Midguardian: Chapter 8

I charged, throwing myself at Vali and moving lightning quick. My punch was pointless, my block effective, my kick kind of stupid, but finally my knuckles met face and I grinned.

Vali was back at me in a second, finding all my weak points. Luckily for me, I had –

“Ares!”

The behemoth Ares snarled as he knocked Vali across the lobby. “Thanks,” I said as I snatched the gun from the holster at his side. “Thor would call that cheating,” he pointed out as I aimed.

“Thor isn't here, and I don't have time for this.”

Blam!

Vali wasn't bleeding and wasn't hurt that badly. But the pain must have been immense, or something he wasn't used to, and he gripped his head as he fell to his knees. “That's cheating!” he screeched.

“Funny, you didn't seem to have a problem with cheating before!” said Cho as he dashed over to Vali and whacked him over the sore head with his golden mace. “You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that!”

“You should have killed him,” said Agea quietly as she poked the unconcious blond with her foot.

“Ags,” I called.

“Yeah, I know it,” she said. “That was stupid.”

“No, I know that look,” I said. “But him?”

“At least he looks the same age as me!”

Ouch. That was low.

“Sorry, that was low.”

“Yeah, it was,” I agreed.

She bent down and lifted his arm to drape it over her shoulders, and I did the same on his other side, as Thor flew in. “Asguardian!” he called. “Katy's Void descends from Asgard and towards my people and yours!”

I gasped, flying up and looking down at Agea. “Call the girls!” I shouted, and she nodded. “Bring Ares, if he'll help us.”

Ares pulled his huge axe from the strap across his back and grinned. “I shall war with my brothers!” he called.

I took that as a yes, and followed as Thor flew faster than he'd flown since that night we escaped.

We were flying fast over Nashville when I heard it. It screamed, then collided with me, and when I hit the ground, I recognized Karnilla. Her eyes shined with a rage I'd never seen, and I caught Mjolnir as it flew at me.

I met Karnilla's fierce blows with the hammer, but why was she attacking me? “Karnilla, get a hold of yourself!” I cried, but she just shrieked more.

“You little whore!” she snarled. “I warned you to stay away from Balder! I warned you to get away!”

“So those were your guard!”

“Of course they were!”

“And that army you brought. . . oh God!”

Lifting Mjolnir up, I really hoped that the surge of power I felt wouldn't kill me. I hoped that I could muster the same kind of power that Thor could. The light and heavy crackling in the air made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I jumped at Karnilla, swinging the glowing hammer at her.

I was vaguely aware that Thor was staring at me, and tha Karnilla's face was shocked, but I knew that I had to stop her. Mjolnir collided with her chest, knocking her back and into the ground with a crack and a boom almost as loud as the thunderous blast Mjolnir and I created.

Panting, I fell to my knees as Thor hurried over, unable to fly, ran to me. “You. . . Asguardian, such a large blast. . . surely would have killed anyone that was any more vulnerable than Karnilla.”

“Yeah?” I gasped. That one strike had kicked my ass, and I could hardly breathe. “Well . . . it was Karnilla. . . and she's probably. . . not dead,” I pointed out between breaths.

“You are a truly powerful warrior.”

I chuckled. “Here. Take this,” I said as I handed Mjolnir back. But just before it could touch his hand, there was a light thump sound, and Thor gasped as a blast knocked the noble prince down, hurling me backwards and across the ground. The last thing I saw was a man in a blue and white uniform walking over to me, then kneeling down.

His hazel eyes were very familiar.

“You cannot do this to her! I am warning you, Agent, if that girl is harmed by your actions, then you will feel the might of the Thunderer,” snarled Thor.

“She's my kid, Thor,” said the reasonable, gravely voice. “I can't just let her walk into this.”

“Oh, and you were so willing to allow her to work with the Avengers, to take the Ring of Sigurd that she now bears at the behest of her lost aunt, to grow without knowing a father's love?”

“Hey, you don't know what I had to—she's awake.”

I opened my eyes to look around me. Sterile white and blue walls, a sterile white bed, bulletproof glass walls that separated me from everything and everyone around me.

It was a little like hell.

I sat up and threw my blankets off, leaping off the bed to run at the walls, only to slip and fall. My face gave the ground the loudest, hardest high-five I'd felt in a long time, and when I hit the shiny floor, I realized something very serious.

I'd tripped over my own feet, and my ring was gone.

I hadn't tripped over my own feet since before the Siege. Sitting up, I looked down to see the pale scar on the bottom of my foot, the one I'd received months ago. “Aw hell no! I did not beat Karnilla just for this!”

Standing up slowly, I looked up to see something that shouldn't have been possible – Thor, hands and legs bound in huge cuffs that suspended him between the ceiling and the floor. A strange purplish blue energy attached the cuffs to wide metal generators.

“Thor!” I screamed, slamming into the glass.

The man that turned to look at me made me gasp and step back, then fall to my butt. His black hair, cut to regulation length like I'd known it as a little girl, was thick, black, and would have curled in almost darling little spirals. His hazel eyes burned with a quiet fire. He was tall, lean, but a little thick in the chest, a trait passed down from our Irish ancestors.

“Daddy. . .” I breathed, unbelieving, or maybe unwilling to believe.

He turned to me, and I froze as he moved closer and closer. His hands were clasped behind his back, but he brought his right one forward and touched the glass lightly. His stoic face softened. “Hey there, Anthy.”

“Daddy, how. . . what are you. . . You're a SHIELD agent!?”

The shock of seeing my father was bad enough, the shock of finding out the was a secret agent? Maybe the most surprising thing about it was that be did look sorry. He didn't look stoic, or unforgving, but really, truly sorry.

“Yeah,” he said. “Been one since before you were born.”

“Since. . . why is Thor hung up like that?” I asked, feeling my voice weakening with shock. “Daddy. . . What's going on?”

“I'm sorry, Amber Therese. But you are under SHIELD custody.”

“Under what charges?” I demanded.

“No charges. Protective custody.”

“What!?”

“You're hurt, and what's worse, I heard you actually intend to go and fight Doom, is that true?”

“That was pretty much the plan!” I snarled. “Although it was technically a bit more complicated.”

“Sorry kiddo, that's not about to happen. There is no way you're going out there.”

“What!? How are you qualified to tell me what is and isn't going to happen!?

“I'm your father and I said no!” he barked, the finality of his tone striking me silent.

“You may be my blood,” I whimpered. “But you are not my father.”