Hey all! Just thought I'd throw out another quick greeting and thank you to all the new followers. Like you guys just have no idea how much it means every time I see another person choosing to take the time out of their lives to follow along with this story. I mean, it's already a massive story (with more to go) and the amount of time you've all invested into my words and character really just makes me more happy than you know! So you know….keep being your awesome selves! Anywho-time to round the Scooby Gang and get the hell off of Sakaar, yeah? Per usual, I hold no rights over anything Marvel! And with that, I hope you enjoy! Xoxo-NickyLynn
Tessa's plan had been set into motion after splitting ways with Loki, Tessa now moving through the palace with bursts of power as she made her way towards the room she discovered the Grandmaster's contenders had been kept. She landed in the hall outside of it to make sure the coast was clear, and the guards were gone, before teleporting inside. She had been on her way to break Thor out, ready to get all of them the hell off Sakaar, however, when she landed in the room, what she saw…..or didn't see….left her groaning in frustration.
"Why can't things ever be easy?" she complained as she took in the empty room, now having no idea where her brother was. Her eyes swept over to the large glass window on the side of the room, noting it was completely smashed out, a breeze drifting in from outside. Figuring Thor was on his way to try to save himself, and in turn ruin all her plans, she stepped over to the window, shards of broken glass crunching under her feet. She had meant to get a good look of the area, hoping she'd caught sight of him, however, as she stepped up to the glass, several footsteps storming into the room behind her caught her attention. She spun around as a loud blaring alarm began piercing the air, sending over a dozen guards pouring in from the hall, the Grandmaster's head of security leading the charge.
They all had their weapons trained on her, including the ever-so-intimidating melt stick that resided in Topaz's hands as she strode over to her with a grin. "I always knew you were no good." The angry woman spit out in satisfaction as she stepped towards Tessa, the dangerous weapon in her grip pointed at her threateningly.
The amount of weapons pointed at Tessa left her heart rate spiking, and her hands raising up into the air ever so slightly, in hopes it would keep them from firing on her. "I can tell you with absolute honesty that I had nothing to do with this." Tessa told them, motioning a hand to the broken glass Thor had escaped through.
"Funny, because from where I'm standing, you look pretty damn guilty." The woman bit back at her, refusing to buy it.
Tessa looked around the group of guards getting closer, mind reeling through her possible options in that moment. Sure, she could take them out and teleport herself to freedom, but then they would undoubtedly go after Loki, and there was no way of knowing if she could get to him before they could. And then there was Thor….at that moment he could be anywhere in Sakaar, and trying to find him, get to the ship, and get them out of there, were all tasks that got incredibly harder having all of Sakaar's forces after them. So, she let them step up and apprehend her, knowing there was still a chance of her wiggling her way some time and trust from the Grandmaster.
The group of guards had latched onto her and surrounded her in a wall of their bodies, forming a barricade around her as they guided her to face the man in charge himself. When she was finally brought into the large room that he was waiting in, his confused eyes fell on her. "Whoa, hey, what's with the procession of anger?" he asked, obviously having no idea what had transpired yet.
"This one was found in the champion's chambers. Along with no champions." The Topaz informed him as they all came to a stop before him. "I knew her and that weaselly brother of hers were up to something!"
"Hey! I didn't do anything!" Tessa shouted in defense. "That room was empty when I got there!"
"Then what were you doing in there?" she demanded.
"Look, I like a good cat-fight as much as the next guy…." The Grandmaster cut in. "But let's back up here and focus on the missing champion part. Are you telling me my beautiful champion is gone?" he asked, looking from Tessa over to his head of security.
"Along with that Lord of Thunder." She responded with a nod, her sharp eyes falling back on Tessa. "She did something with them!"
"I did not!" Tessa defended.
"Now, now Topaz." The Grandmaster said. "Words hurt and you can't just go around accusing people without proof." He said, turning back towards Tessa.
"We caught her at the scene. That's all the proof I need." She threw out moodily.
"I was trying to stop him!" Tessa told the Grandmaster, trying to take a step closer before Topaz raised her weapon in her direction, stopping her.
"Oh, would you put that down." The grandmaster told the woman threatening Tessa, pushing the staff down. "Let's give her a chance to speak."
"Thank you." Tessa said, looking from the lowering weapon to the Grandmaster. "Look, it's true…..I went to that room, but I had only gone because I wanted to speak with my brother. I know he's hellbent on returning to Asgard and I had hoped I could persuade him to stay. I mean, after all, Sakaar is such a wonderful place and I had hoped I could get him to see that." She told him. "I wanted to convince him to stay here with us…..a place where we could all be happy…..but by the time I got there he was gone and so was Hulk." She told him, hoping her story was convincing enough to sway him.
The Grandmaster's eyes narrowed down on her as he studied her. "Bring the others." He said then, turning back towards Topaz. "The other brother and the scraper that brought that Lord of Thunder in too. Nobody rests until my precious champion has been returned to me!" he declared as he turned in a flourish.
Tessa was forced to remain in place as they waited, several minutes passing before Loki, and a woman she had never met before, were led into the room, their footsteps echoing through the wide, open room. Tessa's eyes snapped over to Loki, who was watching her as he strode closer, worry shining behind his eyes.
"I'm upset!" the Grandmaster yelled out as Loki and the other woman came to a stop in front of them. "I'm very upset! And you know what I like about being upset? The blame. Right now, that's the mindset that I'm in." he told them all as Tessa was given a shove from behind from Topaz, forcing her to take a step forward up next to the Grandmaster. "And you know who I'm blaming?"
Loki's eyes swept from Tessa, up to the angry leader of Sakaar. "Grandmaster, I can.." he began knowing he had to get him and Tessa out of this mess.
"Hey!" the Grandmaster shouted out, stopping him. "Don't interrupt me!" he said, shaking his hands in anger. Topaz tried handing over the weapon in her hands, to which he just looked down at in confusion. "Why are you handing me the melt-stick?" he asked, looking over at her skeptically. "He was interrupting! That's not a capital violation! My God, what's with you and wanting to melt everyone today?" he said in exasperation. "Now, where was I?" he said then, trying to get back on his previous train of thought. "Oh, yes…my precious grand champion has gone missing." He told them. "Your sister here says it was that sexy Lord of Thunder that took off with him." He said, motioning down to her.
"That's not exactly what I said." Tessa said in defense, her eyebrow lifting at his peculiar choice of adjectives.
"Shh." The Grandmaster said, moving a hand in her direction and hushing her. "It's all his fault. Your brother….your contender." He said, pointing to both Loki and the woman who had apparently brought Thor in.
"My dear friend…." Loki began, taking a hesitant step forward. "If you were to give me and my sister twelve hours…" he tried to persuade, hoping to give them both some time. "We could bring them both back to you. Alive."
"I could do it in two." The woman next to him said, causing his and Tessa's face to drop down.
"I can do it in one." Tessa interjected for herself, knowing this was their only shot of salvaging their plans at escape.
"Let's stop there." The Grandmaster said with a shake of his head. "You know what? I woke up this morning thinking about a public execution." He told them all with a grin. "But for now, I'll settle with this sweet little who's gonna get him first!" he said excitedly, chuckling in amusement. "So, uh…you're on the clock." He said, waving them away.
Tessa didn't wait for him to change his mind. In an instant, she teleported over to Loki, grabbing onto him before teleporting them both out of the room. Once they were far enough away, she dropped them down in a secluded hall, knowing their plans now needed drastic altering.
"What happened?" Loki asked as soon as she dropped her hold on him. "I thought you said it was going to be a simple in and out?"
"It was supposed to be a simple in and out!" Tessa defended with a huff. "That was until Thor decided to take matters into his own hands! Him and Hulk were gone before I even got there!"
"Well did you at least get the codes?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"Of course I got the codes." Tessa told him with a roll of her eyes. "Doesn't really matter though considering we first have to find our damsel in distress who wanted to go saving himself."
"Wait, you're not really thinking of going after him, are you?" Loki asked her then with a raised brow.
Tessa looked up at him with furrowed brows at that comment. "You're not really thinking about leaving him, are you?" she countered in disbelief.
"Look, if Thor wants to go saving himself then I say we let him. We have one shot at getting off this planet, and I'd rather not muck it all up trying to save that idiot." Loki told her.
"That idiot is our brother." Tessa shot back with a roll of her eyes. "And we're not leaving this planet without him and Bruce." She declared adamantly. "Besides, we're going to need him if we stand a chance at stopping Hela." She reasoned; however, the look Loki was giving her at that caused her face to drop in disappointment. "You can't be serious." She deadpanned.
"Hela destroyed Mjolnir like it was a nothing more than a toy." He said. "Do you honestly think we're a match for her?"
"We'll I'm not just going to give up before we even try!" she shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration with him. "Look, this isn't up for debate!" she then said with a shake of her head. "We're going after Thor. All of us are getting out of here. And then we're going to do whatever it takes to stop Hela."
"It's suicide." He told her in refute.
"It's what we're doing." She countered with a shake of her head before turning. "Look, do what you want. I'm going to find our brother. If you don't plan on helping, then just wait for me at the apartment." He told him as she went to walk away, knowing they were running against the clock.
She felt Loki latched onto her arm then, pulling her back to face him, his hand reached out and connected with the side of her head, and when it did, a swarm of images flitted through her mind.
"Did you get it?" she heard herself say as the image of a familiar purple woman filled her mind.
"He didn't even bother hiding it from me." Carra told her with a roll of her eyes as Tessa stepped up to her.
"That's because men are stupid." She heard herself reply before she was pulled out of the image as she shoved Loki off of her. He went stumbling back, leaving her staring at him, a mixture of disbelief, anger, and disappointment filling her glare.
"Did you seriously just hijack my memory to get the access codes?!" she bit out at him, the anger in her causing her eyes to flare with a rush of power.
"I'm not letting Thor mess up our only chance at getting out of this place." He said in defense, holding his hands up as he stepped back from her.
"Oh, it's not Thor who's messing this up." She threw out at him before teleporting over to him and grabbing hold of him before taking them both from the palace. Once they were back in the safety of the apartment they had been staying in, she practically threw him into the couch as he went stumbling back, dropping down onto in a heap. "It may be in your nature to run, Loki, but it's not in mine!" she shouted down at him. "Now I'm only going to ask you this once. Are you going to help me find Thor, or do I need to make sure you stay in the apartment by force?" she asked angrily, knowing she didn't have time to be dealing with his insistent need to mess things up.
"I'd to see you try." He challenged as he shot up to his feet. "What are you going to do? Go find our friend down at the market and convince you to hand over the slave band?" he asked sarcastically.
"Oh, I don't need any magic tricks to make sure you stay put." She told him with an arched brow, her hands on her hips.
"Well, go on then." He told her, holding his arms out to the side in a challenge, as he was convinced it was nothing but another empty threat.
Tessa smirked before teleporting herself into the back of the apartment to the closet she and Loki had gone through during one of their first days there. The contents inside had been…..well let's just say they were not useful in their endeavor to escape and had made Tessa even happier in her choice to not set a finger on the bed. In fact, Loki had even opted to sleep on the floor in front of the couch after that particular discovery. She stared down at the contents of the closet then, suddenly very glad the apartment's previous owner was such a freak. She reached down and pulled the thick metal chain into her hand, a grin pulling up her mouth.
She teleported back into the living room, the smirk on her mouth growing as she watched his eyes fall down to the chain in her hand, his facing dropping with realization. "No- you wouldn't dare." He told her, the look she was giving him not boding well for him.
"Hold still." She told him as she wrapped her powers around him, forcefully pushing him to the floor where she glued him in place while she got to work wrapping the chain around him. She pulled his arms roughly behind his back and wrapped the chain around him, binding his feet and hands together so he wouldn't be able to run.
"Somehow I imagined the idea of you chaining me up going vastly different in my head." He mumbled out moodily as she finished tightening the chain around him as tight as she could make it, eliciting a grunt from him.
"It hurts doesn't it." She told him with a fake look of empathy as she dropped her hand down on his shoulder. "Being forced to obey someone's will and practically kept prisoner by them." She said as she dropped her hand from him. "Don't worry, I'll try not to enjoy this too much." She added before standing back up.
"Are you seriously going to leave me like this?!" he asked, watching as she turned to leave.
"Don't worry. I'll be back for you later." She responded as she stepped away. "Now, be a good boy and stay in this room while I go and take care of a few things." She told him, throwing the same words he had said to her back at him. He glowered up at her as she sent a wink at him before teleporting out of the room, heading into town to find Thor.
When she teleported into the main market area of the city, she landed in the middle of a clamoring crowd. There were hundreds of people out in the streets celebrating Hulk's most recent victory, a special celebration, as she had been told, that happened after all of Hulk's triumphs. It was practically mandatory for the citizens. And so, she landed in the middle of a crowd of green masses, paper masks of Hulk absolutely everywhere, blocking the majority of the view as they partied down the streets. "Well this is going to be like finding a paper in a paper stack." She groaned as she teleported in another burst, moving as quick as she could to survey the area, knowing she had a lot of ground to cover.
Luckily, though, it didn't take more than a few minutes to find Thor and Banner….something that she wasn't sure brought her more relief or concern. She caught sight of Thor first, as he was moving into the market center to where she saw Bruce standing, looking up in fear at a large creature that looked more monster than even Hulk. She teleported herself over to them, grabbing onto their arms quickly before teleporting them away in a matter of seconds, bringing them out in a secluded alley where there were far less people roaming about.
"You know, I really don't like when you do that." Thor complained as she dropped her hold on them and he stumbled back, a wave of vertigo washing over him as usual.
"Yeah, you know what I don't like? When you go off and stage an escape and ruin all the hard work I put into planning our escape!" she threw back at him.
"Tessa?!" Bruce yelled out in surprise when he finally recognized her, her strange Sakaarian clothes making her look so very different.
"Hey Bruce." Tessa greeted as she stepped closer to him. "I'm glad to see you and not the big guy." She told him honestly. "I mean….not that I don't like Hulk…he's great, I just really could use you in a more rational mode and less….smash mode."
"See?!" Bruce said to Thor, throwing his arm out toward Tessa. "She sees the value of Banner!" he told him.
Tessa's eyes landed on Thor then and, in turn, the sheer piece of fabric on his head. "You realize that all of Sakaar is looking for you, right?" she asked him, finding his choice of disguise questionable at best.
"Oh course I do, that's why I have this disguise." Thor said in defense, lifting up the corner of the scarf on his head.
"Thor I recognized you from over fifty meters away." She told him pointedly. "I mean, honestly I'm baffled that you got this far in your grand escape. I can still see half your face!"
"Not when I do this you can't." Thor said back childishly, holding the scarf in front of half of his face.
Tessa rolled her eyes before a voice behind her startled her. "She's right you know. It's a shit disguise." Tessa spun around to find the scrapper who captured Thor, standing with her arms crossed.
"Look, you're not taking him back to the Grandmaster!" Tessa told her, letting a wave of power rush through her as she braced for a fight.
"Wait! Tessa, she's a Valkyrie!" Thor told her, causing her to pause and look back to him in surprise.
Her eyes then moved back to the woman in front of her, suddenly taking her in in a different light. "How is that even possible?" Tessa asked, her eyebrows drawing together. "The Valkyrie were supposed to have died out eons ago." She said, looking over at the dark-skinned woman with furrowed brows. "How long have you been here?"
"Long enough." She bit out as she brushed past Tessa, moving closer to Thor.
"Have you changed your mind?" Thor questioned.
"Maybe." Valkyrie shrugged. "Look, I've spent years in a haze…trying to forget my past. Sakaar felt like the best place to drink and forget…and to…die one day." She told them with a shake of her head.
"I was thinking that you drink too much and that was probably going to kill you." Thor responded with a tip of his head.
"I don't plan to stop drinking." Valkyrie shot back instantly.
"Oh…" Thor replied awkwardly.
"But I don't want to forget." She said then, turning serious. "I can't turn away anymore. So…if I'm going to die…..it might as well be driving my sword through the murderous hag sister of yours." She declared.
"I really hope you mean Hela and not me." Tessa said as she stepped up to her and Thor.
Valkyrie glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow. "Look, I'm saying that I want to be on the team, or whatever. Does it have a name?"
"Yeah….it's called…uh…the Revengers." Thor told her, sounding not at all confident.
"Really?" Tessa asked, rolling her eyes at the terrible name. "That's the best you can do?"
"What? I like it. I'm getting revenge. She's getting revenge. You're getting revenge." He said, pointing to who he called out. "Bruce…" he said, trailing off as his eyes drop down on him. "Uh, do you want revenge?" he asked him.
"I'm undecided." Bruce said unsurely. Tessa looked from a confused Bruce, back up to Thor, clearly not impressed by his choice of team name. "So, uh….now what do we do?" Bruce asked then, looking around the group of Asgardians.
"I'm sorry, who is this?" Valkyrie asked, looking down at Bruce in question.
"I'm Bruce." He introduced awkwardly.
"I feel like I know you." She responded with furrowed brows.
"I know, I was thinking the same thing!" Bruce responded in equal confusion.
"Well, lucky for you all…" Tessa told them, stepping forward, that being her cue. "I have a plan." It took her a few jumps, but a few moments later they were back in the apartment. She dropped her hold of everyone, turning to find Loki in the same spot she had left him in.
"Hoorah, she returns triumphant." Came his overly annoyed and unenthused voice.
"Is that Loki?!" Bruce asked in alarm, taking notice of him sitting on the floor on the corner, still bound and miserable.
"Don't worry." Tessa said as she walked further into the apartment. "He's a lot more scared of you than you are of him." She told him with a smirk.
"Hello Bruce." Loki greeting with a not-so-sweet smile.
"So, last time we met, you were trying to kill everybody. Where are you at these days?" Bruce asked him, not sure he liked the idea of being close to him.
"It varies from moment to moment." Loki told him with a smirk.
Thor picked up an empty can off the counter then and threw it at the side of Loki's head, it bouncing off with a small clunk. "Ow." Loki said, glaring up at Thor.
"Just had to be sure it was you." Thor said in defense. "So let me guess…" he said then, turning to Tessa. "Stab you in the back?" he guessed.
"Well let's just say that Loki's self-preservation skills are unbridled." Tessa responded, making sure to give Loki a pointed look.
"Doesn't surprise me. There was one time, when we were children…." He began telling the others. "he transformed himself into a snake…and he knows that I love snakes. So, I went up to the snake, to admire it, and he transformed back into himself, and he was like 'Yeah it's me!' and stabbed me. We were eight at the time."
"In my defense, that wasn't my idea." Loki told him, eyes landing on Tessa.
"Okay, first off, I told you to scare him, not stab him. Huge difference." Tessa inserted, pointing at Loki. "And secondly, it doesn't matter because he's here, whether he wants to be or not, and we have an escape to make." Tessa said, knowing they had already wasted so much time.
"Right. What's the plan then Princess?" Valkyrie said with a raised eyebrow, looking over at Tessa expectedly.
"I've managed to get my hands on the Grandmaster's access codes for his private vessels." Tessa told them. "We're going to get ourselves on of those ships and take it out that wormhole." Tessa said, pointing to the massive red hole in the sky, dropping out endless debris like an angry trash storm.
"What? The Devil's anus!?" Valkyrie asked in shock.
"It's not seriously called that is it?" Tessa asked her, looking down at her in skepticism, sure she had just made that name up.
"Yeah, that's the Devil's Anus." Valkyrie told her with a nod, like it was the most normal thing.
"Oh god I hate this planet." Tessa groaned as she closed her eyes, processing the ridiculousness of their situation.
"Anus?" Bruce said in alarm, having been roaming through the kitchen, shoving some pieces of fruit he had found into his mouth. "What about an anus?" he asked as he stepped towards the window as well.
"It's what they call the wormhole we're using to escape this hell." Tessa told him, pointing over to the gateway.
"That looks like a neutron collapsing star inside of an Einstein-Rosen bridge." Bruce said, his eyes going wide. "How do you expect to get through there? The amount of pressure going through that thing would tear us apart!"
"Trust me. I can get us through." Tessa said determinedly. "So, what do you say?" she asked, looking around the group for feedback.
"It's a pretty good plan." Valkyrie acknowledged with a shrug.
"Unchartered metagalactic travel through a volatile comic gateway?" Thor asked, looking from Tessa down to Bruce. "Could be fun."
"Okay, so how do you plan on getting from the hanger to gateway then?" Valkyrie asked. "Because there's no way the Grandmaster's just going to let us fly off with his ship."
"That's why we need a distraction." Tessa said with a shrug. "And lucky for us the Grandmaster keeps a whole lot of people against their will who are just dying to get out. Me and Loki will work on getting the ship out and ready, and Valkyrie….you and Thor head down to the cells to create a diversion. And Bruce…." Tessa said, her eyes landing on him in thought. "Why don't you just stick with me." She told him.
"Okay, can I just…." Bruce began, whistling as he turned away from Loki, who he had been watching warily, drawing everyone in for a powwow. "I was just talking to him like a minute ago, and he was totally ready to kill any of us." He said, worried about working along side him.
"Don't worry about Loki, Bruce." Tessa told him. "He's not going to do anything to fuck this up." She said, looking over his shoulder to lock eyes with Loki. "Are you?" she asked him.
Loki let out a sigh, rolling his eyes. "If I promise not to stab anyone, will you please just get me out of these chains?" He directed at Tessa.
"See?" Tessa said for emphasis, motioning towards Loki as she undid his bindings with her powers. "He'll behave so long as he knows what's good for him." Tessa added, the lingering threat holding in the air. "But if you would feel more comfortable, you're more than welcome to go with Thor."
"Yeah, I-I think I'll stay with Thor." Bruce said, watching as Loki began pushing his loosening bindings from himself. "No offense or anything, Tess."
"None taken." Tessa told him with a shrug. "Now, let's go give the Devil an enema."