Peter woke up, still in his clothes, lying on the soft carpet in one of the many living rooms in the Hammer Mansion. He lifted his head and pinched his eyes against the light when he heard something. Music. Not the same music as last night… He remembered what they had been doing, and immediately wanted to drop his head back to the floor. Justin had brought them to his father's bar, and there they had mixed drinks until even Hela had been drunk enough to dance on a table to Ricky Martin. Urgh… He became aware that Justin was laying on the couch, looking absolutely terrible, his glasses half on his face and his shirt ripped off him. Peter checked his own clothes and sighed in relief to see they were still okay. Moaning, he got up. His head really hurt… Where was Hela? Then he heard it again. Music. He followed it to the ballroom where the piano stood. Hela was playing, and he could see she had hidden her true form again.

The music was still as beautiful as the first time he had heard it, and somehow it cleared out his head. It made him feel more awake and less sick. Hela turned to him as soon as she was done playing.

"Good morning, Peter."

Her voice was strangely playful.

"You are awfully awake and chipper for someone who drank that much absinthe…"

Hela smiled apologetically.

"Apparently not just plant life serves to replenish my magic… Human life, the cheerfulness and strong, unbridled emotions of someone who is slightly inebriated are quite easily to tap into."

Peter frowned.

"Wait, are you saying you have sucked life out of me and Justin?"

Hela looked at the keys and nodded.

"Just a little bit, it happened almost before I could help it. It's like in the park, when I'm surrounded by life, my magic reacts. I… I didn't wish to anger you or your friend."

Peter couldn't stay even slightly mad at Hela. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm not angry… Although you better not mention it to Justin or he will start calling you a Dementor."

"What is a Dementor?"

"Well… I think it's basically something like you only a whole lot creepier and uglier. And it doesn't really exist. I hope."

Hela raised an eyebrow but didn't ask further.

"I have mused as to how I might be able to repay the young Mr Hammer for his kindness…"

"To start you should really call him Justin, he's not so keen to be reminded of his heritage. And then you could perhaps cure his hangover, for I fear he's going to be in bed all day if you don't, the guy's a terrible lightweight."

Hela chuckled dryly.

"Yes, I noticed."

"You on the other hand…"

"I have a very unusual physiology, as you may have noticed. I have inherited the Jötun tolerance for alcoholic beverages from my parent though…"

"Lucky you…"

Hela looked a bit sad at that.

"You have no idea what you're saying, Peter Parker."

"Oh I do. Everything has good sides. The spider thing is not all fun and games too, but it has its advantages."

Hela softly nodded. She was looking pensively at the ballroom doors.

"A simple healing spell is hardly an honest repay for all that Mr… I mean Justin has done for me. Are you sure there is nothing else?"

Suddenly Peter had an idea.

"Well, perhaps there's something..."

(Pagebreak)

Tony didn't really know what to feel. What should he feel? After all he was lying naked in a bed in another dimension accompanied by an equally naked god-slash-war-criminal, which wasn't exactly an everyday situation for him. But the scent of Loki's silky black hair, the touch of his slender body against his, it felt completely right in all its wrongness. While he silently enjoyed the other male's presence, Loki turned to him and once again touched the arc reactor.

"Is this… your heart?"

"Not really. It's… the arc reactor does more than power the suit. It keeps shrapnel from penetrating my heart and major arteries. It keeps me alive."

Tony just told it. There was no use in hiding it any longer anyway. Loki's hand rested on the glowing circle.

"It feels like… like the Tesseract. It holds magic…"

"Science is a bit like magic, I guess."

Loki pulled back his hand and looked sad. Tony caressed his face and felt a tear. Worriedly he asked.

"What is wrong?"

Loki whispered.

"You told me your secret… it only seems fair I now share mine. I… I just know you will no longer like me when you know it."

Tony shook his head.

"Nothing would make me change my mind about you. Nothing at all."

Loki closed his eyes.

"My children… I hadn't seen them for so long… Ages… The Chitauri captured me when Thor brought me to Asgard, they wanted revenge for my failure. They tormented and tortured me… The images, Tony… the images were horrible. I wished to die but they would not let me. And at last…" Now he sobbed. "In the end I sold out my daughter."

"What?"

Tony didn't understand it. With teary eyes Loki looked at him.

"My daughter Hela is the Goddess of the Dead. She… she is the guardian of the line that separates the living and the dead, and therefor she is half of each. Half alive, half dead. The people of Asgard… They feared and loathed her… she was still so young when she retreated forever to the realm of the dead, Tony. I hadn't seen her since. The Chitauri… Their leader Thanos is the lover of Death Herself, and I offered him a sacrifice for his beloved. Thousands of souls. If only he would…" Again, Loki's voice broke. He sobbed and pinched his eyes. "If only he would free Hela from her realm, she would take care of the sacrifice. She… I told her she had to spread her tendrils of death and disease, take lives as much as she could… But not in a way that would betray her. She had… she had to spread the lethal, infectious curse of death in a school, and the children would go home, and they would infect their parents, who would go to their work, infect others… An incubation time of about a week would ensure enough infected before the first person would die."

Tony was shocked. He felt angry and sick at the idea of such a plan, magical-biological warfare instead of an honest face-to-face fight, but still… The torture Loki had been subjected to… He remembered he would have done anything back in Afghanistan, simply to make the torment stop. Loki saw his shocked face and interpreted it wrongly.

"You are disgusted…"

He got out of bed and walked to the window. Standing in front of it he looked like an image of defeat, his shoulders hunched and his head hanging. It broke Tony's heart despite what he just heard. Immediately he got up too and embraced Loki.

"I am not. I am not, Loki. Never."

"Hela will complete the task… she is loyal and worried about my welfare. She knows what the Chitauri will do to me if she fails…" Loki cried. "But I don't want her to. Not anymore, not… I rather live an eternal life of torture than to… than to lose you."

Once again the god seemed as broken as he was in the beginning. Tony softly kissed him.

"There is always a solution. Tell me where we can find your daughter, and we will apprehend her. You should have some faith in us, after all we did stop your invasion as well…"

And Loki told him. When he had given Tony all he knew, he wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep. He was so tired… Softly he said.

"When you pass through that door… you will wake. You will remember all."

"And what about you?"

"I don't want to wake, Tony… It's too much to remember all. Here I am safe."

"I don't want to leave you here."

"You have to. You are needed."

"So are you. I need you."

Loki was silent. Even the magically protected dream-dimension couldn't shield him of all his memories… If he didn't know he couldn't die he would think remembering all would kill him.

"I am so tired, Tony… And if I wake… I will not be like this. I will be…"

He didn't finish his sentence, but Tony knew what he meant. He would be like in those first days again, possibly even worse.

"I will care for you."

Tony led Loki back to the bed and sort of tucked him in. The god didn't protest the least.

"When you are tired you should sleep. But promise me that you will wake up, for me. Please."

Tired, Loki nodded.

"I promise."

"Good. Now sleep."

Tony softly kissed Loki's lips and ran his hand through the man's hair. Oh, how he would like to stay… But the information he had now was too important. As soon as Loki slept he left the room. Immediately a big black nothing enclosed him…

(Pagebreak)

Hela looked strangely excited when hearing what Peter had come up with.

"You mean we will battle these scoundrels?"

Peter grinned.

"Sort of."

"Then we must immediately prepare for a glorious fight!"

Hela looked… elated at the prospect. A mischievous grin adorned her face and her green eyes lit up dangerously. She looked positively like her father…

"You… you won't kill them, right?"

Hela shook her head.

"Oh no. That would be much too merciful… I must speak with Justin now."

"He's is still in the living room, preparing to throw up I guess…"

Hela made her way to the living room. Healing Justin's hangover was not that hard, and after a short conversation Hela disappeared in his mother's room. When she came out, both their mouths fell open. Peter suspected she wore her uniform, which was now dry again, but over it she wore a tailored black leather coat with a belt. Her lips were a devilish red and her green eyes flickered dangerously. Her black hair was put together in a tight ballerina bun, and on her ears dangled silver earrings that looked like blades. On her feet she wore a pair of black leather stiletto heels. She smiled shyly and said.

"I borrowed your mother's shoes, Justin… I hope you don't mind."

"I… I… Of course not…"

Hela didn't look 15. She didn't look 18 or 21 either. She looked ageless and tremendously powerful, and Peter almost felt himself shrink in her presence. She noticed, and turned to him.

"Peter Parker, today you will stand by my side as my equal. Hold you head up high."

She tilted his chin a bit and gave him that special smile, that smile he hadn't known she was capable of. Peter immediately promoted it to his favourite expression in the mental inventory. Justin looked at them as if they had just grown horns. Which Hela probably was capable of, but he thought it was better if Justin didn't know that.

"You… Wow… Peter, marry that girl she's freaking awesome!"

They broke the tension with laughter. Peter saw Justin hand something to Hela.

"Here, you asked me for this. Just plug it in and it should do the trick."

"Thank you, Justin Hammer."

"That's my dad… Just call me Justin." Justin smiled.

"What was that?"

Hela looked apologetically at Peter.

"I'm sorry, but it's better if you don't know… You'll find out soon enough…" And the mischievous smirk was back. She really took after her father… Justin's driver brought them to school. When they walked in, immediately the eyes were on them. Justin and Peter were on Hela's sides like a pair of bodyguards, and the Norse goddess grinned widely and evilly.

"Where is the enemy?"

Justin totally got into the game.

"Over there, in the corner of the smokers."

"Prepare for a glorious battle…"

"Glorious?"

Hela smirked at Peter.

"Yes. Glorious, not lengthy…" She laughed. "I don't expect those feeble minds to be much of a challenge."

Hela could be really, really creepy when she wanted to.

"Wait for my call. You will know when it is time."

Peter and Justin watched as Hela approaches the smoker's corner. They saw how she smiled, cocked her head, bent over a bit, and even from a distance Peter could feel the vibe of mental control she was exercising. In no time she had the boys' attention. And then they saw her touch the face of one of them, almost lovingly. And that was when they got the call. The environment changed, the world first blurred out and then became clear again to them. They were standing in a regal looking room with lots of black marble. It was cold and eerie, and they both hoped it wasn't real. Justin and Peter looked at each other, and observed that they were both wearing… armour. Asgardian armour, Peter knew. Justin noticed he had a sword and whispered.

"Cool…"

They heard a cold, female voice speak, and that turned their attention to the middle of the large room. There, the jocks were all naked and tied to special black wooden benches. They all appeared to be in various states of shock. And at the end of the room, on a large throne of black marble, surrounded by monstrous statues of -hopefully- imaginary creatures, sat Hela. In her natural form, half skeleton, and wearing a most regal silk black dress with a leather bustier, she sat on the throne like only a true queen could sit. On her head she wore a crown that looked like a pair of silver horns, and her hair hung loosely over her shoulders.

"You are the scum of the realm Midgard! Your mother's pushed you out but not one of them managed to discipline their sorry brood! They thought to leave it in the hands of Life and her problems to teach you humility… Well, Life passed on the task to me. You, pathetic mortals, will now feel what happens when you vex the Goddess of Death!"

Peter and Justin giggled when they saw one of the jocks had wet himself.

Hela got up from the throne and threw off her cape. With large steps she reached the boys and a riding crop appeared in her hand.

"Anything you have to say?"

The boys, who had been too petrified to speak, now started to whimper and beg. Hela only laughed coldly at their fear.

"So you don't want to be punished by me? Perhaps you should have thought about that before you took advantage of those weaker than you and humiliated the people who have more brains in their little toes than you in the whole of your bodies together!"

With a cracking sound the whip came down on the first bully, leaving a long, red mark.

"You should have thought about that before you brawled!"

A second jock felt the wrath of Death…

"You should really have thought it through before you mistreated innocents!"

The third one in the row felt the whip on his bare buttocks. Hela continued, summing up their faults and reinforcing her statements with the crop. Justin looked both elated and shocked, as was Peter. With the horns and the vicious laugh she looked like the splitting image of Loki if he would have been a woman. It was creepy… The bullies were now all crying like babies, their butts bruised and bleeding.

"Please… have mercy…"

Hela bent over to the one speaking.

"Mercy? You dare beg me for mercy?"

The riding crop now changed into a long leather flogger.

"I want you to beg to be my doormat, mortal. I want you to beg for my righteous punishment! Mercy…" She spit it out as if it were a dirty word and let the flogger torment the backs of the boys.

"I am your mistress, your authority, your superior! You will no longer brawl, you will no longer mistreat, you will no longer humiliate! Do you understand?"

"Y-yes!"

"YES WHO?"

The walls almost trembled with Hela's power.

"Yes Mistress!"

The boys' voices were panicking and desperate. At long last Hela let her implements disappear, along with the ties that kept the boys to the benches. They still did not move. Hela nodded to Justin and Peter, who approached her now, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the row of naked guys. Hela pointed her attention to Justin.

"Justin, I have avenged you. Now it is up to you to seek a fitting way of final retribution."

Justin thought for a second, then he grinned.

"That doormat idea of yours actually wasn't so bad…"

Hela grinned as well.

"I like how you think, Justin…"

Then she looked at the punished bullies.

"You heard him."

The boys looked pale and scared, and they begged.

"P-please, let us b-be your doormat!"

"Please who?"

"P-please Master!"

Justin pretended to think, and then he said.

"Well… Okay then."

Immediately, the boys formed a row on the floor, their bleeding backs facing Justin, and the nerd-warrior walked over them, making sure to rub his heavy footwear well into the wounds. Hela had certainly left an impression, because they didn't make a single sound. At the end of the row, Hela waited for him. She said.

"Look at that, your shoes are still dirty! Perhaps you need to use the doormat again…"

Justin shook his head.

"No. Let them lay like that…"

"I must say it's a very befitting position."

Peter joined them. He felt mighty uncomfortable with it all, even though he thought it was good that those bullies had finally gotten a lesson in humility. Torture just wasn't his thing. Justin clearly had lesser trouble with it than he…

"Where are we actually?"

Hela smiled, the world blurred again, and then they just stood in their normal clothes in the schoolyard. The jocks still stood in the smoker's corner, burning cigarettes hanging limply between their half-open lips, their eyes staring widely in shock.

"We never really travelled. I merely brought our and their minds together. They didn't suffer any bodily harm… but they probably won't bother any of you ever again."

That was somewhat a relief for Peter. Justin hugged Hela.

"Hela, you are my hero! Can I have a poster of you in my room?"

They all laughed. Peter found it hard to shake off the uncomfortable feeling at first, but when he saw Hela's honestly happy laugh, it just vanished. She was a great friend… and a great girlfriend, and no whip or riding crop could ever change that.

(Author's Comments)

Major plot development! Now you guys finally know what Hela's mystery assignment was... Loki of course still thinks she's out to complete it, while Hela herself is experiencing a maaaajor guilt trip for not completing it. And now Tony knows about it too and there's gonna be an awful lot of trouble, you can imagine that.

Then... Fierce Hela is Fierce! And yeah, BDSM has found its way into this story... *sigh* Anyway, I hope you like the way Hela took revenge for Justin :)

REEEVIEWS PLEEEZ! I love each and every one of the reviews I get, they make me incredibly happy! Also, more than 20 reviews and you get a new episode of Baby Avengers! (or another sidetracked story with our cast in a ridiculously embarrassing predicament, your choice)