A GODS WEAKNESS [l.laufeyson]

TWENTY THREE

     "So he's gone?" Hela looks around at her surroundings. "That's a shame. I would've liked to have seen that." There a tense moment as they stare each other down.

"You must be Hela. I'm Thor, son of Odin."

"Really? You don't look like him." She looks her brother up and down.

"Perhaps we can reach an arrangement." Loki speaks up hoping to avoid any conflict.

"You sound like him." She then looks to Astrid. "And who are you?" Hela smirks psychotically at Astrid, however the princess isn't backing down. She only glares at Hela. If she needs to fight. Then she will. Astrid's hands and eyes start to glow. Loki shifts nervously. Thor's grip tightens on Mjolnir.

"Kneel."

"Beg your pardon?" Loki scoffs. Hela manifests two pitch black blades.

"Kneel...before your Queen."

"I don't think so." Thor winds up and hurls Mjolnir at Hela. But... the mighty hammer comes to a cold stop against her hand. Thor is shocked. He stretches out his hands, trying to call Mjolnir back to him. The hammer trembles in Hela's hand, like a mini game of tug-o-war. But ultimately Hela keeps possession.

"It's not possible."

"Darling, you have no idea what's possible." Hela shatters Thor's hammer. The blast of Mjolnir's destruction sends a wave of energy through the three who brace themselves against the impact. Loki covers Astrid the best he can. Thor is stupefied. In shock. As they look up, Loki pushes Astrid behind him. They see Hela is running her hands back over her head to create the terrifying battle headdress. Loki starts to panic as he calls to the Bifrost.

"Bring us back!" He pulls Astrid in his arms and holds tight as the light comes crashing down on them. Astrid doesn't know what to think of the situation. Yes, she's scared but what will this do to Asgard.

"No!" Thor tries to run to Hela not giving up on the battle as Hela charges to the portal. The three zoom upward Loki still holding onto Astrid inside this celestial beam warping them towards Asgard. Thor looks down to see that Hela is in the Bifrost, behind them and catching up... quick.

"Loki!" Thor calls down to Loki who is a little behind him, to grab his attention to Hela.

"Thor!" As he sees Hela closing in he gives Astrid a boost throwing her up to Thor who catches her. Loki turns and throw his daggers at her. They find their mark, stalling her for a second. But she plows right through Loki, knocking him out the Bifrost. Gone in an instant.

"Loki!" Astrid screams his name. This angered her as she pushes herself off Thor, she grabs her own daggers darting them to Hela, but she dodges them and projects a jet black grappling hook grabbing hold of Thor. As she comes up she grabs both Astrid's and Thors throat preparing to finish them off. Thor pulls up his legs, and kicks Hela with both feet. This effectively dislodges them from her grasp but also knocks them out of the Bifrost. Now all three of them are gone. If they aren't dead, then God knows where they went.

~

Astrid comes down at some speed from one of the many wormholes above the wasteland. Just before she hits the ground too hard, she uses some of her power to slow her down. She can feel though that she's not in control of her power as much as she would like to be. If anything she feels weaker. She thought this might be due to the pregnancy. She looks around unable to see Thor. They must've got separated through the wormholes.

Astrid looks up to see a large amount of debris heading her way. She tries to use her powers once again to slow them down, but this time, there's nothing. She quickly runs out the way before getting hit, and when she's at a safe distance she looks down at her hands hoping to see them glow. She concentrates hard thinking of her lessons with Loki, but nothing happens.

Loki...

Astrid missed him. She didn't even know if he was alive. She placed her hands on her stomach as tears formed in her eyes. But she refused to let them fall. She had to stay strong.

She suddenly heard gunshots in the distance. Wondering what the commotion was she headed the place hidden by heaps of trash.

As Astrid arrives at the spot, she looks around to sees people laying dead on the floor, as she looks up to see who caused the massacre, she sees a woman dragging Thor by his cape.

"Wait!" She calls out grabbing the woman's attention.

"And what do you want? Did I forget to kill you too?" Astrid could see this woman was drunk. She thinks carefully on what to say and tries to avoid a fight, especially in her condition without her powers and any of her weapons. Astrid glances down at Thor and sees that he's still alive... thank god.

"Where are you taking him?"

"Why? Do you know him?" The woman scoffs at Astrid and points her fist at her which activates the ship behind her.

"Wait! I'm with child!" Astrid holds her hands up in defence. The woman then relaxes her hand back down to her side which seemed to deactivate the guns on the ship. She glances between Astrid and Thor for a few seconds.

"This the daddy?" She points to Thor raising her eyebrows giving Astrid a 'really' look.

"Wha- no ew..." Astrid loved Thor as a friend, but the thought of her being with him... no.

"Good... he doesn't really seem like your type." The woman looked at Thor again and scrunched her nose up at him.

"Yeah no... I'm actually with his brother." The woman was certainly not expecting that.

"And where is he now?" Astrid looked down.

"I don't know... we were all attacked and got separated." The woman looked away from Astrid. She was not good in uncomfortable situations like this, and quite frankly, she didn't really care.

"Okay, well good luck." The woman continued dragging Thor to her ship.

"Wait! Take me with you!" She stopped and turned around to look at Astrid again. She eyes her up and down a bit before thinking how Astrid might get her a bonus. She was pretty looking so the grandmaster might pay extra for her.

"Fine. But..." the woman threw cuffs on the floor in front of her. "Put these on and DON'T talk to me."

Astrid didn't like the idea of this, but if she stuck with Thor and got inside, then at least she would be safe.

"Just a quick question. Who are you?" Astrid had to at least know that.

"Scrapper 142... I don't care about your name."

"And I'm going to tell you anyway... it's Astrid."