Chapter 41 - Thralls
Lorelei's time spent admiring the various jewels and treasures her thralls deposited upon her was rudely interrupted when the sound of gunfire reverberated from outside. Lorelei gave an unhappy scowl. She had never heard the sound of human gunfire, but it was nonetheless annoying.
"What," Lorelei said, facing Rooster, "is that?"
Rooster, who had been staring out the window with a worried expression, quickly turned to her, always alert to the sound of her voice.
"Well, it seems we've caught the attention of the law."
"We dealt with the 'law' already." Lorelei said, waving her hand dismissively. "They know their place now."
"Yeah, but... these guys are something else."
Lorelei's eyes narrowed. Her puppet was showing fear. That would not do.
"You swore that you would fight for me." She uttered dangerously as she approached him threateningly.
Rooster backed away, gulping slightly. "Y-Yeah, and I will. But they've got some serious firepower."
Lorelei just looked at the man incredulously, exasperated by his cowardice, but he didn't notice as he kept rambling. "They've got SUVs, some crazy broad with weird armor and a rifle and a medieval-times chick. She's got like a sword and everything!"
Lorelei froze, her eyes darting from Rooster to the door leading to the outside where gunfire could still be heard. Rooster ceased his rambling when he saw her expression. Her lips were tight and shaking, her jaw set and her face white as she clenched her fists.
"Sif..." She hissed. "Keep her little sycophants occupied. I will deal with her myself."
ooooo
Soladat grit her teeth as she, Ward, Mike, and May ducked behind one of the SUVs. A bullet from one of the enemy weapons fire grazed the side of the van, just inches from her head. Sif stood her ground, blocking the attacks with her shield. Had these men not been under Lorelei's control, she would not have hesitated to go in and cut them all down. But they knew not what they were doing, therefore she would not kill in cold blood.
"There on us from both sides." Ward said over the sound of the gunfire. "It's gonna be hard getting a clean shot."
"Maybe for you." Soladat said, and quickly lept out of cover, somersaulting by Sif and taking out her rifle. She unfolded her wings to deflect any incoming bullets. Aiming her gun, she made several precise shots. None of them were fatal, but they did take out both legs of every attacker.
"Showoff." Ward growled.
"Thanks." Soladat said as she stood up. "Alright, Ward, Peterson, you two guard the back entrance. May, take the rest of the men and surround the building. Sif and I can take Lorelei."
The team nodded and went to their respective stations. Sif had lowered her shield, smiling at her friend's handiwork. Not one man left standing.
"Impressive, as always."
"Thanks." Soladat said, cocking her rifle. "Now it's your turn."
ooooo.
Back inside the bar, the sound of gunfire stopped abruptly with the sound of men screaming in pain. Lorelei and Rooster stared outside in confusion. Frowning, Lorelei looked at Rooster, and motioned her head towards the door, silently ordering the man to investigate.
Nodding, Rooster prepared to walk out the front door, when Rooster's RV suddenly rammed into the side of the building, smashing through the wall and demolishing half the bar. Rooster was unfortunate enough to be in the way of the flying RV, crushed between it and the wall.
Lorelei just watched the RV slide by her with a raised eyebrow, casually waving the dust out of her airspace as two figures stepped in through the hole in the wall. The tallest person was someone Lorelei knew very well, unfortunately. But Sif's companion was a shorter woman with old armor that reminded Lorelei greatly of the only garb mortal soldiers used to wear some few thousand years ago, back when they paid more tribute to Asgard. She held one of those human weapons. Her skin was pale and she had red hair and green eyes just like Lorelei's, except her hair was curled and unruly. It made Lorelei cringe. Mortals and their hairstyles. She would have to rectify that flaw when she finished taking over.
She looked at the damage, impressed. "Huh. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it works."
"I try." Sif said, and then her eyes met Lorelei's. Sif's demeanor immediately turned cold, and her grip on her sword increased. Soladat immediately raised her weapon and pointed it at her. Sif's eyes darted about briefly as she registered the four armed men surrounding them.
"Lorelei." Sif said coldly. "Still manipulating men to do your dirty work, I see."
"And I see you're still a step or two behind." Lorelei said with a grin. "Have you become so weary of my talents that you require mortal children to help you, Sif? How sad."
"I'd watch who you say that around, sister." Soladat said with a glare. "You may not want me as your enemy."
"I'm shaking." Lorelei sneered at the Archangel. "I fear little, human. And I especially won't submit to some mortal girl with poor tastes in apparel."
"You really don't wanna go there." Soladat said, eyes narrowed. "At least I have the decency to cover up and not prance around dressed like some prostitute."
"Cute." Lorelei drawled. "Nice to see you've found someone to relate to. A maiden amongst warriors never did really suit your standards."
"You know how this ends, Lorelei." Sif said in warning. "So come willingly."
"You mistake me for someone who fears you." Lorelei said with a twinge of amusement, hands on her hips.
"I have bested you before." Sif said, approaching Lorelei threateningly. "Or have you forgotten? I'm not afraid to do to you what I did to Karnilla."
In an instant, Lorelei's smug demeanor vanished and a look of pure unadulterated rage crossed her features, her face turning red with fury.
"Go to Hel, Sif!" Lorelei hissed, and pointed at her. "Tear her apart!"
Immediately, one of the men aimed the shotgun he was holding at Sif. Sif barely had time to react as the shot struck her hard in the side. It didn't hurt, but Sif snarled when she saw that the collar, which was hanging from her belt, had been damaged by the shot. She quickly kicked her foot out, striking the man in the chest and sending him flying across the room and over the bar counter. Another man fired at her too, but she blocked the shot with her shield and struck him with it, knocking him unconscious.
Simultaneously, Soladat quickly sprung into action as well, grabbing the barrel of the gun being held by the man to her left. She shoved the gun back, causing its stock to bash against the man's nose, breaking it. The man held his nose in agony as he stumbled away, and Soladat swung the gun again, striking it against his head. He was knocked out instantly. The next guy actually managed to fire his gun, but Soladat unfolded her wings and shielded herself from it. She then shot at his knee, and he screamed as he fell to the floor. Walking over to him casually, Soladat kicked her foot out, striking his atom's apple. The man gripped his throat and squirmed around in pain, unable to even form a sound.
Soladat and Sif then looked up, a large group of men, all armed with bats, guns, and knives, surrounded them.
"They will not even consider standing down." Sif said, her back to Soladat's as she got into a combat stance.
"You're not actually hesitating are you?" Soladat said with a raised eyebrow.
Sif smirked. "Not in the least."
ooooo
In the confusion, Lorelei stealthily slipped away, Sif and Soladat's view of her obscured by the large group of men moving in. As she made her way up a stair case leading to the roof, Lorelei heard the sound of combat behind her, and the screams of men. Pitiful. She needed to flee this place, find more suitable pawns. Pawns good enough to help her better subdue Sif.
As she made it to the roof, Lorelei paused as she heard more combat from down below. Peering over the edge of the roof, Lorelei watched in fascination as a dark haired male in black clothing expertly took down four of her pawns. His speed and skill with human ranged weapons were impressive as he beat down three of the men, shooting the other in the leg and kicking him in the head to make him stop writhing.
Lorelei found herself smirking.
As he finished off the last of the men, Ward was about to put his gun away when he heard a sound behind him. Spinning around, gun raised, he spotted a red-haired woman in leather. Ward knew exactly who this was. She fit the description of their target perfectly.
He kept his gun pointed at her as she circled him.
"You're quite the warrior."
Ward narrowed his eyes. If what Sif said was true, he couldn't let her near him. One touch and he was this bitch's puppet. He was no one's puppet. He glanced back briefly when he saw movement behind Lorelei, and internally smiled as Mike slowly approached. Lorelei did not seem to hear him as he snuck up behind her.
"I am." Ward said, hoping to keep Lorelei talking long enough. He motioned the gun towards the ground. "So put your hands behind your back and get on your knees."
Lorelei's eyes narrowed as she crept closer to Ward. As she did, Mike did as well. Ward flinched when she made contact with him. "Men kneel before me. I do not bow to them. And another thing..."
Lorelei quickly spun around, facing the presence she felt approaching her. She shot her hand out and grabbed the man by the throat. Lorelei found herself impressed by this one. Tall, well muscled, impressive stealth tactics for a human. He seemed surprised when she turned to face him.
"I'm not stupid." Lorelei said rather condescendingly.
Mike just glared at her, and wrenched her hand away with strength that caught Lorelei by surprise, and then shot his other arm out. His hand struck Lorelei in the stomach and send her flying back a few feet, landing hard on her back. She let out a light grunt as she righted herself, glaring at the man.
"You sure about that last part?" Mike said, cracking his knuckles.
Lorelei just glared in anger. "You. You struck me! What are you, insane?!"
Mike ignored the woman's babbling and quickly moved in to subdue her, delivering a hard punch to the face. But Lorelei was more preapred this time, and it did little more than cause her head to jerk to the side somewhat. She still had a furious look.
"You can't just go around-" Mike struck her again. "hitting people! Especially" punch, "women! What were you," punch, punch. "raised in a grass hut?"
Mike grit his teeth as his punches didn't seem to be working, and as he threw his next one, Lorelei lifted her hand up and caught his fist.
"Fine. Bet that way!"
Lorelei backhanded Mike in the face, and he yelled as he was throat back, crashing into the side of the bar and leaving an impression. Lorelei smirked in satisfaction, but grunted when gunshots struck her in the back, making holes in her leather jacket but only lightly punching her skin.
She glared over at Ward, who kept firing his pistol at her. Lifting her hand up, Lorelei slowly made her way over towards him. Ward tried backing away, but Lorelei quickly closed the distance and shot her arm out, grabbing Ward around the throat. Ward gasped and struggled as he grabbed Lorelei's wrist, trying to pry her off of him.
Lorelei merely smirked, a dark glint in her eyes as she increased her grip. "Now. I don't think you want anymore trouble between us, correct?"
Ward's struggling seemed to lessen as Lorelei spoke, an odd warmth filling him as his eyes seemed to glaze over, staring into Lorelei's emerald greens. Lorelei's grin grew, before she felt a strong hand grip her shoulder and wrench her violently from Ward.
Mike tossed the Asgardian maiden into the wall, hitting the same spot she knocked him into. He got some satisfaction as he watched her hit the the ground, none to different to how he did.
"Yeah, how do you like it?" He said as he moved in towards her.
Lorelei just looked up from the ground, grinning. "Darling, some help would be appreciated."
Mike paused in confusion, but his eyes widened when he heard the sound of a gun clicking. He quickly spun around and grabbed Ward's wrist, wrenching his hand upwards as the gun shot at nothing.
"Ward, what the hell?!" Mike yelled as Ward struggled against his grip. "Snap out of it man, she's got to you!"
Ward just growled and kicked at Mike's legs, the super-soldier gritting his teeth as he tried fought the pain and restrained Ward. He froze though, when he felt a soft hand caress his cheek.
"Now, now." Lorelei chided. "No need to fight on my behalf, you both have your uses. We can all act like civilized adults here, can't we?"
Ward looked at Mike wearily as the superhuman slowly released him, turning to face Lorelei. Ward rubbed his throat, still looking at Mike in apprehension, before he looked at Lorelei as well. The two men stared at her expectantly, waiting for her command.
Lorelei smiled. "Good. Now, take me somewhere grand, deserving of a rule. A queen."
ooooo
Sif and Soladat finished off the last of the men, neither having broken a sweat the entire fight.
"That was refreshing." Sif said, but then wrenched the collar. "But the collar has been damaged. We need to find Lorelei quickly."
"No arguments there." Soladat said. "Come on. I saw her slip out the back-"
She was cut off by the sound of tires squealing loudly, and a vehicle outside racing off. Soladat and Sif blinked, before rushing outside. One of the SUVs was racing off into the distance. The others were completely trashed, and the entire squad of agents Soladat had brought were all beaten to a pulp, some even shot.
Soladat's eyes widened when she recognized one of the bodies.
"Melinda!" She shouted as she ran over and helped her friend to her feet. May, beaten and sporting a busted lip, groaned as she gently refused Soladat's help and stood up on her own.
"What happened?" Soladat said, looking around at the damage.
May just sighed. "We have a problem."
Thralls, thralls. So many thralls. Lorelei's got a thrall addiction. Sorry for the lack of updates in a while. I've been occupied with a lot of things I won't bother going into details over. But I'm still around, don't worry.
Smiles1998: Quick question; will Loki and Darcy and all those guys be making an appearance in the Winter Soldier arch? Also, will you be doing a Guardians arch or stuff strictly Avengers related for now?
No, Darcy and Loki or any other characters from the Thordis fics will not be appearing in the Winter Soldier arc. For a long time, most of the attention has been focused on the Thordis crew and Soladat Wrekk's team, so there will be a change of pace for once. And Guardians of the Galaxy will make their presence soon, though probably in a different fic.
By the way, I'm really enjoying your After Ultron story. I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out.
Guest: Hey can the tv show bones be a part of this story ?
I'd have to actually watch the show to do that.
Tsamoka: I wonder what would happen if Kirby ate a gun?
I dunno. He'd probably get gun-related powers, or gain knowledge on how to handle a gun. I feel that if he takes powers that are weapon related, all he's really doing is gaining knowledge on how to utilize that particular weapon, such is probably the case of the Sword ability from the games. He just happens to have a sword with him during that time because, hey, it's a game so why the hell not?
VibrantPeace: Wait , is this the Kirby from the show that was created to be evil? If it is will we be seeing the monsters from Kirby's creator for him and the avengers to face. BTW if you do bring the monsters you should probably add more than 1 in a fight if you add any heavy hitters like the hulk or third is.
I have no intention of revealing Kirby's origin in this universe. I can tell you it has nothing to do with the TV show. As for monsters, an interesting idea, but there's already a lot I have planned for the next several chapters. But I'll keep that in mind.