The Defenders Of Midgard, An MCU Fan Fiction:
Chapter #3: Save Time In A Bottle
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Chapter 3
If I Could Save Time In A Bottle
I Could Enslave Your Heart Forever!
Half blind from tears, Daisy chases after the trail of flames leading inside the otherwise normally empty preschool, earth trembling beneath her feet as she does, with Yo Yo stumbling after her.
Yo Yo: Daisy!… Calm Down!… You can’t even see where you’re going!… You’re
going to shake all of LA apart!… Daisy!…
As Daisy makes her way stumbling and blind into a small class room where the trail of flames ends, she enters the class room to find her mother Jia Ying leaning over Mack and Robbie, one hand at each of their throats, draining them as they lay unconscious, with their flames already doused. Cowering and trembling in fear and confusion in one corner of the classroom, is the vet Dr. Winslow, holding a small blonde infant in his arms. Next to him, in between the victims in the corner, and where Jia Ying sits draining the others, stands Electra with her twin sais crossed in front of a small girl’s throat, a trembling little girl with brown hair, standing in front of Electra, and clutching a little carved wooden robin in trembling hands, as she stares at the lifeless withered and dried up mummy of a woman on the floor next to them.
Daisy: Mother!… Damn you mother!… Get away from them!… Get away from
my family!… Dammit mother!… Why can’t you just stay dead!?!…
Daisy loses focus entirely, as she screams through streaming tears, and the earth shakes even more beneath her feet, rattling and shaking the preschool building, causing some ceiling tiles to fall from the ceiling. Daisy launches herself at her mother still leaning over her friends. Selene moves impossibly swiftly, and closes the distance between her and her daughter Daisy, seizing her by the throat with one hand, and starting to drain her, of memories as well as life energy.
Dr. Winslow: Daisy!?!… Daisy run!… Get out of here!…
Robin Girl: Daisy!… She killed mommy!… You can’t let her touch you!… Get away
from her!… Daisy!?!… Yo Yo!?!…
Yo Yo makes it to the doorway and sees the Black Queen Selene draining an unconscious Daisy, as the tremors and shaking cease entirely.
Yo Yo: Robin?… Daisy!?!…
Yo Yo uses her power and launches herself at Selene within an instant, running impossibly fast within that instant, normally before snapping right back to her launching point, but this time being intercepted. In another impossibly swift action, Electra steps out from behind Robin and jumps in front of Selene, just in time to slice downward with both sais, severing both of Yo Yo’s arms at the shoulder sockets, and blending with Yo Yo’s forward momentum, flipping her over Selene entirely, before Yo Yo snaps back to her launching point by the doorway, shoulder sockets still bleeding and spraying blood. Yo Yo screams in agony as the pain hits her. Selene stops draining Daisy for a moment, having rendered her harmless and unconscious, and moves over to lean down over and drain Yo Yo as she bleeds.
Selene: What interesting friends my daughter has… A spirit of vengeance… A
mortal berzerker of Midgard… And of course you… What secrets about my
daughter can you give to me… Yo Yo is it?… And your pregnant like my
daughter too… I’m sensing the beginning of something great here… I’ll take
very good care of you… But we will need time to get to know each other
properly… I’ll take very good care of you all… especially my own grand
children… The Black Queen will need heirs as well as acolytes after all…
Acolytes of hellfire… But also the inheritors of the flame… Like little…
Robin?… Is it?… Come here and let Aunty Selene see you a little closer…
No longer being held at sai point, Robin makes a run for the door. Electra flips up and over little Robin’s head and lands in the doorway, blocking Robin’s escape. Robin then turns to run toward Dr. Winslow in the corner, before Jia Ying stops her and grabs her throat in one hand.
Selene: Ah… What an interesting talent you have… All the better to steal the future
with… my precious little darling… I love children… They have so much
potential… And they taste so scrumptious when things don’t work out… But
I have great hopes for the future with this one… I can’t wait to see what I can
make of the others… Time to start over… But not here and now… I know
just the place… and just the time… with all of the time in any world…
Selene releases young Robin, and she passes out unconscious on the floor, still clutching her little carved wooden bird. Selene stands up and spreads her arms wide out to her sides, with raised spread open hands. A black silhouette of a streaking pattern explodes from her hands, resembling a colorless photo negative of lightening arcs and discharges, that spread out and darken everything they touch, visually appearing to turn them into colorless photo negative versions of themselves. Dr. Winslow and the blonde infant in his arms are struck by the black silhouette lightening, along with Daisy and the still bleeding Yo Yo, as well as Electra and Robin. Robbie Reyes comes to just in time see this otherworldly display, before his skull bursts into flames again.
Ghost Rider: Daisy?!?… We are Vengeance!… We are vengeance in the name Daisy
Johnson!… We are vengeance upon the Black Queen Selene!…
Mack starts to come to as well, only in time to see the photo negative figures all disappear in a flash of blinding white light, as the Ghost Rider rushes Selene, only to fail to make contact, as Selene and everyone else disappear, leaving behind Mack, the Ghost Rider, and the mummified remains of poor little Robin’s mother.
Ghost Rider: We are vengeance!… We are vengeance in the name… of Daisy Johnson!…
Our vengeance will not be denied!… Vengeance for Daisy Johnson will not
be denied!…
Mack: Yo Yo?… Daisy?… Robbie!?!… Where’d they go?!?… Dammit Robbie!…
What the hell happened?!?… Where the hell is Yo Yo?!?…
Robbie’s flaming skull is doused, and returns to the normal flesh and blood face of Robbie Reyes. The two gather up their senses and their nerves, and head back to Daisy’s building, with the dried up withered mummy of Robin’s mother, transported back with them in the trunk of Robbie’s black Charger. Back at Daisy’s building, Dr. Laufey and Fitz examine the body of Selene’s mummified victim, as Mack and Robbie learn about the attack of the Kree, and the complicated mess they left behind, on top of everything else, along with the return from the dead of Daisy’s mother Jia Ying, also known as the Black Queen Selene.
On a dark desert highway, with the cool wind in their hair, a classic 1964 Chevy Impala convertible pulls in to a familiar abandoned old western movie set. Driven by Coulson, top down, with the purple hooded Betsy Braddock, and the tied, gagged, and blindfolded May, sitting in the back seat, they drive through the old western movie set, and pull up to the front of the saloon building. Coulson gets out and holds open the door for his acolyte, Miss Braddock. Betsy Braddock lifts May up over her shoulder and carries her in, followed in by a grinning Coulson. They find a bloodied and passed out Jemma Simmons on the floor in the center of the candle lit saloon set. Betsy lays May down on the floor next to Jemma, and Coulson pulls off her blind fold and rips off her gag.
Coulson: Welcome to the hotel California May… You can check out any time you
like… But you can never leave… You know… I think I can actually smell
colitas right now…
Coulson busts out laughing at his own stupid joke, and a familiar voice of a woman yells out from the shadows of the old movie set.
Lilith: Enough of your nonsense prankster!… Leave us alone to get acquainted…
Coulson: Ah… Come on… Can’t I stay and watch?… It’s nothing I haven’t seen
before…
Lilith: Then you don’t need to be here!… And neither does your acolyte!… Leave
us now!… This is a private matter…
Coulson: One might even say intimate… Very well then… Let’s go miss Braddock…
We don’t want to miss too much of the action back in LA… The good stuff is
just about to begin!… Things are just getting shaking!…
Coulson and Betsy leave in their convertible, and Lilith steps out of the shadows of the set. To introduce herself to May.
May: Jemma!… Jemma!… Are you okay?… Jemma!…
Lilith: Jemma can’t hear you right now… Not until I let her… She belongs to me
now… And now… you do too…
May: The hell I do psycho!… Jemma!… Jemma!…
Lilith: Dr. Simmons… Time to work now… Time to serve…
Dr. Jemma Simmons immediately sits up at full alertness and attention.
Dr. Simmons: Yes Mistress Lilith… What is your wish Mistress Lilith?…
Lilith: Drain this one… Drain agent May… And turn her… as I have previously
instructed…
Dr. Simmons: Her?… Mistress?… Why would you want her?… She’s no scientist… You
said that you needed scientists… I’m afraid that she can’t help you there…
Lilith: No… But she can help you elsewhere… Now do as you are told!…
Dr. Simmons: But… She’s my friend… I… I can’t hurt her… I can’t turn her… There must
be someone else mistress!…
Lilith: No!… It will be her!… It must be her now!… If for no other reason… than
the fact that it matters to you… Now do it!…
May: Don’t do it… Whatever it is… I don’t know what she has on you… or why
you acting so strange… except possibly blood loss… But you have to fight
this!…
Lilith: A forlorn hope agent May… She has already lost any real will to resist me
seriously… She has already been drained and turned… But she must feed…
And she will need strong allies… for the task I have set for her… And you
too now… Please forsake any undignified and self indulgent defiance… My
new slave Dr. Simmons will feed on you and turn you… or she will die…
And I will finish you… here and now… If you are turned… then you will at
least live on… after a fashion…
Dr. Simmons turns to look at May tied up on the floor beside her. Tears begins to form in Dr. Simmons eyes as she begins to move towards May.
May: Jemma wait!… Think about this!… Come to your senses!… Don’t let this
trumped up harpy control you!…
Dr. Simmons: I’m sorry May… I can’t even control myself anymore… And I’m just… so…
shirsty… I feel like I’m dying inside… And I want to… But I can’t… And
your blood smells so sweet… And I’m so hungry!… I’m sorry May!…
Dr. Simmons lurches towards May, grabs her forcefully by the shoulders, and plunges her newly grown fangs into May’s throat, draining her, as May groans in pain. While the bloody melodrama continues, with ex Shield agent Melinda May checking in to the hotel California with Dr. Simmons, sunlight begins to dawn upon the Daisy Johnson hotel, as Lady Sif returns with reinforcements in the nearby park via the Bifrost rainbow bridge from Asgard, and they make their way to the front door of the de facto Nornheim Embassy.
Accompanying Lady Sif is her father, Lord Balder, a white haired, but middle age looking man, dressed in white, purple, and gold Asgardian armor, with a pair of single handed double edged straight swords strapped to his back just like his daughter Lady Sif. Behind them follow three other Asgardian warriors in body armor. The largest of them is a large and round figure wearing orange and yellow armor, with long red hair and a beard, carrying a double bladed battle ax. The second largest of the three is a tall slim man dressed all in green body armor and a green cape, with shortish blonde hair and a goatee and a pointy mustache, carrying a pair of sabers strapped to either side of his waste. The third member of Lady Sif and Lord Balder’s escort, is a relatively short and stocky Asiatic looking man in black, carrying a large mace, and wearing a horned helmet, with black horns coming out of the front of a band of white fur wrapping around the top of his helmet.
Lord Balder, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three escort, are greeted at the double glass doors of the floor level gallery by Captain Braddock and Sir Fitz. They enthusiastically open the doors on their approach.
Fitz: Well you’re a sight for sour eyes… And not just for the sake of
reinforcements… You wouldn’t believe what happened while you were
away…
Captain Brian: Please come with us Lady Sif… Everyone’s waiting for us downstairs in the
med lab… A lot has happened while you were away… None of it good…
The various warriors file down into the basement med lab, where they find Dr. Laufey and her mother Queen Karnilla examining the mummified remains of Robin’s mother. Mack and Robbie stand watch over the proceedings hoping for answers, while Ward and Little Karny stay upstairs with Princess Meghan.
Lord Balder: What in all of the nine realms is that?…
Queen K: Bad news my love… More to add to the pile I’m afraid… This is one of the
latest victims… Of the Black Queen of Midgard… The Angel of Death has
returned… And this poor woman was killed… for no other reason that I can
discern… than the fact that she knew Selene’s estranged daughter… She was
in the way… or was simply of no use or interest to her… Between this… and
the wolfkin uprising… and the Kree on top of all of that… We may very well
be seeing Ragnorak… It may not fit the pattern of the prophecy… But no
prophecy… no matter how powerful… can ever be so absolute in all of it’s
details… I know prophecy… better than most… better than any save for the
Fates of Nornheim themselves… If this not Ragnorak… then it’s pretty damn
close… The bodies of Kree still decorate the rooftop of this very building…
along with one of their war shuttles… They came looking for Daisy
Johnson… This is her building… And she is the daughter of the Black Queen
Selene… Currently missing… Because she was taken by her foul mother…
And only the fates may know where…
Lord Balder: And here I was hoping for good news… How many times have we dealt with
this before my love?… The Kree I can handle… I can kill Kree… Nothing
would please me more in fact… I’m almost glad of the chance to end the
barbaric abomination of the Kree Empire… The wolfkin are just our own
mistakes coming back to haunt us… But the Black Queen of Midgard… If
anyone from Midgard can bring about Ragnorak… it would be her…
According to the official records… their were rumors at the time of the great
convergence five thousand years ago… that it was the Black Queen who
lured the wolfkin to Midgard in the first place… lured into the bondage at
The Hand of Black Queen… It may have even been the Black Queen herself
that put the curse on the wolfkin to begin with… The legends say that it was
the King of Asgard… King Odin’s father King Bor… that did it… But there
are no records or testimony to that fact to be found anywhere… It sounds
more like a plot of the immortal Angel of Death to me… A special place in
Niflheim waits for her… Assuming we can ever figure out how to put her
there!… And to keep her there!…
Dr. Laufey: That may be more difficult than you imagine Lord Balder… I’ve been
examining this poor woman’s body to discern the exact nature of at least
some of the Black Queen’s power… We have learned from her daughter
Daisy… that the Black Queen… is an Inhuman… So… At least some of her
power can potentially be discerned by the sciences of Midgard… Of which
I have been practicing for some time now… Master Fitz… has been assisting
me with the analysis… At least part of her power involves something
identified on Midgard previously only vaguely… as a dark force energy of
some kind… The Shield of Midgard has had dealings with this in the past…
But we don’t have access to those records now… I suppose it could be
Darkhold related… As the legends say that she had used it in the past… But
we don’t even know if such a book ever existed…
Robbie: I know it’s real… I’ve seen it… In the Rider’s memories… I know it’s real…
And he’s seen her with it… Now I can’t get the image of that evil bitch out of
my head… I’m going to kill her… Immortal or not…
Mack: Not if I beat you to it…
Robbie: I don’t believe in things that can’t be killed… save for god… And I don’t
mean you guys… with all due respect…
Mack: Amen Robbie… Amen…
Lord Balder: And who might you mortals be?… to talk so boldly… about killing the
Angel of Death?…
Robbie: I am vengeance… And she aint no angel… any more than you people are
gods… If it lives… it can die… one way or another…
Lord Balder: I sincerely hope that you are correct mortal… But that was not the question…
If I am to battle the Black Queen side by side with someone… I need to know
that they can keep up… without getting themselves or others killed…
Robbie’s head suddenly bursts into flames, transforming into the Ghost Rider’s flaming
skull.
Lord Balder: Okay… Okay… I didn’t need a demonstration… I meant no offense…
Ghost Riders: The evil of the Black Queen is upon us!… We are vengeance… We are
vengeance in the name of Daisy Johnson!… We are vengeance!… And
our vengeance… will not be denied!…
The Ghost Rider storms up the stairs to the gallery.
Mack: Hell yeah!… It’s go time!… Wait up rider!… If you got something… then I
want me some of that too!…
Mack transforms into the executioner, and chases after the Ghost Rider, followed by Lady Sif in hot pursuit.
Lord Balder: Go after them!… Lend whatever assistance you can!… Stay with them!…
The rest of you stay back and guard the wolfkin and the queen.
Lord Balder and the warriors three then chase after Lady Sif and the rest, as Lord Balder draws his twin swords, just like he taught his daughter to do. Dr. Laufey ignores the order from Lord Balder and heads up the stairs, followed by her mother the queen up to the gallery to observe whatever it is. They find the Ghost Rider standing outside next to Mack the Executioner, along with Lord Balder, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three all standing behind them, all silent and motionless in the face of what they see. Standing in the street are three familiar but strangely dressed people, surrounding the Black Queen Selene. Selene herself wearing a black evening gown, with high heals, and a black hooded cape tied around her neck, draped over her shoulder with the hood down. On Selene’s right stands Daisy, wearing a short black vest with no shirt, and a black hakama split skirt of the type used for some traditional Japanese martial arts training. On her head are a pair of sound muffling black ear muffs, with a black sash tied around her eyes. In her hands she carries two sais at the ready.
On Selene’s left stands Yo Yo, wearing a white armor plated vest, and a short white skirt, with white knee high boots. In place of Yo Yo’s severed arms, she has what appears to be two white arm length armored gauntlets and arm guards, attached at the shoulder, with studs on the knuckles. Behind them looms a large and imposing brown haired man of distorted and twisted Hulk proportions, dressed in a black over sized formal dress suit, and over sized black dress shoes. The man’s face resembles a grotesquely distorted version of the face of Dr. Winslow.
Selene: Give them a taste Daisy…
Daisy steps forward and scrapes the blades of the two sais in her hands, crossing them in front of her, then slicing them against each other as they are swept apart in front of her, as she sends her vibrations out through her weapons at the same time, sending out a shock wave in the direction of the gallery behind the warriors in the streets, shattering all the windows, and sending shattered glass flying at the observers inside. Then she slams the bottom of the handles of her sais down upon the ground, like a pair of tuning forks, and the ground seems to momentarily liquefy, sending another shock wave through the pavement, toppling the warriors where they stand, and rattling Daisy’s building behind them. Fitz and Brian come back upstairs after fetching a pair of Kree plasma rifles, and take positions in front of the Queen and Dr. Laufey in the gallery.
Fitz: Is that Daisy?… Was that Daisy just now?… And Yo Yo is with them too…
What’s happened to them?…
Queen K: Foul sorcery of the Black Queen… applied to her own daughter… And her
friends…
Captain Brian: Fitz… We can’t fire on them… But if they make it passed the others…
Fitz: We hold the line… No matter what… I’m ready…
Queen K: As am I… knights of Midgard… As am I…
The queen draws her sword and holds it at the ready, as her daughter, Dr. Amora Laufey, seems transfixed by the Black Queen, as if by recognition.
Dr. Laufey: Lady Gallio?…
Queen K: That!?!… That is your Lady Gallio?!?… The Dark Priestess!?!…
Fitz: Lady Gallio?… Who in bloody hell… is Lady Gallio?…
Captain Brian: The Dark Priestess?…
Ghost Rider: We are vengeance!…
The Ghost Rider unleashes the flaming chains from the palm of his hands and starts to run towards Selene. The large grotesque figure behind Selene jumps over her as the Ghost Rider approaches, and slams his fists down on top of the flaming skull. Mack charges the large monster man standing over the Ghost Rider, and slashes at the large man with his flaming battle ax. Yo Yo rushes Mack the Executioner at extremely high speed, smashing him across face with her studded knuckle gauntlets, before snapping back to her starting position, then she does the same in rapid succession against Lord Balder, Lady Sif, and each of the Warriors Three. Daisy takes her sais and brings the sharp point of the tip of her sais together in front of her, aiming them at Fitz and Captain Brian, triggering a resonant shock wave that builds up within the Kree plasma rifles in their hands, busting them apart from the inside.
Dr. Laufey: Lady Gallio!…
Selene: Lady Amora… How lovely to see you again… Your looking well… for an
Asgardian… for someone not truly immortal that is… Allow me to introduce
myself properly… I am… and I always have been… The Black Queen of
Midgard… As you would say… As you did say at the time… when we talked
about the legends of Midgard all those centuries ago… My young
apprentice…
Dr. Laufey: I’m not your apprentice!… Not any more!… Not for over a century now!…
I will never forgive you!… I will destroy you!…
Dr. Laufey becomes somewhat hysterical as she marches towards the Black Queen, drawing her Enchantress Blade as she storms at the Dark Priestess. Her mother starts to follow after her, followed closely by the somewhat confused and effectively unarmed knights of Midgard, with Fitz only possessing his twin ordinary bullet firing semi-auto pistols. Ward, Karny, and Princess Meghan finally make their way downstairs to check things out, as Dr. Laufey and the queen advance with the knights of Midgard.
Ward: Karny girl!… You stay here with your Aunty Meghan!… You two stick
together!… No matter what!… Understand?… You two can protect each
other and keep each other safe!… I’ve got to go help out your Aunty
Amora!…
Ward chases after Dr. Laufey and the others, and joins them before they reach the position where the Ghost Rider lies under the body blow pummeling of the monster man in the black dress suit. Mack makes his way to his feet before the others who were attacked by Yo Yo, and slashes his flaming battle ax at the monster man, this time landing a flaming blow from his battle ax, that somehow fails to cut him, but does burn his black dress suit slightly, as he is knocked off of the Ghost Rider, and sent flying for several meters.
Ghost Rider: We are vengeance monster!… We are all vengeance now!…
The Ghost Riders shoot up off the ground to his feet, and storms at the Black Queen. Daisy holds her sais crossed in front of her in an X shape, and she begins to emit a vibrating pulse force field that extends outward from her, surrounding her, Selene, and Yo Yo, leaving outside of it only the monster man in the slightly burnt black dress suit, and their potential victims. The Ghost Riders flaming chains thrash against the force bubble, as Mack joins in with his battle ax.
Ward: Sky?… Is that you Sky?…
Fitz: It’s Daisy!… But not Daisy… It’s like she’s been bloody brainwashed
somehow…
Daisy: Ward?… Fitz?… and… Mack?…
Selene: Steady yourself there little girl… Don’t let the phantoms of your old life
rattle you… That’s what they want…
Daisy: Yes… My queen…
The monster man makes it back to his feet and charges at Ward and company.
Ward: Is that… Dr. Johnson?… Sky’s dad?… Whatever happened to him?… He
looks how I feel…
Fitz: It does… sort of look like him… What could have done that to him?…
Queen K: Perhaps some form of the Berzerker Curse?…
Ward reacts with primal instinct to the charge of the monster man, and transforms into his full wolf form, and attacks the monster with his own monstrous claws and teeth. Mack then chases after and joins Ward in fighting the monster man in the dress suit, as the Ghost Rider continues to flail with his fists and his flaming chains against Daisy’s vibrating pulse force barrier. The Asgardians regroup and gather around the Norn queen and her daughter Amora, as the red clad ninja of The Hand, along with several of The Hand’s hell hounds, rapidly flood into the streets from the surrounding buildings and alleyways, and attack the Asgardian warriors that surround in the Norn queen.
Lord Balder: Defend the queen!… And hold the line!… For Asgard!… And Midgard!…
The red clad ninja of The Hand and their pet hell hounds converge upon and surround the Queen and her guards, as little Karny looks on in horror. Queen Karnilla swings her own sword and engages one of the hell hounds that manages to penetrate her guard, whom manages to knock her sword from her hands. Fitz picks up her sword, and inexplicably manages to infuse some of his own energy into the sword, causing it to take on a purple glow, before he uses it to slash at the same hell hound that caused the queen to drop her sword in the first place, slicing the hell hound in two.
Karny: Grandma!…
Little Karny takes off at top foot speed for her little frame, rushing past Princess Meghan before she could react.
Meghan: Karny Girl!… Wait for me!…
Meghan begins to chase after her little niece, as little Karny rushes up to the battle scrum centered around her grandma and her Aunty Amora, then pulls out her mother’s loudly humming Siren Blade, as she grips her Sneaky Snoopy charm, and screams out.
Karny: Stop!… Stop this now!…
The hell hounds of The Hand all stop dead in their tracks, frozen in mid strike, as some of them get struck in return, unable to defend themselves. Meghan catches up to little Karny just as the red clad ninja converge upon her in response to her command of the hell hounds. Princess Meghan transforms into some mythical looking beast with long ears, yellow horns, claws, and a prehensile tail, all covered in green fur, as she tears into the red clad ninja coming after her little niece.
Captain Brian: Meghan!…
Captain Brian forces his way through the battle scrum to reach his wife’s side, helping defend the little girl and his wife. In response to little Karny’s command, Daisy and Yo Yo drop to their knees, and hold their heads in their hands, causing Daisy to drop her vibrating pulse barrier. With nothing to restrain the Ghost Rider any further, the rider attacks Selene. Selene rushes the Ghost Rider before he can reach her, and grabs him by the throat, and starts to drain him.
Selene: My dear Zarathos… How many times do we have to do this dance?… Let me
guess… ‘We are vengeance’… Such a vain presumption… For someone with
so much guilt of his own… You are nothing but a spirit… of damned infernal
hypocrisy!… You have no power over me nuisance… And am beyond your
petty crusade of so-called vengeance… Perhaps I may keep you as a pet…
You might make a good black knight… for my chessboard… You’ve already
met my new black king… Jia Ying’s really… I just gave him a proper make
over… to make him worthy of being the black king… of Selene… Between
you and the Asgardian brats… It should make for an interesting court… for
the Black Queen… Perhaps… for a Black Empress…
Daisy: Mother!… Why can’t you just die?!?…
Daisy jumps to her feet and levels both of her sais at Selene, projecting her vibrations through each sai, both pointing to the same target, triangulating the effect to focus their impact at a common target upon contact with Selene’s hand, gripping the throat of the Ghost Rider, causing her to lose her grip and pull back in pain.
Selene: Aaggh!!!… You ungrateful brat!… I’ll make you pay for that!… You and
all your friends!… Your own daughters will never even know your name!…
Then the monster man in the burnt black dress suit comes chasing after Selene as well, with werewolf Ward and Mack the Executioner hot on his trail.
Monster Man: Jia Ying!… Jia Ying!… Please Jia Ying!… Why Jia Ying?!?…
Why?!?…
Selene: Oh damn!… I’ve lost you too eh?… Very well then… So much for the Black
King of Jia Ying… I’ll just have to repay you and your friends later… In the
mean time… I’ll just have to find myself a new black king… Ta ta for
now… my daughter of darkness… And so long for now… to all of you other
glorified Mayflies!…
Selene raises up her hands, and black lightening engulfs and disappears the Black Queen in a sudden bright flash of white light.
Monster Man: Jia Ying!… Nooooo!… Jia Ying!…
The monster man breaks through and breaks away from the group, fleeing in a blind rage, and disappearing down an alleyway, as the red clad ninja continue to fight and be dispensed with, without the aid of the hell hounds frozen in place by little Karny, turning to ash from black flames until there are none left. As her mother disappears, Daisy collapses in a heap on her knees, dropping her sais to the ground, and cupping her head in her hands as she cries.
Shield quinjets begin circling over head, and two of them take up positions hovering just below the roof line of adjacent buildings, on either side of the street in front of Daisy’s building where the fight was taking place. Numerous military vehicles converge on the streets surrounding Daisy’s building. Shield agents in tactical gear flood the streets, just as the red clad ninja had done previously, but securing and cordoning off the surrounding streets instead. By the time the suits arrive, Daisy and company have already been moved inside, with the Warriors Three taking up guard positions in the floor level gallery with all the broken windows.
The hell hounds frozen in place by little Karny, are relocated to an upstairs room, all sleeping naked humans now, tied up and covered with blankets. Yo Yo has yet to regain consciousness after Selene’s control was broken. And Daisy collapsed from exhaustion due to severe emotional distress. Daisy and Yo Yo are sleeping in the downstairs med lab, with Dr. Laufey, and her mother the Norn queen looking after them, and waiting for them to regain full consciousness, with Robbie and Mack nervously watching, along with Fitz, Ward, and Lord Balder. Meghan and little Karny have gone back up stairs, both taking a nap to sleep off all the excitement, while Lady Sif and Captain Braddock take up watch on the roof.
A small convoy of black SUVs pull up in front of Daisy’s building. A tallish man with short brown hair in a standard issue business suit, followed a small army of standard issue business suits, leads his suit posse up to the now permanently open, formerly glass doors. The stocky man in black with the horned helmet holds up his hand to halt them at the broken open doors, and addresses the man leading the suits.
Black Horns: Halt… I am known… as Hogan the Grim… of Asgard… Identify yourself…
and the source of your authority here on Midgard… If you have any to speak
of…
Lead Suit: Well… That’s quite an introduction… I am Jeffery Mace… the new director
of Shield… And these are some of my best agents… Are you in charge
here?… Or can I speak to your commander?…
Hogan: I am only in charge… as you say… of the door… A duty which I take very
seriously… And you are not… the Son of Coul…
Dir. Mace: I may not be the Son of Coul… as you say… But director Coulson has gone
missing… And I was slated to be his replacement anyway… His
disappearance has only moved up that time table… You might want to update
Asgard about that… And I don’t really know you either my new friend…
As far as I know… you’re among the terrorists behind whatever happened
here… Although you are definitely from Asgard… That much is
unmistakable… I love your hat by the way… horns and everything… Now…
Can I speak to your commander?… Or not?…
Large Man: We’re supposed to verify all claims of Midgardian authority… Weren’t we
supposed to check something?… Right Fandral?… Do you remember what it
was?…
Fandral: Badges… That’s what it was Volstagg… Badges… It’s something they carry
with them here on Midgard… It’s a thing here… It allows them to provide
proof of their authority… to gain the cooperation of the subjects of
Midgard… as well as free coffee… and donuts!… Or at least that’s what Thor
said… Although he might have been joking…
Volstagg: Donuts you say… I should get me one of these badges… What do they look
like?…
Fandral: Who knows?… Maybe we should just take a look at his?…
Hogan: May we see… this thing?… this thing called… a badge?…
Director Mace pulls out his badge and flashes it at the Asgardians, followed suit by the other suits.
Fandral: See?… Badges…
Volstagg: Do they have any donuts with them?…
Hogan: Is that even what they’re supposed to look like?…
Fandral: I wouldn’t know… And I don’t think Thor would know either…
Hogan: Very well then… I guess that will do… for now…
Dir. Mace: May I see your credentials?…
Hogan: You mean Badges?… We don’t need badges…
Volstagg: What if we want badges?… for donuts!…
Hogan: We have weapons… and armor… and the trust and honor of Asgard… as well
as that of our commander… Lord Balder the Brave… Our leader… and
commander of the Asgardian armies…
Dir. Mace: Well… That’s quite a resume… May I speak with this commander here?…
Or do we have to go to Asgard for that?…
Lord Balder: I am right here Dir. Mace… I can hear Hogan’s grim grumbling from
downstairs… Please come with me… But just you… The recent battle has
taken a tole somewhat… And they are wary of strangers here… And I don’t
blame them…
Lord Balder leads the new director downstairs to where Yo Yo and Daisy are still unconscious. Dr. Laufey and Queen Karnilla continue to examine the mummified remains of Robin’s mother, with the aid of Fitz, and with Ward, Robbie, and Mack standing watch over the others.
Dir. Mace: Wow!… What happened there?… Is that contagious?… Should I be wearing
a hazmat suit?…
Dr. Laufey: This is the latest victim… of one of the greatest evils Midgard has ever
known… the evil known… as the Black Queen Selene… the Angel of
Death… also known as Jia Ying Johnson… mother of former Shield agent…
Daisy Johnson… Whom I believe you may at least know of… That’s her
recovering over there… next to another former Shield agent… Elena Yo Yo
Rodriguez… They were both abducted by Selene recently… And were
somehow turned against us… and their friends… along with Daisy’s father…
and a few others we’re still trying to figure out… This mummy… is Polly
Hinton… mother of the now presumably abducted… and presumably still
alive Robin Hinton… Her condition… is the reason why Selene is known…
as the Angel of Death… We have learned in recent days… through Daisy
here… that her mother was Selene… And that Selene… was an Inhuman…
Perhaps one of the oldest in existence… Maybe the oldest ever… She may
even have first hand knowledge of the Kree that made her what she is…
According to legend… The Black Queen Selene… is said to have been born
before the beginning of the last ice age here on Midgard… I have personal
knowledge of some of her activities since at least six hundred years ago…
when I first met her going by the name Lady Jennifer Kim Gallio…
Anything beyond that… is a personal matter… We have been endeavoring to
try and ascertain the exact nature of Selene’s Inhuman powers… Master Fitz
here… also formerly of Shield… has explained to me… that Shield has had
involvement in the past… with something called dark force… and zero
matter… But we have no current access to the Shield files on the matter…
some of which are pre-Shield… according to former agent Fitz…
Dir. Mace: Dark force?… former agent Fitz?…
Fitz: Think of it… as the ultimate heat sink… It absorbs energy of all kinds… even
life apparently… Which… from what I remember of the files on the matter…
is consistent with the previous observations of dark force and zero matter…
along with the behavior of even absorbing the photons of light that might hit
it… or interact with it… thus always appearing dark… hence the name dark
force…
Dir. Mace: You mean… like a black hole?…
Fitz: Similar… But without an event horizon… because it’s not gravity related…
as far as we know… But it does seem to disrupt and distort normal gravity
within it’s immediate vicinity… But it does so inconsistently… From what
I remember… one speculation about dark force… is that it might represent
some alternate negative universe… an exact polar antithesis of our own
existence in some key way… And dark force is just the effect of the mutual
negation… and neutralizing interaction between the two polar opposites…
canceling each other out in some way… the partial annihilation of
opposites… in complex and chaotic ways…
Dir. Mace: You mean… like antimatter?…
Fitz: Kind of… Except we can detect antimatter… We can even create it… Neither
dark force nor zero matter can be observed or detected directly by any
known means… only indirectly… by observing it’s effects on everything
around it… An alternative explanation… that I’m somewhat partial too…
Something proposed by a scientist named Agnes Culley… who worked
indispensably in support of the war effort during WW II… Basically… with
the wave mechanics phenomenon… of constructive versus destructive
interference… Waves in sync add to each others overall amplitude…
appearing bright… Waves out of sync… cancel each other out… either
partially or completely… appearing darker… or even black… It could be that
zero matter is just a physical byproduct… of complex and chaotic…
polyphasic interaction and cancellation… between multiple phases of parallel
existence… Our entire known universe… could end up being nothing but one
phase of existence… among an infinite number of phases… In the so called
multiverse theory… A gross misnomer really… There is and can be only one
universe… But subdivided to an infinite degree… by an infinite number of
phases… Thus being comprised of an infinite number of parallel and
essentially independent time continuums… But not truly separate universes…
The differences and the interactions between them would hypothetically
comprise an emergent meta phenomenon… of rare and seemingly
supernatural behaviors outside of the norm… more a metaverse than a
multiverse… The complex and chaotic partial cancellation and disruption…
of gravity… light… and energy in general… have been observed
characteristics of dark force and zero matter… It might even be compatible
with certain theories of quantum gravity… or even some fringe notions of the
so called electric gravity of plasma cosmology… Beyond that consult your
own files on the matter… of zero matter… I don’t work for Shield
anymore…
Dir. Mace: What if I need you?…
Fitz: Well then… Maybe you lot shouldn’t have sacked me!… without warning or
cause!… along with anyone else who knew what they were doing… As it
is… I’ve moved on from Shield… I already have a new position… thanks to
Queen Karnilla here… the Queen of Nornheim… Ward here too… I’m sure
you’re familiar with the infamous Grant Ward… Hydra double agent back
from the dead…
Ward: Hi… sorry…
Queen K: Master Fitz is quite right… I have made him a knight of Nornheim… to serve
here on Midgard… along with my… what did you call him again?… my de
facto…
Fitz: Your de facto… common law… son in law…
Queen K: Right… What he said… Grant Ward has had a child with my now deceased
daughter Lorelei… For the sake of my granddaughter alone… I will not
tolerate any undue harassment of my… son in law… And as such… I will
have to insist on… What did you call it?…
Fitz: Diplomatic immunity…
Queen K: My son in law… for all his issues… is my concern… And a concern for my
family to deal with… Our responsibility… Not Shield’s… And I assure you
director… The Shield of Midgard has far bigger concerns to deal with right
now… Sacred war is upon us all… And not just against Selene… Even
before Selene attacked us here… The Kree Empire had attacked us already…
looking for Daisy Johnson… an Inhuman… part of a race created by the
Kree… by name… They tried to abduct me!… They presumed to demand my
surrender!… and the surrender of Daisy Johnson… They also demanded that
we hand over my granddaughter… as well as my son in law… for reasons of
complicated history… complicated Asgardian history… involving wolfkin…
in particular… the Wolfkin Clan of Midgard…
Dir. Mace: Wait… Wolfkin?… Are we talking… about werewolves?…
Fitz: Sort of… They’re partly Asgardian… mostly human… here on Earth at
least… They’re cursed to remain in human form… and never to transform
again… But somehow… Ward here got his curse broken… Now the news has
reached other wolfkin in other realms… stirring up all kinds of political
trouble… agitated by the Kree… Honestly… I may have to draw up a
bloody diagram just to keep all this straight myself… If I do… I’ll send you a
copy…
Queen K: Most wolfkin of Midgard have no knowledge of this… So they become easy
prey for The Hand… an ancient demonic cult… of the Black Queen Selene…
They hunt down and enslave wolfkin… to break their curse and enslave their
will… turning them into weapons… the hell hounds of The Hand…
Dir. Mace: Hell hounds?…
Ward: We have some here… they attacked with The Hand… That came with the
Kree who attacked us… Several more showed up when Selene herself
attacked… For reasons I can’t explain exactly… we managed to capture
them… And they turned back to human… or at least human looking… We
could actually use some help with that… We have several them now… tied
up naked… sleeping it off apparently…
Dir. Mace: You have people tied up naked?!?…
Ward: That’s how they came… except they were covered in fur when they showed
up… We don’t have any cloths for them… And until they wake up… we
don’t even know if they’ll wear them… All we could do for them for now…
was tie them up and cover them up with blankets…
Dir. Mace: Okay… I may need to see that for myself to believe that… Can you show
me?…
Ward: I can’t control it like that… It just sort of happens… under stress… and
duress… Karny Girl can do it… But I don’t think I want her to… Not for
Shield…
Fitz: Agreed…
Queen K: You will get to see it for yourself soon enough… I have absolutely no
doubt… The Kree Empire has grown overly bold… They are bound to move
openly against us… Whatever animosity the Kree may have against Asgard…
and the feeling is most definitely mutual… it is Midgard itself that they
covet… as well the power of the Inhumans… Asgard is just one of their
primary impediments… The wolfkin are just a means to that end… just as
they are to The Hand… Prepare your self and the Shield of Midgard mortal…
Sacred war is upon us all… and by my own decree…
Dir. Mace: Sacred war?… Do you mean holy war?…
Queen K: It has been among the sacred duties of the Norn queen… to declare sacred
war… an unrestricted all out war… with absolutely nothing removed from
consideration… with all of the normal constraints of civilization removed…
for the sake of survival of that civilization at any cost… itself a great
potential danger to the civilization that it’s meant to preserve… thus not to be
entertained lightly… Sacred war is such a dangerous path to undertake… by
Asgardian law… since time immemorial… the authority to declare sacred
war itself has been deferred to the Norn queen… Nornheim has always had a
special place within the politics of the nine realms… It is a special kingdom
created for sacred purpose… beyond the merely political… It occupies a
spiritual place within the hearts of all of Asgard… a place of prophecy… and
guidance… both in times of peace… as well as war… The advice of the Norn
sisterhood has always been sought out… But in times of war… the Norn
power of prophecy… is one of the greatest weapons of Asgard… Hence the
attack here by the Kree… meant for Daisy Johnson… But they just couldn’t
pass up the opportunity… to capture the Queen of the Norns… The Kree
savages… have grown truly bold indeed… Open war is only a matter of
time… Hence my formal declaration of sacred war after the Kree attack on us
here… A proper declaration of sacred war… is extremely rare… It has only
happened once within my lifetime previously… when my mother declared
sacred war against the Frost Giants when they invaded Midgard over a
thousand years ago… Prior to that… it was five thousand years ago… against
the Dark Elves… in a war for the very nature of existence itself… during the
last great convergence…
Dir. Mace: Wow… I think I really will need that diagram after all agent Fitz… sorry
former agent Fitz… or Sir Fitz… That is an awful lot to take on your say
so… with all due respect to your majesty…
Fitz: You don’t have to take any one’s word for the Kree involvement… Several of
their bodies are still littering the rooftop as we speak… And their starting to
smell… There is also a Kree war shuttle up there… But her majesty Karnilla
has already laid claim to that one… And she earned it… fair and square…
Ward: Hell yeah she did… Sorry director… But she did…
Dir. Mace: And Asgard has agreed to this?… Sacred war?… Or do they have a
choice?… politically speaking…
Lord Balder: Politically speaking… My cousin King Odin… has already agreed… But has
not formerly announced it to be so… The Kree Empire is a savage and
barbaric menace upon the cosmos… But they do have their allies… Open
war… and an open declaration of war… is premature… but inevitable at this
point… King Odin has launched a diplomatic effort… to expose this
treachery of the Kree… not because it will work… But because it must be
done to avoid an even greater war… spanning multiple such empires…
Welcome to the complicated politics of the nine realms… and the even
greater complications beyond…
Dir. Mace: I’m no stranger to politics Lord Balder… I actually came from the diplomatic
arena primarily… army intelligence before that… I would stop short of
making any announcements here on Midgard as well… But preparations in
coordination with Asgard… should begin immediately… or as soon as I can
get the politicians on board… It would help with that… if I could sell it to
them… with the prospect of potential technology sharing… as well as intel…
The politicians of Midgard may even demand it… And the queen’s claim to
the Kree war shuttle would be much easier to justify… if I could explain it in
terms of their own obvious interests… I think you’ll find… the politics of
Midgard are complicated enough as it is…
Lord Balder: Anything of that nature… would have to be approved by King Odin
himself… I cannot vouch for anything of that nature… Asgard has had long
standing restrictions against excessive meddling in the affairs of Midgard…
ever since the war with the Frost Giants on Midgard… Reversing that… is no
easy feet… in terms of the complications of Asgardian politics… Although…
the declaration of sacred war by the Norn queen… has certainly made that a
lot easier… But you may find that Asgardian technology… as you call it… is
not so easy to master… even if it’s handed to you on a magic silver platter… For Midgard’s part in this… evidence of the Kree treachery will need to be
gathered… And the presentation of it prepared for… by the diplomatic
emissaries of Midgard… who must represent themselves with the other
powers… Along with the emissaries of Asgard when the time comes…
Dir. Mace: I’ll see to it personally… I’ll put a whole dedicated diplomatic team on it as
well…
Fitz: Jemma!?!…
Jemma and May startle Fitz, and everyone present who’s awake, having made their way down to the downstairs med lab, after having seemingly made it past the Asgardian gatekeepers, as well as the small army of Shield agents. Fitz rushes over to hug Jemma, lifting her off the floor in the process.
Ward: Jemma?… May?… Where’s Coulson?… It’s nice to see your okay… But
where’s Coulson… He left with you… What Happened to Coulson?… Little
Karny Girl said some weird things about Coulson before you left with him…
I have to admit it’s been bugging me… Is Coulson okay?…
May: He’s fine… We split up two chase different leads… I found Dr. Simmons…
He didn’t… But he’ll be back when he doesn’t find her where he’s looking…
I’m sure we’ll be seeing him again…
Fitz: Is that fresh blood I smell?… Are you okay?… You’re not bleeding anywhere
are you?…
Dr. Simmons: I was being held in a slaughter house… The blood was everywhere… quite
disgusting really… Overwhelming… It’s enough to put me off solid food…
Fitz: You?… Since when do you ever get squeamish… let alone queasy… about
blood of all things?… You’re the one who’s always dissecting dead things…
Dr. Simmons: Did I mention that it was overwhelming?… It could be some sort of trauma…
A psychosomatic condition perhaps?… Call it PTSD… But I really couldn’t
eat a single solid thing at the moment… What happened to Daisy and Yo
Yo?…
Ward: Daisy’s mother happened to them… and to us too… But they got the worst of
it… Daisy’s father too… And a Little girl’s missing… She went missing with
them… then they showed up here… completely changed… as if they had
spent a whole separate lifetime away with her… in a matter of hours… And
then they showed up here… as her slaves… And they attacked… It was Sky
that knocked out all the windows upstairs…
May: Your awfully helpful all of a sudden… And almost genuinely concerned… if
I didn’t know any better…
Ward: I’m just trying to keep up… for Karny Girl… to make myself useful for a
change… When Coulson showed up… I thought he would hate me… But I
was glad to see him… My Karny Girl needs him… and people like him… I
can’t even take proper care of myself any more… My daughter needs me to
be… something I can’t be… But Coulson can… I’d better go up and check
on Karny Girl… It is genuinely good to see that your okay… But you might
want to take a shower… both of you… That blood smell is pretty strong…
Although I seem to have an extra sensitive nose these days… Sorry… Please
let me know… if Coulson shows up… or if they wake up…
Ward heads up the stairs leaving the conversation.
May: Wow… Since when did Grant Ward… become human?… When did that
happen?…
Fitz: With fatherhood… I’m guessing… from the sound of him… that plus the
Hive brain scramble… It is odd… that becoming a werewolf… makes him
more human than he was before he changed…
Dr. Simmons: Well… We can certainly hope that’s the case… One has to believe in
redemption… right?… No matter what… right?… Even for monsters?… No
matter how far gone… right?…
Fitz: Lets not get carried away… just because some crazy fluke of a miracle…
seems to have hit Ward just right in the head to… somehow… sort him out a
bit…
Dr. Simmons: Well he’s right about one thing for sure… I really could use a long hot bath…
and a change of cloths…
May: I’m going to head out… and look for Coulson…
Dr. Simmons: Are you sure about that May?… So soon?…
May: Yeah… I’m sure… I need to have a talk… with that man… I still have some
unanswered questions… for him… and my mother… I have to go…
Daisy: Mother?… Emma?… Amara?… Wait!… Mother!… No!… Wait!… Come
back!… Give them back!…
Muttering in her sleep at first, Daisy rouses slowly, screaming herself awake, as she sits up in terror, mild tremors shaking the building around them, shocking Yo Yo to consciousness.
Daisy: Mother!…
Yo Yo: Daisy?… Mack?… Mack!…
Robbie: Daisy!… Are you okay?…
Mack: Yo Yo!… I’m here!…
Robbie rushes to Daisy to comfort her, as Mack does the same for Yo Yo. Robbie grabs hold of Daisy’s hand to comfort her, as the tremors die down. Mack goes to do the same with Yo Yo, but then stops short of holding Yo Yo’s gauntlet hands, and instead reaches up and grabs onto Yo Yo’s shoulder, just above her armored arm guards in order to try and comfort her with at least some human skin to skin contact.
Dr. Laufey: Miss Johnson?… Miss Rodriguez?… How are you feeling?… What do you
remember?…
Daisy: Remember?…
Yo Yo: Do we have to?… Can’t you just… put us back to sleep?…
Daisy and Yo Yo look over at each other and begin to break down.
Mack: Yo Yo… What happened to you?… What happened… to your arms?…
Yo Yo: That ninja puta Electra… cut off my arms when they took us… But that was
so long ago…
Mack: So long ago?… You’ve only been gone… for less than a day…
Yo Yo: Less than a day!?!… But our son… Our son was almost ten years old!…
when that evil bitch Selene brought us back here…
Mack: Our son?!?… We have a son?!?…
Daisy: We were pregnant… when she took us… She still has our children Robbie…
Including our daughter Robbie… Amara… She has them all!… Emma…
Amara… even Robin…
Robbie: Our daughter?… Amara?… You named her… after my mom?…
Daisy: She let me pick a name… Yo Yo wasn’t so privileged… That evil bitch just
called him Bishop… grooming him to be her black bishop… She called me
her black knight… And she made Yo Yo her white knight… She has them all
now… raising them… in her own twisted image… The same twisted sort of
image… that she twisted us into… She had us believing in her… worshiping
her… We would have died for her…
Yo Yo: And she made us kill for her… among other amusements… in her arena… in
Nova Roma…
Robbie: Who’s Emma?… and Robin?…
Daisy: Remember when I told you about that little girl who I was watching after…
to keep a promise to her dead dad… that was Robin… My mother only has
Robin because I thought I could look after her Robbie!… What happened to
her is my fault!… And Emma… Emma was all that I had left of Lincoln… I
left her with my father to raise… along with Robin and her mother… I
introduced my dad to Robin and her mother because I thought they might hit
it off… I wanted them to be happy… without me… They actually just got
engaged!… Now everything is destroyed!… Everything… and everyone I
touch… gets destroyed!…
Mild tremors shake the building again.
Robbie: I’m not destroyed… Hey… Look at me… I’m not destroyed… And I’m still
here… I ain’t going anywhere… And Rider or no Rider… Black Queen or
whatever not withstanding… I will know my daughter… That I guarantee…
Nothing is going to stop me… That’s a promise… You hear me?…
Daisy: I hear you Robbie… I hear you…
Mack: Amen to that Robbie… You can consider that same promise as good as given
Yo Yo… I’m personally going to escort that magic bitch to hell!… But how
did she do any of this?… And where the hell is this Nova Roma?… Are we
talking time travel?… Fitz?…
Fitz: Well… I can’t entirely rule it out theoretically… But it sounds more like a
time compression effect of some kind… The inverse of time dilation… I
don’t know about this Nova Roma… But the name at least implies that it’s
not the actual historical ancient Rome… But some newly established version
of it… Can either of you describe the environment of it?… any landmarks of
the geography?…
Daisy: It wasn’t anywhere on earth… There was never any sun… or stars… just
perpetual moonlight… with a giant moon… maybe even a gas giant… I don’t
know… It certainly wasn’t Kansas… And it definitely wasn’t the magical
land of Oz… The entire city resided behind a giant wall… with nothing but
desolate tundra beyond it as far as the eye could see… which usually wasn’t
very far… the environment… was mostly just foggy and wet… A world stuck
in perpetual twilight… often a dim and foggy twilight…
Lord Balder: By the misty maze of Niflheim!… If I didn’t know any better… I would
swear in the name of Asgard… that you’re describing Niflheim!… The
perpetual twilight… barely illuminating an infinite maze of shadows mist and
fog… That is how it’s described in legends… and by the extreme few who
have made it back from it… outside of the Valkyrie… occasionally just
barely escaping with their lives… and sanity… after some foolish attempt to
free some poor lost soul who may be stuck there… The realm of Niflheim
itself has unusual characteristics… that render reality itself… unreliable and
untrustworthy… Time in Niflheim is said to be concentrated… so that years
may pass within the maze of Niflheim… while mere moments may pass
elsewhere… Similar in nature to your time compression… But the maze of
Niflheim is said to be primarily a maze of the mind… Physical reality is said
to shift within Niflheim… in accordance with the spirits that dwell there…
taking on the shapes of one’s own passions… regrets… remorse… fear hate
and wrath… Coming and going from there… is the lesser problem… being
irrevocably lost in a maze of your own making is the real problem… exiting
is less of a problem… as long as you can still find the exits… Only the
Valkyrie can even safely attempt a journey to and from Niflheim… They are
trained to maintain their wits through the maze… And to find their way out
again…
Queen K: The legends say… that the Black Queen Selene lives in a special hell of her
own making… And only visits Midgard to bring her hell with her… It sounds
almost as if she has built her own special keep… within the confines of
Niflheim… This… Nova Roma… could be the her secret keep that we could
never find… She always seemed to have resources… that seemingly came
from nowhere… some hidden base of power apart from Midgard… Perhaps
she has made her own protective bubble… within the maze of Niflheim…
where no one would ever think to look… Since no one in their right mind
would ever go there on purpose… outside of the Valkyrie…
Daisy: My daughters… are in hell!…
Daisy lowers her head into her hands as she cries, with a small tremor shaking the building again.
Robbie: We’ll get them back… If I have to go to hell myself to do it… We will get
them back Daisy… Mack and I both… We’re getting our kids back!… No
matter what!…
Mack: Amen Robbie… Amen… How exactly do we get to this Niflheim anyway?…
These Valkyrie… I don’t suppose Lord Balder has any say with them?…
Balder: I do… And I don’t… They are a part of an independent domain of their
own… similar to the Norns of Nornheim… But as the leader of Asgard’s
armies… I do have sway with them… But if the Black Queen Selene is
making a home for herself in Niflheim… We won’t be able to stop them from
getting involved… And rooting her out… even if it takes all of eternity to do
so… It is a part of their sacred charge to keep watch over Niflheim… mostly
from a distance… They may only need convincing… that such an affront
could occur at all under their watch… I will need to return to Asgard
regardless to see to it… I have already heard enough to believe that the
Valkyrie must be alerted… and must investigate themselves… I will leave the
Warriors Three here under the command of Queen Karnilla and my daughter
Lady Sif… Director Mace… I will return to Midgard as soon as possible…
But I would recommend that you initiate efforts on the diplomatic front with
the queen and my daughter… to make introductions… I will also entreaty the
king to… share technology as you say… But that is easier said than done as I
have explained… I hope to return with the Valkyrie themselves in tow as
reinforcements… Prepare yourselves and gather your wits… the path to war
may well take some of us through Niflheim… I must speak with my daughter
before leaving… So I will leave you to it…
Lord Balder heads upstairs to speak with his daughter on the roof. May walks over to sit on the side of Daisy’s bed and grabs one of her hands cupping her head, and pulls it from her face to get her protege’s attention, making eye contact.
May: Hey… Are you okay?… I can’t imagine what you’ve been through… But I
know you can handle it… Hell… With a winged helmet and a spear… you
could be a Valkyrie…
Daisy: I appreciate that May… But I think it might involve a bit more than that… to
be an actual Valkyrie…
May: Not that much more…
Daisy: What is that blood smell?… Am I bleeding?…
May: Dr. Simmons and I just need to get cleaned up a bit… Long story… I need to
head out after Coulson… Another long story… Never mind all of that… You
just need to focus on preparing yourself… Trust me… No matter what… You
have everything you need… every iota of strength required… to deal with
that evil bitch of a mother… No matter what happens… or what may
change… You will always have my ultimate confidence in the long run… No
matter what…
Daisy: Thanks May… I just wish I could be so confident about me… as you seem to
be… Where is Coulson?…
May: The usual… Chasing down leads… I gotta go catch up with him… I’ll… see
you around… We’ll catch up later…
May heads out past Dr. Simmons, pausing as she does so.
May: Maybe you should come with me too…
Dr. Simmons: Oh… My place is clearly here… Are you sure that you shouldn’t stay?…
May: Definitely… And I think you’ll find… if you think about it… that you should
come as well… You probably shouldn’t be here… And you know why…
Dr. Simmons: Oh… I’ll be fine here… I just need a nice hot bath and a fresh change of
cloths… and I’ll be as right as rain…
May: I hope your right…
Dir. Mace: Agent May?… I don’t suppose I could bother you with a few questions
before you leave?…
May: I’m not your agent!… And you’re not my director!… I don’t have time for
you right now!… Arrest me!… Or get out of my way!…
May pushes past Director Mace and leaves the way she came.
Fitz: Why would May think that you shouldn’t be here of all places?…
Dr. Simmons: Probably just being paranoid… I don’t think she trusts the new director…
And with all due respect to Dir. Mace… I don’t blame her… We have all
been through way too much to simply trust the system…
Dir. Mace: I would like the chance at least to earn your trust Dr. Simmons… As my old
linebacker coach at West Point would say… ‘A team that trusts… is a team
that triumphs’… And with open war imminent… we’re all on the same team
now…
Dr. Simmons: With all due respect again… Dir. Mace… That will be easier said than
done… Now if you will all excuse me… I have a hot date… with a hot
bath…
Dr. Simmons leaves to find some hot water.
Fitz: You know… Director Mace… from what I have seen of Asgardian tech… as
you might think of it… So much of it is bound up with what they call
magic… that I don’t know if it will ever be compatible… with what we call
science and technology… We don’t even use the same frame of reference or
terminology… As something of a relative expert on the matter… it might
take me a whole lifetime… only to fail to do it… Now the Kree on the other
hand… From my cursory examination of the Kree shuttle on the roof… as
well as other examples we’ve come across in the past… Kree technology
seems to work on principles similar to tech proposed by… but abandoned by
Howard Stark… part of which was the basis for the arc reactor technology…
Tony Stark and I have been having an ongoing dispute about some of that… I
saw promise in some of the abandoned work… But Tony wanted nothing to
do with it… So I had a research project started at Shield… I put a whole team
on it… And the only difference between that and the Kree technology… are
nanotech fabrication techniques that are well beyond anything we are capable
of now… But not beyond what the Asgardians are capable of… Honestly
director… you would have better luck in getting technological help from
Asgard… if you were to narrow your ask a bit… Focus on something we can
actually use… Like Asgardian nanotech fabrication techniques…
Queen K: Like you say Master Fitz… We have radically different ways of referring to
the same things… I don’t know what you mean by ‘nanotech’… In terms
of fabrication techniques… Even that uses the magic that is alien to your
thinking… Children learn how to do this so called nanotech fabrication early
on in school… Because it is a part of how everything works for us… it is a
part of every Asgardians basic education…
Fitz: Could I learn this?… Even if I don’t know magic?…
Queen K: I don’t see why you can’t learn magic… You managed to wield my sword
well enough in battle… Which you could not have done as well as you did…
without some capacity for it… In fact… You could not have done so without
at least some Asgardian blood in you… not to mention the capacity for basic
magic…
Dir. Mace: Not to pry too much but… How would he have Asgardian blood in him
exactly?… How is that possible?…
Queen K: Many Asgardians have visited Midgard in the past… Fallen in love… or
perhaps just lust… Then returned to Asgard… leaving hybrid offspring
behind… often unknowingly…
Dr. Laufey: Randy alone probably has hundreds of descendants… if not thousands…
Fitz: So… Because I swung your sword and it did that glowy slicey thing… Then
I’m part Asgardian?… And I can supposedly learn magic?… even if it’s just
basic magic?…
Queen K: I don’t see why not… even if only to learn how to use what you call…
Asgardian nanotech… But when it comes to sharing that with others without
those talents… that I cannot vouch for… As a knight of Nornheim… I can
arrange for you to have special training…
Fitz: Special training?… Wouldn’t that sort of thing take a whole lifetime to learn
potentially?… I don’t know that we have that kind of time… given that open
warfare is supposedly immanent…
Queen K: The Black Queen Selene is not the only sorceress with recourse to what you
call… time compression… I for one am eager to see your results… And as
your queen… I may have to insist that you try… We can leave now… And be
back before you know it…
Dir. Mace: She has a point… I can’t order you to do it… But if this nanotech is as crucial
as you say… how can you not at least try?… I think the queen should order
you to… But that isn’t up to me…
Fitz: Alright… Let’s try this then… But I’m not making any promises to either of
you…
Queen K: Very well master Fitz…
Dir. Mace: Wait… You should take copies of those old files with you… I can reestablish
access for those old Shield files immediately… You probably don’t want to
go from memory with this sort of thing… You might at least want to take a
fully loaded laptop with you for that purpose…
Fitz: Well here… This is my laptop here… If you can put in your authorization… I
can download them in minutes… The war clock is ticking after all…
Dir. Mace walks over and logs in to Shield on Fitz laptop, reinstating Fitz full access.
Dir. Mace: There… That should do it…
Fitz’s laptop downloads the requisite files, as Fitz grabs a portable solar power supply from the storage within the lab. The download finished quicker than expected. And is finished by the time he grabs a carrying case for it. The queen raises her hands in the air, and purple lightening strikes her and Fitz from out of the surrounding walls, as they disappear in flashes of purple.
Dir. Mace: Well… That sounds promising… Dr. Laufey… I’ll be sure to arrange access
to those files on dark force and zero matter for you as well… to aid in your
study of Selene’s power… The Valkyrie may need to know about that… for
their mission to Niflheim…
Dr. Laufey: I will see what I can figure out… But proper insight I think may be garnered
by Master Fitz as we speak… I suspect that whatever Fitz may discover
bridging the gap between Asgardian technique and Midgardian technology…
it may also bridge the gap between dark sorcery… and what your files call
dark force… the key to Selene’s power… My working hypothesis… is that
Selene’s Inhuman power was to control and manipulate dark force and zero
matter… which provided an extra talent for real magic… as well as the
longevity to master it… and an ability to absorb the knowledge of it… from
those who earned their knowledge the old fashioned way… When I knew her
before… I only knew her to be a dark priestess of great magical knowledge
and skill… going my the name Lady Jennifer Kim Gallio… I had no
knowledge… of her being an Inhuman…
Dir. Mace: Very well then… I’ll put some additional people on that dark force research
on Shield’s end… I have to step out and make a series of phone calls to put
things in motion… So I’ll leave you to it then…
Dir. Mace heads up the stairs to the roof to check on the queen’s war prize, talk to it’s guards, and make his various phone calls. Dr. Laufey continues her examination of the mummy, while Robbie and Mack are shooed out to allow Daisy and Yo Yo to try and get some rest, as well as to track down Daisy’s father. Various Shield agents come and go from the property, removing the Kree bodies and all of the Kree plasma rifles, leaving behind the Kree war shuttle, and numerous Shield security personal. Dr. Simmons heads downstairs after her long soak, to find Dr. Laufey alone with her mummy research and two sleeping Inhumans.
Dr. Simmons: Dr. Laufey… In all of your studies while here on Midgard… have you ever
heard anything about any other monsters of Midgard?… like vampires?… for
example?…
Dr. Laufey: I know a great deal about vampires… They are quite real I assure you…
Although largely… not what you see in the movies… They are both much
worse… and much better than you may think…
Dr. Simmons: How can they be both much worse… and much better?…
Dr. Laufey: The reality can be beyond nightmarish… Imagine a sadistic serial killer who
not only enjoys your suffering… But lives off of it… And becomes stronger
the more they succumb to their worst impulses… as they slowly toy with you
before devouring what’s left of your life… But most are rather mundane
compared to that… or what you see in the movies… Still predators… Still
dangerous… Just not psychotic… or necessarily evil… The condition itself
tends to render it’s victims sociopathic… cold blooded with respect to the
suffering of their fellow humans… by the necessity of their natures as
predators upon humans… This itself can have all sorts of unexpected and
complex side effects on the psychology of any given individual case…
According to legend… the first vampires were created by dark sorcerers on
the lost continent of Atlantis… before the fall… as a self inflicted curse…
imposed upon themselves… in pursuit of unnatural power and longevity…
Dr. Simmons: The lost continent of Atlantis?… Atlantis was real?…
Dr. Laufey: Unknown… Believe it or not… that was before my time… And even Asgard
only has the legends of Midgard as testimony for it…
Yo Yo: Please don’t tell me we have vampires to deal with too now… I hate those
movies…
Dr. Simmons: Yo Yo… You should probably be resting…
Yo Yo: I can’t sleep… I feel like I’ve been sleeping for a hundred years… I’m tired
of sleep…
Yo Yo moves to crack the white knuckles on her white armored gauntlet hands, then her white armored gauntlets and arm guards transform into human arms with unnaturally porcelain white human skin.
Dr. Simmons: Wow… are those magic?…
Yo Yo: Ci… Selene gave them to me… after her minion cut mine off…
Dr. Simmons: That almost sounds considerate…
Yo Yo: It wasn’t… Selene doesn’t like to play with broken toys… Unless she’s
breaking them…
Purple lightening flashes in the middle of the med lab, as Sir Fitz and Queen Karnilla materialize within the purple flash. Queen Karnilla appears as she did hours before when she left. But Fitz appears radically different from before, with longer shaggier hair and a full beard, wearing what appear to be purple robes of some kind.
Dr. Simmons: Fitz!… Where have you been?… How did you manage to grow a beard?…
And your hair?… What are you wearing?…
Fitz runs over to Dr. Simmons and hugs her as if he hasn’t seen her in forever.
Dr. Simmons: Ooough!… You reek!…
Fitz: Oh… It is bloody great to see you again Jemma!… It seems like it’s been
forever… I have no idea how long it’s actually been… time passes a bit
quickly normally in Nornheim… But with the time compression… who
knows how long we’ve really been gone…
Dr. Simmons: Time in a bottle!?!… You did time in a bottle without me!?!… That was
supposed to our thing!… It was on our mutual bucket list!… And you did it
with the queen?…
Queen K: My apologies Dr. Simmons… I’m afraid we could not wait… War is upon
us after all… Midgard has dire need for powerful weapons of war… rivaling
the Kree… And for this… Master Fitz needed a special instrument of his own
devising…
Fitz; Here it is… I actually built it partly based on our old Deep Thought project…
Dr. Simmons: Our Deep Thought!?!… You built our Deep Thought?!?… You spent time in
a bottle with the queen… and built our Deep Thought with her?…
Daisy: Let me guess… The answer was forty two?…
Daisy chimes in having been awakened by the arrival of Fitz and the queen.
Fitz: Forty two and a half… bloody smart ass…
Daisy: Should have made it forty three… Because that’s one loudah…
Fitz: Hah… Hah… This was built partly based on our old Deep Thought project
from back during our academy days… back then it was just our theoretical
construct for a new nanontech quantum super computer… largely just an
academic exorcise in the fringes of extreme theoretical mathematical
possibilities… using non existent nanotechnology that simply could not be
built yet… until now… I had to modify the basic design as a practical
matter… to fit with what I was working with in terms of Asgardian nanotech
fabrication… glorified arts and crafts to them… Asgardian children learn this
stuff… But this… It’s made from pure zero matter… And uses what I have
worked out from Ursula and Queen Karnilla’s instruction… regarding the
principles of dark force… essentially functioning as a bridge between our
science and technology… and actual Asgardian dark magic… It uses an
interface based on Asgardian dark magic to connect it with it’s wielder…
secured with a genetic key lock… Powered by nanotech plasma resonator
cells… Like the kind I’ve been working on… But vastly more efficient and
more powerful… and vastly more compact… And best of all… It can act as
the ultimate universal tool for additional nanotech fabrication… including it’s
own reproduction…
Daisy: Reproduction?… Are you saying they breed?…
Fitz: Of course not… Don’t be daft… They reproduce asexually of course…
Daisy: Of course…
Fitz: Here I’ll show you… I owe one to Jemma as a co-inventor anyway…
Here… Hold out your hands…
Dr. Simmons holds out both hands palms up in front of her. Fitz pulls out a small matte black box, a small matte black cube small enough to fit in the palm of Fitz’s hand. Dir. Mace comes down the stairs in response to the thunderous arrival of Fitz and the Queen.
Dir. Mace: A black box?…
Fitz: A magic black box… a literal magic black box… called a Fitz Simmons
Box…
Dr. Simmons: You made it into a black box just so you could say that… didn’t you?…
Fitz: Kind of… But it doesn’t have to be a box…
Black Box: I am more than capable of variable physical geometry mistress…
Dr. Simmons: Did you give it the voice of K9 on purpose?….
Fitz: Not exactly… The interface was automatic… I think it took that on as a
subconscious effort on my part to please you… You were always a much
bigger fan of Doctor Who than I was…
The matte black box in Fitz’s hand shape shifts into a black sphere of the same size and mass, then shifts back into the black cube again. Fitz places the black cube in the palm of one of Dr. Simmons hands with his hand on top of it, and his other hand held over the empty palm of her other hand. The matte black surface of the cube begins to sparkle a bit, taking on the surface appearance of the starry night sky. The sparkles begin to intensify and then fly off of the surface of the cube, to fly over to Dr. Simmons other palm, clumping together and darkening as they form bits of solid matte black material, that gradually form an entire additional matte black cube within her other hand. Fitz takes his original cube back and cautions Dr. Simmons.
Fitz: Now be careful with this… It responds way better than it probably should…
It is an experimental prototype of hybrid dark magic nanotech after all…
There’s no telling what sort of complications will come up with that
combination…
The black cube in Dr. Simmons hand shape shifts into a matte black wand. Then the black wand begins to emit sparks which dance around Dr. Simmons, before condensing into a tiny mass of ball lightening that shoots itself at a lab centrifuge on the lab counter top, frying it utterly.
Dr. Laufey: Hey!… Watch it now!… That was Shield property!… I’m not paying for
that!…
Dir. Mace: Don’t you worry about that doctor… I’ve got you covered there… But I
wanna know when I can get me one of those things…
Fitz: Well… That may be a bit more complicated than you realize… Firstly…
You have to understand that this was made with dangerous forbidden
magic… explicitly forbidden my both Asgardian and Norn laws… which are
temporarily rescinded during times of sacred war… But it must still be very
carefully shared… on a very limited basis… Besides Jemma here… I’ve only
given one of these to the queen herself… and the old Norn hag Ursula… so
far… Additionally… I suspect that… in order to be safely used by anyone…
the user in question should have one or both of two things… knowledge and
experience of Midgardian science and technology on the one hand… or
knowledge and experience with magic of some kind on the other…
Dir. Mace: And since I have neither of those… I’m out of luck?…
Queen K: Not necessarily… You could learn…
Dir. Mace: With all due respect your majesty… That would take an entire separate
lifetime that I don’t have to spare… I suppose I could try that time
compression thing… But even if I did that… learning magic probably
wouldn’t be the best use of my time… Given that I probably lack any talent
for it… If I could do a concentrated cram session right now… I’d be
cramming history… more than anything else… Intel analysis is my old
wheelhouse… But I can’t analyze anything if I don’t know the history… and
the players… And right now I’m hopelessly stuck behind the curve… in my
first week in the job as director… with intergalactic war looming… While I
barely know the players… let alone their history…
Queen K: I may be able to help with that… I have other magic that I could use to share
some of my knowledge with you… Especially of history… Of which I know
a great deal… If you will trust me… and a little bit of other forbidden
magic… I could get you more than caught up… You might even be able to
use one of Master Fitz’s little magic boxes…
Dir. Mace: Do you mean like a history download?…
Queen K: I do not know that term… download?…
Fitz: That’s where you transfer a whole bunch of information from one computer
to another… Something you can do with the box that I gave you… Because I
made it compatible… But that’s ordinary with computers… The human mind
is a much more complex computer than even an FSB…
Queen K: Very well then… A download it is… if you are willing to try… if you are
willing to trust me…
Dir. Mace: Well I do trust you… But that is no small ask… But then again neither is
intergalactic war… Very well then… I’ll roll the dice with you… Hit me with
your best shot… Lets do this… before I change my mind… the old fashioned
way…
Queen K: Very well… Dir. of Shield… Prepare yourself… Close your eyes and hold
out your hands… And try to relax…
Director Mace does as instructed, as the queen pulls out a matte black sphere from being tucked away between her breasts, and holds it up to eye level with her left hand, equidistant between their heads, while holding the directors left hand in her right. Electric purple arcs form and connect both of their foreheads with the black sphere in the queen’s hand. Several moments pass this way before a series of white sparkly lights form on the surface of the queen’s matte black sphere, then fly over to the directors empty right hand, and form a matte black cube within the director’s hand. The purple arcs and white sparkles disappear, as the new matte black cube completely forms, then the queen releases the director’s left hand, as the director opens his eyes.
Dir. Mace: Wow… I think I know magic…
Daisy: Don’t you mean kung fu?…
Dir. Mace: Technically jujitsu… And I already knew that… No… I think I may actually
know a little magic now… and a lot of history… wow… a lot of history…
The black sphere in Director Mace’s hand begins to emit red and orange sparks briefly, as the director passes out from absorbing all of the queen’s memories from the download.
Queen K: Dir. Mace!…
Dr. Laufey: Mother!… Please tell me that you didn’t just kill the director of Shield!…
Politics Are Poison!
Poison That Never Ends!
Battles Of Shadows And Mist!
That Forever Never End!
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