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Passage
Veles flipped into the air, swiping his arms toward the Sakaaran soldiers serving Ronan and sending a cluster of various kinds of blades flashing into them. As he landed, several fired at him from behind, only for Val to flip over him, yanking him out of the way of the blasts just as Sif slashed the pair from behind, killing them.
"I'm not sure if it's good that she never Prunes anyone or not," Val commented as she and Veles tore into the Sakaarans with their own Time Sticks, using the blades and Pruning ends both, Val wielding her Dragonfang in her free hand.
"Let's just be happy she agreed to bring her Time Stick with her at all," Veles decided, spinning around Val and slashing a pair of Sakaarans with the blade on the back end of his Time Stick, then spun, Pruning one as it aimed at Sif.
Ahead of them, Ronan slammed his hammer, now enhanced by the Power Stone, into Drax the Destroyer's chest, blasting him into a fine paste. With that, all of the Guardians of the Galaxy were dead. And there were only two minutes left until the branch timeline could no longer be pruned.
"Val, hit it!" Veles shouted.
"Gonna need a minute!" Val shouted back, dodging and weaving through a horde of Sakaarans and their Necroblasts.
She slashed several, kicking a Necroblaster into another Sakaaran's face, making its shot miss, then Pruned it as she slashed another through its machete-like sword.
"We've only got two, Val!" Veles shouted.
Just then, Sif crashed into the group of Sakaarans that Val was struggling with shield first, instantly twirling and slashing, carving through Sakaarans like it was easy. Val breathed a sigh of relief, finally activating the reset charge and tossing it into a pile of dead Sakaarans, only to swear and dive out of the way before Ronan's hammer exploded down where he'd been. An explosion went off, hurling everyone away from him, slaughtering the Sakaarans but only hurling Sif.
"Rude," Sif said, picking up her sword and shield.
However, when she leapt forward to attack Ronan from above, he drilled the end of his hammer into her shield, breaking her arm and sending an energy blast into the shield, obliterating it and hurling Sif backward away from himself. She crashed to the ground, groaning, and Ronan spat on the ground at her feet.
"Pathetic vermin!" Ronan growled. "You will die defending Xandar!"
He pulled his hammer back, only for Veles to crash into him from the side, finally free of the Sakaarans he'd been struggling with. As soon as they hit the ground, Ronan's arm snapped up, hurling Veles off of himself. He regained his feet, and when Veles charged, Ronan ducked aside from his first slash, allowed him to drive a dagger into his abdomen, then grabbed Veles by the throat and slammed his upper back into the ground.
"You are weak, Asgardian," Ronan snarled. "Why do you fight for Xandar?"
"I don't," Veles said. "I fight for her."
Ronan's eyes went wide just as Sif drove the Pruning end of her Time Stick into Ronan's back at the same time as the reset charge went off.
"Time to go!" Val said, opening them all a Timedoor.
Sif yanked Veles to his feet, and they ran through, narrowly escaping the reset charge's effects and stepping out into their field, as always. Veles gently took Sif's arm as Val passed her a bottle of vodka she'd used a small Timedoor to retrieve. Just as she took a drink, Veles yanked, Sif barely managing to hold the vodka in her mouth as her broken bones realigned themselves. She glared at him as he apologized and quickly healed the bones.
"You were supposed to wait until I said ready," Sif growled.
"Yes, but then you would have been anticipating the pain and it would have been worse," Veles defended himself.
Sif shook her head. "Whatever. Let's just go home."
Veles nodded, opening a Timedoor for them and everyone headed through, Sif leaving instantly.
Veles ducked under Sif's sword, spinning around her newly reforged shield, and struck at her side, only for her to step out of the way. However, as she turned to continue the fight, his free hand tapped her with the Pruning end of his Time Stick, slowing her to one sixteenth her normal flow of time for a moment as he stepped away.
"Why can't I beat you!?" Sif seethed, having been trying for the better part of five hours and growing more angry with each loss.
"Because he's not Loki," Val answered her. "You would beat a Loki Variant easily, no matter their background, but Veles isn't like them. He's spent the equivalent of centuries now fighting against the strongest the timeline has to offer. Often multiple at once. He's faced opponents that would toy with you. He fought Odin and Hela alone once, albeit mostly because he's stubborn, and he also got his ass kicked and nearly died, but the point remains."
Sif sighed. "That makes sense, I guess. It's still annoying."
"I'm sorry," Veles said. "But...uh...how's the shield?"
Sif glanced at it. "It's perfect. Even your enchantments are better than my last one."
"You just did the basic enhancements, right?" Val asked.
Veles nodded. "I'm not nearly practiced enough to do anything on the level of what Odin could do, with Mjolnir as a perfect example. But the basic enchantments are made stronger based on the amount of energy given to them, so I made them as strong as I could."
Sif nodded. "Thank you. I...appreciate you taking the time to get me a new shield."
Val watched her walk away before turning to Veles. "So, how did you make a new shield for her?"
Veles shrugged. "Someone sent Eitri a request for a new shield for Lady Sif prior to Thanos mutilating his hands. It caused a branch in the timeline, so we went to investigate, and I saw the chance to make her a new shield. So, I enchanted it before we Pruned the timeline and brought it with me."
Val sighed, understanding what he'd really done. "All for her, huh?"
Veles hesitated before nodding. "I would do anything for her."
Val nodded. "I know the feeling. Come on. Let's go drink."
Veles nodded in agreement, following her back to her room.
Veles grunted as he bounced off of the ground, flipping backward to his feet and leaning aside from Sif's Time Stick. He was glad that Val had finally outlawed blades for training, after he'd gotten slashed in the side so bad he'd needed to go to the field to heal himself, but now Sif was being unreasonably rough with the Time Sticks. Granted, she still couldn't beat him, but she was always close. She'd always been better than him.
Veles spun around Sif's attempt to push kick him and slowed her from behind, ending the fight, and sighed. A moment later, Sif dropped her leg to the floor and also sighed.
"I thought I had you," Sif said.
"You almost did," Veles admitted. "Several times. But on the kick you committed too much strength without off-balancing me first."
Sif nodded just as their TemPads all beeped and they ran for the armory.
"Miss Minutes?" Val asked.
"It's a doozy," Miss Minutes warned, a word she had last used for the Ultrons mission where Daredevil and Thena had died. "Hulk got captured by General Ross, but the Abomination's mutation became infectious this time, and he's already infected more than a dozen people, all of whom are instinctively subservient to him."
"I'm sorry, how many are we talking about?" Val asked.
"And how are we just finding out?" Veles asked. "I thought we respond to nexus events in real time."
"You'll be the second team sent," Miss Minutes explained. "We didn't realize how fast the timeline would progress."
"Why didn't you just bomb the timeline?" Veles asked.
"We tried," Miss Minutes explained as they all began to rapidly strap on their gear. "Someone threw the reset charges back and we had to Prune them before they could go off."
"Great," Val grumbled. "So they're smart Abominations."
"Lovely," Val growled. "Alright. We'll handle it."
"Can't wait," Veles growled. "I almost wish we had a Hulk now."
"We can handle this," Sif said. "We only need to stall until the reset charge detonates."
"You'll have five minutes," Miss Minutes warned.
"We won't need that long," Sif said.
"You've never fought the Hulk," Veles grumbled.
They all took a breath, then charged through the Timedoor Val opened for them. It was absolute chaos. The Abominations were ripping the city around them apart battling the military sent to deal with them. And in the distance, Hulk was being absolutely brutalized by Blonsky. However, as they stepped out of the Timedoor, the Abominations all stopped, turning slowly to stare at them. They were all freakish. Unlike Hulk, who looked mostly human, aside from his size and his green skin, the Abominations all had their ribs sticking out grotesquely, their spines were exposed and had small spikes sticking off of the vertebrae, and they had small bone spikes on their elbows and knees.
"Val," Veles said.
"On it," Val said, activating her reset charge and tossing it.
Then, the nightmare battle began. They scattered as two of the Abominations crashed down where they were. One of the two leapt after Sif and Veles as the other leapt at Valkyrie. Valkyrie Pruned hers instantly, but before Veles could, his Abomination slapped him, sending him flying. Sif slashed the Abomination's fingers off just before landing in a backward roll, then leapt backward, narrowly avoiding the Abomination as it shattered the ground. Then, a Veles duplicate appeared beside it, Pruning it before vanishing as another Abomination crashed down where it had been.
Veles pushed himself up unsteadily, as an Abomination landed ahead of him at a sprint, roaring. Veles pushed himself into a run, then leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding a punch as he Pruned the Abomination. As he landed on his feet, however, Sif was caught by the legs and whipped down into the ground. That Abomination slammed punch after punch down into her until Veles' Time Stick spun through the air and slammed into it, Pruning end first. Veles ran for her, glancing at Val, who was just Pruning another Abomination, another just finishing disintegrating behind her. Veles looked back to Sif, only for his body to go cold. Blonsky crashed down over her, dropping Banner's corpse off to the side. In Abomination's free hand was a large bone spike that had been ripped from Abomination's elbow. Blonsky stomped on Sif, who screamed in pain, then raised the spike. Then, he grunted in pain as Veles drilled a punch into his jaw, rocking him back several steps. Veles leapt into the air, grabbing Blonsky's arm and ripped it downward at Blonsky's thigh. Blonsky stopped his arm, only for a blast of green energy to send the arm slamming down, the bone spike driving itself into Blonsky's leg. Veles landed on his feet, ducking under a punch, then drilled a punch into Blonsky's gut, then whipped out his knife as he stood, slashing for Blonsky's throat. Blonsky managed to avoid the blade, but it slashed the underside of his jaw on the left before Blonsky backhanded Veles, sending him bouncing away, shattering the street each time. Val caught him at the end and set him down, Veles groaning as his body shimmered green as he struggled to heal his shattered bones.
"Where's the fucking reset charge?" Veles growled.
"It was defective," Val growled, nodding to the reset charge, which was swirling with purple energy but was sparking and doing nothing.
"We have two minutes," Veles grunted, pushing himself up. "Get a new one."
Blonsky roared as he grabbed Sif by the hair, lifting her. Before he could do anything, Veles leapt into the air beside him, swinging Sif's sword hard, severing Blonsky's arm halfway down the forearm. Blonsky roared in pain, staggering away as Sif crashed to the ground and Veles duplicated a Time Stick, charging at Blonsky. He swung at Blonsky, but Blonsky grunted in annoyance, avoiding it and drilling a fist down into Veles' back, the ground exploding beneath the impact. Veles shouted in agony as another punch exploded into him. Blonsky lifted him by the hair, then drove the broken ends of his left forearm bones up into Veles' gut. Veles' eyes went wide just before Val drove the Pruning end of her Time Stick into Blonsky's back so hard it broke through his skin, then left it there as she ripped Veles off of Bronsky's arm and fled to Sif as Sif opened a Timedoor. They fled through it and it closed behind them as they fell to their knees in their field, Val setting Veles down gently.
"Are you alright?" Sif asked Veles as Val struggled to stop the bleeding in Veles' abdomen.
"Never better," Veles said. "Better me than anyone else."
His wounds began to shimmer green, the light flickering. Slowly, the light managed to stabilize itself and his stab wounds healed, but once it had, the light faded, Veles lying motionless.
"Veles?" Val called out.
"Veles!" Sif snapped, swallowing hard. "Veles! Loki, wake up!"
Veles didn't stir, but when Sif cut his armor off and held her ear to his chest, his heart was beating, though faintly. She sighed, sitting beside him and groaning.
"How're you holding up?" Val asked.
"My ribs are broken, I'm going to need new armor, I think my spine is cracked, my hip was dislocated earlier but reset when he dropped me, and my skull is cracked," Sif listed. "I'll heal. Will he?"
Well," Val frowned. "I can't check inside of him for the stab wounds or internal bleeding, but he's breathing, and I think he's resting peacefully. I think he just needs to rest."
Sif nodded. "We at the start of the twenty four hours?"
Val checked her TemPad and shook her head. "We have about fifteen hours. Here, let me set an alarm."
Sif nodded, and she and Val lay down, both groaning. However, while Sif fell asleep to rest and heal faster, Val kept herself awake. She'd made it through the battle without serious injuries, so she was able to stay awake to monitor Veles' condition. True to her hollow promise to Sif, who seemed to be worried about Veles for the first time, Veles actually did improve. He'd been pale at first, thanks to blood loss, but as he rested, color returned to his face, and after about ten hours, he opened his eyes and groaned, then rested his hand on the center of his chest. Green light shimmered over his body for a few moments before he sighed, relaxing.
"All better," Veles sighed.
"How does your healing actually work?" Sif asked.
"I duplicate the cells making up the damaged portion of whoever I'm healing, whether it's skin, muscle, bone, blood vessels," Veles explained. "Whatever's been damaged. When I duplicate them I can use the cells to reset bones as long as they're relatively aligned. Then, once the duplicates have sealed the wound, I leave them there. When the cells around the duplicates divide the next time, they simply replace the duplicates, leaving the injury completely healed with no scarring. But, of course, that means I can't heal cancer, or tumors, or anything that involves having to remove something to fix the issue. Broken bones and lacerations only. And I can hide burns and convince your brain they don't hurt."
"I see," Sif nodded. "That's really useful."
"It took a long time for me to figure out how to create solid duplicates," Veles said. "And I only did it because..."
Sif raised an eyebrow.
"I thought that if I could do something that no other Asgardian sorcerer could, something even my mother who taught me the magic couldn't do, maybe my father would be proud of me," Veles said. "But my father being proud was never an option. The TVA saw to that. Instead, I was forced to instill shame in everyone I loved."
Sif's eyes fell to the ground. "I'm sorry. Both for the way you were forced to live, and also for the way I've treated you. You really aren't like the Loki I knew. Thank you for saving me."
Veles smiled. "Of course."
"Come on," Val finally sighed. "Let's get back to our comfortable beds and our alcohol."
"Oh, yes please," Veles groaned. "I need a drink."
They all headed back, gathering in Val's room and drinking together for hours before going to rest in their respective rooms.
"You're letting your anger rule you when you fight," Veles said as he deflected Sif's strikes over and over, further frustrating her every time.
"Rage is the power of true warriors!" Sif snapped, spinning and stabbing at him, only to trip over his foot and crash to the ground.
"It's not what I use to fight," Veles said. "Rage may grant your strikes more physical force, but it's also weakens your instincts and your critical thinking. Your technique and your strategy suffer for it."
Sif stood, narrowing her eyes. "What then? How do you fight if not angrily?"
"Depending on who I'm fighting, sometimes I look for ways to humiliate them in battle," Veles said. "It puts me in a mindset to exploit mistakes. Other times, I intentionally anger then so that they make even more mistakes. I don't fight for anger, I fight for necessity. No matter who I'm fighting, I view it like this. If I don't kill them, they'll kill the people I care about. I ignore my anger so that I can think well enough to look for weaknesses. You're one of the most skilled warriors of Asgard because your natural abilities are more advanced than theirs, but if you could learn to create and exploit weaknesses, rather than simply trying to overpower your opponent, I'd never be able to touch you, much less defeat you.
"You're a lot like Thor. Both of you spent your lives training in martial arts and in combat, but it taught you to try and use only physical force to defeat your opponents. I spent as much time learning to wield daggers from my mother as I did learning magic from her. She taught me that you don't need a sword to kill someone, only an opportunity to get close enough to use a blade."
"She sounds terrifying," Val smirked.
"She was," Sif smiled. "Every bit as deadly as Odin, and her weapon of choice, after illusions, were daggers or shortswords."
"And she was better with both than I ever could have been," Veles said. "Now, Sif, let's try again. But this time, use this." He tossed her a blunt, round-tipped dagger he'd made while they were in their field. "That one and mine," he held up an identical training weapon, "will leave red marks where the blades strike. Control your anger. Look for openings."
Sif nodded, readying herself. Then, as one, they lunged. She struggled at first, first having to adapt to using a smaller blade and no shield, then having to try and adapt to not putting her full strength behind her blows. The first four rounds, Veles won easily. The fifth and sixth were closer. By the seventh, she'd adjusted to fighting with a dagger, and was doing better at controlling her anger. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough that the seventh round lasted nearly five minutes before Veles finally won.
"Much better," Veles nodded. "Now, try it again with your sword and shield."
Sif nodded, picking up her weapons again. This time, the battle was brutal, dragged on for only three minutes, and ended with Sif holding her sword to Veles's throat as he held his training dagger to her inner thigh. As they both stepped back, Sif smiled, nodding.
"Thank you, Veles," Sif said. "I never would have thought I'd be learning to fight with a blade from you."
"The only people you ever trained with were warriors," Veles shrugged. "Thor, the Warriors Three, the Einherjar you were training. You can learn a lot from training with assassins, sorcerers, and people who you'd least expect."
Sif nodded. "Alright, Val's turn."
Val grinned, nodding, and stepped forward with her Dragonfang and Time Stick. They both fought against each other brutally, and Sif noticed immediately that Val fought somewhere between Sif's style and Loki's. Sif quickly adapted, but after about eight minutes, Val won. They began again, but this time, Veles interrupted the fight, nearly managing to catch Sif with his first strike with his Time Stick, only for her to avoid it. Val instantly struck at Veles, starting a three-way battle, and Sif let out a laugh as she included Veles in the fun. Finally, due to necessity, she and Veles worked to take down Val together, and eventually succeeded. But the moment Veles had struck Val with the pruning end of his Time Stick, Sif swept his feet out from under him from behind, then dropped onto him, pinning him to the ground as she held the edge of her blade to his throat, ending up straddling him.
"Perfect," Veles smiled. "Couldn't have done better myself."
Sif smiled. "I had a good teacher."
Veles nodded, smiling, but his eyes betrayed him, flicking down to Sif's lips for the briefest of instants. Sif's smile faltered slightly, but she didn't insult him or yell at him, like she probably would have when she'd first arrived. Instead, she merely stood, returning her sword to its sheath in her shield, then held her hand up to help Veles stand.
"Let's call it here for today," Val suggested. "We should rest before we get sent out for anything else."
They both nodded and all left to their rooms to get cleaned up and changed, then all headed to bed.
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