The Unknown

Chapter 14: The Hunt Begins

The two guards had to grab Halvar as he began to shake, coughing up blood in the process. He began to mumble something which caused Thor and Odin to step closer to listen and as their faces almost connected, he mumbled, "a sister on Midgard," with his final breath.

It was when Thor and Odin pulled away did they realise Halvar had taken his final breath, blood dripping from his mouth, his arms limp in the guard's arms. Odin nodded to the guards and said, "take him for the ceremonial funeral," both nodded and took him, leaving King and Prince alone.

Thor and Odin stared at each other for a moment before Odin walked out of the room, Thor following him as he asked, "father, what shall we do?"

"If Hela has a sister it would explain why she sent Halvar back without being able to communicate, to tell us the truth".

"But why send Halvar back? She killed all others and sent their bodies back as warnings".

"Celebration. The celebration on Niflheim may have been for her sister. It would explain why she sent him back the way she did; if the child is younger like I presume, she may not have wanted to kill in front of her". Odin then stopped walking and turned to his son and said, "Heimdall would have seen the child of Midgard, she must be protected, under a spell by Hela so he cannot detect her. Thor, return to Midgard, speak to your allies. Maybe they can find this child before she does any damage. Who knows what power she has".

Thor nodded, "right away, father".

Thor walked outside of the palace but instead of going straight to the Bifröst, he went to the royal gardens where he assumed his wife and son would be. He was correct in assuming that but his mother was also there. Frigga was sat on a white metal bench reading, while Jane played on the floor with Brynjar and his wooden blocks. Brynjar saw his father first and smiled as he pointed to him with his small, chubby hands.

Jane then smiled as she turned to Thor and Frigga looked up from her book for a moment to see her son. Thor walked over and kneeled down to Brynjar and kissed his son's forehead before he turned to his wife and said, "I'll be travelling to Midgard, a mission from Father. I do not know when I shall return".

For a moment, Frigga paused in reading her book and glanced up to her son, wondering just what the mission was but knowing what she knew about her son's daughter, born on Midgard, made her have a different view on the realm. She knew asking would be useless as their son wouldn't divulge any information about any quest that Odin would give him.

Jane nodded knowing not to ask too many questions about quests or missions seen as many of them were confidential and secret. She had known about some missions that she probably shouldn't, she didn't even know if she could know that Thor was going to Midgard but he would always tell her where he was going. She learned that due to the years of marriage. Jane leaned in and kissed him before she said, "I'm assuming you'll be seeing the others. Tell them I said hi".

Thor nodded and kissed his son's forehead once again and said, "be back soon, son," as he stood. He kissed his mother's cheek, "mother".

"Be careful, Thor," Frigga said worryingly.

"I will, mother," he then left.

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At the Avengers Tower in New York, the Avengers family, as they were called by the media and secretly themselves, were sitting down for lunch. It had been over 13 years, since the battle of New York and they had all changed, very much like the world had when they discovered they were not alone; they became more domestic. Firstly, Tony had changed Stark tower to Avengers Tower and it became a headquarters and, more importantly, a home for the Avengers. The 93 floors, 1130ft tall building held everything from living areas, science floors, R&D floors, medical floors which were used more than they would like, a landing deck, armoury, gym, swimming pool and even an underground garage. When the little ones arrived, a floor was then dedicated to them for their education and another for their play which held every safety protocol.