AN: Woooooow, it's been forever since I've uploaded a chapter, but I finally finished another. It's shorter than I originally intended, but I like where it ends. Next chapter will be longer. This story is almost over (if I actually manage to continue updating it), I can't believe it. While this is probably already understood, Rise of the Tomb Raider will not be included in this at all, due to the fact of how it mentions Lara's family. Hopefully some of you guys are still reading this

Again, I don't own any of this, except the plot and Ariynn.

Next Morning

After wasting nearly twenty minutes in the early morning, Loki had finally located Tony once again in the bar. He wondered why he didn't bother to search for his friend there in the first place. As he approached, Loki watched as Tony busied himself with mixing various liquids in a machine the god believed was used to blend food items together.

Tony flipped on the small machine, creating a rattling noise, as Loki began his first question. "Isn't a little early in the morning to be drinking, Tony?"

Stark scoffed and gave Loki a doubtful look. "Have you met me? Besides, this is a morning drink." He pulled out two thin glasses with long stems and poured the orange concoction in each. "I call it mimosa slushies. It has orange juice in it."

Loki took a tentative sip and decided he found the drink acceptable. "And what kind of alcohol?"

"Just champagne."

"Shouldn't you keep your head clear for a day of such import?"

"Ha! Maybe for you, but for me, not so much. You get to go on this cool Norse adventure and I get to stay home and watch the kids." Tony rolled his eyes as he swallowed a gulp.

"I wouldn't quite compare Dr. Banner to a child… You better hope he doesn't throw a 'tantrum' though."

"Good point. So how was last night? Good talk?" Tony asked.

Loki paused mid-sip as he considered his answer and nodded. "Yes, it was. She feels better about the… 'Hel' revelation."

Tony scrutinized the god for a moment before smirking. "Was there… more than talking?"

"No." Loki answered a little too quickly and took another sip of the orange liquid.

"There totally was, liar!" Tony gasped. "Come on! Give me the details!"

"I'd rather not. And there's no 'details' to give. Lara was upset and she needed comforting."

Tony waggled his eyebrows. "'Comforting'? Like…"

Loki sighed. "Tony, I'm begging you to drop it. If I'm not enough to convince you, just think about how Lara would feel about you prying into her private life, especially that area."

" … Point taken. But can't you at least… blink your eyes once for yes and twice for no?" The god stared, unblinking. Loki smirked at the sound of Tony's frustrated groan.

"Something wrong, lads?" Lara questioned as she entered quickly, looking around the room instead of at them. She was dressed differently, more casual and possibly even feminine.

"Oh, no." Tony said absently, watching her like a hawk as she searched the room for something. He leaned over to whisper to Loki, "Well, she's walking fine."

Smack!

Lara whipped around to see Tony gripping his hand and wheezing in pain while a smug Loki watched. "Jerk!" Tony growled through his teeth. "You could have broken my hand." Loki shrugged and gave him a 'I warned you' look.

"Is… everything all right with you two today?" Lara questioned, slightly fearing the answer.

"Of course, dear." Loki answered as if nothing had happened and Tony gave him a death glare. "Are you searching for something?" Loki smoothly changed the conversation.

"Oh," She glanced around. "Just my boating license. I could've sworn I put it in my room… Winston or one of the maids must have moved it. I'm sure I'll find it soon." Looking back and forth between the two guys, Lara paused. "Actually, Loki, can I speak to you for a moment in private?" He didn't seem thrilled of the idea, but nodded anyway and left his glass at the bar.

Once they were outside of the barroom and out of Tony's earshot, Lara asked, "Did you tell Tony about… last night? Not that I want to hide our relationship, but I also don't feel comfortable about him knowing anything about our private-…"

"Lara, slow down." Loki chuckled. "No, I didn't say anything to him, but he suspects it. Trust me, I have no intentions to reveal details."

She released the breath she had been holding. "Oh. Good. Thank you."

"Are you well? You seem to be… anxious." Concerned, Loki rubbed her arm.

"No, I'm fine…" But even as she said them, the words died on her tongue and Loki tilted his head slightly. Lara sighed and barely nodded. "I suppose I am… worried about the future." She leaned forward slowly and rested her head against Loki's chest and he carefully wrapped his arms around her. "I've lost a lot people I care about… I grew up, trying to isolate myself so I wouldn't have to go through the pain anymore. I had a few friends, but no… serious relationships. I thought it would be for the best. But now…" Lara trailed off.

"But now you just couldn't resist my devastating good looks?" Loki smirked down at her brown hair.

"Yes, that is exactly what drew me to you." Lara sarcastically replied, her voice muffled.

Loki chuckled. "Ouch. Well, we know it wasn't my honorable nature. But joking aside…" He caught her chin with his fingers and raised her head so he could look into her eyes. "Everything will be alright. I will do everything in my power to ascertain my survival, and I believe we will push through."

Lara shifted an eyebrow up. "And when did you become such an optimist?"

"Last night, actually." He smiled and kissed her lovingly.

"Excuse my blow to your pride, but you are not the only person I'm worried about. I don't want to lose my new friends either." Lara pointed out, the corners of her lips tugging up.

"Fortunately for you, your new friends are difficult to kill. They'll be fine too, Lara."

"Sorry to interrupt your… moment." Tony had stuck his head through the doorway to speak to them. "But we can't locate your gothic friend."

"Amanda?" Lara raised an eyebrow and followed Tony to the main room, Loki close behind her. "What do you mean you can't find her?"

Steve perched on the couch's arm with D.G. seated on the cushion of the opposite side. "We searched the entire building for her. Her room was empty and everything she had brought with her was gone too." The soldier informed.

"So… what? She chickened out?" Crossing his arms, Clint asked.

"Unlikely." Lara commented thoughtfully.

D.G. rose haughtily and stared at her 'twin'. "Oh, come now, Lara. I thought you would have realized by now." Lara gazed confusedly back, waiting for her to continue. D.G. let out a long sigh. "Fine, I suppose I will spell it out for you. She left because of your… discovery last night."

Lara shrugged. "Why would that cause her to run off?"

"Have you never thought how convenient it was for Natla, a god, and Amanda, a demigod, to randomly come upon each other and team up? They may have shared a similar goal, but how did they know of each other beforehand?"

A numbing sensation crossed over her body as Lara gasped in shock. "Amanda is Natla's daughter."

"Exactly!" D.G. exclaimed as she paced around the room. "And now she's run off to Hel, thinking she has a chance to impress her."

"Wait, how long did you know about this?" Steve stood up. "And why didn't you mention it before?"

"I was giving Amanda a chance to react correctly, but she didn't. I guess I shouldn't have expected so much. Amanda has always been stupid. I was going to let her tell you herself."

"Will Hel kill her?" Lara asked shakily, but at this moment she didn't really care if Hel did.

D.G. gave a noncommittal answer with her shoulder and hands. "Possibly. Hel has no kind feelings for Natla and Amanda is by-no-means powerful or extraordinary. But she won't kill Amanda until she learns our plans."

Everyone was silent for a moment, considering the new information carefully. Steve finally spoke up first, "Should we go after her? Stop her before she reaches Hel?"

D.G. shook her head. "There's a good chance she's already there, wherever 'there' is."

"So we continue with the plan." Fury commanded. "And we hope we're ahead of them. Quinjets are on their way over and should have an ETA of five minutes. We'll load up and proceed from there."

"I'll upload the coordinates to JARVIS so he can direct you to your location." Tony mentioned to Thor as he hopped onto Lara's computer.

"I can manually fly us to our destination. I know exactly where we're going. But first we'll need to do a little shopping." Lara asserted as she headed for her room.

xOxOx

"Must I wear one of these?" Loki questioned as Lara zipped up his black wetsuit.

"You walk around wearing metal and leather, all the time, and this you can't handle?" Lara asked incredulously as she watched him try to maneuver.

Loki shifted his suit while wearing an uncomfortable expression on his face. "Yes, but my armor is not quite as tight and… revealing." He glanced down. "I might as well be walking around naked."

Lara laughed. "Hardly, but that can be arranged if you'd prefer it. Lots of people skinny-dip in this area." At his raised eyebrow, she reiterated. "We could visit a nude beach." He obviously understood her that time. "Look, it won't feel so… awkward once you're in the water. And I'll be wearing one too." Lara pointed out.

He sighed. "I suppose that will make up for it."

"Or you could wear one like this, Loki." Ariynn stepped out of the dressing room to reveal her petite body scantily clad in a white and yellow wetsuit that was sleeveless and left her legs completely bare. "I don't feel hindered at all in this."

"Then again, I find this suit completely agreeable…"

The light elf chuckled lightly. "I thought so."

xOxOx

Steve gently rolled his motorbike away from the quinjet, flakes of snow landing on the cool steel. "That's the jump we have to make?" He gestured to the large canyon that separated them from their destination.

Zipping up her leather jacket, D.G. nodded and then smirked. "Nervous?"

"Just don't want to damage her." Steve smiled and patted the handlebars of his bike.

Thor studied the canyon and the towering cliffs. "I'll meet you two on the other side." Without another word, the God of Thunder whirled Mjolnir by his side and then used it to take flight. He quickly disappeared behind the cliffs.

Captain America mounted his bike as D.G. took her place behind him and gruffly grabbed his shoulders. "So what's her name?"

He hesitated for a moment, and then quietly responded, "Peggy." Without another word, he started the engine and quickly accelerated, heading for the large gap between them and the tunnel leading to Valhalla. To Steve's surprise, and relief, they vaulted easily over the canyon and landed with a clank on the other side. As they sped down the winding tunnel, Steve began to wonder if it would ever end. Finally, he could see the glow of sunlight ahead of them and then sides of a door that had been pushed away.

Once reaching the bottom of the deep circular chasm, Steve braked to a stop close to Thor and shut the ignition off. "So this is Valhalla?"

D.G. hopped off and smirked. "Welcome to the Hall of the Dead."

"Shall we?" Thor gestured to the ginormous doors that were apart just enough to let them through.

"Let me radio Lara before we do. We don't want any surprise changes in the plan." D.G. commented as she placed a Bluetooth in her ear. "Lara? Are you there?"

A few moments passed before a response sounded through. "I'm here, D.G. Have you arrived on Jan Mayen Island?"

"Yes, we are just about to enter Valhalla. Everything good on your end?"

"As good as it can be. I won't be able to communicate with you once I dive, and you'll most likely lose reception once you enter the ruins."

"So basically, don't screw up or you're… well, screwed." D.G. confirmed. "I'll try to radio you once we're done."

"And I'll do the same. Lara out."

D.G. shut the radio off and removed her Bluetooth. "You boys ready?"

xOxOx

Lara gazed out across the blue sea, feeling the boat rock with the gentle waves. Her mind kept reminiscing on the last time she visited the Mediterranean instead of focusing on her current mission. She certainly hoped this one would fare better. She felt a presence behind her and a comforting hand on her shoulder that led to a gentle kiss on her neck.

"Is everything alright?" Loki asked.

"Yes. I'm just thinking about… the last time I visited here." Lara remained quiet for a few moments, but Loki waited patiently for her to continue. "I really thought I was going to be able to rescue her… I told Alister I didn't have any hopes for her… but I lied. I'm not really sure how I could have ever believed that. My father spent his whole life searching for her and answers to everything. I hated him for it, but all I did was follow in his footsteps."

"There's nothing wrong with hoping for your mother to be alive. Even if the factors made it seem impossible. If she had been anywhere else, she would have been fine." Loki comforted. "Once we… defeat Hel, you can finally move on from this. If you allow yourself to."

"If we defeat Hel." She mumbled softly.

"Well, if we don't, then you still won't have to worry about this." Loki gave her his characteristic smirk and she chuckled.

"Thank you for listening." She kissed him chastely on the cheek. "Let's get this over with." She grabbed two air tanks and asked Loki to handle the third one. They brought the tanks out onto the deck where Ariynn sat on the edge with her feet dangling in the water.

Loki grabbed Ariynn's shoulder suddenly causing her to startle. "Watch out, wouldn't want a kraken to snatch you." Ariynn glared at him and gave him a fake 'ha ha'.

Lara debated on telling them of her battle in Niflheim. "Actually… there was a kraken here." Based on their reaction, she should have probably kept her mouth shut. "Well, it wasn't a real kraken. Just an octopus that grew ridiculously large." Loki and Ariynn gave her doubtful looks.

"So you are telling us, that down there, we'll be swimming with one of the sea's most fearsome creatures?" Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Are you scared? You're a god."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I fancy diving with them."

Lara laughed. "Relax, Loki. It's not there anymore. I killed it." Ariynn and Loki looked equally surprised with a tinge of respect. "It wasn't in the water. I found it holed up in the ruins. I crushed it with some rubble." She began preparing the air tanks. "Go ahead and fit your masks on. This won't take long."

xOxOx

Once Lara's feet stood on solid ground again, she swiftly removed her swimming goggles and slipped off her air tank. Loki pulled himself up beside her and repeated her movements. They both assisted Ariynn with her equipment as she was still unused to Midgardian technology.

"That was certainly… different." Loki commented.

"Yes, a very unique experience." Ariynn agreed fervently.

"Well, whenever you're ready, let's see what we can find." Lara waited for them for a few moments before they all began venturing deeper into the ruins. After several minutes had passed and they were making good headway, a terrible stench hit Lara's nose and she immediately covered her face.

Loki and Ariynn reacted similarly, and the light elf gagged out, "What is that?"

"This wasn't here last time. I have no idea-…" It dawned on Lara what the cause of the smell was. "Oh, bugger." She approached the main room where she had slaughtered the beast on her last visit. It was in a terrible state of decay and Lara could no longer breathe. "I guess we are going to need those air tanks."

"If we use them here, will we have enough for the trip back up?" Ariynn murmured beneath her hands.

"We should, let's go." They all traversed back to where they left the air tanks and then returned to the dead kraken. "Much better. Though it will be difficult to move about with these on."

"I'll take that over the foul odor." Loki grumbled. "We'll have to bathe for weeks."

Lara grimaced at the thought of what they would smell like after this excursion, but she continued moving. If I were a hidden portal, where would I be?

"There." Loki pointed above the door that had led to one of Thor's gauntlets. "Some of the Norse up there mention a portal."

Lara squinted at the faded marking around the edge of the alcove. "You can read that?"

"Well, it is my language."

Eventually they managed to reach the elevated alcove, which required them to move dangerously close to the rotting corpse. Lara approached the back wall of the alcove and studied it. "Seems solid, perhaps you read it wrong."

"No. There's definitely something here. Don't you feel it?" Loki asked her while pacing around the room.

Lara gave him a doubtful look, but then tried to focus on the air around her. At first, she still didn't notice anything, then she sensed something she didn't quite know how to describe. It was like the air was buzzing or tingling in the area. Loki placed a hand against the back wall and then turned to face her. He gestured to her hammer and she nodded in response. Wielding Mjolnir as Loki and Ariynn backed away, Lara swung until there was a space large enough for them to all fit through.

Loki went first, drawing out a wicked dagger, as Ariynn created an orb of light magic. Removing her air mask with the others, Lara entered last and joined their disbelief at the state of the empty room. The room's floor had been heavily demolished, as if someone had torn it up to search underneath. Pieces of rubble scattered what was left of the room. Loki carefully ventured forward to pick up one of the fragments. He tossed it to Lara after examining it. With a sour look he asked, "Look familiar?"

Lara inspected for only a moment before she realized what it was: a broken fragment from one of the pillars of the teleportation system. She gave him a quizzical look. "They came here and destroyed it?"

"No." Loki gravely replied. "Worse. Look around. There's not enough rubble for them to just have destroyed it."

Ariynn gasped before Lara could fully understand what Loki meant. "Would it even still work? The magic is obviously still here."

"What are you two talking about?" Lara demanded.

"Lara, they didn't destroy this portal. They removed it." Loki clarified. "And Ariynn… I'm not sure. But Hel must believe she can or otherwise it would still be here."

"But… how would they even do something like that? There's no signs of it!" Lara asked, not trusting in Loki's theory.

"They used magic. It would have been difficult, but possible. If Hel combined her power with the others, it could have been achieved." Loki answered. "But that's not what's important. We need to figure out where they took it and get there quickly. Hel must be preparing to move her armies. If that happens…"

"Midgard is lost." Ariynn finished.

"Well, let's get to the surface and warn the others." Lara replaced her breathing mask and started to leave the ruined room, but the next thing she felt was blinding pain that brought her to her knees. She could vaguely hear Loki's shouts as she lost consciousness.

I hoped you enjoyed it! Apologies for any grammar mistakes!