Hela submitted fully to my control, no more a threat to me than Tyr or Gunnar. Her sense of self was lost within the confines of my chambers, drowned beneath the bottomless supply of potions that made her my puppet. Whenever she had a few moments of true clarity, they were spent spilling secrets of Narvlheim portals and her brother's weaknesses, cementing our supposed love affair, or reaffirming her devotion to me and insubordination from everything else. I charmed her in daylight and ravaged her otherwise. Her confusion over mysterious injuries and lack of memory quickly faded into blind tolerance.
Precisely where I wanted her.
There had been no whisperings amongst the soldiers about Lokison's whereabouts in the interim period, and he surely would've enlisted the army's help if he thought she was missing, so her family must have forgotten her, too. Oh, well. Vali would be caught in my trap soon enough. I needed only to set it.
We began by putting Gunnar at the Bifrost shortly after sunset, ready to challenge the enemy. New and recently promoted soldiers met in the palace's great hall for a welcome feast to start the new season of training. Their commotion was audible at the edge of Asgard's city, completely oblivious to how soon they'd be silenced.
"Are you ready?" I asked Hela before opening my chambers to let her outside for the first time. "You look anxious."
"I...no. I'm fine. Just fine." She trembled anyway. "You sure it isn't too soon to tell Thor about us?"
"Nonsense. If anything, we've waited too long already. I want every realm to know my intent with you." Kissing her nauseated me, so I didn't try to comfort her with anything other than words. She'd need at least that. My plan had few steps remaining, but her obedience was by far the most important one. Fortunately, for all our sakes, she was already of a mind to do what she was told. I produced a small flask from my armor's side and presented it in my open right palm. "Drink this for me. It'll keep you calm."
She nodded in silence and took the flask. A crack of thunder welcomed us with its perfect timing. "Here's to hoping I don't say the wrong thing." With a hefty swig, she shook her head and stuck her tongue out from the flavor. "Here."
"So well trained," I said, pocketing the flask again.
"Hmm?" She squinted as an answer.
"No matter." The countdown to the drug's effects had already begun; we'd proceed when her mind clouded over. A few minutes at most.
"What are we waiting for?" she asked, softly rubbing her temple on one side. Fading quickly.
I whistled my usual tune of five notes into the wind. "Rasvelg comes. Won't be long now. He's been hovering in the abandoned southlands."
"I've heard that name before." Already, she spoke as if she was lost and trying to pick out her words from a box. "Who is he?"
"My familiar. By far the most powerful minion in my control. Even greater than you." I tipped her chin up to look into her eyes. A reddish mist filled them and her shivering stopped. "I found him in the outer reaches of old Yggdrasil, waiting for me to be his master. His wings will beat back my father's lightning. His claws will scoop and drop anyone who dares get in my way. And he'll feast on the sinewy corpses left behind by the soldiers. Do you remember what their charge is?"
Hela didn't really exist any longer; weeks of conditioned answers were now solid commandments. "Yes, Sire."
"Tell me. Quickly."
"They will only serve you. They will fight alongside you. They will die without question. Hail Modi, their king."
"Yes. My army of fury. Berserkers, I'll call them. Unyielding. And what of those who resist your spells?"
She blinked a few times, leaving the last of her free will behind. "I will mark them as targets. I'll show them destruction."
"Very good." I caught Rasvelg's shadow on the horizon, only visible between flashes of faraway lightning. "When it's over, you will come to me. Surrender to all I ask of you."
"When it's over, I will come to you." Hela's robotic answers had more severity than usual; my careful dosages thus far were abandoned. She'd nearly spent all her usefulness. If the poison changed her permanently, so be it.
I threaded Hela's arm through my elbow to lead her to the great hall. Tyr stood watch at the doors and opened them for us with an apprehensive—yet obedient—nod.
"Young soldiers," I yelled to take the attention of all. "Give your captain your attention."
While a few errant conversations at the edges weren't instantly silent, most were. The room of eyes shifted focus to me. Anticipation buzzed all around.
"Surely, you all know my name. Declare your allegiance to my leadership."
Good soldiers, they were, and soon to be better. "Captain Modi, to the end," most declared, only absent the voices of those who weren't familiar with tradition yet. Wouldn't matter in a minute.
"I have with me a maid of Narvlheim. She is here to speak her piece." I stepped aside so Hela could move forward and be the focal point. Her empty, distant eyes proved how much of a shell she was, all but incapable of feeling empathy.
She stared straight ahead and brought a false wind with her, which blew her hair forward as she raised her arms. Unlike my animal speak, she made no sound at all, hypnotizing all who looked in her direction. The crowd changed form—instantly, the soldiers straightened their backs. Their eyes became equally empty as hers. A few here and there amongst the affected waved their hands before their friends and received no response.
A barely detectable aura of deep green fell over Hela's body, highlighting her. She lowered her arms but never dropped her focus. Tears streamed down her cheeks from lack of blinking.
I chuckled and lifted my head to address the crowd again. "Tell me, who do you serve?"
"Hail Modi, our king," they yelled, more forcefully than they had before. It made the silent, confused minority stand out; those ones trembled and slowly backed away from the rest, immune for an unknown reason.
"Choose a target," I said to Hela, extending my arm over our audience. "Prove your power."
She lowered her face—concentrating, scheming—twitching with plans only she could decode.
A guttural scream from the crowd drew my attention. While my personal army hadn't budged, another Hela—a projection, no doubt, like the famed gifts of her father—was pressed against a clear-eyed soldier from behind. She yanked a blade from his vulnerable side and raised the bloody blade above his head to show me her handiwork as he fainted.
"Does that suffice, Sire?" she asked next to me, monotone and unaffected.
"Quite." I cleared my throat and nodded at Tyr to prop the doors open wide for our exit. "We have a city to claim and a god to overthrow. If you survive, I will honor you with opportunity. If you are killed, you will be so remembered. If you're a traitor, your position has been marked. Heed my warning and welcome the new age!"
"To the end!" they chanted every third lock-step, neither missing a beat nor hesitating with fear. Any other time and their inexperience would've been deadly to me; under my ultimate control, they were dangerous simply because they felt nothing at all.
Rasvelg descended on the palace and screeched. His voice, nearly deafening compared to the standard eagles of New Asgard, was strained with pain for the world he'd lost in Ragnarok as much as it was signaling demand for my end of the bargain to be fulfilled.
Come find me, Lokison. Only four more to go.