answered, "Okay, okay, I admit if someone pulled something like this with me I would also be pretty annoyed - especially after returning from an unknown alien planet. And no, they're not a part of Hexapus, they are S.H.I.E.LD. agents so it's a really good job none of them are dismembered or dead. However! In my defence, this wasn't how I wanted to go about doing this."

Narrowing her eyes and stopping inches away from the vixen, Mara read between the lines of Nat's explanation, "So you were still planning to do this, it's just that it wasn't in this exact manner?!"

Simply giggling and averting her eyes in response, Nat's refusal to elaborate spoke volumes.

With how secretive the woman was, my host knew that she wasn't going to get any information out of the spy that she wasn't already planning to tell her.

As such, Mara asked questions that she was fairly certain that she would receive an answer to, "So what caused you to push your plan forward? And is the organisation they're imitating even real or is it all made up?"

Rather than immediately answer my host's queries, Nat made a request of May, "Would you be able to wake them all up please, May? We need to move as soon as possible now this is all sorted."

Simply nodding in acknowledgement, May set about performing the job requested of her.

Already having the answers to my host's questions, Nat didn't hesitate to reply, "There was an incident in New York and some very high-level talks are taking place because of it. The S.H.I.E.L.D. executives, and the ones they report to, wanted confirmation that neither of you would fly off the handle. In their words, 'we can't even handle one out of control monster, let alone two.' You're not completely in the clear, but at least you've shown that progress can be made if there is an issue."

Setting off walking towards the closest incapacitated S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on the ground, Nat slapped the woman's face a few times to bring her back around as she continued her explanation, "The 'Hexapus' organization as you called it, was known as Hydra. They were destroyed in the second world war by a very young S.H.I.E.L.D. and the organization confiscated a lot of their equipment, so it was just the easiest thing we had on hand to use. S.H.I.E.L.D. have a lot of documents about Hydra if you want to read up on them in your free time."

Nodding along, I spoke up, "We will. If S.H.I.E.L.D. deemed their equipment worthy of confiscation then they must have been a prolific organisation."

Agreeing with me, Nat added on, "Unfortunately, they were indeed. It cost a lot to root them out, more than some would be willing to pay. For now, though, we have the immediate issue of New York. Could you wake up the agents please, we need to clear the area before any locals check out the beam of light falling from the sky. Oh, and you're going to tell me everything about the alien planet on the way to HQ."

Pouting, Mara countered with, "So you can trick us, and lie to us about not going on missions with us for a very long time, and we're just expected to tell you everything we've been doing without you doing the same?"

Hesitating for only a second, Nat shamelessly answered, "Yeah, pretty much~"

Sighing and shaking her head, my host gave up trying to reason with the vixen and proceeded to wake up the agents we had incapacitated before vacating the premises.

I didn't know what HQ Nat was talking about, but whatever it was I was sure it would be impressive.