The Old Gods | Book 2

Six: Not Today

Bodies lay scattered like ants put to the poison. The Asgardian goddess still standing fighting the last five enemies remaining. The strange man stood patiently and watched as if he were spectating a new film, his pet behind him. He won't move unless given the word.

Like an animal.

A once respectable warrior reduced to a dog on a tight leash.

Weapons and bullets proved to be nothing against their opponent when the men of Hydra were struck down. The last one took a heavy blow to the side of his head with the flat part of the golden spear and he hit the pavement like a bag of rocks. The goddess then turned her spear and stood ready against the man in charge. Bucky was gone from his side now.

"Impressive," he noted. "How many years have you trained?"

"Longer than you may have been alive."

"And yet it still amounts to nothing when you have no experience."

Her eyes flowed over her environment. Her ears were sharper than ever. She carefully looked for Sergeant Bucky. She swiveled her body to glance behind her - never looking away from the man in front of her. "You are of no threat to me. Release Bucky Barnes and our quarrel will be over with."

"Funny how the world works."

Movement from behind. Sigyn turns to face Bucky as he shoots at her like a bat out of hell. He swung his arm and grabbed her spear in motion. With the other, he jabbed her neck and shoved her away. She swung at him. Something pinched her neck and her hand flew up to feel a strange device had borrowed itself into her skin.

The mysterious man with glasses then placed earbuds into her ears and with his left hand pressed a remote. A high-pitched squealing sounded and every muscle in Sigyn's body tensed up. Her limbs cramped and her lungs felt like they couldn't take in any air. She couldn't compel herself to move. She was frozen in place.

Every orphic of her being was in pain. Her ears rang painfully, her eyes watering. Her hands clutched her weapon so tight her nails carved crescent shapes in her palms.

She started to turn blue.

Bucky came forward, unaffected. He took a syringe from the man and jabbed it into her neck. She couldn't speak. She couldn't move. She could barely think. Her weapon was ripped away from her. Her stiff body lifted over Bucky's shoulder and she was hauled into the truck. The sound soon stopped, but her ears kept ringing. Her muscles were tight and sore, and her focus was coming in and out like a camera lens.

Parts came to her and others didn't.

The man with glasses grips her cheeks tightly. "What's a man to a god? Look at you now. I have you." She was asleep before he finished his sentence. She was lovely, yes. His eyes lusted. He accomplished what others before couldn't. He captured a goddess. And the very same one Johann Schmidt tried to capture nearly a century ago.

Here she was in all her beauty.

The truck was already inbound and driving away with its capture. The man with glasses sat on the bench opposite Bucky Barnes. "Well done, soldier."

He was looking at her. Studying her face very hard as if his broken mind would suddenly mend itself and he would remember. He would remember why she called him by a strange name and acted as if she knew him. No one knows he exists. No one knows who he is.

"Why did she say she knows me?" he questioned, still looking at her.

The man with glasses took in a sharp breath. "They will do anything to get inside your head." he affirmed. "But don't worry. Soon you'll forget any of this even happened."

(Forget?)

The truck was bound with its cargo for the airport. And nothing stopped the truck. Not the traffic or traffic lights. It bounded and crashed and raced. It crashed through several boom gates and fences heading straight for a small cargo plane on the tarmac.

Hydra soldiers flooded the truck and within under a minute, they had the goddess loaded onto the plane with themselves, and soon they took off into the skies.

LOGYN

Director Nick Fury's hand slammed down on the desk. An agent jumped. "What the hell happened!?" he bellowed. His one eye stared down his team. "We just lost our most valuable asset!" he swiped right, and a pile of papers fluttered across the room, rocking back and forth until they breezed down to the floor.

"Sir..." someone tried.

"My best fucking team!" he pointed at the agents before him. "My best agents and you still managed to lose an Asgardian goddess! What the fuck happened out there?"

As team leader, Agent Coulson took it upon himself to speak out. "Sir. She disobeyed direct orders. Removed her communications and engaged with the enemy." he sighed. "We believe It was all a trap to lure her out."

"What made you think we were the only ones to know of her arrival?" Agent May then said. "Hydra had a goal and they achieved it."

Silence.

"And you still lost her?" Nick Fury, replied through gritted teeth. "And now she has been exposed and we compromised. She owes us no loyalty. No devotion. What's to stop her from telling Hydra everything?"

"The fact that maybe she once fought Hydra?" suggested Agent Coulson.

"Perhaps, sir, we have a mole within our ranks. It would make sense as to why Hydra knew what we were up to."

"Okay." shrugged Nick Fury. "And what is your next plan of action?" he spat. "Hm?" he asked the room. "The good thing is now we know the identity of the Winter Soldier. An old pal of our lost goddess. And they knew that! They knew to use him to draw her out." He hit the table again.

"We're searching every camera, traffic light, and report, sir, we will find her."

Nick Fury laughed at that. "And if we don't? Then what? We will have the entire wrath of Asgard and Vanaheim down on our heads like she so loved to remind us of. And that little piece of technology they used to capture the princess? Look familiar? Just imagine what else they might have."

"We will get her back." assured Agent Coulson. "She's a goddess anyway. She can handle whatever they try and do."

"Sure." scoffed Nick Fury. "Are you so sure? If they bleed, they can be killed. And she bleeds." he reminded. "I don't have all goddamn day to sit around and wait for you to find her. I want to know everything. Find out everything that you possibly can about this Winter Soldier and Hydra's plan! I don't care how - get it done! I need to go see someone."