Chapter 22: A Hellhound and Twelve Frost Giant Chiefs
After Tomoe had shouted 'GREAT YOKAIS OF JAPAN, WHAT IS THAT?', the Avengers had all gathered to the main level to see the monstrosity that Bacchus and Maui had brought back from Norway.
"CARMINE! EASY!" Bacchus screamed when the monster larger than a minivan ran off the balcony and hopped through the window, breaking the glass in the process. The large canine was lean and muscled, her claws leaving thick dents on the floor. Her snow-white fur had patches of black on the back, nearly outlining the spine and ribs. Her fluffy tail kept swishing around, shattering the furniture. Her eyes were an insane mixture of blizzard blue and wildfire red. She howled and barked as she kept running around.
"What is that? A giant Alaskan Malamute?" Iron Man flew in, only for the giant dog to grab him in her mouth and shake him around like he was her new iron squeaker toy. "Hey! Stop that!"
"CARMINE! STOP THAT!" Maui ran and pulled Iron Man away from 'Carmine'. The process caused Iron Man to lose the armor of his lower body.
"Why in all the Nine Realms did you bring a hellhound in the tower?" Thor demanded. He began swinging his hammer, only for Carmine to knock him against the bar with her tail. A sharp two-tone whistle stopped Carmine, who turned and looked at Aaricia. The blonde teenager looked unfazed as she held up a brown-colored dog.
"Don't give a canine chocolate! It's lethal!" Banner freaked out.
"Duh! That's why it's a hellhound meat treat fashioned like a chocolate bar." Aaricia held out the treat for Carmine. She tossed it in the air and ducked before Carmine could snatch and eat up the treat. Aaricia then ran underneath the monstrous canine and repeatedly rubbed Carmine, who went on to roll on her back, allowing Aaricia to climb on her belly and keep rubbing it while Carmine ate her treat.
Tomoe couldn't resist taking a picture of the scene with her phone. "Didn't know you could handle Malamute-Hellhound hybrids, babe."
"Malahound." Aaricia corrected. "Or as I like to call her, Very Rude Dog."
Carmine growled at her.
"Hey! Don't give me that trash talk!" Aaricia sat on Carmine's belly and pointed at her. "You know what happened the last time you stole the remote from me!"
Carmine blew a raspberry at Aaricia, getting some saliva on her face. "Jerk."
"I'm at a loss of words," Clint said.
"So, why did you bring this… Carmine here?" Thor asked Bacchus and Maui.
"She's Kory's familiar. We thought she'd be more at ease if we brought Carmine over," Maui explained.
"Right. Because nothing screams happiness than a giant dog with bad dialect," Tomoe snarked as she posted the picture on social media. "Why does Koryanna have a hellhound-regular dog hybrid for a pet?"
"Familiar, not pet." Aaricia slid down Carmine's belly. "Stereotyped to be associated with witches, but high-level sorcerers can be connected with supernatural creatures that are a physical representation of your internal self." Carmine rolled to lie down properly, causing her tail to accidentally brush away Iron Man. Aaricia chuckled uneasily. "And Kory's rather…"
"Chaotic? Unsocial?" Tomoe offered.
"That and self-destructive. So, yeah, Carmine's very chaotic, unsocial, and destructive. She's basically Kory's internal self… only rude, grouchy, fur shedding, and A TOTAL REMOTE CONTROL HOARDER!" Carmine blew another raspberry at Aaricia. She rolled her eyes and kept talking with Tomoe. "Definitely not a household spirit like a tomte. Or a brownie…"
"I think Gawain has a brownie," Tomoe said. "Or maybe it's a hob."
"Ingrid Aybeer definitely has a tomte. You got your yokai, right?"
"Yep. Otto has a kikimora, Johanna has a haltija, Yueqiu-Bing has her yetis, Nikoletta has her empousa, Joseph somehow has a Chupacabra for an assistant, Noah has a golem, Kunal has his Naga, Emma's got her Tatzelwurm, and Cyril has a fox."
"Huh, I don't want to interrupt a lovely conversation about household spirit preferences, but why is the Fubuki brat here?" Bacchus asked. Tomoe scowled and held out her hand. A thunder bolt appeared and fused into a solid, red naginata with a silver weapon. Bacchus actually got frightened and started making a run for it when Tomoe started running towards him, eager to strike him.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU WIMPY EXCUSE OF A THUNDER GOD'S SON! COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A GIANT!" Bacchus made a run for the stairs. Tomoe ran after him with her weapon at hand just as Steve and Kory stepped out of the elevator to witness the scene.
"Is that Tomoe Fubuki?" Kory got exasperated. "Who let Bacchus provoke her? Does nobody know that the women in the chiefdom of their clan are notorious for their naginatajutsu?"
"What's that?" Steve asked.
"Japanese martial arts. Specialty for female samurai," Kory calmly explained to him. "Tip of advice: bad idea when a guy provokes the ladies of that chiefdom. Tomoe's mother was rather skilled. Don't get me started on how she slayed a thousand Amazons back in Corsica back in 1985."
"Didn't you kill more than her?" Maui pointed out.
"Don't change the topic," Kory warned. Her expression turned into sudden glee when she saw Carmine. "Carmine! Baby girl! Come to Mamma!"
The massive hellhound wagged her tail in excitement and ran towards Kory, tackling the demigoddess to the ground and licking her on the face. "OK! OK! EASY THERE! EASY!" When the licking became too much, Kory clapped her hands three times. Carmine took a step back and suddenly shrunk into the size of a Cocker Spaniel, startling the Avengers.
"Are you shitting me?" Tony glared at Maui. "You couldn't have done that BEFORE the mutt decided to trash my window?"
"I did!" Maui protested. "We clapped! Nothing happened! Kory, can you explain why nothing happened?"
"Two free guesses before I decide to smack you for not using your head." Kory looked worried when small-sized Carmine decided to start sniffing at Steve's shoes but calmed down when the hellhound started rubbing herself against Steve's legs. "Aw… Carmine likes you."
"She's rather cute…" Steve bent down to scratch her ear. The hellhound happily wagged her tail. "Eesh, the breath…"
"She does eat a lot of bones. I just give her the skeletons of whatever animals I killed."
"She even ate a Bilgesnipe skeleton once," Aaricia said, licking her lips. "Really good meat." She noticed the shocked look Thor gave her. "What? You find them in Norway. They taste like beef. Kory knows how to make killer Bilgesnipe Briskets."
Carmine growled something. Kory began to slowly turn her head and give Aaricia a cold look. "Aaricia. Why did Carmine just tell me that my Bilgesnipe Briskets taste just as good as the two mailmen corpses you gave to her last year?"
Aaricia gulped. "Uh, funny story…"
"Do reassure me that you didn't feed Carmine THE SAME MAILMEN that were carrying those bad report cards you had!" Kory clenched her fists. "THE SAME REPORT CARDS I WAS SUPPOSED TO SIGN BUT THAT I DIDN'T RECEIVE, SO I GAVE YOUR PRINCIPAL A CONCUSSION FOR SUCH DELIVERY TARDINESS?" Kory struggled to retain her angry, muffled noises until she found a solution by throwing her fist at the wall, creating an icy crater with her finger signature. Out of nowhere, a hole broke through the floor and a beaten-up Bacchus and Loki were tossed out, followed by a victorious Tomoe holding her naginata proudly in the air.
"Hah! Beat up two gods in one morning! I am ON IT!" Tomoe cheered until Kory grabbed Tomoe's weapon and lifted it in the air. Tomoe still hung on to it, causing her to have her feet off the ground. "Hey! I was having a moment!"
"Save your moment for the meeting, Fubuki Junior!" Kory roughly put her down. "The others will be here in a matter of minutes so we need to set up the conference room."
"No humans or assistant allowed, right?" Tomoe asked. "I still need to have my yokai bring the goods for the potluck. What are you bringing?"
"My face, my anger, and my fucking attitude. Does that answer your question? Good. Now let's go!" Kory began ushering Tomoe out of the room. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Kory causally walked back and went towards Loki. The god was trying to stand up and almost looked too optimistic before Kory turned into her Jotun form and kicked him in the groins. Loki screamed in pain and clutched himself. The Avengers and immortals present cringed at the sight. "There. Now I feel better."
"Yeah, nothing screams morality booster than giving a fake Jotun a frozen dick." Tomoe chuckled at the sight until Kory dragged her by the collar towards the exit.
Later
By the time Kory had adjusted the final touches to the door, she knew the conference room had been secured. She had to make sure that this meeting was as private as possible. If no humans were allowed, that meant she had to cast spells to tighten the locks on the door, shroud coats of ice on all the windows, and destroy any cameras or security system that the humans could use on them. And if non-Jotun immortals were banned, that meant spells had to be casted so no demigod or god could bother them. Kory had already been annoyed that Thor wanted to be at the meeting, but thankfully Maui had peacefully dissuaded him. The obnoxious thunder god was now out to get questions he'd obviously never find the answers, that's what Kory thought.
Once the enchantments were done, Kory snapped her fingers and her outfit, including her treasured furred coat) turned into a dark-blue pinstripe tuxedo suit with fur trimmings, Victorian boots, a tie with howling wolf patterns, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"How do I look?" She asked Tomoe.
"Like a mafia boss waiting to murder everyone," Tomoe responded. Once Tomoe's yokai was done with setting the table and placing the large tea set, sushi platters, oyakodon bowl, and mochi boxes, the teenager dismissed it. It left in a portal of thundering snow. Tomoe adjusted the skirt of her uniform resembling that of a Japanese school student and sat down. "Who do you think will show up first? My mother said that Ingrid and Noah tend to be the last ones to arrive. You know, leading chiefs and all."
"There's no such thing as a hierarchy among the Jotun chiefs, Fubuki. Ingrid and Noah just happen to be the most important because Noah is the eldest and Ingrid is the chief of the Motherland." As tacky as it sounded to Kory, Motherland was what the Frost Giants on Earth used to refer to Norway. With the whole whatnot of Norway being the center of the World Tree and where Nordic mythology was primarily based, the Jotun treated Norway the way a lot of Jewish people viewed Jerusalem as the sacred city. The Jotun basically viewed Norway as the most important in the Scandinavian lands, so even though Ingrid, Nikoletta, and Johanna formed a strong triumvirate as the chiefs of the Scandinavian clans, Ingrid was the most culturally powerful. And in all fairness, she was the only other chief besides Noah that Kory really respected.
"Hierarchy. Yeah right," Tomoe muttered.
Kory scowled at the teenage chief's behavior. "Unbelievable to your ears?"
"More unbelievable that it's coming from the one person who literally dominates the hierarchy."
"I'm sorry, is there a problem that you have with me that I should be made aware of?" Kory was cut off from her thoughts when a breeze making bell tingling sounds alerted them. "They're here."
Meanwhile
The Avengers didn't know what to make of it, but Tony was definitely getting aggravated that immortals were abusing his balcony. The rest of them, on the other hand, were apprehensive. The eleven Frost Giant chiefs had appeared in gusts of snow, freezing the balcony the moment they landed and materialized into their human forms. Their assistants, all various mythological creatures, kept their appearances while carrying fancy covered dishes. The humans, Loki included, couldn't resist looking out the window to see the assembled chiefs. Besides Yueqiu-Bing, Noah, Ingrid, and Tomoe who was with Kory, the rest of them looked unfamiliar: a platinum-blonde dyed chieftess muscular enough to be a wrestler, a chieftess with a red-and-black mane that reached her knees and a revealing outfit combining a jumpsuit and pimp costume, a Black Indian man with a tuxedo suit subtle voodoo patterns while his tie was held by a Thunderbird pin, a Black-Belgian in casual work clothes that went well with his Bantu bracelets and torc, a muscular redhead bearing a strange attire mixing a kilt, a red infantry uniform, and rather misty boots, an Indian man with a white blouse, beige pants, black shoes, and two golden necklaces bearing pendants of a deity and a female horse rider, a brunette dressed in rock climbing gear while a metal cornucopia hung over her shoulders, and an old man in plain civilian clothing walking with a golden staff with a headpiece of a hare carrying a golden orb in its mouth.
"You must be joking." Loki muttered at the sight of the old man.
"Isn't that the guy you tried to obliterate before Cap saved him?" Natasha turned to Steve. "Steve, the old man in Stuttgart… He's a Jotun?"
"Apparently. He was in DC when they had that ridiculous court session. He didn't really speak up, he was as quiet as Noah, but he obviously doesn't like Loki."
"I failed to notice the obviousness, Captain," Loki responded sourly.
"That's Otto Winterernte," Aaricia said while the Frost Giants outside started making a line in their human appearances. "He's the chief of the Funtensee Clan in Germany. Otto's actually nine years younger than Kory. Kory told me they met a few years after the war ended."
"He was a teen during the war in Germany…" Steve crossed his arms. "I can't imagine the nightmare."
"Try not to," Maui offered as he looked out the window. "The Funtensee Clan suffered a lot. Using stronger force fields to protect their borders from bombs, the thousands of mortal refugees that their forces collected, and Otto... His father died protecting the clan when a misaimed human almost hit a squad of his warriors escorting human refugees to the clan. Otto was traumatized. He had to become chief before even performing his clan's rite of inheritance. He's also another Jewish chief like Noah. The two really had heart-heavy responsibilities following all the casualties. Otto related well with Kory in the category of trauma following a parent's death."
"But Otto did better." Bacchus shrugged. "You know, with coping, seeing shrinks, socializing… He's basically Kory if she had accepted the support she needed after the war."
Steve nodded solemnly. The moment each Frost Giant entered, their human features disappeared and were replaced by their Jotun features. Loki took a step back, startled both by the memory of the nybergynnere Frost Giants chiefs who wanted to kill him back in DC and the diverse appearances of the present chiefs. He couldn't believe how even in their icy appearances, their features were smoother, detailed, and less barbaric than the Jotun from Jotunheim or the more gigantic, savage gammeldags. They retained the same faces and proportions in their human appearances, except that each of them had at least one feature that stood out, emphasizing their uniqueness.
"Weapon confiscation," Noah calmly said as he turned to face his fellow chiefs. He held out his hands expectantly. Many of them, sans Ingrid and Otto, groaned. "You all know the rules. No fights in meetings. Your weapons, now."
"But what if we need them?" The chieftess in the rock-climbing gear exclaimed.
"You'll need them after the meeting if danger comes," Noah said, unfazed.
"But you, Ingrid and Otto get to keep yours!"
"We're the least likely to start a brawl that will result in bloodshed, human sacrifices, and tax evasion," Ingrid responded casually. The other chiefs recognized she wasn't wrong and started pulling out their arsenal, placing it in Noah's hands one by one. Loki kept himself quiet, but it did not work. The red-and-black maned chieftess, the sultriest of the bunch, noticed him just after placing her bow and arrows and daggers in Noah's grasp.
"Oh look," she said condescendingly. "Koryanna's rabble of a dad." Her words caused the chiefs and chiefesses to send their glares at Loki. The chieftess in question was a beautiful nightmare. Her light blue skin was covered in asymmetrical patterns of scarlet red freckles shaped like hearts. Her bare arms were covered with tattoos of a god bearing a bow an arrow and a blonde woman preparing to behead a man with an axe. Sticking from her butt was a literal light blue devil's tail with scarlet red freckles. Despite wearing stiletto heels, she was obviously the tallest among the Frost Giants present in the room, even towering Yueqiu-Bing. It didn't help that she was also the only Frost Giantess with large roe down horn that seemed to be carved out of rubies and sapphires and was ornated by dangling crystal potion flasks, each bearing a colorful, glowing fluid. Creepier still, ominous smoke could be seen flying through the flasks' corks.
"I beg your pardon?" Loki demanded.
"Rabble. Poser. Wannabe." The chieftess listed out as she made a few steps towards him, making it obvious that she surpassed Loki in height. "A fake Jotun."
"Easy there, Niko," Yueqiu-Bing warned before changing into an equally mocking tone, "you might have him wet his pants. He's getting enough of a cold shoulder." That pun earned some snickers from the Frost Giants. Thor looked at Loki, who tensed uneasily at the Frost Giants mocking him.
"There's no need to mock…" Thor began.
"Can it, barbarian. No one gives a shit if you're an Odinson," 'Niko' flicked her tail so that the sharp tip pointed at Thor's neck. "At least his Jotun nature gives him leverage."
"Still beneath us," the kilt uniformed one pointed out.
"I'd go for no better than the humans." The voodoo tuxedo one muttered.
"Nice to meet you all," Tony said from within his Iron Man suit. "Look, the Little Princess is downstairs. Use the stairs or elevator, just don't destroy any of it…"
"Don't talk to us…" 'Niko' raised her hand in dismissal. "We don't touch human billionaires. We have standards."
"I'm surprised that an imp even has standards," Loki remarked sarcastically. His witty words caused a few of the chiefs to take a step back when Niko's gritting teeth made a sound similar to breaking glass. Her horns grew in branches and the smokes from her flasks did the same, creating vicious clouds of red, purples, and blacks. The more the vicious smoke clouds started growing above her, the worse it smelled. Captain America, Bacchus, and Maui were the first to instinctively clog their nostrils. Loki, on the other hand, was the first to get treated to the ghastly smells of Niko's angry smoke clouds: vaporized chemicals, animal pheromones, sweaty skin, salt and sugar, melted gold, and worse of all, internal fluids. The odors were too overpowering and paralyzed Loki.
"Call me that again and you won't even remember…"
"Nikoletta! That's enough!" Ingrid used her wooden stick to smack Nikoletta on the head. Nikoletta growled in frustration, but Ingrid wasn't impressed. "Honestly, tormenting a weak Frost Giant with all the lusts known to mortal!"
"He had it coming!" Nikoletta protested.
"I don't care! Act like the chieftess you are until you clock out! For Ymir's sake, you're an embarrassment to Scandinavia!"
"And to be fair… you should have left him alone. He didn't do anything wrong." The Belgian Frost Giant spoke up quietly. "You went looking for trouble yourself. He was minding his business."
Nikoletta grunted in frustration.
"Cyril is right, Nikoletta," Noah shook his head in disapproval. "Unless danger calls for actual last resort measures, please refrain from your Hellish behavior. You aren't helping at disproving outsider opinions of your succubus origins."
"Förlåt mig, Noah." Nikoletta nodded in genuine shame before joining the other chiefs. (Forgive me, Noah.) Noah gently patted her shoulder in approval.
"We appreciate your hospitality and generosity for allowing us to use your headquarters for our personal meeting, Avengers," Noah spoke up towards the mortals, "but please understand that this is a matter among Frost Giants. The safety of our clans could be jeopardized by this brewing war and we are a rather sensitive race. I do implore that you do not cause us to seek retaliation by doing anything that could provoke us directly or indirectly. I would honestly prefer that methods without bloodshed are applied."
"We will, Mr. Vinter-Likht," Captain America said politely.
"Thank you, Steve." Noah gave a reassured smile to the captain, leading the other Frost Giant chiefs to calm down as well. "You remember the others. Ingrid, Nikoletta, and Johanna from Scandinavia."
Ingrid nodded, Nikoletta merely shrugged, and the wrestler chieftess Johanna gave a mere indifferent hand gesture as if to say 'Sup'.
"Cyril, Emma, and Otto from Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany. You already know Otto since you saved him in Stuttgart last year." Otto gave Steve a grateful smile while Cyril, the chief who surprisingly stuck up for Loki, and Emma the chieftess with the rock-climbing gear gave some friendly waves with their hands.
"Gawain, from the United Kingdom but based in Scotland." Noah gestured to the redheaded Frost Giant. "But you also probably remember him from the court room… when he and Vincent had that tiff."
"It was not a tiff but an unprofessional flyting!" Gawain protested. "That cowardly frog-legged wimp had it coming!"
"Does he have frog legs though?" Nikoletta randomly asked.
"How should I know? He makes your industry look like a family friendly movie! At least your underpaid employees get better insurances while he keeps 105% of the profits! The extra 5% just in case customers make reservations for holidays!"
"Now you know why my mother always said madams before pimps," Nikoletta smirked.
"As much as I wish to spank both of you for sharing your interests in such a revolting industry in public, please save that garbage until after you clock out!" Noah was showing signs of both impatience and disgust. Nikoletta and Gawain cringed and went back in line while Noah continued. "Yueqiu-Bing and Kunal from China and India. Knowing Tomoe, I imagine she is already ahead of us, and lastly, Joseph. The chief from the United States."
The American chief gave reasons for the Avengers to give a proper look. The voodoo patterns on his tuxedo almost faded with the black fabric until his fabrics revealed them to glow in small neon colors. His braided dreadlocks were tied in a ponytail and causing his skull to have a pattern of the Mississippi River. The Thunderbird pin on his tie was constantly blinking, as if to keep an eye on everyone for its wearer. He was currently the last chief holding on to his weapons, a cavalry lance and two small drums attached to his belt. His neck had signs of old scars. He stared distrustfully at the humans with his two unique eyes, left one being a regular dark brown human one while the right eye was an actual eagle's eye. An eagle eye that caused him to squint and reveal its synthetic nature due to the mechanical noises it created.
Joseph snorted in disdain, handed his lance and drums to Noah, and was the first to take the stairs to the meeting. Noah sighed in disappointment and gestured the other Frost Giants to follow along with Joseph.
"Well… That happened," Tony took off his Iron Man mask after Yueqiu-Bing was the last Frost Giant to leave and the assistants followed along. "Suddenly I understand why the Little Princess has a fragile alliance with Joseph."
"Actually, Kory had a better relationship with Joseph's sister," Bacchus sat down on the nearest chair.
"Bad relationship?" Loki dared to ask. "Did Joseph usurp the throne?"
"No." Maui shook his head.
"Fun fact, the clans have an international rule that chiefdom through coups and treachery results in brutal limb ripping and shipping the bones to the nearest cannibal tribe," Aaricia said casually. Her words terrified Loki.
"Besides, they don't do 'rights of firstborns' or 'parental favoritism' like the shit you assholes do," Bacchus rudely told Loki and Thor.
"All the nybergynnere Frost Giant clans have a mandatory tradition called rite of inheritance," Maui explained. "Nearly all of them are at sixteen, but at a certain point in adolescence, the heirs to the clans must perform a challenge that proves their capacities to protect their clan."
"If they get it on the first go, they immediately become the next chief and get officiated a few days after the ceremony," Bacchus added in. "If they don't, they need to train for more years before performing the rite again."
"Except in Tomoe's clan…" Aaricia grimaced. The two demigods shuddered in agreement until Maui went back to the topic.
"Of course, the matter is different if the chief has more than one heir. Take Joseph. His sister Aiyana was his twin sister born 30 minutes after him. Bacchus and I were familiar with their parents; we were invited to the twins' rite of inheritance. Both were raised and trained with the same necessities; they were even punished if they argued. Since they had the same birthday, they had to have their rites of inheritance on the same day."
"And the American rites are way different than those in Europe or Asia!"
"Bacchus' isn't wrong. Very much like the United States, the Rockies Clan is composed of smaller clans where all the citizens are classed and perform rites to gain a totem. That's exactly what Joseph and Aiyana did, but since they were their father's heirs, they had to climb the tallest mountain in the Clan to reach the Thunderbird nests."
"That doesn't sound so bad…" Loki began before Aaricia pulled him down by the collar and covered his mouth with her hand.
"You're such a twit!" She rolled her eyes. "Totems in the Rockies Clan are pretty portable, friendly familiars that a clan teen can easily run after when their rite is basically their version of high school graduation. But the Thunderbirds? It's like your brother in eagle form… If the eagle was the size of the Hulk, could break through titanium with its beak, its feathers turn into lightning bolt every time it creates a literal storm by flapping its wings, and they stare at you like they want to search your soul to see every single thing you did in your life before deciding to play with you or kill you!"
Loki's eyes widened.
"And the mountain their nests rest on is an ancient pile of the sharpest crystals!" Bacchus clenched his fists. "Merely touching one without protection can cut your skin! And since it's a mountain of purified crystals, if you piss off a Thunderbird in its nest, expect a fatal electrocution attempt on your life!"
Loki gulped.
"Only the clan heirs are allowed to climb the mountain. No magic, ice or whatever," Maui said. "They climb with their bare hands to the top, face the Thunderbird they want as a totem, and if the bird wants them, they come, but if they don't, it's a one-way ticket to a full-body cast after a major fall." He shook his head. "Joseph and Aiyana were sixteen. They both got to the top, but Joseph aimed for a very untamed Thunderbird. It immediately tossed him off the mountain."
"Is that how he received those scars?" Thor tapped on his neck.
"That and the next times he performed the rites. Aiyana succeeded on the first time he failed. Even after he got his Thunderbird before World War 2, it didn't matter if he got his totem. Aiyana succeeded on the first go, her father passed the chiefdom to her later, and she led the Rockies Clan for a century."
"His success did prove that in case something happened to Aiyana, he'd succeed as the next chief. He's currently chief until his nephew David passes his rite of inheritance…" Bacchus groaned. "Could be a while. The teen's a moron."
"But what happened to Aiyana?" Natasha asked.
"Human raid." The words shocked the Avengers.
"How could humans raid the Rockies Clan?" Steve asked. "Wouldn't it have a barrier to protect them?"
"The Jotunheimen Clan wasn't protected by a barrier," Tony said.
"Because it's smaller and in a generally secluded area! The Rockies Clan cover the whole mountain range, they have to use magic to both create a barrier and put their clan in a pocket dimension!" Aaricia pulled her hand away from Loki and raised her hands. "It's the freaking United States! You think local cabin dwellers would give a cup of coffee to the first 8-foot-tall Frost Giant they meet!"
"Aaricia's right. And it's exactly what happened." Bacchus got up. "A decade ago, some governmental humans somehow discovered a breach in the barrier. Aiyana led Joseph and a couple of warriors to meet the humans. 'Let's discuss with them to convince them to leave us alone. Perhaps gain their consent to erase their memories of the whole thing.' You know, convince them to walk away and imagine the barrier just being a local trick to go to nearby tourist traps. It worked JUST FINE…" Bacchus clasped his hands together. "They burned her alive with a flamethrower the moment she revealed her Jotun form…"
"None of the humans came back. Joseph had them killed or rendered fully amnesic, making them think they were being tormented by other humans into seeking shelter. Ever since Joseph filled in after his sister, he heavily put restrains on rights for humans in the Rockies Clan." Maui sighed. "Basically, no different than the mortal country itself."
"I can imagine…" Steve sighed.
Tony shook his head and tapped onto his armor's keyboard. "JARVIS, connect the footage system to the nanotech security system I have in the snowmen's meeting room."
"Yes, sir." A holographic image suddenly appeared, showing a perfectly colored visual of the meeting room. The walls were entirely covered with frost and big chunks of ice blocked the door and windows. The Frost Giant chiefs and Kory were seen finishing up the food and the chief's assistants clearing out the empty dishes.
"What, they're done already?" Bacchus checked his wristwatch. "They only went down ten minutes ago! Man, we talk too much!"
"Knowing my sis, she probably ate the whole buffet." Aaricia rolled her eyes. The footage showed Kory, in her Jotun form, drinking a barrel-sized jug full of blue liquor in one gulp. She then threw it at some ice sculpture of Loki. Johanna and Gawain let out some cheers as the ice and glass broke into pieces. "I rest my case and add what she always does at home. Get drunk and throwing stuff at her dad."
"She hates me that much…" Loki looked painfully at the footage. After the last assistant cleared off the table and disappeared, the Frost Giants properly sat down. Noah began the discussion, but none of the eavesdroppers understood a single thing he said. They didn't understand the next things the other Frost Giants said. All they heard and saw were grunts, growls, pounding, and punching.
"Uh… what's happening? What am I looking at?" Clint frowned.
"Shit, these guys are smarter than Anubis ever claimed them to be!" Maui crossed his arms. "They probably figured out that you guys or SHIELD would spy on them. They're talking Gigantic."
"Gigantic?" Thor asked.
"I never heard of such a dialect and All-Speak allows Asgardians to speak thousands of dialects," Loki said.
"Yeah, well, not EVERYONE speaks a thousand languages!" Aaricia snapped. "You'd be surprised, some languages combine both words and physical gestures. But like Kory would tell me to do, I'll explain it to you the way only a barbarian understands: most giants are universally tough or violent, so they talk like lions and gorillas running for presidency!"
"Um, I did not need the rudeness, but OK." Loki turned to Bacchus and Maui. "Do any of you know Gigantic?"
"I'm only fluent in Sea Monster Mannerism," Maui admitted in guilt.
"Eh. I'm just an expert in drunk dialects," Bacchus grimaced.
"I know a bit of Gigantic, but it's pretty mediocre. I'm better at Trollish." Aaricia saw all the adults, even the demigods, looking at her in confusion. "What? Trolls are very common in Norway after Frost Giants. I'm friends with at least five in my high school!"
"You live with a Frost Giantess demigoddess who knows more languages than the baby of an average Wikipedia page and Oxford professor," Bacchus said quietly, "but you're average in Gigantic? You're sad." Aaricia responded by hitting him in the eyes with both hands, growling, and kicking him in the groins. "OK!" He yelped. "You're at least VERY fluent in cussing!"
"What did she call you?" Clint snickered.
"You don't want to know," Aaricia pulled her hair back. "Who wants me to try translating?"
All the Avengers raised their hands.
"Fantastic. Anyone have a notepad for Loki? No? Then pay close attention." Aaricia cracked her knuckles and turned to the holographic display. They were surprised by what looked like the other chiefs freaking out and Yueqiu-Bing trying to pull Kory away from Tomoe as she kept hammering the teenager's head onto the table.
"What is Kory doing to Tomoe?" Steve freaked out.
"OK, I don't know what we missed," Aaricia said nervously, "but Kory just said 'Your idea is bullshit'."
In the hologram, Kory grabbed Yueqiu-Bing by the ankle and swung her around. Loki cringed as his own daughter beat up a Frost Giantess taller than her in the same fashion that the Hulk beat him. "'I am not going to calm down… This idea is shitty…'," Aaricia groaned, "and now I can't tell if she's saying that Yueqiu-Bing is an idiot or that her toothpaste smells like rabbit poop."
"I'm going to lean for the idiot part," Loki offered.
Noah used his staff to levitate and shove the two Frost Giantesses in their seats. He started drumming against the table with his staff and growling. "OK, now it got complicated. I'm positive that he just called these two a bunch of babies since staff hitting against a table is how you tell someone they're being childish, but I can't figure out if he just said 'shut up' or told them to give Tomoe a chance to talk."
Tomoe then gave out a variety of grunts, growls, punching Emma, the chief sitting next to her, in the arm, then punching a dent in the wall, pounding the table with both fists, and sitting down so hard, she broke her chair.
"Uhhhhhhh…" Aaricia agitated her fingers to figure out a translation. "Manipulate aliens? Find a replacement? JOTUNHEIM GOING DOWN! I quite confident that she was talking about destruction. They translate 'destroying furniture' as 'destroying your enemies'. If my translation is OK, I think her idea involves tricking the aliens and bringing down Jotunheim."
"Does she mean destroying both the Chitauri and Jotun?" Loki asked.
In the hologram, Kory growled and agitated her hands as if she were REALLY struggling to resist the urge to jump off her seat and try strangling Tomoe. "Kory's saying that she wishes she could kill Tomoe because it's OBVIOUS that Loki will ruin his own involvement in the plan."
"But what plan?" Thor demanded.
"How should I know? I don't know anything about alien wars or a myth-based species nitpicky about their rulers being strictly from the same family!" Aaricia froze in her tracks. "Unless… that's why they want a replacement! Kory doesn't want to be queen!"
"She never has," Steve picked up on where Aaricia was going. "But only Laufey's family can rule Jotunheim! Laufey's dead, and since Kory doesn't want to be queen, that leaves…"
Everyone's eyes turned to the one candidate available for the picking.
Loki.
The Frost Giant chiefs wanted to use Loki as Kory's replacement for the Jotunheim throne.