It hasn't been a month!
Despite full time work I actually got writing done. Took a weekend and some AC/DC but I did it.
I also actually have a plan for the next bunch of chapters, a semi solid plot. I haven't had one of those for a while.
There was an eerie silence when the Tardis finally stopped moving. Max picked herself up from the floor, wincing slightly. The landing had not been gentle. Next to her the Doctor groaned having received the same treatment. It wouldn't have been so bad for Max but the Tardis didn't like chakra being used inside her so sticking to the wall was a no-go.
"I wonder what's gotten into her lately," the Time Lord mused, poking around the console. Max just grumbled, she was not used to being treated roughly by a sentient ship. "We'll let's see where we are then." He grabbed his long coat and headed for the door, Max following reluctantly, last time this had happened she'd seen more of renaissance Italy than she'd ever planned to see. Curiosity got the better of her though as she peered out through the blinding light streaming in.
"Well that's interesting." Max felt a bubble of mirth rise up. At about knee level in the doorway there was a weird ledge that had thin lines of colour pulsing through a dark solid block of something. "You park worse than I do," Max commented, stepping up onto the path and looking around. It was indeed a path, to her right was what could have passed for a slightly weird looking observatory.
To her left, a huge city that gleamed golden, surrounded by clouds as if it was just floating in space. The architecture reminded Max of a pipe organ, if it weren't for the warm colours Max would have assumed it was of Ancient construction. They liked stuff like this.
"Come on, let's meet the locals and try to get the Tardis out." The doctor was already well on his way to the city. Max glanced at the Tardis, it looked like the police box just sunk into the ground. It was a bit out of place with the background of space. Max's eyes widened when she processed what she was seeing. Sure she'd been in space before, when she was at Atlantis in her own time. That didn't even hold a candle to the beauty she could see.
All of a sudden she became very aware of the fact nothing would stop her from falling if someone pushed her over the side, there was no place to hide or defend from. She didn't even know how there was air or pressure where she was standing. If she fell then how far would she get before there was neither?
She felt vulnerable and she didn't like it. Exploring the path beneath her with chakra worried her more. Her chakra wouldn't stick to it, the energy got lost in whatever the path was made of.
The doctor looked back to her, he'd managed to get halfway to the city, too lost in the sight to remember he did have a companion at the moment. He motioned for her to follow, gesturing with his arms to be seen over that distance. Max steeled her mind, dragging her overactive imagination to a halt and began walking towards the city, carefully putting one foot in front of the other.
"When are we?" Max asked when she finally caught up with the doctor, her confidence on the path was a lot better but she still was nervous.
"If I remember my astronomy history, I'd say the fifth Earth century."
"But we aren't on earth."
"Of course not. This is Asgard." It was probably the way he had said it, as if it was common knowledge, that irritated Max.
"Of course, how silly of me to have not known that. Oh how I wish that I had your expansive knowledge of all things. I should bow to your superior intellect, I doth my hat to you good sir," Max snarked sarcastically, mimicking raising a hat.
"Stop that," the doctor scowled, feeling the mocking from Max.
"What?" Max asked innocently.
"You know what." Max couldn't help but grin feeling much better.
"Who goes there?" Lost in their banter, neither Max nor the doctor had noticed they had reached the gates. A man in golden amour stood like a statue blocking the path. The doctor quickly placed his hand over Max's mouth the second he saw her go to speak.
"Is Odin around?" The doctor asked as if he was just calling round a friend's house. Max rolled her eyes, nothing she would have said would have been that bad.
"Who asks?" The doctor glanced at Max who shrugged, her mouth still covered.
"I'm the Doctor of Gallifrey and this is my companion Maxine Hakie, Hero of Atlantis." Max quickly did some mental maths to figure out whether that had actually happened in the normal time progression, it didn't get her far so she gave up and hoped the doctor knew what he was on about.
"You may enter. Be warned, no tricks will be tolerated." For once Max wasn't sure if that was directed at her, the doctor did have his own reputation as a trickster, it did seem to span more of space and time than her own reputation. At least the doctor had finally moved his hand.
The two of them entered the great city, heading straight to the large structures that stood tall above all others.
It didn't take long after meeting Odin to find out why the Tardis was stuck in a road. The Bifrost, as it was called, had only just been made as a way of travelling between the nine realms. It had taken a huge amount of energy and had managed to drag in other things to strengthen it. Like the Tardis as she was travelling past that point in time.
The bad news was that it would not be an easy fix, if it could be fixed at all. Max had no doubt it would be, she had places to be and had to get there somehow. Her time loop had yet to be completed.
What was even worse, Max was being ignored due to her gender, sometimes she noticed looks of disapproval whenever she spoke. Sometimes she didn't even have to speak, her strong warrior stance seemed to offend some of them, even her style of dress got her muttered comments.
The unspoken disproval came to a point when one warrior gained the courage to demand what right she had to be at an assembly of men. Odin had yet to arrive, he was fine with her presence so the warrior would not have dared say anything in his presence. Max was tempted to give a speech on the positioning of her reproductive organ in relation to her body, but Sam Carter of SG1 had already done that before.
"You want to know why I'm here? Because I chose to be and attempts to throw me out will not be appreciated, or end well for you," Max hissed. The warriors assembled in the room laughed. Max rolled her eyes.
"Is that a challenge?" The warrior asked. Max smirked, of course it was, she had been meaning to compare her strength to these so called gods.
"Try it." The surrounding men backed away to form an informal arena around them. Max wondered if these things happened often, then she wondered exactly how much fun this would be. The warrior drew his sword and held it up. Max shifted to her beginning stance.
"You fight with no weapons?"
"I fight with an advantage." Max shrugged, if he didn't know what she fought with then he would have to guess until she revealed it. That was assuming she bothered with a weapon. The sword had a long reach but wasn't great if they got up close and personal, dodging past the blade, something she had quite a bit of experience with.
"A cowardly way." The mocking tone was probably meant to goad her into making a mistake. Unfortunately Max had been fighting her own way long enough to be confident in it. Insulting her style was not going to make her do anything unplanned.
"I can read exactly what you're going to do from how you are standing, how you hold your sword and where you're looking. Fancy actually doing it or are you all talk and no action?"
Taunting the man worked, he charged at her, as she predicted, and tried to slash at her, aiming to scare but not badly injure. Max easily ducked under the blade gaining the advantage as she faced her opponent who had only just figured out what had happened.
From then the fight was horribly onesided, Max using all her training to drag it out and thoroughly beat the warrior. Her speed and chakra enhanced strength gave her the power to level the otherwise unbalanced playing field. Her brutality might have pushed it a bit. She ended it with the warrior pinned to the floor, her knee digging into his spine and a nasty looking blade by his throat.
"Impressive display, Hero of Atlantis." All eyes turned to see Odin standing in front of his throne. "She is welcome amongst us. Do not challenge her again." Max couldn't help but wonder if any of them were willing anymore.
"The Frost Giants have moved to take Midguard. We will protect the midguardians as we have always done." Hushed whispers rose from the Asgardians. Odin approached Max. "It would be an honour for the Hero of Atlantis to fight by our side."
"It would be my pleasure to join you in glorious battle." This would be fun. The battlefield called her name like a lover.
Her chakra was singing with joy as she smashed through frost giants. This was her home planet, she would protect it as if it were Konoha. All around her the frost giants clashed with Asgardians. Max tried to avoid stealing someone else's kill, they got very touchy about that, especially with her. Honour and all that.
She was there when Odin broke through to the inner sanctum. The shrill cry of a child broke through the noise of battle. Keeping her eyes peeled she followed Odin to the source of the cry. A small smile tugged at her lips when she saw a small baby watching them, the cry had been to get their attention. Intelligent thing, bit small for a frost giants offspring. Max guess that, with it being so hidden, it was either a runt or not fully frost giant. Neither option would give the child a good life. Odin seemed to know this as he picked up the infant, he turned to her.
"Tell no one of this. As of now he is my child." He commanded, the child slowly taking on a more human appearance until he could pass as a human infant. Max said nothing, not even to remind him she did not take his orders. She would make no promises other than to safeguard the welfare of the child whenever she was in Asgard. Her knowledge of Norse mythology was not as in-depth as that of her Greek mythology but she knew of this kid. Loki, God of mischief. If there was something she knew well it was mischief.
With the battle won, the return to Asgard was full of triumph and jubilations. A huge feast was prepared and lasted three days. It was only because the mead was so potent that Max managed to stay awake for the whole thing, she couldn't remember that last time she had drunk that much. She had tried to limit the damage but only partially succeeded. In all honesty she would have escaped had she not been invited to sit by Odin, he would notice if she left, and probably be offended. Until she left Asgard she wanted to manage without doing that.
A few times she did slip out, leaving a clone in place knowing it would not stand under scrutiny, to visit baby Loki. The baby actually fascinated her, it watched her with intelligent eyes and stayed calm in her arms, if anyone else tried to pick him up there would be screaming Max was sure could be heard in the main hall.
Max had never been a kid person by nature. Loki was different. He would be amazing, she was sure of that. So she talked to him, letting her mind ramble on, not caring that he probably didn't understand what she was saying.
It was two days after the feast that the doctor found her, watching over Loki as she reading a book she had found somewhere, with the news he had probably fixed the Tardis. Max immediately looked the kid, she was tempted to take him with her but she doubted she would make it to the Tardis. The Bifrost destabilized all of her magic and chakra, its energy interfering with her own.
"We'll visit him again, I promise." That convinced her enough to leave, she knew it wasn't completely up to him, it depended on the Tardis. But the promise gave her some hope. She dropped a light kiss to Loki's forehead, hoping this wasn't the last time she would see the child.
The farewell was quite formal, warriors saluting to her as she made her way to the Tardis with the doctor. The interior looked back to normal again, but that hadn't lasted before, Max would wait until they reached their next destination to assume it had worked.
The now familiar sound of the Tardis taking off filled the control room, followed by some jerking around, not a good sign. A horrible squealing sound cut of the usual sound and the lights went out again.
"You should really get her serviced." Max said dusting herself down after another unpleasant landing. She walked over to the door and opened it, this action was closely followed by the sound of her hand hitting her forehead.
To her left Asgard shone just as brightly as she had last seen it.
Seriously, plushie companion cube would be adored. I guess I could love reviews instead.