Beyla - Loki

The Green Monster

Beyla pressed her palms against the cold glass of the Grandmaster's private viewing chamber, her heart hammering louder than the roar of the crowd below. From this high vantage point, the arena looked like a golden pit of chaos, every seat filled with cheering, jeering faces. And there, in the middle of it all-Thor.

The sight of him made her chest tighten. Tangled in chains, shirtless, scowling up at the Grandmaster's theatrics, Thor looked both familiar and painfully out of place. What in the Nine is he doing here?

At her side, Loki lounged back in his chair as though he were watching opera. He swirled the wine in his glass lazily, unfazed by the shock of his brother's sudden appearance. His lips curved into a sly smile.

"Well, well. The prodigal son," Loki murmured, voice dripping with amusement.

Beyla flicked her eyes to him. "You knew he was here?"

Loki's brows lifted, all innocence. "Of course not. What do you take me for-"

"-a liar?" she cut in, arms crossing tight over her chest.

His mouth opened, then closed. Finally, he shrugged and smirked into his glass. "Touché, darling."

The Grandmaster leaned forward in his throne-like chair, delighted. "Ohhh, this is going to be good. Bee, sweetheart, who's your bet on? Sparkles down there? Or the mystery challenger?"

Beyla forced a polite smile. The Grandmaster's gaze had lingered on her too often in the past month-always curious, always possessive, like she was his personal garden decoration. "I'm... reserving judgment," she said diplomatically.

The Grandmaster clapped. "Smart girl! Keeps the drama alive."

The drumbeat rose, thunder rolling through the chamber as massive doors creaked open across the arena. Beyla's stomach dropped the second she saw the hulking shadow fill the frame.

Green skin. Muscles stacked on muscles. A roar that shook the walls.

Her breath caught. "No..."

The Hulk burst into the arena, swinging a giant hammer, his roar swallowed by the frenzy of the crowd.

For a heartbeat, all Beyla could hear was the echo of New York. Screams. Buildings crumbling. Her bees scattered in terror as the green monster tore through the city like a nightmare. She hadn't seen him since then, and every inch of her skin crawled at the memory.

Thor's jaw fell open below. "YES!" he shouted with desperate relief. "We know each other! He's a friend from work!"

The crowd roared with laughter.

Beyla's lips parted in disbelief. "...Friend?" she muttered.

Loki, who had been smirking smugly, suddenly froze. His goblet clattered to the floor as his entire body went rigid.

"I have to get off this planet," he said flatly, hands gripping the arms of his chair.

Beyla shot him a look. "Smooth, very inconspicuous, husband. No one noticed that at all."

"Darling," Loki hissed through clenched teeth, "you weren't there. I was smashed repeatedly into the floor by that monster."

"Welcome to the club," she muttered. "New York, remember? He nearly demolished half my hives."

The Grandmaster tilted his head, glancing between them. "Oh, do you two know Greenie?"

"Not at all," Loki said instantly, plastering on his politician's smile. "Never seen him in my life."

Beyla snorted. "Liar."

Down below, Thor tried reasoning with the Hulk, but the conversation went as poorly as expected. Within seconds, Hulk swung his massive hammer and launched Thor across the arena.

Beyla winced. "Ouch. That's... not friendly."

"Indeed," Loki muttered, lips twitching with schadenfreude.

The two titans collided again and again-Thor's lightning cracking against Hulk's brute strength. The arena shook with every impact, the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Beyla's fingers clenched the glass railing, her heart in her throat. She wanted to scream, to help, to leap into the arena herself-but she couldn't. Not without blowing the fragile cover she and Loki had worked so hard to maintain.

Thor managed to get the upper hand briefly, pinning Hulk with a crackle of lightning. Hope flared in her chest-until the Grandmaster, with a casual flick of his control device, sent Hulk surging back into the fight.

The crowd cheered louder.

Beyla's jaw clenched. "He cheated."

Loki didn't even blink. "He owns the game, my dear. Of course he cheated."

When Hulk slammed Thor into the ground one final time, the entire chamber shook with the impact. Thor went limp.

Beyla pressed her forehead to the glass, whispering, "Did he... win?"

The crowd answered for her with deafening cheers, the Grandmaster leaping from his throne in delight. Loki leaned back, smirking as if this were the most entertaining thing he'd seen in years.

But Beyla's stomach twisted. The Grandmaster's gaze had landed squarely on her now, his grin wide and mischievous. And for the first time, Beyla felt the uneasy weight of being noticed-not as a guest, not as a favorite, but as a piece on the Grandmaster's gameboard.

Her heart sank. Thor had lost. And somehow, it felt like she and Loki had just lost something too.