Rhea stood before the wrecked quin-jet, her eye twitching slightly. She had worked so hard on getting it repaired and reinforced for a journey home and now it had been ripped apart. Judging by the large foot prints she didn't have to guess too much who was responsible.
"Ms. Rhea." An attendant came up to her.
"What?" Rhea ground out.
"Grandmaster requires your attendance." They replied nervously.
"Why?" Rhea said as she turned on her heel, the attendant stumbling to keep up with her.
"He did not say, but he did not look pleased." The attendant admitted. "He has also summoned Lord Loki and the Scrapper that brought you in."
"Well this should be fun." Rhea bit out as she charged through the halls of the grandmasters home. Snapping her fingers she changed into a skintight high necked black suit with glowing iridescent art deco lines accenting it that flowed seamlessly into a pair of boots, fingerless gloves, and a hood that hung from around her neck. Coming around the last corner that lead to the grand hall she spotted her father and the Scrapper.
"Anyone know why we're here?" Rhea asked as they all came before the doors.
"No." Loki shook his head, even more nervous now that his daughter was involved.
"Nope." Scrapper looked unbothered as she drained the last of her drink before tossing it behind herself. The doors opened before them revealing an irate Grandmaster with a stoic Topaz at his side. The amount of bodyguards around him had been tripled at the most and the Grandmaster looked pissed.
"I'm upset! I'm very upset. You know what I like about being upset? Blame. Right now, that's the mindset that I'm in. And you know who I'm blaming?" Grandmaster started up as soon as he saw them.
"Grandmaster…" Loki tried.
"Hey! Don't interrupt me!" Grandmaster ordered.
"Here you go." Topaz handed the melt stick to the Grandmaster, Rhea narrowed her flashing eyes at Topaz while her father tensed and Scrapper looked unimpressed.
"Why are you handing me the melt stick? He was interrupting. That's not a capital violation." Grandmaster quickly refocused. "My precious champion has come up missing and its all because of that Lord of Thunder. It's all because of him." He turned to Loki. "YOUR brother. Whatever the story is. Adopted, or complicated. I'm sure there's a big history." He turned to Rhea. "YOUR Uncle, yeah, didn't take me long to make the familial connection going on here." He then turned to Scrapper. "And YOUR contender."
"My dear friend, if you were to give me twelve hours I could bring them both back to you." Loki tried to appease.
"I can do it in two." Scrapped spoke up.
"I could do it in one." Rhea crossed her arms lifting her chin.
"You know what? I woke up this morning thinking about a public execution. But for now, I'll settle for this sweet little "who's gonna get him first?" So you're on the clock." Grandmaster shooed them out. Valkyrie exited in a hurry with Loki and Rhea hot on her heels.
"What have you done!?" Loki snapped as he grabbed her, but Scrapper reversed the position, putting Loki up against the wall.
"I don't answer to you, lackey." Val ground out.
"Guys, not really the time considering we don't have any." Rhea placed her closed fists on her cocked hips.
"It's Loki. And you will answer to the Grandmaster." Loki moved to reverse position again, but Val broke away drawing her two blades. In response, Loki unsheathed two long Sakaarian daggers. They eyed each other, and then fight. Rhea frowned darkly as a fast-paced and deadly battle of knives played out before her. After a few exchanges, Scrapper connected a big shot that slammed Loki into the wall. "Why would you help my brother escape with that green fool?"
"I don't help anyone." Scrapper snarled, but Loki spotted the markings on her wrist and realized what she was.
"You're a Valkyrie. I thought the Valkyrie all died gruesome deaths?" Loki commented.
"Dad!" Rhea snapped. Now Valkyrie attacked Loki with real anger. She got him up against the wall, her blade against his throat looking ready to kill him.
"Choose your next words wisely." Val grit out.
"You both need to stop." Rhea quickly stepped in using her powers to separate the two of them. She shot a glare at her dad before turning to still fuming Valkyrie. "I'm so sorry for your loss first of all." Rhea started off diplomatically. "I only known from what I've read I can tell that you and your sisters were an amazing force to be reckoned with and that their deaths must have been of the highest honor." Rhea was happy to see that Valkyrie seemed to be calming down at bit. "And I'm sure my father is very sorry for his rash words." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Aren't you dad?"
"Of course. Terribly sorry. Must be a very painful memory..." Quick as a rattlesnake, Loki ducked around Val and grabbed her head casting her into an illusion of her memories, her eyes clouding over.
"DAD!" Rhea pushed him away. "What is wrong with you?!"
"Did you forget that she's the one who captured you and Thor?" Loki pointed out. "That sold you both off like common slaves?"
"She didn't capture me! I went with her, I told her to take me to the Grandmaster!" Rhea said in exasperation. "And in any case that doesn't give you a right to do that to her! No one deserves to be thrown back into their worst memories like that. Do you want to be thrown back into your bad memories?"
"That is completely different." Loki replied evenly.
"I'm telling mom." Rhea crossed her arms.
"You wouldn't." Loki went pale.
Rhea shook her head as she knelt in front of Val who was against the wall with her legs drawn up and her hands resting on her knees. Rhea placed her hands over Val's closing her eyes as she reversed what her father had done.
Opening her eyes she found herself in a desolate landscape, the last stand of the Valkyries as they faced off against Hela. She easily spotted Val as she charged bravely into battle with her sisters. Hela sent out a barrage of black projectiles that took out most of the battalions Pegasus's sending the riders falling to the ground. They littered the surface, dead, impaled upon Hela's weapons.
Val charged forward, dauntless as she faced certain death. Hela threw a black great sword straight at her, but one of her sisters pushed her out of the way taking the hit straight through the chest. As Val fell Rhea darted forward caught her. Val looked at her in confusion, still torn between reality and memory.
"I've got you." Rhea brought her back, the nightmare around them crumbling away. She was trembling from the visceral memory that she'd tried so hard to suppress ever since coming to the trash planet.
Before Rhea could apologize for her father's attack on her Val turned on Loki, raging, and knocked him out in one swift move. Rhea collected herself as she looked from her unconscious father back to a still furious Valkyrie.
"You're both coming with me, now." Valkyrie ground out not meeting Rhea's eyes. Rhea nodded quickly, wiping the tears from her eyes. She decided that it was best to respect Val's unspoken wishes and not speak of what she had seen.
Val grabbed her father by the back of his collar and proceeded to drag him down the halls, out of the Grandmaster castle, and all the way to her home which was in a high-tech looking, but still run-down apartment complex. The halls were filled with rubbish and the walls covered in substances Rhea did not want to think about. Finally they stopped before a door that Valkyrie let them into, instantly chaining up her dad while Rhea took in the small room, the floor covered in liquor bottles.
"He stays here and you come with me." Valkyrie ordered. "We're going to find those Uncles of yours."
"Sounds good." Rhea nodded once again. "I really am sorry for what happened, he thought you had kidnapped me and sold me off to the grandmaster."
Val made no move to reply as she walked out of the apartment with Rhea jogging to keep up. The streets where filled with a massive street festival where revelers danced and cheered while throwing powdered paint at each other... in celebration of the Hulk with the color green everywhere. Moving through the crowd was total chaos that was only kept at bay thanks to Val dark glare.
"There he is." Val grumbled, spotting Thor and Bruce ducking down an alley.
"I think my uncle has made a new friend." Rhea commented, spotting a massive scrapper looming over Thor and Bruce, rearing up for the attack. Val walked rapidly up to them behind the scrapper and clocked the Scrapper with a brass knuckle right cross dropping him to the ground hard. Thor looked at Val while clutching Banner like a child.
"Hi." Thor said.
"Hi." Val nodded.
"I was gonna do that." Thor commented.
"Yeah, well, I did it first." Val replied.
"That's good." Thor said.
"Hi Uncle Bruce." Rhea said as she caught up to them having gotten caught in the crowd.
"Rhea, you're here to?!" Bruce started to breathe a little harder.
"Yep." Rhea smiled hugging him. "It's going to be ok Uncle Bruce, just breathe."
"Right, right." Bruce felt himself calm down a bit as she let him go from the hug, but he still held her hand tightly in his. Partly to make sure she stayed safe and to keep himself grounded.
"What are you doing here?" Thor asked.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving as soon as you got your brother and niece." Val said.
"I got sidetracked." Thor said.
"What's with the..." Val gestured to his wrap.
"It's my disguise." Thor said proudly.
"But I can see your face." Val frowned.
"Not when I do this, you can't." Thor covered his face a bit, Val glanced over to Rhea with a raised brow while Rhea just shook her head. "Your hair looks nice. I like what you did with it. Change it? Washed it maybe?"
"As you can see the charm practically gallops in the male members of my family." Rhea sighed dramatically.
"I can see that." Valkyrie rolled her eyes, taking Thor by the arm.
"What are those things on her eyes? Are those the people that she's killed? She's so beautiful and strong..." Bruce rambled as Val led them through the crowd back toward her place.
"Who is this guy?" Val asked casting a glance to the nervous man.
"He's a friend." Thor answered.
"Who? Me? I'm Bruce." Bruce introduced himself as Val lead them into Sakaarian apartment building where she resided.
"I feel like I know you." Val commented thoughtfully.
"I feel like I know you too." Bruce replied following her down the hallway when the subject of Val came up.
"Look, I've spent years in a haze trying to forget my past. Sakaaar seemed like the best place to drink and forget and to die one day." Valkyrie told them.
"I was thinking that you drink too much, and that probably was going to kill you." Rhea cocked her head to the side.
"I don't plan to stop drinking, but I don't want to forget. I can't turn away anymore. So, if I'm gonna to die, well... it may as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag." Valkyrie told them as they stopped before the door to her apartment. "Yeah. So I'm saying that I wanna be on the team. Has it got a name?"
"Yeah, it's called the Revengers." Thor said uncertainly but trying to sound decisive.
"Revengers?" Val echoed, glancing at Rhea who let out a snort of laughter.
"Because I'm getting revenge. You're getting revenge. Rhea's getting revenge." Thor looked to Banner. "Do you want revenge?"
"I'm undecided." Bruce shrugged.
"Okay." Thor nodded.
"Also, I've got a peace offering." Valkyrie opened the front door, revealing Loki restrained as anyone could be, sitting in the middle of the apartment with a dozen chains around him.
"Surprise." Loki smiled and Thor tossed a bottle bouncing it off of Loki's head.
"OW!" Loki winced.
"Just had to be sure." Thor told him with a smirk as he took in Val's apartment. Bottles everywhere, blood spattered clothes in the corner, a knife in the wall.
"Is this lady crazy?" Banner asked in a low voice.
"No, she's cool." Rhea assured him.
"Hello, Bruce." Loki greeted.
"So, last time I saw you, you were trying to kill everybody. Where are you at these days?" Bruce asked with furrowed brows.
"It varies from moment to moment." Loki grinned then looked to Rhea. "Are you ok?"
"Fine. After Val took you out we went and found these two amidst a massive Hulk parade." Rhea said as she came over sitting next to her father cross-legged.
"Not going to let me out of these chains are you?" Loki shifted.
"Nope." Rhea shook her head.
"Noticed they'd been charmed to stay on." Loki flexed a bit.
"Yep." Rhea nodded.
"Are you still going to tell your mum?" Loki glanced at her.
"Undecided." Rhea answered. Val laid out a cloth bundle on the bed unwrapping it to reveal an old Asgardian sword. Thor's eyes go wide as soon as he laid eyes on it.
"Is that... a Dragonfang?" Thor asked in excitement.
"It is." Val nodded.
"My God. This is the famed sword of the Valkyrie." Thor said in wonder.
"Sakaar and Asgard are about as far apart as any two known systems." Val told them. "Our best bet is a wormhole just outside the city limits. A nice clean wormhole outside the city. Refuel on Xandar and be back in Asgard in around 18 months."
"Nope. We're going through that one." Thor pointed at the nightmare tornado wormhole over the ocean.
"The Devil's Anus?" Val asked.
"Wait, whose anus are we going through?" Bruce asked.
"For the record, I didn't know it was called that when I picked it." Thor admitted.
"That looks like a collapsing neutron star inside of an EinsteinRosen Bridge." Bruce eyed the massive hole.
"We need another ship. That would tear mine to pieces." Val told them.
"She's right. We need one that can withstand the geodetic strain from the singularity." Thor rattled off much to Bruce's surprise.
"And has an offline power steering system that could also function without the on-board computer." Bruce said shooting Thor a quizzical look.
"And we need one with cup holders, because we're gonna die. So, drinks!" Val held up some bottles.
"Do I know you? I feel like I know you." Bruce asked her.
"I feel like I know you, too. It's weird." Val looked him over.
"What do you say, doctor? Uncharted metagalactic travel through a volatile cosmic gateway. Talk about an adventure." Thor and Banner high fived as Val stared at them blankly.
"We need a ship." Bruce said.
"There are one or two ships, absolute top-of-the-line models." Val said.
"I don't mean to impose, but the Grandmaster has a great many ships. And if I know my daughter as well as I should…" Loki trailed off looking to his daughter who was grinning widely.
"I may have stolen the access codes to his security system." Rhea admitted with a fake sheepish smile. "Actually it was the first thing I did when I settled in."
"You're telling us you can get us access into the garage without setting off any alarms?" Thor asked looked at his niece impressed.
"Yes, brother. She can with my help of course." Loki told them proudly.
"Okay, can I just... A quick FYI, I was just talking to him just a couple minutes ago and he was totally ready to kill any of us." Bruce said quickly.
"He was just joking." Rhea sighed, shooting her dad an annoyed look.
"He did try to kill me." Val pointed out.
"So? He's tries to kill Uncle Thor all the time." Rhea pointed out.
"Oh yes, on many, many occasions." Thor nodded. "There was one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows that I love snakes. So, I went to pick up the snake to admire it and he transformed back into himself and he was like, "Yeah, it's me!" And he stabbed me." Thor said with a fond chuckle while Val and Bruce looked at him like he was crazy. "We were eight at the time."
"Yeah, right after you hit him so hard in the stomach with Mijonir that he coughed up blood for a week." Rhea pointed out as Loki suppressed a smile.
"Who told you that?" Thor tried to look offended.
"You did." Rhea deadpanned. "Amongst other stories from your misspent youth."
"Oh yeah." Thor scratched bashfully at his beard.
"If we're boosting a ship, we're gonna need to draw some guards away from the palace." Val got them back on track.
"Why not set the beast loose?" Loki glanced over to Bruce who looked uncomfortable at the mention of Hulk.
"Shut up." Thor snapped.
"You guys have a beast?" Val asked in interest.
"Only when Uncle Thor doesn't eat." Rhea stage whispered. "He gets hangry."
"No, there's no beast. He's just being stupid." Thor quickly spoke up. "And I do not get hangry."
"Yes you do." Rhea stated.
"We're going to start a revolution." Thor changed the subject.
"Revolution?" Bruce echoed.
"I'll explain later." Thor said.
"Who's this guy again?" Val asked.
"I'll explain later." Thor told her.