an. So honestly not gonna lie, I totally lost my steam for this story for the last two weeks. Between work and lack of feedback for this I just was so discouraged from updating. But works slowed down now that holiday is over and I still want to finish this story so I intend to do so. I hate coming off as begging for reviews but I really do love some sort of feedback so if you want to take the time to leave one I'd greatly appreciate it! Anyway enough of the wow-is me thing and on with the story!
Chapter 23: We Found You Hiding
Feeling bad for people was something Dara rarely did, especially in tense situations like she found herself in now. She wanted to be brash, maybe ditch the team she found herself a part of, but where would she go? They were caught, she was caught, and she could only watch as the chance of escape dwindled right in front of her eyes as she tried to tone out the back and forth between her idiotic companions.
The wall she leaned on was the only thing keeping her steady, as she irritably appeared to be the only one on alert, the cloth she used as a head and body covering, hiding her quaking legs. She was indeed anxious but her legs shook due to aggravation and it was the only thing that kept her from lashing out but soon her patience ran out, and she jerked her head down to the Asgardian and newly discovered Terran, her teeth baring at the pair.
"Will you calm the fuck down?" She snarled, her fingertips digging into her arms as she kept them tightly crossed against her chest.
Banner sat, head in hands on a stoop, as Thor patronized him by rubbing his back over and over again, repeating the same phase, "the sun is going down, it's getting real low,". He jerked his own head up to the alien woman, shrugging Thor's hand off his back. Thor froze, not knowing what to do to keep the man calm. The last thing they needed was the Hulk hulking out.
"Excuse me? Calm?" Bruce retorted to the woman, eye brow raising, as if she was asking him to kill a puppy. "I can't stay calm, I'm on an alien planet!"
"So? Earth's a planet, you've been there." Dara rolled her eyes, turning to look back onto the streets, keeping an eye out for any of the Grandmaster's guards or Scraper's.
"Yeah one planet!" Bruce exclaimed, feeling his heart rate increasing. How did they expect him to act after two years trap inside the Hulk? These people didn't understand. He was freaking out, and he believed he had every right to be. And to now be on an alien planet with real aliens? His neurons were firing faster than his brain could handle the information. He looked back up at Dara, "You're an alien! I'm supposed to be calm about that?"
"You're an alien," Dara chuckled, the Terrain amusing her with his bewilderment at her statement. His eyes widening in realization that he too was an alien to her, made her laugh.
"Look, let's not get him too excited," Thor chastised moving to pat his back again, only to be swatting away by Bruce again. Thor raised a hand up in surrender, before speaking again. "We're all aliens here, this is an experience."
"You think? This whole thing is totally different this time. In the past, I've always felt like I've had at least one hand on the wheel but now it's like he had the keys and I was locked in the trunk." Bruce ran his fingers through his hair.
"So let me get this straight again," Dara cut in, still trying to grasp how his whole thing worked from when both he and Thor explained it to her before they left the Quinjet. "You get mad, or stressed and you turn into that giant toddler?"
"Dara,- look, Bruce you're back now, and that's all that matters." Thor cut her off, not wanting to overwhelm his friend more than he already was, moving to get back to the matter at hand. They still had a planet to escape and another to save. "I'm going to figure out to get us back to Asgard,"
"Thank you- wait what? No, no no, you aren't listening to me, this whole situation is designed to stress me out and if I turn into the Hulk again I may never come back!" Bruce exclaimed, annoyed by Thor clearly ignoring how serious this situation was.
"Listen, my people are in danger and you and I, we have to fight my sister-,"
"Okay, no." Bruce didn't let him finish, cutting him off with a shake of his hand, crunching his face up. "That's a family issue; what's with you and all these family issues, man?"
"She's an evil being-,"
"No!" Bruce shouted, causing Thor to jump up cautiously. "I don't care what she is, I'm not fighting anymore beings. I'm sick of it. I just told you I can't turn into the Hulk again, I may never come back! And you don't care."
"No I do care but I'm putting a team together it's you, me and her and you're the fire; Hulk's the fire!" Thor exclaimed, clearly proving Bruce right.
"Wow, you really don't care about what he's saying." Dara stated bluntly, pushing herself off the wall with a snort. She shook her head in amusement as the bickering reminded her of her old days on the Milano.
"See?" Bruce motioned towards the alien that took his side. "She get it! She gets it and you don't! I've known her for only like an hour and I've known you for years now. You're just using me to get the Hulk!" Bruce shook his head, looking down at his hands.
Thor was his only way off this planet. Bruce was a smart man but he hadn't the first clue how to survive in an alien planet. He had no idea about the culture or language. He was completely helpless here and Thor was his only hope of surviving. He really didn't want to throw himself into another situation like the attack of New York or Ultron. Especially his slip up as the Hulk that was still fresh in his mind thanks to that witch. With a look of disgust, he looked back up at Thor, his eyes glaring daggers at the God of Thunder, "That's gross, you don't care about me. You're not my friend."
Hearing enough already, Dara couldn't stop herself from inserting herself back into their argument again, wanting to poke at them some more, possibly to stir things up some more or just be an ass. She could tell which she was doing it for but she put at heartfelt hand over her heart as she looked down at Bruce, mimicking concern, "Yeah, Thunder, you're such a shitty friend. It's okay Bruce I care."
"Was- was that sarcasm? Do aliens do sarcasm?" Bruce stammered, thrown off and slightly offended.
"Of course it was sarcasm! Are all you Terran's this dense? I feel like I'm talking to Quill," Dara muttered towards the end, holding the hand that was over her heart to her head, feeling a migraine forming. Swatting her hand down to her side and got back to business, glaring at the two idiots. "Now, look, I am so terribly sorry about your situation, not really, but we have more pressing matters to deal with now." She then pointed to Bruce and then to Thor, "So forget your situation and forget about your evil sister. We need a plan to get off this planet now or else I'm leaving you two here and doing it myself."
"Now, what does Bruce Banner have to offer that Hulk doesn't?" Crossing her arms against her chest she looked at Bruce up and down, waiting expectantly.
"This is exactly what I'm saying!" Thor answered for him, turning to Banner, almost looking apologetic, "No offense but we need Hulk, he's the most powerful out of the two of you."
"Hey! Banner's useful too!" Bruce exclaimed, offense taken.
"Are you though?" Dara cut them off again, still waiting for his answer to his question.
"Who do you think created the Hulk, huh?" He glared at Thor, inching closer to get his point across before looking back up at Dara, "Me, I did. And how many PhDs does Hulk have? Zero! Banner? Seven," Bruce said proudly smirking, jerking a thumb to his chest.
"What's a PhD?" Dara crunched her face up and squinted her eyes down at him.
"Really?" Bruce gapped; this was unbelievable.
"This is going nowhere. He doesn't have to fight, but you're right," Thor spoke up irritated that things were clearly not going as smoothly as he was used to. He looked up to Dara, "We are in danger, so we have to move."
Relieved and less agitated, Dara mentally thanked them as they stopped squabbling like old women and stood, getting ready to head out. As Bruce stood though, he had a look of discomfort and awkwardly began adjusting his crotch, earning weird looks from his companions.
"What are you doing? Stop doing that!" Thor said, embarrassed pushing him back softly.
"Tony wears his pants super tight! I can't help it!" Bruce spat back, feeling himself become frustrated and overwhelmed.
"Why are you so weird?" Dara sneers, looking up and down the side street they were on to see if the coast was clear.
"Oh, I don't maybe the fact that I was trapped for two years inside of a monster made me a little weird!" Banner sneered right back, sick of them picking on everything he did. He didn't noticed but his companions did, as his skin flashed green.
Thor jumped into action, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, repeating that stupid phrase again, "Hey, it's okay, you're good. Calm down. Listen, we're gonna go to Asgard and you're not gonna have to think about the Hulk ever again, all right?"
"All rig-," Bruce wasn't able to finish as Dara tried pushing him out of the way as green dusty paint was thrown at his face from an approaching crowd.
The Grandmaster must've sent his people out to the streets, to celebrate the Hulk and help him get home. They were caught off guard and before Dara could grab a hold of Banner, he was swept off into the parade. Dara darted off after the crowd, calling out Bruce by name with Thor following closely behind her, both gripping onto the fabric being used to cover them. They managed to make their way through the chaos and somehow hear Banner calling out for them. Wincing at their names being shouted they quickly rush to him, thankfully getting to him shortly after, thanks to Thor and Dara pushing everyone out of their path. Thor grabs Banner the moment he's in eyesight and pulls him close, protectively.
One of the aliens Thor knocked aside, turned to look down at them. Dara gulped, recognizing him from the Grandmasters compound. He was one of the Scrapper's and a big one at that. Being so close to them, the Scrapper easily recognized Dara, and inched forward for her with a smirk. Dara was ready to push him back with her powers but ended up not having to as the Scrapper suddenly was electrocuted from behind. As he fell to the ground, Valkyrie appears behind him, hands on her hips, looking at the three smugly.
"Hi," Thor trailed off, awkwardly.
"Hi," the Asgardian replied back, looking between the three of them as if she was expecting a thanks.
"I was gonna do that." Thor pointed to the man on the ground, still using a hand to hold onto Bruce.
"Well I did it first." Valkyrie said still appearing to be unamused and uncaring of them. Still she asked them with an eyebrow raised, "What are you doing here? I thought you said you were leaving?"
"Sidetracked, you know how things work," Thor shrugged, looking around aimlessly, playing with the fabric that rest on his head.
"What's with the…"
"It's our disguise." Thor shook his head like it was the most obvious thing.
"I can still see your face."
"Look, are you arresting us?" Dara interrupted, "Or…"
Valkyrie smirked at her, back backing up, jerking her head as if to tell them to follow. Knowing there was no running and having a feeling that it was safe due to Valkyrie's eyes, Dara proceeded to follow her. Thor pulled Bruce along cautiously, knowing that if this went south, minus Bruce, Dara and Thor both now had their powers freely at use and could easily team up and defeat Valkyrie if she turned on them.
Bruce was whispering to Thor, asking about Valkyrie, never seeing her before but feeling some sort of familiarity with her. What were those markings on her eyes? Was that some weird Alien way of saying how many people she's killed? He felt that was an alien thing to do; he must've seen something like that in a tv show or movie on Earth at some point.
"Who is this guy?" Valkyrie asked, turning around suddenly, Bruce doing a botched job of keeping his voice quiet.
They stopped short once they reached an apartment building, Valkyrie leading them in without a word. Thor and Bruce looked at each other trying to think of something to say to her, some way to explain who Bruce was. They weren't quite sure if they should tell her who Bruce was or if they should keep that to themselves still. Dara didn't seem to be spilling the beans anytime soon, she was too occupied with keeping a look out as they paused in their step.
"He's a friend."
"I'm Bruce."
Val looked between the pair as they spoke at the same time. She could tell they weren't lying but weren't telling her the full truth. Shrugging it off, she turned back on her heel and led them into the Sakaarian building. She had a weird feeling about Thor's friend, Bruce. She too felt like he was familiar.
Once they entered the hall leading up to her apartment, she paused again. Turning to look at them, feeling the need to give them some sort of explanation, especially with what, or more like who she had tied up in her apartment.
"Look, I've spend years and years, in a haze trying to forget my past. Sakaar seemed like the best place to drink and forget and to die on." She explained, Thor cutting her off the moment she faltered,
"I was thinking that you drink too much and that probably was going to kill you,"
"I don't plan to stop drinking," Val shook her head, getting them back on track. "But I don't want to forget. I can't turn away anymore so if I'm going to die I want it to be driving my sword into the heart of that murderous hag."
"Good," Thor smiled at her, having hope again that this plan might work and they might actually save his home.
"I also have a peace offering," Val continued, backing up to unlock her door and letting it slide open.
The three look inside, the room revealing the peace offering to be known other than Loki. Dara chuckled, noticing how he was sat in the middle of the apartment with a dozen chains around him. He smiled up at them slyly, tauntingly almost in a sing-song voice saying, "Surprise!"
Thor responded to his brother like any brother should after all Loki had done to him and their family, by tossing one of the many empty bottles of beer in the room at him. The bottle bounced off of Loki's head with a painful sound before shattering as it hit the floor.
"OW," Loki winced, looking up to his brother.
"Just had to be sure it wasn't a trick." Thor shrugged before entering the room.
Loki rolled his eyes at him, before looking up at the rest of the group entering the building. Val walked past him without a word along with Dara, as Bruce slowly entered. He was clearly unsettled by the appearance of Loki. The last time they pair met wasn't a good experience but in honesty who could really say that about their first time meeting Loki, the God of Mischief?
"Hello, Bruce," Loki greeted,
"Last time I saw you, you were trying to kill everyone. Where are you at these days?" Bruce said awkwardly, unsure on how to greet or respond to the God.
"It varies from moment to moment."
Bruce's eyes widened in shock, before Dara quickly ushered to poor Teran away from the Asgardian, clearly seeing that Loki was just messing around but Bruce didn't seem to notice. As Bruce is led into the apartment, he can't help but notice that it was an absolute cluttered shithole. Bottles were everywhere, blood splattered clothes in the corner, knives in the wall, and just junk everywhere. He gave Thor a look, silently telling him that he thought Val might be crazy but Thor shrugged, giving him a no, she's cool, gesture.
Thor's own eyes trailed around the apartment as well, his eyes overlooking all the hordes of junk as his eyes trained in on a piece of shining metal. He pulled if off a cluttered counter, showing the sword of as he looked at it in amazement. They didn't make these anymore since there were no more Valkyrie. He'd always wanted to see one up in person, and hold one; it was the famed sword of the Valkyrie, a Dragonfang.
Val couldn't help but feel proud of it as he showed it off, before getting back to business. They had a lot to discuss, a lot of plans to make and think through if they planned on escaping this damned planet. Cracking open a bottle and handing it off to Dara, who took it thankfully, opened another for herself. Taking a large gulp, and letting out a belch after the long swing and was ready to get back to it.
"Alright, let's do this,"