Ragnarök (CANCELLED)

Teach Me

Raven

The rain splatters against the window ferociously, like when you go through a car wash and the big brushes slap soap on the car. Really loud and overbearing.

The weather changed so quickly, from sun to rain, from white clouds to thunderheads. I place my palm on the glass and feel the cold seep through my glove, I hope Jane and Thor are okay. Rain like this can be a killer to get caught in.

"Do you think they're alright?" I ask glancing at Eric. He fiddles with a thick tablet covered in knobs and dials. It emits urgent little pings every couple of seconds. His attention is transfixed on it.

I tap him on the shoulder, "What are you working on?"

"A gamma radiation, dark matter and anomaly detector. Basically everything needed to detect power sources of unknown origins"

"You mean alien origins, don't you?"

"Extraterrestrial would be a better word, but yes" Another set of pings go off.

"So I'm guessing from that funky ringtone you have there that its detected something"

"No, the machine's not working. It still needs to be modified"

"How come?"

"Well it's detected a surge of energy over Paris, near where the Eiffel Tower is. The energy is so spread out on the map, it's impossible for that to happen"

"Can I see that?" He nods and passes it over. A map of Paris and the surrounding area occupies the screen. A large blue dot takes up most of the space, the Eiffel Tower smack-dab in the very centre. It resembles the eye of a hurricane. The edges extend over the area then retract leaving traces of energy behind. From a graph on the side, there are low levels of gamma radiation and a particle anomaly. Particles being pulled apart and put back together in a different location.

Traveling particles... Teleportation...

"Oh my god!" I exclaim making Eric jump. "It's the Tesseract, someone in Asgard must be using it to get here"

"Are you certain?"

"Of course I am, I of all people should know what my sister's power looks like"

I hand back the tablet. "So it works..." he says slowly gazing at its surface.

"Most definitely, but you have to change the name. Gamma radiation, dark matter and anomaly detector is a bit of a mouthful"

He chuckles, "How's GDA detector?"

"Hmm, not bad. We'll change it later" Eric laughs.

*****

Jane

The rain lets up a little but continues drizzling with raindrops double the size. The water sinks into my clothes down to the skin, even my underwear are soaked. I shiver, my teeth chattering. Thor puts his arm around me but it doesn't help.

I almost scream with relief as the house comes into view. We jog quickly up the driveway and to the door. I rap slowly on the door, my knuckles numb with cold. Footsteps pad quickly and the door is thrown open by Raven.

"Eric, get some blankets!" she yells. Thor closes the door while Raven helps pry my coat off. Water drips off it pooling on the floor. She folds it in her arms and scurries off in the direction of the kitchen.

I tug my rain boots off and the socks along with them. Eric comes in and pulls a thick plush blanket around my shoulders. "You alright, Jane?" he asks. I nod but continue to shiver. "Go, put on some warm clothes"

I huddle under the blanket and dart up the stairs. I enter the bedroom I share with Thor and rummage around in the closet for some clothes. I peel off my soaking clothing and toss everything in the bathtub. Ten minutes with a blow dryer and my hair is floating dry on my shoulders. Another shiver moves across my back and I cross my arms tight across my chest.

Outside of the bedroom a cup of tea sits on the floor along with a familiar jacket. I bend down and run my fingers over the jacket. The material is hard like metal on the outside yet it's very flexible and soft on the inside. I pull it over my shirt. It hangs almost to my knees and the sleeves reach my fingertips. Well there is a considerable height difference, especially with her being almost as tall as Loki.

I roll the sleeves up and zip it up. The inside warms me instantly. I grab the tea and head for the kitchen. Thor makes a cup of coffee at the counter and Eric and Raven sit at the table with tea. Eric fiddles with a tablet of his and Raven reads a book. Her eyes flick so quickly back and forth over the words. A single strand of hair has come loose from her bun hanging over her left eye. She swats it away but it swings right back.

I take the seat across from her. Something heavy hits my leg and I look in the pocket. A golden cylinder rests inside. I take it out, the metal is flawless and fits perfectly in my hand. "Thanks for the jacket, Raven, but you really didn't need to do that"

"Nonsense, you were cold" she says closing her book, "I think you need it more than I do right now" Without the jacket she wears a t-shirt of the same material. Her gloves extend almost to her elbows and she still wears the mask.

"Raven, what is this" I ask gesturing towards the gold cylinder.

"You've seen it already, it's my weapon"

"What?" I inspect the metal, it's too small to be her weapon.

"Here" she says taking it. It glows with a yellow-gold light and stretches out into the same double-bladed sword I saw an hour ago. "It can also morph into other weapons but I prefer this"

"That's amazing"

I wish I could fight. I hate being defenceless. Someone always has to save me, I don't want to be just a defenceless, weak mortal anymore. And I don't want to keep running away from a fight like with the fire giants. I want to fight, to contribute. Thor may not be happy with this decision.

"Raven" I say quietly, "Do you think you could possibly teach me how to...fight?"

She smiles knowingly and hands me the double-bladed sword. The metal hums softly in my hand. "We begin now"