Valkyrie

Carnage

~~*~~

Had to lose it all to win the fight

I had to fall so many times (Oh-oh-oh)

Now I'm the last one standin' 

~~*~~

The last couple of days had been pretty uniform, or at least as uniform as they could be for Stella. School had been long, and mostly boring, as it usually is. Besides Mark Grayson letting Todd wail on him without flinching, which Stella was unfortunately not there to witness. But homework was even more boring and she had been looking at the same history assignment for over an hour waiting for the time to fly over to Guardians HQ for training.

Fingers tapping quickly on the wood table beneath her hands, pencil spinning in the other. She was antsy, something didn't feel right. She knew it was probably nothing, but she needed to blow off the energy before training or else she would get crucified by Immortal for being 'unfocused' on the job. Especially with how she rushed out this morning.

Pushing herself up she grabbed her suit from its seemingly permanent place of residence on the back of her couch. Yanking it on and securing her winged diadem before taking off out her window.

With her head in the clouds, literally, she felt a little lighter. The anxiety creeping up her spine and threatening to paralyze her slowly retracting it's talons. Flying through the city she kept an eye out for any crimes being committed. It had been a while since she wasn't laser focused on some kind of death laser wielding bad guy or subverting an asteroid with Immortal and War Woman. It had been a while since she had spent time helping with petty crimes. She hated calling them that, petty, it made the issues that everyday people went through seem so much less important than they are.

But spending that time, helping people, not the world, it helped her calm down. Helped her think. When the city quieted down for the night, the sun sinking below the horizon, she flew up to the top of the bridge. Connecting the city to the hills across the bay.

Looking out over the water and the city she let herself take a deep breath, shoulder's relaxing as she floated to the edge. Feet hanging off the side of the metal structure, the dying sun in all it's red, orange, and purple glory catching on her winged diadem.

The breeze from the water below picked up, whipping Stella's long hair into her face. Her mother, Helen – once Helionia – laughing as the blonde sputtered.

"Oh don't laugh at her honey. Here." Her father, Ivan – once Ivis – stepped forward. Pushing his daughter's hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ears. A claw clip appearing between the father and daughter. Helen smirking as she watched Stella clip up her hair.

"There, now can we pay attention to the tour guide please?" The older blonde woman pointed forward where the group they had started the walking tour of San Francisco at the beginning of the day was many feet ahead. The poor tour guide dodging rude bicyclists while walking backwards to inform the group about the history of the bridge.

"I guess." Ivan huffed, rolling his eyes, nudging Stella's side with his elbow as he looped her arm around his and pulled her along. Helen hesitating for a second, noticing the waves below them start to get more violent.

Stella stopped, pulling her dad to a halt, looking over her shoulder at her mother and called for her, "Mom? What's wrong-"

Water shot up towards the bridge in a massive tidal wave, the loud screech of something not human pierced through the air. Screams following not a second later as well as vibrations of pounding feet as people started to run. Stella and her father had been thrown away from Helen and the girl was up much faster than her dad. The younger girl, no older than fourteen, pulling up her significantly taller father with no issue.