New day, new chapter.
Thanks for all the favs and reviews, as always. More people have commented about wanting the sexy parts in fully. I'm still trying to sort out how I want to do it, but will let folks know when I've come up with a solution (either republishing the entire thing with them added, or as separate "one shots" idk) and a place to post them. AFF is probably out just because that site is an absolute mess, but there are some options I'm looking into.
As a note, in this and coming chapters, this story probably starts earning it's M rating. I'm not one for trigger warnings, but I figured I'd give folks a heads up.
Chapter 17
Ten days after Blackwolf left them there, the warning light lit up with a soft, persistent chime while Ron was reading to her. It took a moment to register, but when it did they exploded into motion. Ron grabbed a shotgun they'd found when their nightly escapade had gotten just a little too wild and they'd flipped the mattress. She shimmied into shorts and a sports bra. Then they ran out of the house and hid a few yards away in the trees.
A green pick up truck that had to be older than she was rolled up to the trailer and a battered looking Blackwolf got out of the passenger side. A muscular blonde woman pushing at least 6' 5" and built like a cross between a body builder and a pinup, climbed out the driver's side and slung a warhammer over shoulder. She didn't help Blackwolf, who was moving gingerly, but she was close enough to if needed.
Ron and Shego stepped out and walked over to the two of them. The woman spotted them first, her body shifting to be ready to strike in an instant. Then Blackwolf spotted them and nodded.
"It's alright, Astrid," He said, giving a wet cough and holding his side. "It's them."
"Fine," the woman said with a mid-western accent. "Let's get you inside and see to you."
Moments later Blackwolf was shirtless, laying on the sofa, with Astrid tending to what Shego judged was a broken rib, among other injuries. Ron was making everyone coffee. Shego sat at the table, waiting.
"I don't think it punctured your lung," Astrid said, repeatedly pressing around Blackwolf's chest. "You're an idiot, but a lucky one."
"What happened?" Shego asked, giving Ron a smile as he set a cup in front of her before going over to hand the other two theirs.
"This idiot thought he could take on fifty Global Justice agents at once." Astrid said, her voice dripping acid.
"In my defense," Blackwolf said, "I was doing spectacularly well." He gave another wet cough, and accepted the coffee gratefully, taking a slow sip as he sat up and leaned back heavily.
"I would not describe anything about what you were doing as 'going well' Luke!" The blonde woman hissed angrily. "'Going Well' does not ever include setting four floors of a government building on fire! Much less with home made napalm!"
Ron stared at the man in horror. Shego found herself staring in admiration. She quickly hid her grin when Ron glanced her way.
Blackwolf gave a wet cough. "I don't know, I can certainly think of worse methods," he said, sipping more coffee.
Even only able to see the woman's back, Shego could feel the horrified look on Astrid's face. "No," she said, shaking her head, "No, you promised you were not going to do that again!"
"Step one," Blackwolf said, sitting there limply as he spoke with a German accent, "Turn on ze gas."
Ron went still and moved back over to Shego. Astrid gave a furious sigh. "That!" she said hotly, "That is why Henry and William absolutely refuse to work with you!"
"Henry and William are assholes," Blackwolf said tiredly, "Self righteous, stuck up assholes who think they're right about everything and refuse to question anything."
"I am not having this conversation with you again, Luke," Astrid snapped.
"Okay," the man said, weakly putting his cup down on the floor before coughing again. "But before you don't have this conversation with me again, can you help me to the bedroom? It's already getting worse."
Astrid gave a shriek of pure frustration, but bodily lifted the man up and carried him into the spare room. There was some fumbling, a pained yelp, more rustling, and then Astrid stormed out and shut the door firmly, making a gesture.
"How she put up with him sometimes I will never understand," she spat. Then she sighed, fatigue and resignation evident as her body slumped. Shego and Ron watched as she took a deep breath and straightened up before turning to face them.
"I take it you're Shego and Ron," she stated, rather than questioned. She paused for a moment and studied Shego. "We've met before."
"Paris," Shego confirmed. "You fought a Nithing."
Astrid nodded and settled heavily in one of the cheap chairs at the table, taking a deep drought of her coffee. "And you went from being a super villain to a pet?" She asked, setting her mug heavily on the table. "Odd life choice."
Shego rested her hand on Ron's hand as he rested it on her shoulder. "Global Justice made me an animal," Shego said, "I could either be a stray or a pet. I felt it was better to have a loving owner than a bullet in the head."
Astrid pursed her lips in thought. "Odd," she said after a moment, "But fair. I'd probably choose the same." She gave a heavy sigh. "Explains why Luke is helping you. He's a fucking hopeless romantic."
"Speaking of him" Shego said, "doesn't he need to go to a hospital?"
"No," Astrid said tiredly, "The only way he would actually die is if his Goddess let him. I've seen him get stabbed through the heart once and come back from it, though it really isn't pretty."
"He has a healing factor?" Ron asked. "Like wolverine?"
Astrid snorted. "He wishes. No, Hela's power knits him back together, but honestly I think I'd rather die than go through what he has too." At their confused looks, she continued. "Hela is the Goddess of Death. She's also the Goddess of sickness. Given the...limitations Gods are under these days, in order for her to heal him she has to fill him with her power. Since Death is counter productive, she fills him with Sickness."
"I'm lost," Ron said, sitting down next to Shego and across from Astrid.
"He get's sick, kid," Astrid said softly, a deep sympathy in her voice, "Really sick. When he got stabbed through the heart, he basically came down with the black death. The worse the injury, or the faster it has to heal, the worse it is. As far as I or anyone else knows, nothing he gets during the healing process is contagious, yet, but he suffers from it." Her voice went soft, "By the Aesir does he suffer."
"Not saying I believe in the Gods thing," Shego said, "But why the hell would he subject himself to that?"
"Faith," Astrid said, "I don't fully understand what Hela did to earn his loyalty or his love, but he has absolute faith in her and will suffer anything he must in her service." She slammed back her coffee like it was booze. "He'll also do absolutely anything in her service as well." She said angrily.
"Like using napalm in a government building?" Shego asked, trying to fight back a smile. She wished she could have seen that.
"Great," Ron grumbled. "He's a fanatic."
Astrid gave her an acid stare. "That's mild," the woman said, "I wouldn't really use the word 'fanatic' to describe him, either. That word is for irrational believers who do terrible things. He's not like that. He can and is completely rational most of the time, he just lacks any and all moral limits in relation to normal people." She sighed. "He's worked with us Jarls at different times, which has resulted in two of our number flat out refusing to work with him ever again, and almost half doing everything they can to avoid it."
"I'm kinda scared to asks," Ron said softly, "But I kinda want to know what we're dealing with. If he's a danger to Shego..."
Astrid gave the young man a appraising look. Then she sighed. "Is there anything stronger than coffee?" She asked. Ron and Shego shook their heads. "Fucking assholes, always clearing out the booze and never putting any back in these places." She ran a hand over her face.
"Well, I don't always know what qualifiers he goes by, so I can't say how safe you are. I can tell you he will give you fair warning if he's about to go after you if he's offered you his protection," Astrid said after a long moment. "As for what he's willing to do...well, it's more what he isn't willing to do that easier to list."
"What do you mean?" Shego asked, feeling truly curious. Blackwolf was starting to sound like the crowd she was used to hanging out. It made him dangerous, but potentially entertaining, and given they were going up against a global organization dedicated to taking down the most dangerous of humanity, having limits was a weakness that could get her Master and her killed.
"Okay, I'll give you an example," Astrid said, "One time, William who's the Jarl of Honor, and Henry who's the Jarl of Perseverance, and I were having to deal with a vampire infestation in San Fran. Luke shows up, tracking down some human trafficker that ended up being employed by the vampires. I won't lie, the guy he was chasing was a real piece of work."
"You have to understand, we Jarls were chosen as protectors of the Folk," Astrid said, "Our job is to keep the faithful of our religion safe. Mostly that means supernatural things, occasionally it means dealing with other people internally or externally. As a rule, we're not sent around to hunt down trouble or punish the guilty. We're protectors, and we try to limit the collateral damage. Luke isn't. He's...something else."
Shego was interested in spite of the entire thing being somewhat unbelievable and out of her wheel house. Ron just looked worried, and she knew he was worrying about her, so she squeezed his hand and gave him a smile before turning back to Astrid.
"The best way I can put it," Astrid said, "Is maybe like this. Everyone asks why God doesn't answer their prayers. Some people content themselves with 'sometimes the answer is no,' and move on with their lives. Luke is...what happens when a God answers 'yes' in the way that people tend to ignore the Gods answered prayers in the Past."
"So we're in San Fran, and we're trying to figure out how to deal with these vampires. They've got this hideout or headquarters and it's basically a tricked out fortress. They've got tons of thralls, willing henchmen, there's at least fifteen vampires themselves, and all their food slaves. We're brain storming, trying to figure this out when Henry discovers Luke's in the area. Now, both of them were new to the whole thing, had never met, didn't know anything about each other. I had worked with Luke a couple times and Luke hadn't done anything super crazy yet. I also knew a bit more about him because he lived in the same city as my boyfriend and they'd had a few run ins together because of Luke's girlfriend. So we invite him to join us because hey, four is better than three, and they wanted to see if he was like us, just working for Hela."
"He says sure, he'd love to team up. In fact, he already had a plan for taking down the vampires. Doesn't tell us anything about it, but he does give us some floor plans he found and told us to meet him outside that night. We figure it was Wyrd at work, get set up, and figure it things are looking up." Astrid said, and Shego thought the woman went slightly pale.
"I take it things weren't looking up?" Ron asked. Astrid gave an exhausted shake of her head.
"We found out really fast that for Luke, if you were working for the traffickers he was after, were employing them, or worked for anyone employing them, you were fair game. We'd spent days trying to figure the best way to get into the fort. Luke figured the best way was to get them out of the fort. I still don't know what type of gas he used, or where he got it, or how he got that much of it, but he got them out of the fort alright. Well, half of them anyways. Everyone who didn't get out died."
Shego stared at the woman in shock. Ron looked sick. Astrid just looked tired. "Part of me wonders if they were the lucky ones. Somehow, he'd gotten his hands on claymores. They're not super effective on vampires, though I will admit they slow them down pretty good, but they're very effective on humans. By the time the explosions settled, only the vampires were really left, and most of them were in such a pitiful state that what we did wasn't so much fight them as execute them." The valkyrian woman gave an exhausted laugh, "I remember when William had protested that this wasn't 'honorable warfare,' Luke had looked at him and said, 'No, this is pest control.'"
"So when we were done, Henry, who'd made a big deal about saving the slaves, gets all up in Luke's face and starts yelling at him about killing all those innocent people, how they were victims, that they deserved to be saved." Astrid looked down at her mug sadly. "Luke didn't get angry. He didn't try to defend himself. He just looked Henry in the face and with just about the most mournful look I've ever seen anyone have, told him that death was a mercy. Henry punched him in the face and we broke them up before anything could happen."
"And if that was the only incident, things might have gotten patched up. But then Luke got called to England." Astrid's fingers clenched the coffee mug so tightly Shego thought it was going to shatter. "Fucking England."
"What's so bad about England?" Ron asked. "I've been there, food was terrible but it seemed alright."
"If only you knew how bad things really are," Astrid said softly. "I don't know if it's personal, or if it's because Hela is also the Goddess of young maidens, but Luke has a real sore spot for anything that involves human trafficking or exploitation, especially if it has to do with young women. And there is a real, serious, persistent problem with what are called grooming gangs over there, going back almost two decades, across almost the entire country. So, be it Hela or himself, he ends up over there and decides to do something about it."
Shego was sure the mug was going to start cracking any moment. Ron was looking sick, and part of her wanted to silence the other woman, to protect his innocence. But she didn't. She'd heard some of the stories about what was going on. She'd also heard about virtually everyone refusing to do anything about it, and those that tried being made into criminals.
"They covered it up, of course," Astrid said with a bitter laugh. "They've been trying to cover up the gangs, so of course they'd cover up anything happening to them. And it happened. He's never told anyone how many he killed. It wasn't just men, either. Women, children, as far as he was concerned they all knew, they all let it happen, and thus they were all guilty. No one was safe, especially not after he found out the cops and politicians were in on it, either to cover it up or to enjoy the girls themselves. I don't know what made him start, and I don't know what made him stop. I honestly don't think he wanted to stop, but I think Hela needed him to go do something even more important. Henry found out about it."
"You have to understand, even though we Heathens are small in number, there's still a variety of ideologies in our faith. The Jarls were chosen from as many different paths as possible, because there is no one 'right way' to believe. Henry is a very progressive young man, he works for anti-racist organizations in his spare time, champions civil rights, immigrant rights, and is what we used to call a 'universalist' in our faith, someone who things anyone regardless of race, sex, gender, etc, can come and sit at the table. Of course, these days he's more an 'inclusive' Heathen which eagerly believes certain people should not be allowed in the faith at all, but should be purged from it."
"I take it Luke is...not?" Shego asked.
Astrid shrugged. "Luke is Luke," she gave a small a laugh. "As far as Luke is concerned, he's got his views which are a bit more ethnocentric, but as he puts it 'my work is of the dead, that's a problem for the living.' Though if push comes to shove he does tend to side more with the Folkish than anyone else. Which didn't help matters. Most Universalist and nearly all Progressive Heathens despise the Folkish."
"So Henry finds out about Luke's month long campaign against these grooming gangs. Most of us were at least somewhat sympathetic to Luke's cause, after all, what rational person wouldn't want to stop young women from being repeatedly raped and abused, or punish the abusers. The only real problem was the extent of the violence Luke used, which given who we are you have to imagine the lengths needed to make us give pause. Henry, for whatever reason, decided that Luke's motivation wasn't the young women, it was because Luke was a racist who hated Muslims. Absolutely nothing would convince him otherwise."
"Did he?" Ron asked, "Hate Muslims that is."
Astrid gave the young man an even stare. "If he didn't before, he certainly did after." The woman said, "Not that I blame him. It's natural to hate people who commit terrible deeds, and given the primary motivation and justification for all the raping was their religion, be it a wrong interpretation or not..."
"That doesn't seem right," Ron said, "You shouldn't just hate people for what they believe."
Astrid's stare didn't diminish. "Ron, are you Jewish?" She asked.
"Yeah." Ron replied. "I don't really practice my faith much though."
"Do you hate Nazis?" the blonde asked.
"Of course!" Ron said hotly. "What does that have to do with anything though?"
"Why do you hate them?" Astrid asked, her tone even.
"Because they murdered my people! Because they believed in some sick, twisted idea that they were a superior people and they used that to justify throwing millions of people in to camps and murdering them!" Ron spat.
"So," Astrid said, not unkindly, "You hate them for what they believed, and what they did because of that belief."
"Yes!" Ron said, his temper growing.
Astrid pointed to the closed door. "Just like he hates them, for what they believed, and what they did because of that belief." Astrid said, "It might not be millions in camps being put to death, but it is certainly tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of young women abused, drugged, whored, tortured, and raped. No one is sure of the true numbers. None dare speak of it, lest they be made criminals and denounced as racists."
Ron deflated and sat back down in his chair. Shego squeezed his hand. Astrid's hand finally had mercy on the mug and she let it go, leaning back and letting her head fall back. "Well, there's a lot of ways people handle being accused of racism, which is probably one of the biggest fights in our faith. Some people insist they're innocent, a few wear it proudly, some just try to walk away having born the accusation for years and learned that no matter what you do, you're going to be accused of it anyways, and some stridently hunt down any 'racist' as if the act of turning people in will be proof of their innocence." The woman said. "Henry basically decided Luke was a racist, that racism growing in our faith was the greatest danger to our folk, and that we Jarls needed to protect our people by getting rid of Luke."
Astrid gave a bitter chuckle. "Well, that was all well and good, and we Jarls are not timid folks, but you can imagine the enthusiasm people had about going up against a guy who uses gas and explosives and who had just been on a terror campaign that would have made Vlad the Impaler smile in admiration. Not to mention the fact that by all accounts he has the full support of his Goddess, who is sending him to do most of the things he does. Not lightly does one go against Hel. Plus I and a couple others actually found ourselves liking Luke's absolutely autistic ass, and while we didn't agree with all his methods, we knew him to be a courageous, truthful, and honorable man and that spoke to us." Astrid paused and glared at them both, "but don't you dare tell him that."
"Lips are sealed," Shego said with a grin. Ron grunted an agreement.
"Well, no one else wanted to do it, which pissed Henry off," Astrid continued, "But we decided that if it was such a big deal that we would let the Gods decide via trial by combat. So Henry challenged Luke to holmgang." At their confused looks the woman explained. "It's a traditional trial. You basically set out a huge blanket, or a basically a fighting ring. Each fighter gets three shields. You either fight till all shields are broken or one of you is dead. We went a bit further and forbid them both to use their sacred weapons, and instead they each got a sword and a one handed ax."
"You were really going to let them kill each other?" Ron said shocked. Astrid nodded. "So Luke won?"
Astrid burst out laughing. "Oh hell no," she said after a moment, wiping her eyes as she finally got under control. "Luke got his ass kicked. Henry shattered two of Luke's shields in the first three minutes. Luke then spent the next ten minutes running around the ring with Henry running after him screaming bloody murder. It was like something out of a looney tunes skit." She burst into a fit of laughter again. "At...at one point...I swear Luke even went 'meep meep,' as he passed me."
Shego covered her hand to mouth to stifle a giggle as she tried to picture the man in the other room doing that. Given her only other experience of him was an absolute murder machine, the surrealism of it got to her. Ron just stared at Astrid in open mouthed shock.
"So as you can imagine, Henry was even more pissed, and started saying every insulting thing he could Luke." Astrid said as she got control of herself again, "Which Luke pretty much ignored. Then Henry said something about Hela, no one is sure what, and Luke spun around to face him. Unfortunately for him, Henry was ready and drove his sword right through Luke's last shield and into his lung."
"Damn," Shego said. Ron nodded. Astrid did the same.
"Damn indeed. We all thought it was over, and that Luke was good as dead and the fight was over. Henry had won, the gods had decided. Then, blood coming out of mouth, Luke got this look of absolute rage and tried to say something. Again, none of us are sure and Henry has never said what it was, but then Luke drops his sword, grabs Henry by the neck and slams his knee into Henry's dick as hard as he possibly could."
Ron involuntarily shielded his own manhood. Shego winced. Astrid chuckled. "I have never, ever, ever heard a man scream with a voice that high. They both hit the ground at the same time, Luke dying and Henry wishing he was." Then the woman's face sobered. "And that's when we found out how Luke survives situation after situation in which he should have died."
"I'm pretty sure Henry kept an ice pack on his dick for a week after that fight, and he might have even held up his victory as proof the Gods held him in the right, except for what happened afterwards." Astrid said. "The Aesir might have supported his claim, but Hela was not about to deny her champion's efforts for her, nor for Henry trying to kill rather than just break shields, and gave Henry the absolute worst case of the clap I've ever heard about. It defied all attempts to cure it for over a year, and I suspect it still flares up every now and then. Henry tries to do insist it was Luke's doing, using some magic, but I know better."
"Luke took about a week to recover and I helped tend to him, because what else could we do?" She shuddered. "The suffering he went through. I know why people fear his Goddess even if she isn't evil. When he was finally better, he thanked those of us who tended to him, and went off again. Didn't change his methods, didn't seek revenge on Henry, didn't get mad at any of us. Just went on with his life and his missions."
Astrid looked at the couple, fear and anger in her eyes. "And now he's going up against Global Justice," she hissed. "I don't know if he's doing it for you, or for Hela, or some mix of the two."
"You love him," Shego said softly.
Astrid gave a bitter laugh. "I suppose I do," she said acidly, "Not romantically, but he's like if you had some autistic brother who always tried to do right by you, even if his ideas of right are weird and he just doesn't get how things are supposed to work because he's so obsessed with how they actually don't work. He pisses you off to no end, but at the end of the day you still love him because he actually manages to do right by you enough of the time."
There was a series of horrible, wet, hacking coughs from the bedroom and Shego could clearly see the pain Astrid was desperately trying to hide. She got up and poured the woman a fresh cup of coffee. The other woman nodded her thanks, watching the door for a long moment.
That night, Astrid insisted on sleeping on the sofa to guard the place. Shego clutched Ron tightly as they went to sleep and thought about what the other woman had said. Her master was troubled, and she didn't blame him. It worried her too. Not that Blackwolf would turn on them, but if what Astrid said the man was capable of anything, and her and Ron's best hope of getting out of this was probably some sort of negotiation with GJ, and being associated with a man committed to what was sounding like a literal terror campaign probably did nothing but hurt their chances.
After all, no one, no matter how dedicated, could take down an organization like Global Justice by themselves.