Daughter Dearest

four

The loud sound of air flying past her woke Venus just in time for her to realize that the ground was rapidly approaching. As if on pure instinct, her wings unfurled to offer a softer landing. 

The landing onto the hard concrete below was anything but soft, but her wings took some of the pressure off of her hands and knees that hit. Had she not woken up, it would've been her face in the concrete instead. 

Slowly, Venus stood, attempting to gauge her surroundings. Brick walls. A dumpster. Apocalyptic red sky. The never ending scent of death that wafted into the dark alleyway. There was no familiarity except for the rough landing that tore large holes in the knees of the jeans she had just bought a week prior. 

Putting her wings away, she went to run her clawed hand through her hair in frustration, only for her horns to get in the way. 

She growled in annoyance and stomped her foot like a child, an action that would've had her reprimanded if she were on Asgard, it didn't matter her age. 

“Why me?” She asked herself aloud as she began walking toward the sidewalk where voices were coming from. 
Keeping calm, Venus walked with confidence and some things became evident very early on, purely based on her surroundings. 

She wasn't on earth; that much was gathered by the fact that the form she took in fighting allowed her to easily blend in. 

But it wasn't one of the realms she had been to either. From stories, this place most resembled Muspelheim, the home of the fire giants. If the giant pentagram in the sky was any hint, she had to guess it was Hell. Not even Hel. 

Straight up Hell. 

How had she gotten to Hell when she had been standing in her bathroom? A summoning? Unlikely. . . An actual portal? A cruel joke? Regardless of the circumstances, she was pissed. 

Her phone chimed in her back pocket, somehow surviving the fall, and she almost jumped at the familiarity of the sound. Pulling it out, she leaned her back up against a wall to check it, so that she'd be able to see if anyone came at her from any of the three open places.

Opening the oldest series of messages first, Peter's face popped up on the screen in the form of a video message as he and Ned were in Ned's room. 

“Hey mom! I'm too lazy to type right now, but I'm checking in as promised! I'm staying for dinner, Ned's grandma invited me to and I just couldn't say no, so I'll be home a little later than I said earlier. I hope that's okay! I already told Mr. Stark —”

“Hey Miss Venus! Is it your Royal Highness or your Majesty? Peter said it doesn't matter, but I think it does.”

“Dude!” Peter groaned and then the video cut off. 
Venus smiled as she then read the message beneath it. ‘I promise to be safe, love you!’ 

Not feeling like typing herself, she hit the microphone icon and began speaking in a low tone so that passers-by would have to strain to hear her words. 

“Hi, sweet boys! I hope you're having a good time. . . To answer Ned's question: in my standing role of Princess of Asgard, I believe the proper term would be Royal Highness, however we do not use such terms. We are introduced and referred to by title, unless you're the all-father, then that's a whole other jar of pickled bilgesnipe. . . I'm perfectly fine with you staying for dinner as long as you abide by the recent rule set in place for your safety — you know which one. . . I love you very much, Peter.” 

She then released the icon and let the message be sent before opening the newest message — it was from Wanda, asking to borrow the red leather jacket in her closet that she never wore. 

Rather than letting Wanda borrow it, she told her she could keep it. It wasn't likely Venus would be back any time soon and she wore the jacket maybe once. 

It then became evident that someone would notice her absence and it would become an ordeal. She had to avoid suspicion somehow. 

★†★

“No one will believe it.” Loki sighed dramatically from his end of the phone. It appeared to be propped up on the dresser in her room while Thor stood with his arms crossed and Loki paced back and forth. 

“I beg your pardon? This is foolproof! We're always going off for otherworldly shit! I don't know how long I'll be gone, but you both need to keep up this ruse until I can find my way out of here! If they ask why you didn't go too, say they only needed me. Anything to not raise worry.” 

“You're suggesting we lie to our friends?” Thor questioned in a tone that said he was attempting to summarize the entire phone call in one sentence. 

Venus groaned. “Begging, more like! Listen, I don't know what happened, but I do know that it was for a reason. I'm livid enough as is; the last thing I need is to be bombarded by the rest of the team because they think I've abandoned them. . . They won't message if they think I'm on Asgard because they learned themselves that Asgard isn't as technologically advanced as they'd like to believe.” 

Neither replied as Venus took a breath to calm herself down. Her voice had steadily risen the more she asked her brothers to help her out. 

“I don't ask for much, just please do this for me. . . I have to go find a charger that actually fits this thing because it's about to die. . . Please.” And then she hung up. 

★†★

Venus's nose involuntarily twitched at the stench of death and the shocking amount of sex stores and clubs that seemed to permanently reside on that side of the city. 

It took ages for her to find a shop that didn't advertise dildos of various colors, shapes, and mortifying sizes. 

Genuinely, it was terrifying. . . On earth, or really the ‘living world’ as she caught some demons say, stuff like that was hidden — usually at the back of a Spencer's, but hidden nonetheless. 

It was an electronics store, very similar to the Best Buy two blocks away from the Avengers Tower. Rather than slightly older models of wearable Stark Tech passed off as the latest, there was something called VoxTek. . . She didn't even know the guy and yet could easily say his ego matched Tony's.

Finding the chargers was the easy part. Finding one that matched her phone proved to be harder than finding a shop without a dildo in the window. 

Eventually her hand grazed a black cord with red and blue throughout the length of the cord and she picked it up to check what type it was and if it would fit in her phone. 

When it fit, she grinned broadly and removed the cord from the port, grabbing a matching block from the bin above. 
“About time.” She hummed in satisfaction, turning to head towards the counter where a bored looking demon sat on a stool, a gun visibly strapped to his side as he counted money. 

Suddenly more aware of her surroundings, Venus paid for her goods and went back into the streets. The sky was becoming a darker shade of red with every minute passing, signaling nightfall. 

Silently cursing herself, she scoured the area for anywhere she could lay low. Just to rest for the evening, until she could finally figure out why she was there instead of in the tower, with the team she considered family. 

She didn't know how long Thor and Loki would be able to keep the lie in check, but she hoped she'd be back before the lie inevitably unraveled.