"-Did you kill her?"
A pause, and a thud, like something slamming into the wall. It sounded way too close to my head for my liking and I cracked my eyes open. I blinked, narrowing my eyes, nearly blinded by the harsh lights. It hadn't been that bright in the hallway-
Oh, fuck. Memories hit me like a bloody truck, and I bolted up.
Then, almost passed out again as I swayed, trying to keep my balance through the haze of a throbbing headache.
"Oh. She's not dead."
Fast movements in my peripheral vision, and I turned around just in time to see Loki get a fist in the face. He took a step back, and wiped at his bloodied lips. "I'm going to allow that. I did hit you first."
"Who are you? The Grandmaster's new pet?" Valkyrie spat and Loki tilted his head in an angle I read as annoyed.
"I may ask the same question. What are you doing with-"
"How long was I out?" I muttered, interrupting him. I touched my sore neck.
"Barely a minute," She answered, looking impassively at me. "I wasn't staying, by the way. He just-"
"You were standing over her unconscious body. How was I supposed to interpret that?"
"Not as I killed her, dumbass."
"Be careful how you-"
"Wait wait. Can we all go inside? I have something to say to you," I said to Valkyrie, who gave me a look, as if gauging how serious I was.
I was just trying to focus on staying conscious. God, I was really understanding the merit of oxygen. It was fantastic. A breath, and another, and we were all trudging inside the room.
"Right." She didn't bother to look around. "What is it? And how'd you know I was a Valkyrie?"
"You're a Valkyrie?" Loki looked intrigued. "I thought they all died gruesome-"
"Shut up, Loki," I cut him off. "So, uh, I know about your history with Hela-"
"How?" She stepped closer to me, voice considerably lower, and I tried for an innocent smile.
"It's my power. I know things."
"And I'm supposed to just believe that?"
Wow, her accent was really...charming. More than Loki's, in fact. I was pretty sure Tessa Thompson was american, but still. I had always been a sucker for British accents.
I blinked. Right, focus.
"There are many weird people out there in the galaxy. Some can breathe fire. Some can breathe under water. And I'm sure there are more examples than what I can think of right now." I shrugged. "I'm one of the weirder sorts. But, nice weird, you know? Not bad weird."
She looked at me strangely. "That doesn't make a lot of sense."
"Yeah, it sounded better in my head. But, the point is, Hela's back. Odin," I glanced at Loki. "Is gone. Thor is coming soon, and he's going to need your help. And I understand that you don't want to have a hand in any of that. Uh, so,"
Wait, I actually didn't have a point. Why was I talking to her anyway? It didn't matter, whether I talked to her or not, because she was going to help eventually, right?
Whoa. Mind officially blown.
But, wait again. Why wasn't Valkyrie in Infinity War? What did I need to do now?
Questions. So many questions were running around circles in my mind. They ran into each other causing basically brain damage until-
A spark of idea.
"Forget about all of that," I murmured, and Loki frowned at me.
"What?"
"Thor Ragnarok, doesn't matter." I tilted my head. "Because, if Thanos comes around and he kills half the Asgardians, then people are still dead, right? And we want to prevent that." My mind was racing. "So we need to stop him. Like, now. We need to stop him from getting the power stone, which is...on Xandar! And then we stop Hela, and then we go to Earth, and then we destroy all the stones and-" I fist punched the air. "Everyone's saved!"
There was a brief silence while I was thinking lack of oxygen does wonders to one's plans and then Valkyrie languishly held up a hand.
"I understood about a third of that." But I was still so hyped. Because I finally figured it out! Fuck plan A to H. We just needed one, and it was perfect that I was in Sakaar. With the wormholes, I was certain we could get to Xandar. Of course, with the right ship and help. I stared at Valkyrie. The Valkyrie. Whatever.
"We need your help."
"We?" Loki angled his body away from me. "What on Asgard are you talking about?"
"At least you understood it's gonna be you and me." I muttered under my breath. "So, um, Valkyrie-"
"I'm a Scrapper," She retorted. "And if you are going to speak in riddles, I might as well leave now."
"Okay, no more riddles." I held up my hands. "It's really nice and simple." Then I focused, using the technique Loki had taught me, and created an illusion. An illusion of Thanos, to be precise.
He didn't look very realistic. Crude, in some areas. I could probably never conjure a illusion with the level Loki was able to, but the face of Thanos was enough to draw a sharp breath from him.
"So, a bad guy is coming. This is the bad guy." I gestured at the mirage. "He wants to destroy half the universe. And if we don't get to Xandar before this dude does and he collects all the Infinity Stones, a snap of fingers and half of us are gone." I let the illusion fade. "So its a matter of this; are you ready to let your fate be decided by a purple man with a ridiculous jaw, and an even ridiculous-er agenda?"
Valkyrie considered this, rubbing her chin absentmindedly. Then she frowned at me.
"That is a really weird jaw."
"I know, right?"
"That is not the point," Loki said as if exasperated, and we both shot him a glare. He rolled his eyes.
"What do you need me for?" She said finally, and I held back a yes!. I couldn't hold back the grin, though.
"We need a ship, and a warrior. You are that warrior, and I was hoping you could come up with a ship,"
She chewed on that for a moment.
"We could take my ship, go through the wormhole just outside the city limits. Could get to Xandar in five months."
"Uh, I forgot to mention, but we also have a timeline. We need to back in, at best, a week."
She snorted. "Yeah. Not possible."
"Nope. We have to make it possible. We're going through the big one. The one with the dumb name."
"The Devil's-"
"It's a dumb name. Comical, but still dumb." I commented, and Valkyrie shook her head.
"I agree with you on the name, but if we're going through there, we need another ship. That would tear mine to pieces."
Then I turned to Loki, who was generally looking appalled. I got used to a lot of Loki looks, and that was one of the most used ones in my presence. "Loki, you're going to borrow a ship from the Grandmaster. Suave him with your," I waved my hand at his body overall. "Manly charms. Or womanly charms, it doesn't really matter. Also, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as manly or womanly ch-"
"I'm not doing it."
I narrowed my eyes. "We have a deal."
"That you haven't kept, by the way. You have not told me the future."
"Didn't you just hear what I was saying? The plan, is going to be the future."
"That's not the same thi-"
"It is. Look," I sighed. "I don't want to do this as much as you don't. But I do it. You know why?"
He made a face.
"Because..." I trailed off. Wait, I actually don't have an answer to that. Whatever. "Great power comes with great responsibilities. And I know a lot of things, and you know what they say about knowledge."
He looked confused.
"You know, knowledge is power? And I have a lot of knowledge, which means I have great power, which means I have great responsibilities, which means I have a lot of things to do, and not all of them include sitting around waiting for hot people like Thor. And I'm pretty sure I've lost of track of where this speech is going, or whether it was a speech or not, but you get the point. We have to do this." I paused. "And if you don't do this, I'm gonna sing pop songs until your ears bleed." I added, for good measure.
Loki seemed terrified. "Fine," He said stiffly. "But we are not going if I can't borrow this ship. I'm not letting you kill yourself, whether or not its going to cost me my ears. My life is far too important for you to die."
Valkyrie tilted her head. "What, now?"
"My singing is not that bad," I defended. "I have a wonderful voice. A lot of people told me so. Like, tons of people. Everyone."
A/N: What's Xandar like? My plot is literally running away from me. Please review.
Sounds like a dying person's last note...안녕. 이젠 좀 학교에 가고 싶다...아침이 오랜만이넹...아침에는 그림자가 아름다워 해가 뜨면서 그림자가 생기면서 어둠을 부각시키거든...난 밤을 샜어...난 이제 keel over 한 후 죽으러 갈게...
Thank you all for reading!
