A/N: Review responses are in my forums. Thanks to those of you who reviewed.

As a housekeeping note, I will not be posting next Saturday for holiday travel. However messed up the world seems to be, I do sincerely hope that all of you have a safe and joyful holiday.


Chapter Twenty-Seven: Blood Sisters

Everything about the Collector's dome made Taylor uncomfortable. The space the Collector occupied was easily as large as a high school football stadium, rising up a dozen floors above. Cube-shaped cages covered the floor and also hung suspended in mid-air in a way that hinted at a pattern that tickled the back of her mind. The cages held everything from artifacts to actual living beings, and were packed so close together traversing them was like trying to get through a hedge maze.

One held a dog in a space-suit with an old Soviet star on it; another a large, misshapen duck wearing a suit jacket and tie.

"What are these?" she whispered.

"The Collector owns many things," the servant said. She pitched her voice intentionally high and moved with a stiff, awkward formality. Taylor didn't need to see the truth of her to know the woman was terrified.

She was a slave. Glancing at Gna, she saw the other woman shake her head slightly. Through the various cages with their miserable occupants, they came to an open area that the floating cages made almost into a dome.

The figure that emerged was a study in 60s pop-cinema. Stark white hair stood on end, with heavy eye-shadow and a tattoo on the lower lip, the man otherwise looked human. His dress was over the top, with a collection of metal and fur that didn't have any perceivable pattern.

To Taylor's newly attuned senses, the man's entire body thrummed with a constant discordance. It did not feel so much like magic, as displacement. The creature did not seem to belong in the Universe any more than she did.

The slave bowed. "I present to you Taneleer Tivan, the Collector!" She spoke with fear in her voice.

The man stared at them for a long minute before making a strangely eager sound. "Oh. Oh, Asgardians!" He bowed and wove his hands in an intricate set of movements that ended with the nape of his neck exposed. "It is an honor." He raised his head, and instantly his dark, ancient eyes latched onto Taylor. "Asgardians, and something even more. Please, child. You have no need to hide yourself from me."

"She has no need to pander, either," Sif said coolly. "Do you know why we are here?"

Tivan regarded her frankly. "Of course. But if I may, why not keep the object on Asgard?"

"We have our reasons," Sif said. She reached behind her cloak and removed the Uru box that held the stone which used to be the Aether.

Tivan accepted the fist-sized box, squeezing it between his white-gloved hands as if trying to crush it. He seemed almost to shake in joy from it. "Yes," he whispered. "Having several Infinity stones so close together could draw attention you did not want. Why, just one such stone could make a being as powerful as the Celestials of old. Just imagine though…"

He glanced at Taylor. "All six would make you a god. Able to reshape reality itself. Why, with such power one could leave the multiverse itself, and travel to realms of creation beyond what even the One-Above-All of our reality could see. The possibilities for such power are truly endless."

"And the possibility of abuse beyond tolerance," Sif said.

Tivan bowed. "Just so, my lady. Just so. I will guard this stone with all the resources at my disposal."

"See that you do," Sif said. She turned to leave, with Gna following.

Taylor turned to join them when Tivan said, "With the Infinity Stones, you could even go home."

Taylor froze. She turned to stare back at the ancient man. "And you, Collector? Could the stones take you home?"

The Elder being's smile turned wistful. "My home is no more. Everything old must end, if anything new is to ever begin."

Taylor could almost feel her companion's gaze on her, drawing her on.

~~Theogony~~

~~Theogony~~

The casino floor was just as loud when they reached it as before. The crowds were just as thick and rowdy. But something about the scene just felt off.

Sif with her far more experienced eyes gripped Taylor's elbow. "Continue walking as if nothing's amiss," she hissed.

"Mercenaries?" Gna whispered from Taylor's left side.

"Bounty hunters. Mercenaries. Marauders. No one here is the same as when we came. Your Kree friend recognized you after all, Telos."

The tenor of the noise shifted as the three of them made their way along the edge of the room to seek the far exit. The anticipation of violence hung in the air like a thick miasma. Taylor thought of Buri's training, but also her father's training, her sparring sessions in Sanctuary, and the circumstance they found themselves in.

In a free-for-all against large numbers, her staff would be far more effective than her sword.

A single green bolt of plasma ignited the powder keg. It came from a scarred creature with a bulbous nose and mixed features. Sif reacted with blinding speed and pushed Taylor into Gna while at the same time bringing up a small arm-shield. She wielded the shield so expertly that the Asgardian steel reflected the particles of the bolt right back to the creature that fired it.

The rest of the casino went completely quiet as the bounty hunter staggered back with a gaping hole burned through his chest. When he collapsed as if someone had cut his strings, the entire room burst into roars as all the other bounty hunters charged forward.

Sif pulled her sword while Gna brandished her larger shield and spear. Despite the charging bounty-hunters being universally larger, the two women were Asgardian. They set their feet and took the charge head on, holding back several of their attackers back each by sheer strength alone.

There was just no point in maintaining her illusion. Taylor pulled Buri's staff from her hip, let her illusion fall, and then jumped over the small shield-wall of her companions and into the thickest part of the crowd. She saw surprise turn into glee on the faces of their attackers, only for that glee to turn into shocked expressions of pain when she lashed out with wings and staff and sent dozens of bounty-hunters flying away across the room.

"There she is! The Butcher!"

The call went across the width of the casino as the scum of the galaxy collapsed around her, only to be batted away by a staff with the density of a neutron star. Some of the smarter of the bounty-hunters tried firing their weapons again. The blasts bounced off the dwarf-made armor, but also gave Gna a target with her Einherjar spear. The golden blast of her weapon made short work of those hunters who thought to use a ranged attack.

With the densest part of the bounty hunters thinned, Sif led the charge toward the door. Her sword and shield danced in her hand with consummate skill and speed, making short work of any foolish enough to think she was an easier target than Taylor. Gna moved in perfect sync with Sif, watching her back and occasionally even placing her staff on Sif's shoulder to pick off any enemies that threatened them from afar.

Taylor found herself enjoying the skill the two women employed. She followed behind them, using brute force to easily swipe away those that didn't understand how low the odds were for their success.

"We need to get to the ship and get into open space," Sif called over her shoulder to the others. "Even Skurge can use the Bifrost to get us away before the locals can fire on us."

They cleared the entrance to the casino; the moment Gna's feet left the threshold, something huge and black struck both women with crushing power and sent them flailing through the air.

Taylor rushed out as she saw the person-sized hammer head draw back on a length of magnetized chain. Her heart stopped for one long second as she stared into a brutal, familiar face.

Cull Obsidian stood taller even than Thanos-over three meters. His heavy brow and jaw ridges made him look like an animal as he stood in his thick armor holding his chain-hammer. But just like in Sanctuary, she understood his guttural language enough to know there was a mind behind the brutish appearance.

"Father is disappointed in you, Little Sister," Cull said.

From behind her, Sif asked, "What is that thing?"

Taylor turned to see Sif helping an injured Gna to her feet. "Cull Obsidian. A child of Thanos."

"As are you, little Swan," Cull declared.

Taylor shook her head. In the back of her mind, she felt terrified that she would want to go back and beg Thanos forgiveness. The fear of the thing, though, was far more powerful than any residual urges. When she forced herself to breathe and think about it, there was no part of her left that wanted to be Black Swan. No part of her ever wanted to have the blood of innocents on her hands again.

"I was never a child of Thanos," she told the creature she once called brother. "My father is Kratos of Sparta. Thanos is nothing compared to my true father. I will not go back, Cull. I will never be Thanos' slave again."

"Slave? You were exalted above all!" Through the pitch of his barks and growls, Taylor could hear his confusion and exasperation. "You were beloved and admired! Come back with us, little sister! Don't you want to fight again at my side? We could have such glory!"

"Cull…" She shook her head. "That was never me. He had a chip in my head. Black Swan was fiction. A lie. She never existed. I am Telos. I fight for Hope, not death."

"Hope? What hope? Can hope feed the hungry? Can hope save the lost?" He shook his massive head. "Come back, little sister. Father will forgive you. I beg of you. I don't want to kill you."

"I'm sorry, Cull. But I won't."

He stared at her for the longest time, as if struggling to comprehend her answer. Eventually his wide jaw set and he hefted his chain-hammer for battle. "Very well. If you won't return, then you'll die."

Taylor never saw the energy blast until it slammed into her side. The kinetic and heat energy of the blow lifted her off her feet and sent her flailing across the grimy street to slam into a protrusion of Celestial bone. She managed to glimpse the tall, elegant form of Proxima Midnight a second before Cull's hammer struck.

The second blow held no heat energy, just overwhelming brute power. Her head rang from it as she again found herself flying through the air again to slam into the side of a nearby building. Both Cull and Proxima charged her, but the two made one slight miscalculation.

Gna, niece of Heimdall, spun her spear with power and skill and swept Cull's right leg out from under him mid-stride, sending the giant warrior face-first into the ground. Sif stood, dove into a roll with such good timing that the roll terminated with both her feet perfectly planted in Proxima's stomach. All the inertia of her move translated into a double-kick that sent the much taller warrior flying back.

With an angry growl, Cull lashed out with one giant fist. Gna danced easily away, slapping it down with her spear and firing a blast nearly point-blank into Cull's head.

Cull screamed in pain and anger, pushed himself up much faster than Gna anticipated, and smashed her with his hammer. She didn't go flailing-Gna actually shot through the wall of the casino like a bullet.

"Gna!" Taylor jumped to her feet and charged Cull with her staff in hand. He spun to meet her, again displaying his deceptive speed. She swung for his feet, but he dove and rolled over the blow. He emerged back on his feet amazingly fast and swung with his hammer. Taylor flapped her wings and shot herself into the low gravity atmosphere of the moon. Mid-arch, she swung the Ymir-bone staff.

Cull managed to avoid the blow to his head; it struck his shoulder instead. He'd braced himself like he would in sparring practice. He could not anticipate such a thin, slight-looking weapon carrying such power.

He cried out in pain as his shoulder broke and he flew backward into the wall of another building.

"Stay down, Cull," Taylor urged. "I don't want to kill you."

"It's too late for that, traitor," Cull snarled.

He switched arms and lashed out with his hammer. Taylor batted the projectile hammer head side with her wings.

"Telos!"

Gna's horrified cry came at the exact same moment an impossible, piercing agony cut through the armor of Taylor's back. She tried to scream, but she couldn't. She looked down to see the glowing edge of a glaive protruding from the mail over her stomach. Her black blood dripped off it, soiling the silver-gold of the dwarven plate she wore.

"Father would have forgiven you, if you had just returned," Corvus Glaive said from behind her.

Whatever else he was going to say was lost in the berserker cry of an enraged Asgardian.

Corvus ripped his blade out of Taylor's body and spun to meet the Lady Sif. She batted his glaive away with her hand shield and slashed with her short-sword. The Asgardian steel gleamed under the dim lights of the colony processing plants on the ceiling above them. She moved faster than the normal eye could track, her fair flying and her plate gleaming.

For all of Corvus' skill and power, Sif was a warrior from a race of gods, and in that one glorious moment she shone with power as she never gave Corvus an opportunity to establish a defense. It was not a long exchange-real fights never were. With one last spin to knock his glaive free and a powerful kick that shattered his knee, Sif slashed her sword across the neck of Corvus Glaive, and sent the creature's head flying away from his body.

Taylor's knees buckled as she collapsed to the filthy ground. She heard Proxima's scream of rage and horror as her mate died. The black-clad daughter of Thanos brandished her trident and shot blast after blast at Sif. The Asgardian warrior batted most of the blasts away with her shield, but at least one of them scored a hit on Sif's side when she was faced with another shot that could kill her.

From within the casino, Gna proved she was not done. Her spear blast caught Proxima in the head. Like Cull, it wasn't enough to kill the woman, but it did send one of her black horns skittering across the floor.

Cull in the meantime was painfully picking himself up. He clutched at his hammer with his good hand while glaring down at the injured Taylor. "You should have come back," he said. "You were my sister, Swan. Of all father's children, I cherished you most. And now I have to kill you."

Hurting in a way she'd not felt since Carol Danvers defeated her, Taylor knew she could not fight. At least, not fairly. But with the rings on her finger, she didn't have to. She cast an illusion of herself and then scrambled painfully away under a secondary spell of invisibility. It was, in fact, Loki's favorite spell combination.

Cull's hammer crashed down; and when he lifted it from the mud, he saw a crushed, broken Telos. Taylor made the illusion of her head bleed profusely into the ground, and had the illusionary eyes stare without seeing.

"Proxima, we go," Cull called.

Injured and enraged, Proxima pointed her spear at Sif. "This one killed Corvus. We're not done!"

"Black Swan is dead," Cull said. "Fetch my brother's head and body. Maw can revive him."

"He'll be a dead thing, not the same!"

Proxima must have had Corvus's glaive gene locked, because the weapon for which the man took his last name flew through the air into Proxima's hand. She pointed the weapon at Sif. "You took my mate from me, Asgardian. You are dead. I will not stop until every Asgardian is ash at my feet. You've sealed your doom."

"If you are so sure of your victory, slave, then claim it now," Sif shouted back. "Or run like the cowardly dogs you are."

For all Proxima's power, Cull Obsidian stood almost a meter above her. He stashed his battle hammer over his back and then grabbed her with his good arm. "They will not leave this place alive," he said in his barking tongue. "You will have your vengeance. Now come, sister. Father awaits word."

From her invisible vantage point, Taylor saw how Proxima's eyes shifted to Taylor. It was hard to tell, but for one brief moment she thought the woman's glare softened. Was it regret? Loss?

Whatever Proxima felt when she looked at the illusion of Taylor's dead self, it was fleeting. Faced with being dragged, Proxima batted Cull's hand away and turned at last to join him as the two walked away.

When they were gone, Lady Sif sank down to her knees, breathing hard. "Tell me that was an illusion," she said aloud.

Taylor ended the magic. "It was," she said. Her own voice sounded weak and thready. The pain throbbed now, but she could also feel her body healing. Not fast, but she knew this was not the death of her. It was, however, a massively debilitating blow. Using her wings as much as her legs, Taylor forced herself up.

"What of Gna?"

Sif's head bounced up. "Gna!"

The warrior sprinted toward the hole in the casino wall. Taylor followed as fast as her trembling legs allowed. Within, she found Sif kneeling beside her fellow Asgardian. Blood ran down Gna's chin, and one leg lay splayed out at an awful angle.

Blinking dazedly, Gna looked up at Taylor. "Ouch," she said in a distant tone. "That hammer hurt almost as much as Mjolnir."

Taylor looked to Sif, fighting back tears. "Is she…?"

"She's Asgardian, and a mighty warrior," Sif said determinedly. "This is not her end. I forbid it."

"If it is not my end, why do I see my ancestors waiting for me?" Gna whispered. "What better way to meet them, my sisters? Do you think I could ride with the Valkyries?"

Once again Taylor's knees failed her. Her eyes stung as she stared at her very first friend among the Asgard. "If...if this were my home Universe, and I still had my magic, I could heal her," she gasped. "It would be so easy! I knew Idunn's spell to enchant healing magic into food. She could be whole and strong. But I...the magic Tiwaz taught me won't be enough. I...it's my fault. All this was because of me."

Sif held Gna's hand, but her eyes darted up to Taylor's. "You had healing magic?"

"I did. But it's gone now."

The elder Asgardian shook her head as she let go of Gna's hand and reached behind her cloak. A moment later, she pulled out an intricately carved box that fit in the palm of her hand. She cracked it open to reveal a glowing golden stone within.

It was the stone from Loki's Scepter-an Infinity Stone. She knew, instinctively, that even if the stone had a different conceptual power, it was the deeper cosmic power it connected to that really mattered.

Taylor didn't hesitate-not if it meant healing Gna.

The moment her hand enclosed it, she felt the same beautiful surge of power she felt while holding the Aether. She could feel it tracing its way through every vein, closing her own terrible wound and empowering her protections...until the power reached the burn at the base of her spine. Just like before, the protections failed in the absence of those final runes.

Even if her protections could no longer work, the power remained. She held up her hand and stared as her black fingertips took on a gentle golden glow. Gna stared at her, eyes wide. "You shine like the dawn, sister," she whispered.

Within her mind, Taylor felt paths that lay dormant and empty of magic suddenly filling again. The stone itself held a deep, psychic power to it, but it was the vast cosmic energy that the stone connected to which filled Taylor in a way she'd not felt since she entered Yggdrasil to fight Scion. Or since Asgard, when she almost killed Odin on accident.

She felt her divinity.

She placed a golden hand on Gna's chest. "Even when I was a captive, you treated me fairly," Taylor whispered. "We spent so little time together, and yet in that time you became my friend. My sister. Stay with me, Gna."

The glow intensified as Taylor pulled hard on that cosmic power. She shaped the magic within her as her mother's Brisingamen showed her an age and a Universe ago, and the power responded in kind. With such a deep well to draw on, she had no need of an apple to enchant. The healing flowed without issue.

Within Gna's shattered chest cavity, she felt the woman's heart begin to beat more strongly. She felt the lungs expand and the blood drain from them. Ribs knitted back together as the magic of the cosmos restored her.

When Taylor lifted her hand, Gna stared back at her wide-eyed and whole. When Sif held out the cube to receive the stone, Taylor stared at it for a long moment. "This power is what I am accustomed to," she said softly to the elder Asgardian. "On my earth, I was a god. I could cure the sick, or receive the souls of the dying. The mortals worshipped me."

"Godhead is lonely, Taylor," Sif said gently. "Would you lose Gna's friendship so soon after healing her, to be a god? What happiness could such power give you that the companionship of equals could not provide better?"

Within her perfect memory, she recalled something the enchanted head of Mimir told her when speaking of her parents. "There were centuries when they both thought they might go mad. Do you know how they survived? People. They kept their sanity by being around people. Immortality and isolation are poor bedfellows."

Her eyes drifted back to Sif, and then to Gna, before finally she looked back down at the stone in her hand. "Tivan said with all six I could go home."

"And if we had all six, I would give them to you," Sif said. "But we have only the one. If you must remain here, do you wish to do so as a lonely god, or as our sister? But more...the point is to hide that stone. Other powerful beings can sense its awakening. It must go back."

Taylor didn't care about other beings in that moment. But glancing down at Gna and Sif, she couldn't help but think of their time together.

"I always wanted sisters," Taylor said softly. It hurt to feel the power withdraw as she dropped the stone back in its container. After the fulfilling warmth of it, her mind felt empty and her body cold. And yet, the wound in her stomach was healed and even the armor itself was slowly knitting back together. She suspected that was just the enchantment of the armor, though.

Sif quickly sealed the box and put it back behind her cloak. Gna, meanwhile, reached up with her long, powerful arms and pulled Taylor down into a crushing hug. "You are my sister," Gna declared. "By blood shed and sacrifice made, you are my sister, and I will fight at your side until the end of my days!"

She let go, only for Sif to do the same. "By blood shed," Sif echoed. "You have proven Thor's judgment yet again. You have shown the Allfather's wisdom to be true. While you walk among these stars, you are of Asgard."

"Well, for Asgard, we should probably get moving," Gna said. "The bifrost cannot penetrate a Celestial's bones, so we'll need to get into open space to escape."

"Proxima will be waiting," Taylor warned.

"Then that fool Skurge will have to be fast," Sif said with a tight grin.