Always Mine (An MCU Fanfiction)

42. Everyone's Been Looking for You

The next day, as before, I snuck away from Loki, who seemed to suspect that I had gone to see Thor the prior day. I tried informing the trickster of Heimdall's warning that Hela was threatening to consume every living thing everywhere, but he didn't think there was anything we could do to stop her. But I wasn't quick to give up. My friends and family were in potential danger if Hela got to Earth.

Arriving in the Hulk's suite, I learned Thor was able to convince the Hulk to do him a favor by getting Valkyrie to listen. Thor secretly told me to get the device that controlled the disc while Valkyrie was distracted.

As Valkyrie arrived, she jokingly kicked one of the guards' spears and chuckled as she entered.

"Angry girl," the Hulk said, smiling at her.

That second, both of them playfully fought, and Valkyrie knocked the Hulk to the floor.

"What's going on?" she asked him. "What are you..."

She paused mid-sentence as Thor stepped in, casually leaning against a series of shelves while I sat on the sofa. On seeing him, Valkyrie's expression turned sullen, and she climbed over the Hulk.

"You're so thick-headed that you can't tell when someone's hiding all the way across the universe and wants to be left alone," Valkyrie stated as she headed for the exit and briefly glanced over at me.

"We need to talk," Thor told her.

"No, you wanna talk to me," Valkyrie turned to him for a second and continued to the door.

"I need her to stay." Thor turned to the Hulk.

"Stay?" Hulk asked, and tore the upper jaw of the giant skull. "Block." He threw it across the room, blocking the entrance, stopping Valkyrie in her tracks. "Stay. Please."

"Please."

Valkyrie turned back in defeat. "All right." She went over to the shelf just as the Hulk threw what looked like a dodgeball at the wall.

"Here's the deal," Valkyrie added. "I'll listen to you." She grabbed a bottle. "Till this is empty." She opened it and started drinking.

"Asgard is in danger, and people are dying," Thor informed her. "We need to get back there. I need your help." He paused the second she downed the whole bottle. "Wow."

My eyes widened at how fast Valkyrie chugged it in under a minute. I wasn't sure whether to be impressed or concerned. Back on Earth, most people would've been unconscious after drinking that much that quickly. Then again, Valkyrie wasn't exactly most people.

"Finished." Valkyrie dropped the bottle. "Bye." She turned to leave.

"Odin is dead."

She stopped the moment she heard those three words and turned to face Thor again.

"Hela, the Goddess of Death, has invaded Asgard," he added.

"If Hela's back, then Asgard's already lost," Valkyrie said.

"I'm going to stop her."

"Alone?" 

"Nope. I'm putting together a team." Thor pointed. "It's me, you, her, and the big guy."

Considering the fate of Asgard rested on a traumatized former Valkyrie, an emotionally constipated god, a giant green rage monster, and me, I wasn't entirely convinced we qualified as Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

"No. No team. Only Hulk," the Hulk called out and continued playing dodgeball with the wall.

"It's me, you, and her."