Between Now and Destiny
Chapter Three
In Asgard's halls, far from the mortal world, Thor jumped to his feet as the bells of the temple began to ring. Sif grabbed his shoulder in amazement as they heard a toll pattern not heard in centuries. Moments later, a shockwave of power washed through the city, and across the city the citizens of Asgard sent up a cheer.
The five companions all looked at each other in amazement and joy, before consternation set in. Could it be? Had they left one behind?
Thor took off towards the throne room at a run.
~oOo~
Eyes narrowed at the gun in the spy's hand, Kagome shimmered for a moment, a barrier blossoming around her. Ignoring the woman's demands to stop, she ducked away from Hawkeye's attempt to grab her.
Natasha fired.
The shot ricocheted off the barrier, Clint dropping down as the bullet creased his arm. He swore at the sting, and Kagome took advantage of the distraction to grab the damaged arrow from the table and run for the door.
"JARVIS, lock down!" Hawkeye called out, trying to trap her.
Kagome flared her reiki and scrambled the electronics, easily bypassing the locks. She disappeared through the doorway before the Avengers could lay a hand on her, and dashed down the hall. Not believing her eyes, Natasha ran out into the hallway and began firing in earnest, cursing under her breath as the woman got away without a scratch.
Stunned by the swift turn of events, Steve shouted orders. "Natasha, cease fire! JARVIS, track her and relay her coordinates." He ran after her, following the trail of open doors, Natasha and Hawkeye bringing up the rear.
"Captain, Kagome Mikosama is headed towards Dr. Banner's lab. All electronics in her path have been scrambled. The surveillance cameras and locking mechanisms are offline and are not coming back up."
"Have evacuating personnel try to detain her if they run into her, but not if it interferes with them leaving. We'll follow her in. I just hope we can get there before she meets up with Banner's other side."
Letting the others follow her directly, Barton broke off from the chase and slipped down a little used accessway, gaining on her. He was getting ready to tackle her when she went through a doorway, turned, and buried the arrow in the doorframe.
He slammed into the barrier at full speed and went flying backwards.
~oOo~
When Thor reached the throne room, he was surprised to see Heimdall there, cheerfully talking to the All-Father. Odin slapped his back heartily, and both laughed.
Things just keep getting stranger... Heimdall hadn't moved from his guardpost on the Bifrost in centuries, even after its destruction. And never had he been the jovial sort.
Odin greeted his son loudly, pleased at his quick response to the situation. "Welcome, my son. Today is a great day for all of Asgard. It is fit that you witness the unfolding of a new era."
"Of course, Father. I take it that a child has been found?"
Odin smiled, and picked up a long, slender package sealed with a curious symbol from where it lay next to the throne. He turned to his faithful guard, presenting it to him.
"Heimdall, my old friend," the ancient king of Asgard intoned. "With Thor as witness, I declare your pledge fulfilled. In recognition of your service and accordance with your wishes, I free you to return that which was lost. I send with you my good right hand, my son Thor, to act as intermediary with the peoples of Earth. My blessings upon you and your house, may it stand till Ragnarok takes us all."
~oOo~
The three Avengers stared in amazement at the doorway. Nothing they did allowed them to pass. Hawkeye suddenly turned and jumped up, catching the air conditioner vent. A couple of hard tugs and the cover came off and he tossed it to the side. He jumped again, catching the edges and sliding in feet first. It didn't take long until he was back.
"No good, whatever she did, it extends into the ducts. We'll have to take the long way around. Hall Four C will take us right by Banner's lab, if that's where she's going."
JARVIS replied in the affirmative. "I have tracked Miss Mikosama by the trail of malfunctioning electronics. Curiously, she has taken the shortest path directly to Dr. Banner's lab, without error."
"Which means she knows the layout of the building," Natasha pointed out.
Steve stubbornly glared at her. "I refuse to believe this was a setup, there was too much chance involved." He took off at a run, Natasha casting a worried glance at him before running after him.
When he was slowed by a locked door, she caught up with him. "Steve, you have to know that even if she isn't a spy, she probably won't survive the Hulk. I don't know anyone who stands much of a chance against the Big Guy." He didn't answer her, or even look at her.
Anxiety curdled her belly. Not much fazed her, but the memory of being trapped with the Hulk still had the power to fill her mouth with the metallic taste of fear.
Steve passed through that doorway once it was unlocked and down the next hall, worried, but wondering at Kagome's strange accusations. "Does anyone know what an oni is?"
"Japanese for ogre," Natasha replied. A sudden thought that Steve predated Tolkien had her adding, "Think fairy-tale giant."
They made the final turn and headed down Four C, only to be stopped once again by an invisible barrier. They rounded the corner, and on seeing the rogue pair Barton spoke up, "Like the Hulk, you mean?"
Big Green towered over the girl, fists clenched and teeth bared. As he drew back that massive hand, Steve sent up a prayer for her safety... then watched in shock as she smiled at the monster and started a conversation with him!
~oOo~
Kagome stood in the middle of the hall, the large green hybrid smashing everything around her. She sent out her ki in soothing waves, body softly illuminated by her power. He growled, raising a fist to smash her, but she remained calm, offering no aggression, no defense, only soft words.
"You know what I am, Oni-sama," she began, "Your instincts will tell you that. But I am not here to destroy you. I wish to help correct the evil done to you, and return health to you." Peace and sincerity flowed from her, and the Hulk stopped his rampage to consider her words.
Peering at her, he responded, "Not hurt Hulk?"
Her face softened, "No hurt, Hulk-sama. I know you have been wronged. You did not agree to this cursed union, did you?"
He grunted and she took it as a no.
"You are a river spirit, are you not? I have seen your kind before, playing with boulders, chasing fish through the rushing waters, river weed swaying from your many horns."
He slammed a hand through the wall, growing angry again. She kept speaking, not worried for her safety. "Do you remember the water whispering long long ago about the destruction of a jewel of power?" At his slight nod, she continued. "I am the one who destroyed it."
He grunted, snarling, not liking the contradiction between her claim and appearance. "Girl."
"I look like a girl. An enemy trapped me in the void between space and time for three days, and it... changed me."
"Strange girl." he rumbled, but he calmed slightly. Slamming his fist into the rubble again, he sat on the resulting pile and watched her intently.
She tacitly acknowledged his cease fire with a bow. "Yes, I've always been a strange girl. I had lots of spirit friends. And now that I'm here with you, I will be your friend. I won't let him continue to treat you like an invader."
With that soul-felt declaration, she won the tentative trust of the Hulk. Poor Inuyasha would have been reduced to fits over adding yet another to my collection of youkai friends, if I was still with him. "Hulk-sama, what would you like me to do for you? I cannot separate the two of you, not without the death of one. Do you wish healing and to continue to share that body, or would you prefer the hope of rebirth?"
"Smash fun."
She gave him a huge smile, and moved closer, placing her hand on his finger. "Yes, smashing is fun. You want to live with him, then?"
He looked closely at her hand, seeing what normal mortals could not. "Girl burn?"
She nodded, showing him her other hand. "I'm Kagome. I was burned saving a child's spirit from hell. I journeyed a long time with youkai and halflings, such as yourself. That they have left this world makes me sad."
He considered her a moment, then leaned over and picked her up. "Not sad. Hulk here." He tucked her in his arm, cradling her like a doll. "Heal," he commanded, but added an addendum. "Hurt, Hulk smash."
She happily assented, ignoring the shocked babble from the hall.
~oOo~
None of the three who had followed her could believe this. Natasha had called Fury the moment they had run into the second barrier, and even he thought the whole scenario was incredulous. "And you can't get through the doorway, even though there's nothing there?"
"No. Clint's tried the ceiling access and the electronics crawl space, but can't get through either way. We can only watch..." Her eyes went wide as the Hulk picked the girl up. She bit her lip, expecting a shower of blood any moment. The Hulk's next move had her tuning out Fury until his shouting finally reached her.
"Director... I wouldn't believe this if I wasn't seeing it. Have you patched into the surveillance cameras yet?"
She listened as he barked orders out on his own end. He finally came back, and told her, "All electronics from the kitchen to where you are at are out of commission. I can't believe you all let a stranger in. I want her in custody by the time I get out there."
The scene outside the wrecked lab changed suddenly. "Nick," she said, interrupting his tirade at one of the shipmen on his end. "I can't believe this. He's holding her like she's a glass doll, and the room is filling up with light."
"What do you mean by 'light'?" he said, growing more and more worried for his team.
"Its shimmering with colors, like the Northern Lights were stolen from the sky and wrapped around them. The warmth, even from here, its so incredible..." her voice broke, as one of the lights flickered over her. A tear snaked down her face, and she looked over at Steve, who's face was completely wet.
"Tell Fury... it feels like love... like God Himself is holding you." Steve said, wondering at this miraculous girl and the way she had shown up in their lives. Was she an angel? An emissary from another world?
Fury broke off, staring at his phone like it was about to bite him. "I'm on my way." Taking a note passed to him, he added, "And it looks like we're getting a visit from Asgard, see if Thor can't get you through to her before the Big Guy changes his mind."
~oOo~
In the wrecked hallway, Kagome was comfortably nestled in her patient's immense arms. The full body contact helped, as the scientist had made an absolute mess of the assimilation. Radiation wasn't easy to deal with in the first place, and for him to carry such a lethal amount...
Patterning her breaths, she sank into a trance. Her reiki was better than any human diagnostic equipment, more thorough by far than even the most advanced FMRI. Bit by bit, she sank her reiki and consciousness into his body, finding the twisted areas that had been stuck between man and oni, creating pain.
She followed each body system, mapping out the problems and committing them to memory. When she went through the brain, she saw it was more human than oni, explaining how the Hulk could speak coherently, an oddity for his race. Finally, her spirit self dove into his cells, examining the DNA, noting the broken and misaligned proteins.
The project was huge. Besides the chemical and mechanical repairs, she needed to draw the radiation from him or her work would be for nothing. Her eyes fluttered open. "Hulk-sama, I need to draw out the radiation first. Do you remember if your other half had a metal container with a skull and crossbones on it? I can put the poison in it."
He grunted and stood, carrying her into the lab. Finding a container for radioactive waste, she told him to carry it to where he wanted to sit while she drained the pollution from him. Comfortably settled on the rubble in the hall he had smashed into an approximated recliner, she laid her hands on his shoulders. "This will be uncomfortable, but if it starts to hurt, let me know and I will stop."
He grunted his agreement, and she sank back into trance. Sweat broke out on her forehead as the container filled with black poison.
~oOo~
Thor and Heimdall arrived a hour after Kagome had begun to remove the gamma poisons. The Big Guy was half asleep, pain lessening with each drop of poison removed. However, she was pale, her lips carrying only the smallest blush of color.
Thor immediately tried to go through the barrier, only to be stopped as resolutely as Hawkeye had been earlier. Staring up at Heimdall as the normally taciturn warrior laughed uproariously, he stood and rubbed his sore rear.
"How did she get left behind?" he asked Heimdall. "A child that powerful, surely you've seen her before." Heimdall stopped laughing, and looked at the scene inside the barrier with warmth.
"There was a prophecy only she could fulfill. It took a long time for her to gain the strength and heart needed... indeed, she has lived and been reborn a number of times. I believe she is the ninth or tenth incarnation of that soul born to this world.
"But this incarnation, starting her fifteenth yearmark, she was strong enough to survive the enemies ranged against her; fulfilling the prophecy and saving all the worlds connected by Yggdrasil. I remained silent about her existence to give her time to heal, keeping her free from duty as her mother desired. But that power wave was felt by all in Asgard, and now Odin wishes her to take up the position she was born into."
"Wait," Steve said, trying to process what he'd just heard. "Miss Mikosama saved all the worlds connected by Yggdrasil...? You mean not just the Earth, but everywhere? She's only eighteen!"
Heimdall's lips curled in a slight smile. "Age is quite relative, soldier. And Kagome accomplished her task by the time she was sixteen."
"How did she do that?" Steve asked, wondering how anyone could send their child off to war that young.
"Once the Earth shared its bounty with both humans and the earth spirits. A man desired one of Kagome's previous incarnations, and gave himself over to those spirits in an effort to claim her. He did not know the spirits hated her, and after they took his body, they killed her.
"This incarnation, Kagome was strong enough in heart and soul to defeat him, so it was arranged that she would be able to travel five hundred years into the past to battle him. It took almost a year of keeping commitments on both sides of time, but she defeated him and the jewel that endangered all our worlds. But she was locked into a void for three Earth days. It has affected her... though she came through it better than most."
Thor looked at him, "That would drive even a god mad. The void is infinity in an eyeblink."
Heimdall nodded. "The halfling boy she loved followed her and kept her sane. And she came out as she is now, perpetually at the cusp of sixteen, perpetually on the move, lest the unscrupulous cage her. In a way, she will be better off now. She won't have to hide that she doesn't age, as being a child of Asgard isn't something scientists can isolate and use."
Natasha spoke up, "So that's why her eyes don't match her face. Just how old is she?"
Thor looked at the Russian and laughed. "Immeasurably, with her stay in the void. But now we need to figure out how to get though her barrier, before she gets lost in healing."
"It is too late for that. Hopefully, this being will allow me to retrieve my daughter."
And with that, Heimdall walked through the barrier, leaving several stunned faces and a blast of sparks behind.
~oOo~
Kagome had finished pulling out poisons, and had gone on through the body of the Hulk, repairing damage, reconnecting synapses, and eliminating structural flaws in the alternate form that created the pain that kept him constantly infuriated. There was just so much wrong, she couldn't find a spot to stop. Relentlessly she worked, unaware of the outside world and her failing body.
Heimdall walked up to the Hulk respectfully, kneeling as the big guy began to get agitated. "Great warrior, you hold my daughter, who has lost herself in healing you. If she stays away too long, we'll never have the joy of her presence again. May I call her back, before that happens? The healing can continue, but only if she doesn't die."
With a grunt, the Hulk allowed the Asgardian to come closer. "We cannot remove her from you until she is called back. Would you allow Thor and I to call her back while you hold her?
He grunted, strangely fine with holding her in his arms for a while longer.
Heimdall motioned to Thor, who hesitated at the doorway, testing the air with his hand. Satisfied the barrier had broken with the other's passing, Thor went to the opposite side of the Hulk, greeting his fellow green warrior cheerfully.
Seeing her for the first time, Thor was astonished by the delicacy of the girl. "All that power in such a dainty form. She looks nothing like you, Heimdall. A blessing for her, truly."
"Shall we go a few rounds in the battle circle, my prince? She has reincarnated, she looks as her mortal parents do." Heimdall knelt on one side, reaching over the slightly snarling Hulk and touching the soul centers at her heart and lower abdomen. Thor knelt on the other side, hands on her forehead and stomach. At an unspoken cue, Heimdall began the ceremony.
"Child of the gods," he crooned, a subtle melody, a small magic lilting through his words, "...come back. You are lost in your healing, your patient is safe. Come back, beloved of us all."
Thor took up the next line, a golden shimmer beginning to flow over her. "Kagome, come back, do not leave us on the shore, watching your longboat depart for the gray havens. Do not leave us for Death's cold table. Soul-Child of Heimdall, come back."
Heimdall called to her once more, the magic of the third repetition now strong in his voice. "Child of Asgard, child of earth, come back to us. The sweetest fruit still hangs on the tree, the strongest honey is in the living oak. Beloved of two worlds, my daughter, come back."
The healing light filling the room faltered and began retreating into back into her. She left the trance and lapsed into a natural slumber, her raven hair spilling over a green arm that gradually faded to pale flesh, and diminished into a human limb once again. Bruce Banner stared at the girl in his arms, finally looking to the gods kneeling to either side of him him.
"She... him... the anger..." he couldn't get much out, just sitting there poleaxed as Heimdall gathered the girl into his arms, a golden shimmer occasionally washing over her.
"She is one of our precious ones, the children who were born to us of mortal lovers," Thor quietly explained, looking at the retreating Heimdall with a smile.
"And what she did?" Bruce asked, his logic-driven mind recovering quickly. "I've never felt this good, even before my other half."
"The halfling children of Asgard and Earth combined the best of both races and resonated with a unique power, one not found in humans or my people." Thor said, digging up old memories. He looked at Bruce, his serious gaze hammering home what the girl was capable of. "She could have purified your other side, leaving nothing in you but your humanity, but instead she offered you both healing. The power it takes to do this..." He shook his head, and stood. "I've never heard of one more powerful than she."
~oOo~
Heimdall carried his daughter to where the Avengers waited, bent on finding a place for his extraordinary daughter to rest comfortably. "She will sleep now, is there a place to lay her?"
Natasha spoke up, her duty to S.H.I.E.L.D. overcoming the reserve she felt about the woman. "Her things are in the guest room on my wing, she can rest there. Director Fury is on his way. He has questions."
"He can have answers when she awakes." The hard look in his eyes promised retribution if anyone thought otherwise.
I hope it meets expectations! Chapter Four is the last chapter, and thanks to everyone who reviewed, is much better than what it began as. Thank you all so much for reading and your encouragement!