Between Asgard and Helheim lies Gotham

The Risk of Falling Apart

"Don't walk in front of me... I may not follow
Don't walk behind me... I may not lead
Walk beside me... just be my friend" 
― Albert Camus

"I need an explanation for everything I just saw, and I'd prefer if it didn't include magic." Jaime demanded. The Titans were all standing forlorn in the Batcave, trying to process what had just happened.

"Oh, that was magic, all right, but nothing like I've ever encountered." Raven looked rather shaken, her already pale skin was sheet-white.

"That's because you deal in demon magic. That was...very different." Valerie breathed. She was probably the most affected by the appearance of the Valkyrie and her companion. "Worse. It's worse."

"Talk to us, Val, who were they? And how did they get in?" Dick asked, his eyes wandering the cave, trying to discern any notable signs of the two intruders having been there.

"Well, I think the Valkyrie was one of my sisters, but I've never met any of them, so I'm not sure which one." Valerie started to explain.

"Did your mother not say that two of your sisters went missing? That should have been enough to raise their suspicions." Damian scoffed.

"These are not trivial midgardian problems! These are Valkyries! Betrayal among them is not as common as it is in the league." Valerie's response was harsher than any of the Titans expected. "And you just admitted to eavesdropping, idiot. I thought you'd be smart enough to keep that information to yourself." Valerie scoffed.

Damian's eyes grew wide. "You knew? How did you-"

"I can sense your infuriating presence from ridiculously long distances. Do you really know so little about my abilities? Father would be so disappointed." Valerie remarked spitefully.

"Enough!" Dick yelled, cutting off Damian's heated response. "Valerie, I want an explanation and I want it now. Damian be quiet and let her speak. Who were those people?" Valerie was momentarily stunned by her brother's authoritative tone. She often forgot that in his youth he led his own team of misfit heroes.

"His name is Fenrir, The Wolf. He is Loki's son, and he's supposed to be imprisoned on an island only the Aesir are aware of. Maybe he still is, he said that Loki's wards kept him from attacking us- for now, at least." At everyone's confused expressions- with the exception of Raven, a magic user herself - Valerie explained, "Wards are protection spells, they limit how far into a property a being with nefarious intent can go. Maybe what we saw of Fenrir was a...I don't know, psychic version of him, that he's projecting from his prison. "

"That's...complicated." Starfire commented.

"It's worse than that. There a lot of versions of how Ragnarok is supposed to start, one says it starts with Loki being freed form his prison, another says it starts when Odin goes missing- which he has- and another says it starts when a Fire Giant cuts Fenrir free of his rope."

There was a silence that followed, and Valerie allowed her listeners a pause to absorb the information.

"Loki's been in and out of his prison for millennia, and well, Odin might have just gone on another vacation and forgotten to mention it to Frigg. But Fenrir, he's never escaped. Ever. And I really, really hope he hasn't."

***

Bruce didn't return home that night, a mission with the League that took priority, so Dick told him why the system had been down for six minutes. Valerie didn't know what exactly Dick had told Bruce, but she was fairly certain it hadn't been the truth, because otherwise she's be locked in a damn tower now or something. She figured it would be up to her to deliver the world-ending news to her father. maybe he'd be less angry if he saw how utterly terrified his daughter was at the prospect. Sure, she could fight, and her entire human family were all badass superheroes, but she wasn't. She was just the deformed daughter of Bruce Wayne, with no experience in world-saving. 

Instead of attack a training dummy with a battle axe or longsword, she took to flying between the stalactites among the swarms of bats that lived up near the rock ceiling of the Batcave. Her wings startled a few bats into fluttering away from her madly, but mostly she was ignored by them and left to wallow in fear, worry and the toxicity that was teenage angst. 

Until she was pestered by a green bat that decided to follow her senseless pattern around the stalactites. 

"Go away Beast Boy." She turned abruptly around a stone pillar, but the fuzzy green rodent wasn't deterred. 

"No, not until you come down, Dick's all worried about you and Damian's doing that weird thing he does when he gets an emotion." 

"Nice try, greenie. Damian doesn't get emotions." Valerie grunted, before diving down towards the cave pools. 

"No really, he does. But its awful, he starts getting all snappy but weirdly sentimental and no one knows what to do with him, its just weird." beast Boy continued when she had finished with her flight theatrics. 

"I don't believe you." She snapped. 

"You don't have to. Just...for Dick then? Please come down, angel?" 

Valerie made to grab at Beat Boy's tiny throat. The bat squawked - sounding not at all like a bat - and flung himself away from her, into a stalactite. 

"Don't ever call me that." She growled, before finally angling her body downwards, towards the bat computer and the solid ground around it.

"Look, Valerie," Beast Boy started once her feet were on solid ground and he now looked like just a green kid, not a bat, "This is scary, but we'll figure this out. You've got the power of the titans behind you. You've got your friends to help you." He took a step towards her, although all he could see were her ridiculously large wings - she refused to face him.

"Garfield, you guys aren't my friends, I don't have those." Before she stalked up the stairs towards the grandfather clock, a very hurt Beast Boy could have sworn he heard her mutter "I'm not allowed friends." 

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