Episode 34: Liberation!
"Is that Loki running away from us?" Peter guessed, following Thor's gaze to the source of the retreating footsteps. He quickly checked his pack that he took when he left the living quarters earlier, and was glad to see the Mind Stone Badge still in his possession.
"Yeah," Thor confirmed.
"Shouldn't we go after him?" MJ questioned.
"There's no time," Thor claimed. "We need to get the PDBs to the other Marémon Wielders before the Grandmaster stops us."
But suddenly, a groaning sound erupted from the fallen Korg as he rose up rubbing the back of his blue rocky head. Thunderthor gripped his hammer in a defensive position, ready to attack. When he finished rubbing his head, the Korg noticed its Obedience Disk was gone and looked around till its expressionless eyes fell upon Thor. It then lifted its gigantic arm out, holding its hand that was the size of a small boulder like it wanted a shake. So Thor stepped forward and cautiously placed his hand around the Korg's. As the Korg gripped Thor's hand tightly, it pulled Thor into a tight hug.
"Aww, it wanted to thank Thor for getting rid of the Obedience Disk," MJ realized. "Just like a lion with a thorn in its paw."
"Sure, if the lion was made of stone and slowly crushing you," Thor murmured as he was struggling to breathe in the Korg's grip.
Fortunately, the Korg managed to release Thor before he started choking. Then he made a series of soft whispery mumbles which Thunderthor seemed to understand.
"What did the Korg say?" Thor asked.
Thunderthor in turn made a series of pantomime gestures to Thor, who nodded in turn.
"Apparently, this Korg was part of the same group of Korgs my father drove away from New Asgard Town many years ago," Thor said to Peter and MJ. "This cavern that we're in was their home, until the Grandmaster showed up and made it the new location for Sakaar. While the other Korgs fled in fear, this Korg remained behind and was enslaved."
"Sounds awful," MJ remarked. "Why would the Korgs abandon one of their own?"
"It wasn't done on purpose," Thor explained. "They were so overwhelmed by the Grandmaster's superior technology that nothing else mattered to them except survival. My people had to make similarly hard decisions when we fled Asgard to avoid being destroyed by Surtur."
Following a moment of silence, MJ summoned Noirstel to use Spider Web as a net to place all the other PDBs inside. Then when Peter had Spidermin use Spider Drone to lift the net, the combined weight of all the PDBs wore down the PDBs to the point of falling out. So the Korg offered to carry them in his gigantic arms, which Thor allowed. Afterwards, they all left the building where an abandoned slave robe was present. But even though Loki was nowhere in sight, the three noticed a great deal of commotion going on at the stadium where several armored people were being overwhelmed by others in robes. Leading them was a blonde-haired young woman who wore a ragged pair of blue jeans with a faded black top with a cricket-like creature at her side while a brunette-haired human-like figure flew around on a miniature horse with a golden horn and gold-tinted wings.
MJ was astonished. "Is that…Brunnhilde?"
"Yeah, I ran into her when I sent the Spider Drone with the rewired Obedience Disk," Peter explained with an embarrassed look on his face. "She decided to help and removed my Obedience Disk as well as her own and Valrie's. Then she told that she was going to free the others, and I guess she wasn't kidding. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"That's why I recognized her!" Thor abruptly said. "She used to be New Asgard Town's Shield Maiden before Sif took on the same role."
"What?" MJ looked at Thor with confusion.
"Remember when I kept staring at Brunnhilde?" When MJ nodded, Thor continued, "That was because I thought she looked familiar and tried to remember where I had seen her. But seeing her in battle now reminded me of the day I witnessed her and my father driving away the Korgs when I was younger. It was also when Hela became jealous of Brunnhilde, and challenged her to a Marémon Match. She naturally accepted, but was beaten by Hela much to her surprise. Because she was ashamed by this defeat, Brunnhilde left New Asgard Town and was never heard from since."
"No wonder she didn't want to talk about her past," MJ realized. "She probably knew who you were, and didn't want to say anything in case you didn't know."
"I wouldn't be surprised if Loki knew, but kept the information to himself," Peter said. "Though it does make me wonder why he wanted the Mind Stone in the first place if he's able to create convincing illusions on his own."
"He could only fool people, but never control their minds," Thor replied. "That's why he wanted the Mind Stone, but I'm surprised he didn't take your Mind Stone Badge, Pete."
"Yeah, that surprised me too," said Peter, looking down at the yellow stone-shaped pin on his backpack. "Maybe he's not all bad…."
"Loki is complicated, for lack of a better word. He only likes to benefit himself, but will help others so long as he can gain something."
"Do you think he's gone to look for Hela?"
"Probably not, since he clearly wants to get out of here and so should we."
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After reuniting with Brunnhilde and the other Marémon Wielders, Peter used the Grandmaster's remote to remove the Obedience Disks from the Marémon in general while he and the others removed their slave robes. Then the Korg offered to guide them to another secret exit that was used by his kind to escape from the Grandmaster. So moving further into the cavern, they found a tunnel that was identical to the one Peter and MJ walked down almost a day ago. From there, they trekked further up until they came to a cavern full of SHIELD agents with Rumlow among them. He was accompanied by an older teenage boy with short blond hair and blue eyes, and an older African-American man wearing a black trench coat and eyepatch.
To be continued…